FAIRwiki:Style guide

This style guide gives direction on how FAIRwiki pages should be formatted and organized. Adhering to the approved style will help you create professional and appropriate wiki articles.

This article does not explain how to create pages or use Mediawiki markup language. For help with that, see Help:Editing.

If you have any questions about or suggestions for the style guide, please contact Mike Parker at mparker AT fairlds DOT org.

Examples of pages that meet the style

• Book of Mormon textual changes
• Government during the Millenium

Privacy

Never, under any circumstances, put a person's name, email address, or other personal information in a wiki article without his or her express permission.

This rule includes answers from the FAIR list copied to the wiki.

Page layout

In general, pages should be organized as follows:

==Criticism== (heading2)
A brief explanation of the criticism.

==Response== (heading2)
The response should be brief and summary in nature.

==Conclusion== (heading2)
A summary of the argument against the criticism.

==Further reading== (heading2)

===FAIR wiki articles=== (heading3)
*Links to related articles in the wiki (bulleted)

===FAIR web site=== (heading3)
*Links to articles on the FAIR web site; Topical Guide entries go first (bulleted)

===External links=== (heading3)
*Links to external web pages (bulleted)

===Printed material=== (heading3)
*Printed resources whose text is not available online (bulleted)

Templates for special pages

Draft articles are those with limited and/or incomplete content. This should be indicated to the reader by adding a special tag at the top of the page:

{{draft}}

Answers from the FAIR list are articles derived from questions sumitted to the FAIR web site. Indicate this by putting this tag at the top of the page:

{{question}}

Citations

Published works should be referenced in this format (note the use of quotes and italics):

Book:

• Bruce R. McConkie, ed., Doctrines of Salvation: Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954), 1:25.

Article in a periodical:

• George Horton, "Understanding Textual Changes in the Book of Mormon," Ensign, December 1983, p. 25.

See the example pages, referenced above, for examples of how to format different types of citations.

Capitalization

Words in headings should not be capitalized, except for:

• The first word in the heading.
• Proper names (e.g., Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, etc.) and titles (e.g., President Hinckley).

Scripture references

Scripture citations should include a link to the scriptural passage on LDS.org, in this manner:

Nephi said his father, Lehi, lived in a tent (1 Nephi 2:15).

Guidelines:

• Use the full name of the book of scripture (1 Nephi); do not abbreviate (1 Ne.).
• Place the reference in parentheses before the puncuation ending the sentence.
• To create the link, browse to http://scriptures.lds.org, and enter the citation (1 Nephi 2:15) into the Search for: field. The site will return your passage, with a hyperlink. Right-click on the hyperlink and choose "Copy shortcut" or "Copy link location". Paste the link into your article in this manner:

[http://scriptures.lds.org/1_ne/2/15#15 1 Nephi 2:15]

M-dashes

Instead of using two hyphens to break apart thoughts within a sentence, use and m-dash:

Wrong: What's important about a testimony--and the key to obtaining one--is that it comes from the Holy Spirit.

Right: What's important about a testimony—and the key to obtaining one—is that it comes from the Holy Spirit.

You can create an m-dash by typing the following code:

—

N-dashes

When citing page or date ranges, instead of using a hyphen, use an n-dash. An n-dash is slightly longer than a hyphen, and indicates a range.

Wrong: John Taylor’s testimony is found in History of the Church 7:99-108.

Right: John Taylor’s testimony is found in History of the Church 7:99–108.

You can create an n-dash by typing the following code:

–