Metapedia:Style guide
The Metapedia Style guide is a collection of guidelines for those writing and editing articles for Metapedia. By following these guidelines we are creating a more coherent, readable and credible encyclopedia.
Language
- Make sure to write in a neutral tone. Hard biases, exaggerations and irony don't belong in Metapedia. Take a look at other encyclopaediae to get a feeling for what the texts should look like stylistically.
- We follow current grammar rules.
- Please do not use abbreviations. Unlike many printed encyclopaediae, Metapedia does not have any problems with lack of space, and the text is easier to read when it contains complete words instead of abbreviations.
- Do not use oral language or first person form. Encyclopaedic texts ought to contain a higher stylistic level.
- Do not use more complicated language than what is necessary.
- Make use of subjects! It isn't encyclopaedic to write without subjects, as "Was chief of xx". Instead, write "He/she/name was chief of xx".
Structure
- The first sentence in the article should generally start with the article name in bold typeface (it is however permitted to let the article name be the second or third word if it improves the construction of the sentence).
- The first sentences should preferably consist of a short definition of the subject.
- The plain text in the article ought to describe the topic as detailed as possible. If the text becomes long, it can be advantageous to split it in several subheadings. Illustrations are also a precious component of longer articles.
- Subheadings should be written with no following colon.
- Sources are always wished for and ought to be put under the "Source references" heading directly above the "External links" heading.
- External links are generally placed in the end of the article, under a separate headline named "External links". The links should be in a bullet list.
- Biographical articles have a special structure. Check on formerly inserted biographical articles to see how they're built up.
Italics
The following types of words should generally be italicized:
- Titles of films, books, works of art, magazines and newspapers
- Expressions in foreign languages
- When a word or a concept in itself is being discussed, for example "the concept of patriarchy was not used within the feminist movement until the twentieth century".
Categories
All articles should be placed in a suitable category. If you don't find a suitable specific category, it is better to place the article in a more general category than not categorizing it at all.
