TarValon.Net Library Manual of Style

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Latest Update: April 25, 2022

What is a Manual of Style?

A manual of style, sometimes called a style guide, is a reference work that sets standards for document writing, formatting, and design. A manual of style can be designed for various tasks, such as business communication or blog writing. The manual typically does not focus on what is grammatically "correct" or "incorrect" in an absolute sense. Rather, it provides guidance in instances for which multiple possibilities exist.

Currently, this manual of style applies only to TarValon.Net's Library and the articles contained within it. Other TarValon.Net documents might not necessarily follow this manual.

Why does the TarValon.Net Library Need a Manual of Style?

Although every contributor to our Library has their own writing style and preferences, a high degree of variation among articles could make the Library's materials less consistent and might even introduce issues with accuracy and readability. A manual of style would help to ensure consistency and accuracy across all of the Library's articles by setting standards for matters such as punctuation, capitalization, citation, language, and typography.

Over time, Library contributors have established some unspoken or unwritten rules, but having an official document will help future writers and editors compose, format, and edit articles more consistently.

Who Should Use the Manual of Style?

We understand that many writers and editors may require some time to read this guide in its entirety and apply its guidelines consistently. However, writers and editors should make their best efforts to do so. The style guide will serve you as a point of reference and a resource. In addition, it can help to settle disputes between editors, and it might answer new editors' questions.

Do I Need to Follow This to Submit Articles to the Library?

Please do your best to apply our style guide to any submissions to the Library. We understand that learning to apply a style guide can be an involved process, but using this guide is an important part of ensuring the consistency and clarity of the Library's materials. A Library editor will review your submission and suggest useful changes, including those that ensure the article complies with the style guide.

Spelling and Grammar

Most articles in the Library are written in English, so the majority of the manual's guidance for grammar, mechanics, spelling, and other issues will be focused on the English language.

Articles written in other languages will be edited according to the prevailing rules for those languages. In addition, volunteers might be needed to edit such articles.

TarValon.Net's Library articles should be written using U.S. English conventions. TarValon.Net is incorporated in the United States of America, and this is where the Bylaws are registered, so the U.S. English spelling and punctuation are considered the default.


Article text submitted in British English or other non-U.S. Englishes will be edited to conform to U.S. conventions, but please make your best effort to use U.S. conventions in your submissions.

To avoid any confusion or spelling and word definition disputes, the Library's preferred dictionary is the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Avoid Using Slang

In general, avoid using slang terms and other informal expressions in articles you submit to TarValon.Net's Library. Such terms often have highly specialized or highly localized meanings and could therefore be difficult for readers from diverse backgrounds and locations to understand.

When editing or submitting articles, slang words might be allowed in the following cases:

However, in such cases, slang terms should not be offensive in nature and will be edited if found to be so.

Avoid Using Contractions

Formal and scholarly writing typically avoids the use of contractions to ensure greater clarity. Except in cases such as direct quotations of another's words, or the above mentioned Who's Who personal pages, please generally avoid the use of contractions in submissions to the Library. For instance, please use "I am not" or "I should not" instead of "I’m not" or "I shouldn’t."

Abbreviations

Avoid abbreviations when they might confuse the reader, interrupt the flow, or appear informal. Generally, avoid devising new abbreviations, especially acronyms.

  • There is an allowed shortening of "Chapter" to "Ch." when used to reference a chapter from a book.
  • The Wheel of Time book titles are usually used as acronyms in TarValon.Net's Library whenever they are referenced inline.
  • Some positions at TarValon.Net community can also sometimes be referenced by using their acronym.

Please consult with the following list when in need to use abbreviations - Manual of Style/Abbreviations.

Serial Comma (Oxford Comma) Use

TarValon.Net's Library recommends using the serial comma, also called the Oxford comma, except when doing so would make the meaning of a sentence unclear.

Lists

Lists are commonly used to organize information of a similar kind.

TarValon.Net's Library uses unordered or bulleted lists by default with each list item being a complete sentence. Use sentence case by default for list items.

Sometimes a list may be a part of the sentence, in which case when such a list contains as one of its elements a secondary list, a semicolon is used to divide the elements of the outer/main list. Read more examples about this rule at Merriam-Webster.com A Guide to Using Semicolons in the section Semicolons Separate Phrases or Items in a List or Series.

General Formatting Rules

Page and Category Titles

The title of a page or category in the Library should be written in title case.

Avoid using A, An or The as the first word in an article title ("Keeper of the Chronicles" instead of "The Keeper of the Chronicles" or "A Keeper of the Chronicles").

Headings

All headings in TarValon.Net Library articles should be written in title case.

There are four levels of headings in the Library articles.

  • A Level 1 heading is the title of the page itself.
  • A Level 2 heading is the highest level of heading on the page.
  • A Level 3 heading is a subheading under a Level 2 heading.
  • A Level 4 heading is a subheading under a Level 3 heading.

Each level of heading should be organized beneath a heading of the previous level. Thus, a Level 4 heading should appear only below a Level 3 heading.

Never use a level 1 heading on a page.

Numbers and Dates

Numbers from one to nine should be spelled out as words, and numbers 10 and above should be written as numerals.

Exceptions would include:

  • Decimal numbers

Exceptions involving dates:

  • Days should always be written using numerals.
  • Months should be spelled out fully and should not be abbreviated. For instance, write "March" rather than "Mar."
  • Years should always be written using numerals.

Real-world dates that appear on Tower related pages should be written using the following format:

Month Date, Year

Example: September 4, 2021

Wheel of Time related dates should be written using the following format:

Month Date, Year

Example: Aine 4, 998 NE

Please note that there are several ways of spelling the calendar year that an event in the Wheel of Time world took place in:

  • For years from the Toman calendar, After the Breaking ( abbreviated as AB) - Year AB
  • For years form the Gazaran calendar, Free Years (abbreviated FE) - FE Year
  • For years from the Farede calendar, years of the New Era (abbreviated NE) - Year NE

Wheel of Time Specific Words and Phrases

There are some words and phrases that are "special cases", because of how Robert Jordan has decided to write them in his works The Wheel of Time. To continue the consistency, the TarValon.Net Library follows the same formatting of those words and phrases.

The following format should be used in text, but not in page, category, or section titles.

On general principle, country, town, city, and personal names should always be capitalized; official titles should always be capitalized; weave names should always be capitalized.

Please consult with the following list when in doubt how to format Wheel of Time words and phrases - Manual of Style/Wheel of Time Words and Phrases.

Punctuation

Apostrophes

Use straight apostrophes ('), not curly apostrophes (’). Do not use accent marks or backticks (`) as apostrophes.

Quotations

Use "straight" double quotation marks, not “curly” ones.

Do not use accent marks, backticks (`text´), low-high („ “) or guillemet (« ») marks as quotation marks.

For a quotation within a quotation use single quotes:

Bob asked: "Did Jim say 'I ate the apple' before he left?"

Spacing

A space should be omitted before a comma, semicolon, colon, period/full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark. A single space should be added after each of these punctuation marks.

Some editors may prefer to type two spaces after a period/full stop, however the software will render only a single space so what the reader sees is not affected.

Citations

The source material used in TarValon.Net's Library articles comes from the work by Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time, and its accompanying works, such as The World of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" and The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game. The Wheel of Time Companion is not used as a source for articles submitted to TarValon.Net's Library.

All statements and quotations in an article must be followed by an appropriate reference to one of the books of the The Wheel of Time. The TarValon.Net Library has templates linking to a book, and a chapter of that particular book, which you may use to include your references - Category:Chapter Templates.

There are different templates, which you should use for different purposes. For more information on citations, check out the manual on Citations.

Categories and Pages Which This Manual Excludes

In general, all articles under the Category:The Wheel of Time and Category:The Wheel of Time TV Series should follow this manual.

However, there are several categories that either follow other manuals, or are written in free style and are not academically written articles. Therefore, those articles are exempt from following this manual, which does not mean that they cannot, but it is not mandatory.

Revisions

Revisions to this document will be done on a yearly basis.

Revisions will also be made whenever there is a need to change, or add a section or a rule.

Latest Revisions
  • First published - April 25, 2022.