Conservapedia:Editing article and talk pages

2015-01-05T16:29:36Z

MartinPr: /* Spelling, Grammar, Style */

The '''Conservapedia Manual of Style''' contains standardized information regarding how to edit article and talk pages on [[Conservapedia]]. This will help keep a consistent tone in most articles. See also '''[[Conservapedia:Quick reference]]'''.

== Content Articles (Main Namespace) ==
Content articles are any and all pages which are not preceded by a colon and a prefix. For example, the article ''[[George W. Bush]]'' would be a content article (article in the main namespace), and the article ''[[Conservapedia:Commandments]]'' would not.
=== Layout ===
'''The layout of each content or encyclopedic article needs to be uniform across all of Conservapedia.'''
<pre>
Introductory paragraph(s)

(body content)

==References==

==See also==

==External links==

Template Navbox "Liberalism" or "Conservatism", etc. would be placed at the bottom of the article, just before Category.

[[Category: ______]]
</pre>

'''Layout questions''':
;Why is the <code>==Also See==</code> section listed after the <code>==References==</code> section?:The reasoning behind this is that the ''References'' have a greater and more immediate relevance to the article itself, while the ''Also See'' resources have a lesser relevance. Basically the more relevant the content is, the closer it should be to the person reading the article.

===Links===

* Internal links are enclosed in double square brackets; e.g., <nowiki>[[United States of America]]</nowiki> links to our [[United States of America]] article. To avoid the overuse of redirects, place alternate link titles after a pipe character; <nowiki>[[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|USSR]]</nowiki> links to the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] as [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|USSR]]. Please do not link every instance of a name, but only the first such occurrence in the article.

* If you think an article's name is too long and should be renamed, propose a new name to any administrator.

===See also section===
If needed, a "See also" section can be added to provide additional links to relevant Conservapedia articles that whose names do not otherwise appear in the text of the article. If an article name is already covered by an internal link, do not repeat that link on the see also section.

The See also section consists of a bullet list of article names without pipes. Only one article name should appear on each line. Only articles that are directly relevant to the topic of the article should be included on the See also list. Links that do not point to Conservapedia articles belong in the "External links" section.
===External links section===
If needed, an "External links" section can be added to provide links to websites outside of Conservapedia that are relevant to the article topic. Adding irrelevant spam links is grounds for blocking. Link to specific webpages of value rather than to preformed searches on google or other search engines.

The External links section consists of a bullet list of weblinks with a description of each link in the form: <nowiki>*[http://www.goodwebsitetoread.com Website description]</nowiki> Do not show the naked URL without adding a description.

=== Creation of a new article ===
At Conservapedia it is easy to create a new article as can be seen by our resource: [[Help:How to create a new article|How to create a new article]].

When you create a new article, please do one or both of the following so people can find your article:
* Link your article from one or more other articles as appropriate.
* Put one or more [[Category tag|Category tags]] at the bottom of your article, preferably for a category that already exists.

==== Persons ====
To facilitate the the alphabetization of individuals, add '''<nowiki>{{DEFAULTSORT: Surname, Given Middle}}</nowiki>''' to an article. In this format, ''Surname'', ''Given'' and ''Middle'' are placeholders. The placeholder ''Surname'' is the person's last name, and the placeholder ''Given'' is the person's given name or Christian name in the case of individuals baptized into the Christian faith. ''Middle'' is optional, and can either be the complete middle name or an initial. Names of individuals with multiple or concatenated last names should substitute whatever is appropriate to generate correct the alphabetical listing for surname. E.g., Hillary Rodham Clinton should be '''<nowiki>{{DEFAULTSORT: Clinton, Hillary Rodham}}</nowiki>''' and Vicente Fox Quesada should be '''<nowiki>{{DEFAULTSORT: Fox Quesada, Vicente}}</nowiki>'''.

=== Article Names ===

Article names should be written in lower case, except for [[proper noun]]s.
This makes linking easier.

The first letter may be either lower case or upper case.
In either case, the Wiki software will automatically display the first letter in upper case

For example, use '''Theory of evolution''', not '''Theory of Evolution'''.

The article name should be used at or very close to the start of the article, and this use of it should be in '''bold'''.
See the first line of this page for an example.

If an article name should include a lower-case first letter, including the {{tl|lowercase}} template will cause the title to show correctly.

=== What Not To Include In Articles ===

'''The inclusion of sexual orientation in a biography is generally prohibited due to the [[Conservapedia:Commandments|Commandment]] against gossip. In the rare instance where the subject has publicly self-identified that their sexuality is important, then the subject's own quotes should be used as a source.'''

===Date style===
*Do not wikilink dates!
*The style "July 4, 1776" is preferred.
*If the day of the week is involved, e.g., "Sunday, December 7, 1941", the comma after the day of the week is optional ("Sunday December 7, 1941" is allowed).
*US Military style is tolerated in context: "4 July 1776".
*If it is necessary for clarity to show the era of the year, ''Always'' use BC and AD (as opposed to BCE and CE). See [[Anno Domini]] for a full discussion.

===Spelling, Grammar, Style ===
*'''American English spellings are preferred''' but Commonwealth spellings, for ''de novo'' or otherwise well-maintained articles are completely acceptable, and edit wars over the subject are strongly discouraged. The context of the article should help resolve conflict; an article about Britain ''could use'' Commonwealth spelling, while an article about the United States or any other, non-Commonwealth specific articles would use American English.

* Remember that Conservapedia is an American, conservative and Christian encyclopedia, above all else. It is only logical the usage, political and moral conventions of same be applied, generally, throughout.

* Changing Conservapedia articles, (their tone, style and content) from an ''American'', ''conservative'' and/or ''Christian'' orientation/focus, <u>is not welcome</u>. ''This does not preclude including other ideas or facts, but does, generally, state where the editorial focus of CP is''.

* Avoid the serial comma, except where it helps with clarity. For example, [[Essay:Greatest Conservative Sports Stars|Great Conservative Sports Stars]] include Tim Tebow, Curt Schilling and Tim Thomas.

* Always use the 'Show Preview' button before saving changes. This prevents the Recent Changes page from getting overwhelmed.

==== Diacritics ====

''See also:'' [[Diacritics]]

A [[diacritic]] is a mark near or through a character that changes its phonetic value or significance. For example, diacritics appear above the letter "e" in the word "résumé," distinguishing the noun from the verb "resume." Diacritics are more common in various European languages than they are in English.

The spelling of diacritics should follow that given in an American reference work. Several are available online: [http://www.merriam-webster.com/ Merriam-Webster], ''[http://websters.yourdictionary.com/ Webster's New World College Dictionary]'', ''[http://ahdictionary.com/ American Heritage]'', ''[http://dictionary.reference.com/ Random House]'', ''[http://www.britannica.com/ Encyclopedia Britannica]'' and ''[http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/ Columbia Encyclopedia]''.

====Check Spelling====
Always use correct spelling. All recent browsers, as with Google, can be equipped with spelling checkers that integrate directly into the browser. If you have one of the following browsers, please download the spelling checker at the link provided:
*''Internet Explorer'' - download at [http://www.iespell.com/ iespell]
*''Opera'' - download at [http://www.opera.com/support/tutorials/opera/spellcheck/ GNU Aspell]
*''Mozilla Firefox'' - download at [http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/ Spellbound] or update to the latest version of [http://www.getfirefox.com/ Firefox], which has a built-in spelling checker.

'''''Bad spelling doesn't inspire confidence in your article.'''''

====Helpful Spelling, Grammar, and Writing Style Software====
There are a number of software programs that assists writers when it comes to spelling, grammar, and writing style. A free grammar checking software that will catch many, but not all grammar mistakes is [http://www.gingersoftware.com/ Ginger]. Two of the more notable for pay grammar and style software packages are the [http://www.whitesmoke.com/ WhiteSmoke Writing Software] and the [http://www.stylewriter-usa.com/ StyleWriter English usage editor] software packages.

===Country Names===
When countries are first mentioned in articles, abbreviations are not to be used, but may be used for subsequent references. For example, use "United States" or "United States of America" and "United Kingdom", not simply "US", "U.S.", "UK", etc. After the first occurrence, it is acceptable to use "U.S." or "U.K." for example, but do not link such uses.

==Citing Sources and Using Footnotes==
* Always cite and give credit to your sources, even if in the [[public domain]]. Please do not cite [[Wiki|wikis]] as sources, except when specifically talking about that wiki. If you are unfamiliar on how to place footnotes in wiki, please see [[Conservapedia:Footnotes - technical help]].

* When writing articles it is necessary to use primary and secondary source material as references. All source material should be properly cited as to work, author, publisher, and date published. The ''Harbrace Manual'', used in many colleges and universities as a standard of style, is recommended as a guide; this website [http://www.knowledgecenter.unr.edu/instruction/help/primary.html] is also recommended.

* Conservapedia prefers Internet links to sources, when available. Editors should endeavor to find links for articles sourced only with printed material, as secondary sources.

====Primary Sources====
Original, primary-source documents consist of: diaries; autobiographies; memoirs; interviews with journalists; minutes of meetings; private and public letters; speeches; official records; photographs and film. When citing these sources, write in this manner:
:Author. ''Name of work in italics''; Publishing company; Location where published. Page number(s), (Date published in parenthesis)

====Secondary Sources====
Secondary sources consist of interpretation and analysis of published material, history, and other primary source data. These sources consist of: biographies; encyclopedias; newspapers, news magazines, and news-related websites; journalistic and political commentaries or opinions (this includes web-blogs); literary criticisms of film, books, or poetry (such as ''Cliff's Notes''); scientific journals and papers; textbooks. When using these sources, the same citation rule as above applies.

Newspaper reports should be considered only as fleeting moments of history as given by a reporter; they can be notoriously one-sided with a perspective that leaves out pertinent facts. They should be used only if the article requires it. When citing a newspaper source, write in this manner:
:Author. "Title of the article in quote marks"; ''Newspaper name in italics''; Complete day-month-year article published. You must still write this complete reference line regardless of whether or not the newspaper source was retrieved online; online links to most newspapers go dead after a short period of time.

For scientific journals and papers, do not rely upon a newspaper or journalistic report on them; find and cite the scientific article directly

====Partisanship of Sources ====
It's typical of partisans to strengthen their criticisms of a target by claiming a source who is supposedly loyal to the target. That's why Conservapedia gets dozens of pranksters every week claiming to be Christian or conservative.

The party affiliation of a news source should be irrelevant. All that matters is whether the source has a record of telling the truth. A new source with no track record is useless, especially if it's anonymous.

Conservapedia is more trustworthy than Wikipedia, because most of the senior staff are real people (not anonymous hacks hiding behind their clever pseudonyms).

==== Uncited Material at Conservapedia ====
=====Completely Uncited Article or Completely Uncited Section of an Article=====
If you see an article or section of an article that is '''completely''' uncited please feel free to put a [[Template:Uncited|uncited tag]] on that particular article or section of an article. Also, when placing a uncited tag on a article or section, please feel free to send the person or persons who wrote that section a friendly and gentle reminder regarding the uncited material plus a friendly thank you for contributing to Conservapedia. Having cited material helps insure that Conservapedia material is true and verifiable plus it provides a resource so readers can found more information on a subject.

Here is the tag you use to indicate a article or section of an article in uncited and please place it at the top of the article that is completely uncited or at the top of the section of the article that is completely uncited:

{{QuoteBox|'''<nowiki>{{uncited}}</nowiki>'''}}

=====Uncited Sentence=====
If a sentence needs to be cited please use the "fact" template at the end of the sentence.

Here is the fact template and please place it at the end of the uncited sentence:

{{QuoteBox|'''<nowiki>{{fact}}</nowiki>'''}}

== Bibliography ==
A bibliography is a listing of the most valuable sources on a topic, including articles and books. Conservapedia bibliographies, to be maximally useful, should also be annotated, and if possible include links to Web pages with copies of the articles and books.

Links to external websites, with original (otherwise unpublished) content, belong under "External links")

=== Purpose ===
The bibliography is most useful in pointing to serious sources that readers can use for further in-depth reading on a topic, for exploring major alternative interpretations, and for preparing a a term paper. Usefulness increases with the quality of the source, how recent it is, how available it is (online or through inter-library loan), and whether it guides users through the literature. Popular sources are usually not included unless they are influential in their own right, or better sources are lacking.

The article bibliographies do ''not'' necessarily reflect the sources authors actually use in preparing the article.

=== Subheadings ===
What headings are appropriate depends on the field and the topic. In History, for example, bibliographies can be divided into "Primary Sources" and "Secondary Sources."

=== Citation schemes and listing notes ===
Authors should use the bibliographic citation scheme common to the leading publishers in the field.) The ''Chicago Manual of Style'' has comprehensive coverage of the alternatives.

Always include the author and title, and a date of publication. For most books, it is optional but not necessary to include place of publication or publisher, or name of translator.

Books and articles can be combined in listing. Alphabetize by last name of the primary author (if no author, then use the title of the book, ignoring "The", "An", etc.)

Date of publication is tricky in the case of multiple editions and translations. Give the most useful version and ignore the others. Amazon.com and books.google.com are useful for dating. A major library online catalog is [http://melvyl.cdlib.org/ Melvyl] from the University of California.

=== Major articles===
Major articles will have long bibliographies that appear in the Bibliography section. A short selection called "Further reading" points the user to 5 to 20 most useful items. Items listed in the Further Reading section should be duplicated in the Bibliography. Major topics have thousands of books and articles, and Conservapedia does not try to be comprehensive but only includes the most useful resources.

The bibliography should emphasize English-language sources as much as possible (including translations of course).

It should include both primary and secondary sources. It should if possible indicate that items are available online, and if possible link to them (through [http://www.jstor.org/ JSTOR], [http://Books.google.com books.google], [http://Questia.com Questia], [http://ejournals.ebsco.com/login.asp?bCookiesEnabled=TRUE Ebsco], [http://muse.jhu.edu/ Project Muse], [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Gutenberg], [http://informationservices.swets.com/web/show/id=40029 Swetswise]. etc.) Links to [http://www.amazon.com Amazon.com] are welcome if they provide new information, such as graphics (e.g. the cover or illustrations), a table of contents, an excerpt, a search-the-book routine, or useful reviews.

Outdated or discredited sources should be avoided--although if they are online and better sources are not online, we should include both. If a source is poor quality or heavily biased that should be noted in the annotation.

Effort should be made to balance biased sources with sources on the other side(s). Annotate them to explain where each one stands.

The bibliography should include short annotations (or sometimes abstracts) making clear the value of the source.

In every case enough information should be given so that a reference librarian can obtain the item through inter-library loans or online sources.

Items that are listed in the footnotes should also be included in the bibliography if they are generally important to the topic (but not if they are incidental).

== Categories ==
Unlike articles, categories are to be in title case (e.g. ''Australian Cities and Towns'', not ''Australian cities and towns''), and are to be plural where applicable (e.g. ''Planets'', not ''Planet'', but ''Rail Transport''). Conservapedia categories form a tree or heirarchy with [[:Category:Everything]] at its root. Category become subcategories of broader topics by including <nowiki>[[Category:Main Category]]</nowiki> on the category page of <nowiki>[[Category:Subcategory]]</nowiki>. Categories should not be subcategories of themselves or any of their subcategories.

Assign articles to one or more categories by placing <nowiki>[[Category:name]]</nowiki> at the very bottom of the article page. If an article is placed in a subcategory, do not also place it into the main category. (By definition, every article could be relevant to every category on the tree between the subcategory and [[:Category:Everything]], so does list any of the broader categories.)

== Redirects & Name Changes ==
Consult with an Administrator about re-directing articles or article name changes (page moves). It is preferable to do page moves ''that keep their article and talk page history intact.'' Only Administrators can do page moves.

The only content on a redirect page should be the redirect command on the first line <nowiki>#REDIRECT[[target article name]]</nowiki> Do not add categories on redirect pages.

== Talk pages and Archiving ==
:''See also: [[Conservapedia: Discussion page - technical help]]''

Article talk pages, also known as Discussion pages, are designed to help improve existing articles. When discussing changes to an article, have the discussion on the article's talk page where other editors can see, and not on a user talk page where it is unlikely to be seen by others.

Discussions will also be useful for ''later'' editors looking to see why something is in the article the way it is.

Sometimes discussions lead off to other matters. If the discussion is no longer about the article, move the discussion elsewhere. In discussion remember to [[Conservapedia:Editing etiquette|always be civil]]. Personal attacks should be replaced with the {{[[Template:personal remark removed|personal remark removed]]}} template.

Archiving talk pages is a regular maintenence chore editors are invited to help with. However, a discussion should not be Archived until at least seven days have elapsed since the last, or most recent posting in a discussion thread, allowing others to read and comment.

== Debate topics ==

If you have feelings you wish to express, but recognize it would inappropriate to do so on article talk pages, then you may wish to look at Conservapedia's [[Debate Topics]]. We have a large section devoted to the project itself, among other issues.

If you have questions about the way an article is written or would like to propose changes, then it is fine to use the talk page for that article. However, if the discussion is turning into a general debate without article improvement taking place, then the article talk page becomes an inappropriate forum and it should be moved to a {{tl|debate}} page. You can help by entering a link in the [[Debate Topics]] article so others can join if they wish.

== Helpful videos ==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGsa2wyre14 How to edit a wiki - Part I]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_DhnJ8W8qA&feature=related How to edit a wiki - Part II]

== See also ==
*[[Conservapedia:Writing a Good Article]]
*[[Conservapedia:Editing etiquette]]
*[[Conservapedia:Footnotes - technical help]]
*[[Conservapedia:Manual of Style/Images]]
*[[Conservapedia:Manual of Style/Countries]]
*[[Conservapedia:Manual of Style/Film and Television]]
*[[Conservapedia:Manual of Style/Minerals]]
*[[Conservapedia:Manual of Style/Politicians]]
*[[Conservapedia:Manual of Style/Wildlife]]
*[[Conservapedia:Formatting conventions]]
*[[Conservapedia:Titles and links]]

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