OLSEncyclopedia:Writing Style

From OLSEncyclopedia

Writing Style refers to the conventions applied to articles writen for the Outlaw Star Encyclopedia. The purpose of having a standard for the encyclopedia is that, by doing so, not only does it make it easier for readers to locate relevent information, it also ensures that the information itself is of high quality both in its content and delivery.

Contents 1 Maintaining Topic Focus 2 Neutral Point of View 3 Technical Conventions 4 Additional Reading

Maintaining Topic Focus

One of the most important elements of a good article is topic focus – i.e. whatever the subject of the article may be, a strict adherence to not deviating from the subject. Although there are certainly relationships between various subjects which may call for referencing other subject matter, anything beyond a mere reference (with an accompanying wikilink) is considered inappropriate.

Thus, for example, if there is an article discussing Gene Starwind, while it would be appropriate to mention that he uses a caster or discuss his relationship to Jim Hawking, Melfina, Suzuka, or Aisha, it would be well beyond the scope of the article to go into any detail discussing any of those subjects in and of themselves. In other words, while it is quite justified to write about a subject's relationship with its environment, the environment itself should not hijack the article by becoming its primary focus.

Neutral Point of View

Another important aspect of writing encyclopedic entries is that a Neutral Point of View be observed throughout. What this means is that, while opinions may be reported, they should never be expressed. To illustrate the difference between these two concepts, consider the following examples, the first demonstrating how an opinion is reported, the second demonstrating how it is expressed (also known as the difference between fact and opinion):

Fact – The latter period of SSJVinnieG's tenure as adminstrator has been the subject of significant criticisms, chief among them being his reported abuse of powers in breaking many of the OutlawStar.NET communities rules. Ultimately, when several of these concerns were brought to the attention of the head administrator, AKosygin, who found the concerns to be valid, SSJVinnieG was demoted; and, with the subsequent deletion by SSJVinnieG of large chunks of the message board's threads as a form of protest, a permanent ban.

Opinion – Although SSJVinnieG started out as a good administrator, as time wore on, he became quite the arrogant prick, breaking many of the rules he himself was supposed to uphold in his position of authority. As the complaints came in, the Godlike AKosygin brought the hammer of retribution upon SSJVinnieG by first demoting SSJVinnieG to demonstrate who was the boss and then, following SSJVinnieG's whiny and futile protest of deleting large chunks of the message board's threads, the final stone was cast and a permanent ban was employed.

Besides the obvious differences in tone and vocabulary, the main difference between these two examples is how the one reports criticism actions by SSJVinnieG and the other actually creates criticisms in and of itself. Understanding of this concept is of utmost importance when writing from a neutral perspective. However, it should also be added that in order to truly craft a balanced article, not only should writers limit themselves to only reporting events as they have transpired, but they should also make an attempt to report as equally as possible all sides to any given issue. This is particularly true of subjects such as the one used as an example above.

Technical Conventions

• At the start of an article, please include the name of the subject within the first sentence, an bolding it to increase its distinction. For an example of this, simply see the beginning of this article: "Writing Style refers to the conventions applied to articles written for the Outlaw Star Encyclopedia."

Additional Reading

• Wikipedia's Manual of Style is highly recommended for its in-depth analysis of the elements of style.