Wookieepedia:Manual of Style

We here at Wookieepedia like things to be uniform and everything, so this Manual of Style is here to set things straight.

For information on the most basic writing techniques and styles, which are used here, see Wikipedia's Manual of Style.

Below are some basic Star Wars formatting do's and don't's.

Layout guide

In-universe

All in-universe articles should be structured as follows:

1. Title/Top/Infobox
2. Main article
3. Stub
4. Behind the scenes (notice the capitalization)
5. Appearances
6. Sources
7. Succession box
8. Notes and references
9. See also
10. External links
11. Interwiki links
12. Category

For more details as to what each section of an article should contain, see the Layout Guide. Please note that not all articles use every section.

OOU articles on reference works

All out-of-universe articles on books, comics, etc. should generally be structured as follows. This list is typically more flexible than main articles.

1. Title/Top/Infobox
2. Introduction
3. Stub
4. Editions
5. Publisher's summary
6. Plot summary
7. Excerpts
8. Appearances
9. Continuity
10. Cover gallery
11. Succession box
12. Notes and references
13. See also
14. External links
15. Interwiki links
16. Category

List for "Appearances"

Use {{App}} for the list of characters, creatures, etc. under the "Appearances" heading. If an official "Dramatis Personae" is provided, substitute |dramatis personae= and |other characters= for the current |characters= parameter. For additional subsections such as "Languages", use '''bold-formatted headers''' under |miscellanea=. Star Wars material that is considered part of both the Legends continuity and the new Star Wars canon should divide its use of the {{App}} template. Each subsection of the template should use the two alternate parameters—"c-characters" and "l-characters" for the Characters field—to list the canon and Legends appearances. See the usage notes on Template:App for more information.

→ See Forum:CT:"Characters" or "Dramatis personae"?, Forum:CT:New continuity section, Forum:CT:Characters to Individuals (Again?), Forum:CT:Appearances lists, Forum:CT:Appearances revamp project, and Forum:CT:MOS and LG updates.

==Appearances==
{{App
|characters=
|creatures=
|droids=
|events=
|locations=
|organizations=
|species=
|vehicles=
|technology=
|miscellanea=
}}

Skin

Wookieepedia articles are to be formatted for ideal presentation in the default FandomDesktop skin (standard width, right rail shown). This is in particular regard to paragraph size and image placement.

→ See Wookieepedia:Mofferences/March 4, 2018, Forum:CT:MoS and LG amendment: FandomDesktop

Naming articles

There are some rules regarding how articles on Wookieepedia should be named. For more details, see the naming policy.

The name of the article should be bolded in its first usage in an intro, as should any alternate names mentioned in the intro. These bolded titles should not have links within them.

→ See Forum:CT:Links in in-article titles

If a topic exists within both the Legends continuity and the official Star Wars canon, the Canon material should be covered by an article at the topic's title, while the Legends material should be covered at a subpage entitled "Legends".

→ See Forum:CT:Canon/Legends Default Switch

Using the #

Do not use the # in a link unless you intend to direct to a section of that article with the title after the # as a section. When linking to articles, particularly books and guides with numbers denoting their order, omit the # and simply put the number. Otherwise the software will look for that number as a section title on the page.

e.g. Star Wars Adventure Journal 4, not Star Wars Adventure Journal #4

You can use piped links to account for this. For example, [[Star Wars Adventure Journal 4|''Star Wars Adventure Journal'' #4]] would give you Star Wars Adventure Journal #4.

Perspective

In-universe

If something is in-universe, or is described as such, it belongs to the Star Wars universe exclusively and not to the real world. Characters, for example, are in-universe, but the actors who play them are out-of-universe. Another example is that the correspondent in-universe term for the English language is Galactic Basic, which is the common language in Star Wars. Pseudohistory is an integral part of in-universe treatment of canon material.

The only section where out-of-universe information is appropriate is the "Behind the scenes" section and its subsections of an in-universe article. See below for more details.

Out-of-universe

Out-of-universe refers to the perspective in which an article is written; it is the opposite of in-universe. Something written from an out-of-universe (OOU) perspective is written from a real-life point of view. It will refer, for example, to real-life publications, actors, authors, events, and so on, acknowledging that its subject is fictional. In contrast, an in-universe perspective will strive for verisimilitude; that is, it will be written as though the author existed within the Star Wars universe. Articles about any in-universe things, such as characters, vehicles, terminology, or species, should always be written from an in-universe perspective. If a section in the article is not, such as the listing of a character's published appearances or behind the scenes details, it should be tagged as such. In contrast, articles about books, movies, games, or other real-life Star Wars material should obviously be written from an out-of-universe perspective, but should still be noted as such. Basically, in-universe articles should never refer to Star Wars by name, or any other real-life things such as publications, actors, or the like.

Headings

Use the == (heading) markup for headings, not the ''' (bold) markup. Example:

===This is a heading===

which produces:

This is a heading

If you mark headings this way, a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article. Sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article.

• Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading, and leave all of the other letters in lower case.
• Avoid links within headings.
• Avoid overuse of sub-headings.

Usage and spelling

Though the readers and editors of Wookieepedia speak many varieties of English, we mandate standard American English spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage. This is the variety of English used in the first printings of most primary sources.

If a word has two acceptable variants in American English, the one that is considered "more American" is to be used. Such example is the spelling of judgement as judgment. The only exception of this rule is the spelling of words ending in -ogue: while dialog is an acceptable version of dialogue, the latter is preferred.

If the title of an article differs in different varieties of English, the American title should be the article title, with alternate names being used as redirects (for example, Lightsabre redirects to Lightsaber).

If a source's title is in British English, it must not be converted into American English. The Travelling Jindas must always be referred to as such. Also, if a direct quotation from a British source has a word which is spelled differently in American English, the original British spelling must be preserved. However, a [sic] sign may be put after the word.

Tense

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

―Star Wars films

All in-universe articles should be in past tense, per the quote above.

The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, the articles on Wookieepedia are presented as historical recordings that have been pieced together from scraps of information left over from the Star Wars era. As such, all details pertaining to this history have not yet been uncovered, and more information may be added at a later date. Keeping articles written in past tense provides consistency and flavor. Secondly, the Star Wars universe takes place a long, long time ago, in the past (at least compared to the time the narrative is set in). Writing in-universe articles in past tense properly relates the timeline of that universe with our own perspective.

Despite this, do not include phrases like "his ultimate fate is unknown" or "what happened to the ship after that is a mystery," unless such claims refer to an in-universe lack of knowledge and can be directly sourced to official material. For example, Cane Adiss' Databank entry states "whether or not he was among the few that escaped [the destruction of the Khetanna] is unknown." Therefore, that information should be presented in the article.

→ See Forum:CT:In-universe fate is unknown

Capital letters

Galaxy, sector and system

When the galaxy is linked to, it is not to be capitalized. Similarly, when we name systems and sectors, and when we link to them, the words "system" and "sector" should remain in lower case, unless canon dictates otherwise (e.g. Corporate Sector).

Examples: Corellian sector and Corellian system

→ See Forum:CT:Capitalizing "galaxy" - arguments against, and request for revote

→ See Forum:CT:Capitalizing "sector"

Jedi and Sith

The words "Jedi" and "Sith" must always be capitalized. "Jedi" and "Sith" are metonymies that refer to "a member of the Jedi Order" and "a member of the Sith Order," respectively.

The Force

While "the Force" is a proper noun and therefore must be capitalized, the light and dark sides of the Force are not capitalized in the vast majority of official sources. Therefore, they must not be capitalized on Wookieepedia. For example: "Anakin Skywalker fell to the dark side," not "...to the Dark Side."

Please note that this does not apply if force refers to any other meanings of the word: A strike force of stormtroopers entered the system, not A strike Force...

Rebel and Imperial

If these adjectives refer to the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, they should always be capitalized. "Mon Calamari supported the Rebel cause" and "The Imperial base on Kejim was..."

However, note that if the referent of these forms are not either of these organizations, there is no reason to capitalize: "The galaxy was in turmoil by a series of rebellions and civil wars."

Human and other sentient species

In all sections of Canon in-universe articles, the word "human" is not to be capitalized, even though other sentient species (Twi'lek, Rodian, Wookiee, etc.) are. Note, however, that Star Wars Legends in-universe articles do capitalize the words "Human" and "Near-Human." The word "humanoid" is not to be capitalized in any in-universe article.

→ See Forum:CT:Capitalization of Human, Forum:CT:Capitalizing "human" -- some more details, and Forum:CT:Canon Human

Please note that semi-sentient or nonsentient creature names must not be in capitals unless dictated otherwise by canon. Hence, writing "Rancor" instead of "rancor" is agrammatical. As much as we don't capitalize "Dog" or "Cat" in real life, we shouldn't capitalize fictional creature names.

Ranks and titles

Ranks and titles are to be capitalized when they immediately precede an individual's name. Do not capitalize ranks or titles when used as a substitute for the name. "As an experienced leader, Admiral Ackbar served the Rebel Alliance. The admiral later served the New Republic."

→See Wookieepedia:Mofferences/June 23, 2013

There are some ranks the name of which should always be capitalized, no matter the semantics. Such titles are Padawan, Vice Admiral, Flight Leader, and so on.

Italics and miscellaneous grammar

Vehicles and vessels

Individual starships and space stations

• Names of individual starships are capitalized and italicized (example: Millennium Falcon), unless source material explicitly differentiates (example: Ship, the Sith Meditation Sphere).
• Names of space stations are italicized or not, according to formatting in source material (examples: Death Star, Tarkin, the Wheel).
• Refer to individual starships and space stations by "it"/"its" pronouns rather than "she"/"her" (example: "The Executor fired its turbolasers.").
• Refer to individual starships and space stations using the definite article (example: "The Devastator pursued the Tantive IV."), unless source material demonstrates a clear and consistent departure from this standard (example: "Home One served as Admiral Ackbar's flagship at the Battle of Endor.").

Starship and vehicle classes

In certain situations, Star Wars canon and Star Wars Legends follow different formatting standards for starship classes. Adhere to the following, noting any differences between Canon and Legends:

• When used as a compound adjective, the name of the ship class is italicized and hyphenated.
  • Canon: "Several CR-ninety corvettes, two Carrack-class light cruisers, a couple of Victories, and a Venator-class destroyer–the Liberator." (Tarkin, pg. 149)
    • Certain exceptions apply in accordance with source material formatting (example: qaz-class Star Destroyer).
  • Legends: "Embodying Emperor Palpatine's power and ruthlessness, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer came to symbolize the Empire during the Galactic Civil War." (The Essential Guide to Warfare, pg. 117)
• When used as a compound noun, the name of the ship class is italicized. In Canon, the term is hyphenated; in Legends, it is not hyphenated.
  • Canon: "The Resistance has limited intelligence of the First Order fleet, and many fear that the Resurgent-class is not the largest of the new Star Destroyer designs." (Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, pg. 43)
  • Legends: "...while a trio of six-hundred-meter cruisers—the Enforcer, Interdictor, and Vindicator classes—were common sights on the galaxy's star lanes." (The Essential Guide to Warfare, pg. 117)
• When used as a noun without the accompanying term "class," the name of the ship class is not italicized.
  • Canon: "Are any of the Venators within range?" (Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel, pg. 287)
  • Legends: "...including Imperial Star Destroyers, Venators, and a handful of Lucrehulks." (The Essential Guide to Warfare, pg. 119)
• Starfighter and vehicle classes shall adhere to the preceding rules as appropriate in accordance with source material formatting respective to each continuity (examples: Nantex-class territorial defense starfighter, Seraph-class urban landspeeder).

→ See Forum:CT:Updating MoS: Starship class names

Punctuation

Apostrophes and possessives ending in "s"

While plural nouns ending in "s" should be made possessive by adding only an apostrophe, singular nouns ending in "s" can be made possessive by adding either an apostrophe followed by another "s" or simply an apostrophe, providing each article is consistent throughout. Users are encouraged, but not required, to use only an s' for possessive nouns ending in a Z-sound. For example, while discussing the armor of multiple Mandalorians, one would write "Mandalorians' armor"; but while discussing the armor of Darth Nihilus, one could write "Nihilus's armor" or "Nihilus' armor."

→ See Forum:CT:Punctuation and Forum:CT:Re-evaluating the S apostrophe issue

Articles shall avoid "smart" (also known as "typographic" or "curly") quotation marks and apostrophes by converting them to ASCII (also known as "neutral" or "straight") quotation marks and apostrophes. In other words, quotation marks and apostrophes on Wookieepedia should look like '...' and "...", not ‘...’ and “...”

→ See Wookieepedia:Mofferences/August 30, 2019

Serial comma

Articles shall use the serial comma as standard.

→ See Wookieepedia:Mofferences/August 30, 2019

Gender

• If a droid has gender-specific programming and is predominantly referred to as "he" or "she" in source material, refer to the droid as "he" or "she" rather than "it."

Comic books

Do not italicize the issue numbers of individual comic books (examples: Legacy 18, Marvel Comics 1000, Doctor Aphra 38, Star Wars Adventures 28).

→ See Forum:CT:Italics in Canon comic issues, Forum:CT:Naming policy: Legends comic books

When linking to issues of comic book series that include the series' initial publication year as a parenthetical descriptor in the article title, the year parenthetical should be included in the pipelink, in the following format: Doctor Aphra (2020) 12. This applies even in reference notes and Appearances lists where a subject only appears in one of the series and not the other.

→ See Forum:CT:Publication Years in Comic Titles

Quotations

Quotations should follow this general format:

• If the quote is less than a paragraph long, simply including it in the article's body with "quotation marks" will suffice.
• If the quote is at least a paragraph in length, or a dialogue, insert as a block quote:

"Block quotes are indented with a colon at the beginning of each new paragraph. Each paragraph needs only one colon, not a new colon for each line (word wrap will accomplish this automatically).

New paragraphs, however, do require their own colon."

Please be sure to provide as much information as possible (for instance: source, page if applicable, and characters speaking if applicable).

• Users should not correct the capitalization, spelling, grammar, or word usage within direct quotes taken from copyrighted sources as such modifications jeopardize our Fair use claim on that material. Article quotes ought to be verbatim and any changes, edits, or exclusions should be explicitly noted by using square brackets ("[ ]"). Any errors made by the author may be noted by using "[sic]." This includes words such as Human, which the community has decided to capitalize in all other contexts, and the word galaxy, which is to be de-capitalized in all other contexts.
• However, the community has decided that quotes taken from comics should not mimic emphasized boldfaced wording. Instead, only italics are to be used for emphasis.
• Internal links should not be added to quotes because they serve little purpose beyond making the quotes appear cluttered and messy.
• Links should only be added in quote attributions and image captions if the subject is not linked in the article body already.

→ See Forum:CT:Quotes and Wookieepedia:Mofferences/January 6, 2019

Per standards of American English, 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: "I never liked 'May the Force be with you.'"

Allowable quotes

A quote used in a Wookieepedia article should only include:

1. Text that is presented within actual quotation marks, or otherwise clearly marked as spoken dialogue.
2. Text that is clearly presented within the confines of someone's memoirs, journal, or diary. This includes in-universe written works, such as catalogs, news reports, historical chronicles, government documents, personnel dossiers, and the like.

A quote is NOT:

1. Narrative prose that is not actual spoken dialogue or a character's personal memoirs, journal, or diary. This means that thoughts are not considered quotable material.

A quote used in the "behind the scenes" section of an in-universe article (or anywhere, in an entirely out-of-universe article) may contain any properly cited and formatted text required to supplement the information presented in that section and is not subject to the preceding content restrictions. Such a quote may include any text content relevant to Wookieepedia's areas of interest and relevant to the article text it accompanies. Quotes including narrative text and thoughts, specifically, should be reserved strictly for illustrative purposes and not for general use. Quotes with this kind of otherwise prohibited content may not be used outside of an out-of-universe section or article.

→ See Forum:CT:Making an official policy for "What a Quote is" and Forum:CT:Quote policy addendum

Examples

• Single speaker

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

―Han Solo, to Luke Skywalker

• Two speakers (regardless of length)

"I prefer more straightforward methods."
"Master of understatement."

―Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi

• For more than two speakers, dialogue templates can be used.

→ See Forum:CT:Quotations

→ See Forum:CT:Clarifying use of quote templates

Linking

General rules

• A subject should be linked once upon its first mention in the article's infobox, once upon its first mention in the article's intro, and once upon its first mention in the article's main body.
• Articles within a specific continuity should only link to other articles within that continuity, with the only exception being the article's "Behind the scenes" section (example: [[Yoda]] should not link to [[Yoda's species/Legends]]).
• Articles should avoid redirecting links by correcting these links to point to an article's actual title (example: [[Alliance to Restore the Republic|Rebel Alliance]], not [[Rebel Alliance]]).
• Articles should avoid linking to disambiguation pages, with the exception of disambiguation and redirection templates.
• In-universe articles should not link to real-world Wikipedia articles, except in the "Behind the scenes" section.

Formatting

• Always capitalize pipelinks (example: [[Star system|system]], not [[star system|system]]).
• When pipelinking, always place all characters inside the link brackets. Examples:
  • Italics: [[Subjugator (Imperial II-class)|''Subjugator'']], not ''[[Subjugator (Imperial II-class)|Subjugator]]''
  • Possessives: [[Anakin Skywalker|Darth Vader's]], not [[Anakin Skywalker|Darth Vader]]'s
  • Plurals: [[Galactic Empire|Imperials]], not [[Galactic Empire|Imperial]]s
  • Prefixes and suffixes: [[Death|killing]], not [[Death|kill]]ing; [[Water|underwater]], not under[[water]]
• Do not place grammatical articles (such as a, an, and the) in pipelinks (example: the [[Battle of Endor|battle]], not [[Battle of Endor|the battle]]).
• Avoid unnecessary pipelinks that do not point to a different title from the term being linked (example: [[Luke Skywalker]]'s, not [[Luke Skywalker|Luke Skywalker's]]).
• Do not separate compound terms upon first linking instance (examples: [[Battle of Hoth]], not [[Battle of Hoth|Battle of]] [[Hoth]]; [[YT-1300 light freighter]], not [[YT-1300 light freighter|YT-1300]] [[light freighter]]).
  • However, individual parts of compound terms may be linked upon subsequent mentions (example: YT-1300 [[light freighter]] is appropriate if [[YT-1300 light freighter]] has been linked previously).
    • But do not link individual words within proper compound nouns (examples: [[Death]] [[Star]], [[Color|Azure]] [[Dianoga]] [[Cantina]], [[The galaxy|Galactic]] Empire, ''[[Bantha]]''-class assault shuttle)
    • Multi-word terms or phrases within proper compound nouns may be linked if the term or phrase is not mentioned elsewhere in the article (example Imperial-class [[Star Destroyer]])
• When linking to Wikipedia articles or pages on other Fandom wikis, use the appropriate pipelinking parsers (examples: [[Wikipedia:Indiana Jones|Indiana Jones]], [[W:c:swg:Portable Deep Fryer|Portable Deep Fryer]]).

→ See Forum:CT:Linking in articles, Forum:CT:MOS and LG updates, Wookieepedia:Mofferences/May 25, 2019, Wookieepedia:Mofferences/August 30, 2019, Wookieepedia:Mofferences/July 25, 2020

Units of measurement

Many official Star Wars sources use the metric system of measurement, while others use American measurement units. It is recommended that in-universe articles use the metric system, but users should avoid making measurement conversions based on real-world conversion standards. Articles may state measurements based on whichever system is used in a particular canon source. (See also List of measurement units.)

→ See Forum:CT:MOS amendment: Units of measurement

Citation

References to print works not covered by articles at Wookieepedia should be cited in Modern Language Association citation format. Additionally, the designation "Print" in the citation itself is not to be used.

→ See Wookieepedia:Mofferences/February 12, 2012

Citation templates

Wookieepedia has standardized the following practices for citation template usage:

• Citation templates designed for the purpose of citing multiple parameters in a single reference may not be used merely to adorn the name of a source

Example: "An Old Flame in Need..." — Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, not  Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook

• Citation templates may not be used or created simply to adorn the name of a source with a logo
• Available citation templates must be used in Appearances, Sources, and Notes and references whenever applicable, with the exception of {{CSWECite}}, as noted below

CSWECite

• {{CSWECite}}, including all parameters, must be used in individual citation references when applicable
• {{CSWECite}} may not be used in the Sources list to denote individual entries, volumes, or page numbers. The only exception is when a subject is referenced in an entry but does not have a specific entry of its own.
  • Additionally, if a subject does not have an entry of its own and is referenced in more than 3 individual entries, the item will be formatted as such in the Sources list: *The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (Mentioned in multiple entries) — a new parameter has been added to {{CSWECite}} for this purpose: {{CSWECite|jang}}

→ See Wookieepedia:Mofferences/January 26, 2014

Miscellaneous

• No artificial white spaces are to be added to mainspace articles.

→ See Wookieepedia:Mofferences/November 7, 2020