Style Guide

From RhetorClick

Revision as of 16:48, 12 April 2012

Purpose of Style Guide

This style guide will enable wiki contributors to keep a consistent voice, style, and design when adding or editing content. To make the wiki as effective as possible, it is important for both writing and design to remain consistent and accessible. Refer to the following guidelines for rules on grammar, punctuation, headings, form, and layout.

RhetorClick Principles

Style Guidelines

• When adding a new page, give a brief description (one or two sentences) of what information is found on that page immediately beneath the title.

• When using Level 2 Headlines, put one line space between the title and the first line entry.

• For bulleted and numbered lists, put one space between the bullet point and the first word.

• For bulleted and numbered lists, put one line space between entries.

• For all headings (titles and level 2 headlines), use up-style. (Example: This Is How It Should Look / This is not how it should look)

• In the convention of Wikipedia, at the bottom of each page, put "See Also" for links to other pages within the wiki and "External Links" in level 2 headlines for useful links that are not easily integrated into the body of text.

Writing Guidelines

• Follow the rules of American grammar and spelling.

• Follow MLA style when using citations

Article Summaries

• List article summaries in alphabetical order by author's last name.

• Title should be the article title (within quotation marks), followed by the author's full name. (Example: "Definition of Man" by Kenneth Burke)

• Use a bold sub-heading (not a level 2 headline) for "Summary" section.

• Link to the author's page at the bottom of the entry using the following sentence: For more information, visit: [link to author's page].

• Include a section for "Possible Implications" after the summary so contributors can share their opinions about the readings. The section heading should look as follows: Additional Thoughts (Feel free to add your opinions here!)

Glossary

• At the end of each definition, please put (see: "Name of Article") Example: (see "Definition of Man" by Kenneth Burke)

Author Pages

• List authors in alphabetical order by Last Name. For links, write authors' names as Last Name, First Name.

• Title should be the author's full name (include middle initials, if commonly used).

• Repeat author's full name to start entry, followed by birth year and death year (if still living, write "present").

• Link to Article Summaries by that author under an "Article Summaries" Level 2 Headline.

• Follow this general format for all Author Pages: summary, biography (including education, early life, family, occupations, awards, etc.), article summaries, additional works/ publications, further readings, references, and external links. Other sections can be added as desired (such as Notable Quotes).

Definitions of Rhetoric

• List authors alphabetically by last name. (Example: Burke, Kenneth)

• Do not use Level 2 Headlines for authors' name -- make the names bold.

• Use a bulleted list for definitions beneath author's name.

References

• Use a numbered list -- not a bulleted list.

Timeline

• List authors by First Name, Last Name.

• Link authors' names to their corresponding Authors Page.

• List authors in order by birth date, from earliest to most current.