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Gundam Wiki:Manual of Style

Revision as of 21:51, 23 August 2021 by FortressMaximus (Message Wall | contribs) (→‎Citations)
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In order to facilitate uniformity of the articles here on The Gundam Wiki, this Manual of Style has been drawn up to guide you on the preferred writing and formatting techniques and style.

Article Layout

The following layouts should be used. If a section is not applicable, simply leave it out.

Media

Instalments

Music

Entities

Article Titles

Title Capitalization

This applies to article titles as well as section titles and category names. Unless normally written with different capitalization in official sources (e.g. narrative), title case should be used for specific. This means that the first letter of all words should be capitalized, except for internal articles, prepositions and conjunctions. For example, we do not capitalize the "of" in Eve of Destiny but we do for the "The" in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin because it is preceded by a colon.

Character Names

Names are not stored in biographical format, but in normal English. For example, Amuro Ray is used as opposed to the biographical format Ray, Amuro.

Mechanical Names

Mobile weapons and other mecha should include both their model number and code name if applicable. For example, RX-105 Ξ Gundam.

Perspective

In-Universe

The term in-universe is used to describe articles that belong to the Gundam universe exclusively and not to the real world. For example, characters are in-universe, but their voice-actors are out-of-universe. An in-universe perspective will strive for verisimilitude; that is, it will be written as though the author existed within the Gundam universe. Any in-universe-related articles, such as characters, mecha, technology, vehicles, terminology, or species, should always be written from an in-universe perspective.

All in-universe articles should be in past tense. However, this rule does not include phrases such as "the mecha specifications are unknown".

Out-of-Universe

Out-of-Universe (OOU) refers to something written from an out-of-universe perspective. OOU articles are written from a real life point of view. Some examples are real life publications, voice-actors, artists, events, and so on, acknowledging that its subject is fictional.


Class and Ship Names

Specific Ships

Names of specific spaceships should be:

  • Capitalized
  • Italicized
  • Used with the definite article
e.g.
"The Archangel was built by Morgenrote, Inc."
NOT "Archangel was built by Morgenrote, Inc."
  • Referred to by neuter pronouns (it, its)
e.g.

"The Minerva was a prototype battleship. Its commanding officer was Captain Gladys Talia."

Ship Class

Class names are italicized only when a spaceship in the class bears the same name. The definite article may be used, but it is not required.

  • When a ship's class is a modifier, use a hyphen:
"Dominion Archangel-class assault ship"
  • When it is a noun, do not use a hyphen:
"Ships of the Nazca class can carry up to six mobile suits."

Do not italicize a class name when:

  • Using the class name and type, but without "-class"
"Izumo Battleship"
  • It is being used alone as a noun
"The Laurasia line featured prominently in the First Alliance-PLANT War."

All Others

Mobile suit, missile, and other craft types where a specific spaceship does not bear the class name should be

  • Capitalized
  • Un-italicized
  • Preceded by the full technical designation in the first instance, and may be referred to solely by type name or common name in all succeeding instances.
  • Referred to with neuter pronouns (it)
e.g.
The RX-78-2 Gundam in the first instance and Gundam in all further instances.


Quotations

When citing quotations, double quotation marks (" ") should be used and the period (full stop), comma, question and exclamation marks should be within the quotation.

Single quotation marks (' ') should only be used when there is a quotation inside a quotation: "He likes to say 'Mission accomplished.'"

When quoting a single speaker, state who the person is talking to, if applicable, and in what situation.

e.g.
“ I'll kill you... ”

—Heero Yuy to Relena Peacecraft as he stops beside her before walking off., Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

In the case of two or more speakers, state the name of the speaker according to who talks first.

e.g.
“ Even on Christmas someone gets stuck working."
"Relena's been kidnapped."
"Anything and all for the one you love. 		”

—Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

Citations

In-text citations are done using Extension:Cite where <ref></ref> tags in the source code generate numbered references in superscript square brackets e.g. [1], these link to a corresponding source in a Reference section (where the main element is a <references /> tag.

The style of citation we use is to have the in-text citation be within the punctuation similar to the IEEE style. For example:

The backpack for the MS-05 had taken on a simple structure compared to the previous backpacks for the YMS-03 and MS-04 [6].

If you are citing a work, episode or chapter using Template:Ref, the tags are already there for you. If not, you should use either Template:Cite book or Template:Cite web between <ref></ref> tags. Please read Gundam Wiki:Reliable Sources to find out which template you should use for the source you have.

Organizing References

If there are few of them, the citations themselves can be defined in the <ref></ref> tags and get automatically added to the <references /> tag at the bottom of the article. But if there are many citations, it is better to define and organize them in <references></references> tags first and use <ref name=""></ref> above in the rest of the article: 

<references>
<!--Media using Template:Ref which has the ref tags built-in-->

<!--Manuals-->
Use Template:Cite book

<!--Books-->
Use Template:Cite book

<!--Magazines-->
Use Template:Cite book

<!--Mooks-->
Use Template:Cite book

<!--Fact Files-->
Use Template:Cite book

<!--Webpages-->
Use Template:Cite web
</references>

Footnotes

If footnotes are necessary a Footnotes section can be inserted above the References section. Using Extension:Cite <references group="note" /> in the Footnotes section. Wherever you need a footnote, use <ref group="note"></ref>.

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