User:Deckiller/WikiProject Star Wars/Manual of style

The following is a detailed guide to Star Wars-related articles. For the general style guide, please see Wikipedia:Manual of Style.

The following style guide coveres everything related to Star Wars, including character articles, general lists, general rules, templates, and infoboxes. Generally, this applies to all editors, though it is mainly used as a tool to get all members of the Star Wars WikiProject together on one concrete style packet.

Please quote this style guide based on the section (e.g. 1.1.7 to apply to section 1, subsection 1, number 7).

Finally many concepts will be repeated in multiple sections. This is not an error; many rules and guidelines apply to many sections.

General rules

For other information on some of the items in this section, please see Wikipedia:Wikify.

Notability

1. Always consider notability (importance to a general audience) when editing not only Star Wars-related articles, but Wikipedia in general. Wikipedia is a general interest encyclopedia, not an in-depth guide to everything related to Star Wars. That is the role of Wookieepedia. For detailed information on notability, please see Wikipedia:Notability (fiction).
2. For more information on notability and tolerance within Wikipedia, please see Wikipedia:Fancruft and Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not.
3. Characters, terms, and other topics that do not merit their own article (or any chance of expansion with ENCYCLOPEDIC material) should be merged into their respective lists.
4. Likewise, if a topic has enough encyclopedic information to merit multiple sections and five or more paragraphs, it is generally safe to give it its own article.
5. All movies, books, series, and albums may be given their own articles. However, Ensign Mithel, who appears on two pages of a single Star Wars novel, does not deserve an article.
6. There are fine lines between spliting and merging and notability, so there will always be disputes. Please be civil and make sure your arguement covers all Wikipedia and Manual of Style rules.

Italics

1. Always italicise titles, including books, movies, episodes, series, games, and albums. Examples include: Darksaber, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Clone Wars Episode 9999, New Jedi Order, Knights of the Old Republic, The Phantom Menace Soundtrack.
2. People and characters, such as George Lucas and Luke Skywalker, should not be italicised except for emphasis.
3. Song titles should be placed in "double quotes" (I.E. "Duel of the Fates").
4. Italics may also be used for emphasis.

Bolding

1. The first mention of the article or list entry's subject should always be bolded and italicised thereafter.
2. In rare cases, minor topics may feature bold headings in lieu of subheaders. See TIE fighter for an example.

Abbreviations

1. Generally, all abbreviations and shorthand writing should be avoided.
2. When addressing a game, book, console, term, movie, etc., do not abbreviate (for example, type The Empire Strikes Back or Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back instead of ESB or SW5; Knights of the Old Republic may not be abbreviated KOTOR).

Wikilinking

1. A wikilink should only be used at the first mention, unless it is a template.
2. In a list, major characters and terms may be wikilinked multiple times if necessary.
3. Do not wikilink non-Star Wars words unless they are not extremely common (e.g. do not wikilink device or disease, but do wikilink Death Star).

Categories

1. Category:Star Wars features numerous sub-categories, which should be studied in order to ensure proper categorization.
2. Do not categorize things twice unless it applies (e.g. do not categorize X-wing into both Category:Star Wars starfighters and Category:Star Wars spaceships.
3. If a new category is to be created, it must feature at least five (5) entries that are not covered in existing sub-categories.

Naming

Article naming

1. Refer to Wikipedia:Naming conventions for detailed information.
2. If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article (as opposed to putting it in the predicate). In any case, the title should appear as early as possible in the article — preferably in the first sentence.
3. The first time the title is mentioned in the article, bold it. Do not put links in the title.
4. Most article titles should be singular (unless they are lists or merged topics).
5. Generally, one should avoid overuse of parenthesis in article titles, except in cases where there is disambiguation. Even in that case, it may be better off to just add description to the title (for example, instead of Cantina (Star Wars), one might use Mos Eisley Cantina, unless there are several types of cantinas. In that case, a merge or a general article may be appropiate.).
6. Except in titles of works or in official names, avoid the definite ("the") and indefinite ("a"/"an") articles at the beginning of a page name.

List naming

1. Refer to Wikipedia:Naming conventions for detailed information.
2. All list must begin with "list of..." to distinguish that they are a list. An exception is a merged topic with many subtopics included in the article, such as Imperial stormtrooper.
3. A list's title/name should match the content of the article. For example, if an article is about Star Wars melee weapons, the title would be List of Star Wars melee weapons.
4. Most lists are not completely singular (e.g. List of Star Wars melee weapons).

Introductions

Article introductions

1. All articles must have a one to three paragraph lead section that introduces the topic in a succinct manner.
2. All articles need to begin with "In the fictional Star Wars universe, TOPIC is a (brief description)...." or "TOPIC is a (brief description) in the fictional Star Wars universe".
3. If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article (as opposed to putting it in the predicate). In any case, the title should appear as early as possible in the article — preferably in the first sentence.
4. As displayed above, the first mention of the article topic must be bolded and italicised thereafter.
5. Articles, especially characters, may not begin with a leadoff quote. This is considered unencyclopedic and may create point of view arguements over what quotation to add. Wikipedia has a sister project, Wikiquote.
6. The lead section must not contain any spoilers if possible.
7. A spoiler tag should be placed immediately after the lead section (unless there is only a single section with spoilers).

List introductions

1. A list should begin much in the same way as the article, except that the article subject is not bolded. Instead, lists often begin with "The following are (list's topic) in the fictional Star Wars universe".
2. Spoiler tags must always be placed immediately after the lead sentence of the entire list.
3. List entries (the multiple topics that make up a list) should be bolded upon first mention.
4. List entires do not need to feature the "...in the fictional Star Wars universe" disclaimer, for it is already written in the list's opening sentence.

Specific article types

The following are links to sub-guides for each type of article.