Manual of Style

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This article is actively undergoing a major edit.
As a courtesy, before making changes to this article, please contact an Administrator for guidance.

This page is considered an official policy on Jack Reacher Wiki.

It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow. Except for minor edits, please make use of the Comments section below to propose changes to this policy.

This Manual of Style outlines a standard of clean, consistent formatting for articles on this wiki. These guidelines will never be unerringly perfect for every situation. However, please try your best to keep to the advice outlined in this policy to maintain consistency and so that others may use your edits as an example when creating and editing their own articles.

Article topics[]

This wiki is centered on Lee Child's Jack Reacher media franchise. Therefore, all articles must be on-topic and within this scope. And there are many topics within the scope of the Jack Reacher franchise for which articles may be written.

We aim to include all major topics within this scope. This means that there should be articles for all novels, films, TV episodes, major characters, organizations, etc. This list is not inclusive and can be enlarged to include any topic deemed to be significant and notable.

Spam, or articles purely created for the purpose of vandalism, should be deleted, as soon as possible. This can be done by informing an admin of the situation.

However, if you think an otherwise-legitimate page should be deleted for another reason, for example, if you feel it is not notable, or outside the Wiki's scope, use our deletion template as directed on the template itself to categorize it here. You can expand your reasons or challenge the deletion as the template directs, on the talk page. If nobody challenges, an admin will delete it. If somebody objects, an agreement should be made regarding the page's future. In cases where deletion is justified, useful content should be merged into another article.

Appropriate naming[]

Page Naming[]

The page naming strategy on this Wiki is biased towards the Novel series. For Characters that only appear in the Novels, this is easy. However, there are two Films and a Television Series, which may have different names for the same character, in this instance, do not create additional pages or sub-pages, but mention the differences within the body of the article.

Images[]

When uploading pictures, the only naming guideline is that the name of the picture should be tangibly related to the picture's subject. For example, if you took a picture, do not upload it under a name like 0001.jpg, use something more descriptive.

"In-universe" point of view[]

For the sake of consistency, all articles written about people, places, or things that are within the Reacher Universe have to be written from an "in-universe" perspective rather than from a "real world" perspective: for example, "Dorothy Coe is a character appearing in the novel Worth Dying For by British author Lee Child" should be changed to "Dorothy Coe is a farmer and part-time maid at a local motel". This rule naturally does not apply for subjects outside the Reacher Universe, like Lee Child, Amazon Prime, and the different books and TV Series articles. Subjects that exist both in the real world and in the Reacher Universe should be written about from an in-universe perspective (e.g. FBI, U.S. Army, etc.).

There are 2 areas in an article that can contain "real world" information. The first one is in the Infobox Template which will handle the labelling, so no editor action is necessary. The second one is in a Section of the article entitled "Behind the Scenes" which can contain this information.

Article Layout[]

One of the most important parts of wiki editing is how to structure an article. The structure is a powerful thing: it dictates what information the reader reads and when he or she reads it. It can influence what people contribute, where it goes, and how it might be written. Structure has the power to inform or confuse the same way good or bad writing does. Keep a well-structured article, and you're more likely to have a high-quality one.

Organize sections in an article in a hierarchical structure like you would an outline. Keep it logical, but feel free to forsake strict logic for readability. Wherever possible, try to have an introduction for each section. Just like the article as a whole, the section should start with an introduction and then have its subsections below it. Try using a shallow structure rather than a deep one. Too many nested sections usually lead to a confusing or unreadable article.

Lead Section (intro)[]

Unless an article is very short, it should start with an introductory lead section, before the first subheading. The lead should not have its own header. It should be between one or two paragraphs long and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article.

The lead should introduce the subject, outlining any alternative names and its importance in the Jack Reacher novel, films, or television series, before moving on to a brief overview of the subject.

The title should be the subject of the first sentence of the article. The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles for the subject.

Table of Contents[]

A table of contents will automatically appear in articles with a minimum of four headings (unless forced by the below options). By default, this will be left-aligned above the first section heading. The below options are only available in source mode editing:

To the force a table of contents to appear, type: __TOC__ (contents will appear where this line is typed)
To completely remove the table of contents from a page, type: __NOTOC__

Section Headings[]

Headings are bracketed by '=' characters as follows:

'==' used for level 2 headings
'===' used for level 3 headings
'====' used for level 4 headings

Do not use level 1 headings as they create a heading the same size as the page title.

Use level 2 headings for main headings. For subsequent, sub-headings, use progressively larger level headings, first 3, then 4

Always keep headings short and simple. Headings are guidelines to your page's structure and should inform the reader rather than confuse. To keep it short, avoid unnecessary words or redundancy in headings, i.e. avoid a, an, and the, pronouns, repeating the article title, and so on. Also, try to avoid giving identical titles to different sections, as this complicates the 'jump to' function in the contents. Infoboxes should be used where applicable.

Headings should be arranged in a sensible order, such that the article flows coherently. Typically, this means listing sections by novel in chronological order, or in the chronological order of the events described.

Similar to the naming conventions of article pages, headings should only have the first word and proper nouns capitalised.
Avoid links in headings.
Do not include special formatting in headings (underlines, italics, etc.)
Beware of too many headings for too little information. It is messy and makes the article look like a stub.

Trivia can be included as a separate level 2 heading, after all other content but before any other sections. Trivia should be bullet pointed.

Images and Videos[]

Images and videos make an article memorable and good looking. They can speak where words fail. At the same time, misplaced or untidy images or videos can detract from an article. When choosing images or videos, keep in mind placement, size, and appropriateness. Let images and videos flow with the text instead of breaking it up.

All such media, except for those in an infobox, should use the thumbnail option. Infobox images should be ideally set to 250px wide. All other media should typically be 100 to 250px wide.

When an article has too many images or can be improved by having more, and having in-line images would detract from the readability of the article, the use of a gallery section is encouraged. Galleries are typically placed at the end of each sub-heading. If an entire article only relates to one item in one novel, you may consider a level-2 headed gallery at the end of the article instead.

YouTube videos may be embedded in text, as thumbnails, but may also be placed in video galleries. Due to the size of video galleries, these should only be placed at the end of an article, not within sub-sections.

Graphics should always have captions, unless they are self-explanatory - for example, in an infobox. The text of captions should not be specially formatted (with italics, for example), except in ways that would apply if it occurred in the main text.

Tables[]

Tables should use a 'class' design when possible and should include as little 'fancy' formatting as possible. Tables can also be made sortable by adding a 'sortable' class. 'Alt' class is discouraged.

Quotations[]

Quotes should be short - no longer than two or three sentences long. Any longer and it would need to be a block quotation.
Quotes should be indicative of the nature of the subject. It should be poignant and shed light on the intrinsic qualities of the subject at hand.

End Sections[]

References should be listed using the reflist template. Reference lists should always be located below any content but above any other headings. The template will automatically generate a list of references with appropriate names and links. However, if there are no references on the page, any such heading, and it's associated template, should be removed completely.

The last sections, where applicable, should be 'See also' (for internal links) followed by 'External links' (for external links), both under level 2 headings. Use bullets to list links.

Categories[]

No page - whether an article, project page, template or category itself - should ever be uncategorized. If in doubt as to which category to use, examine similar page(s) to see the categories that have been used.

Subpages[]

Subpages are useful. For extremely long pages, they can be called like templates to reduce the overall size of the page, which can improve loading and editing times. However, a few rules should be applied to subpages:

Subpages are not needed for moderate-length pages: An article that has only three or four sections doesn't need a series of subpages for itself. Only articles with six-plus sections (which are all of standard length) should be considered for this treatment.

Subpages should have no categories: Subpages are extensions of the main page to which they are attached, and as such shouldn't be categorized the way the normal page is -- instead, all categories should be applied to the subpage's parent page.

Subpages should not have subpages of their own: Self-explanatory. For any given subpage, it should not have any subpages of its own -- at that point, it's no longer considered a subpage.

Using Non-Canon Sources[]

Articles should be written using only Canonical information from the Novels by Lee Child. Even information that is derived from the two films as well as the Amazon Prime TV series must be identified as such. Additionally, citing or using information that is attributed to authors other than Lee Child must be identified. This can be accomplished by creating seperate sections such as:

"== Appearance in Amazon Prime TV series == "
"== Appearance in Diane Capri's novel Jack & Joe =="

Grammar and Formatting[]

Grammar is a writer's toolbox. You can't build good sentences without knowing how to use your tools. Since a wiki article must be as clear as possible for all the people reading it, editors must keep close to correct grammar standards to ensure clear communication.

As normally, only capitalize the start of sentences and then proper nouns thereafter. Ranks start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name), but not when used generically.

Italics are used for the titles of works, such as novels or films.

Where the subject of another article is referred to, the other article should be linked to. However, this should only be done on the first mention. They should not be overlinked in quick succession on a given page, although a link at the top of the page and another toward the end of a lengthy article would be appropriate.

Writing[]

We now come to the meat of an article: the words themselves. When you are editing wikis, you must be both academic and artistic. You have to be accurate, but you also have to be interesting. Neither one can dominate; you must skillfully balance both.

Keep your writing concise. Don't use two words where one will do. Keeping your writing simple will make it easy to understand and easy to expand on. Use complete sentences whenever possible.

Check your spelling and grammar. Do not use 'u' in place of 'you' or '2' in place of 'to'. Write the way you would for a class paper or a newspaper article. American English is the preferred spelling.

Keep all of the topics you cover within the scope of the article. What that means is, you don't need to give a detailed history of humans on a page about Winston Churchill. Consider the article's title as your point of origin and write from that perspective. Make use of the wiki's ability to link to more detailed articles or external sources for more information.

Write from an impersonal perspective. Do not use 'I'. Completely avoid drawing attention to the author (yourself). Do not use the impersonal 'you', either, which refers to the reader or player. When writing tips, say 'the player should' instead of 'you should'.

Maintain article neutrality. All pages should be from a neutral point of view. Avoid pointless adjectives that insert personal bias into an article and do not definitively say that something such as a weapon is relatively good or bad unless it can be statistically proven.

Don't make up words. English is one of the world's most comprehensive languages. There is bound to be a word to describe your needs. Remember, no Wikian is Shakespeare. If stuck, use the Wiktionary..

Dates[]

Calendar dates should be written as "February 12, 2006" or when brevity is required such as in tables, "Feb 12, 2006".

Tense[]

As a rule of thumb, in-universe articles should be written in past tense, because from an outside perspective, all events depicted in the Jack Reacher universe are history. Out-of-universe articles should also follow this rule.

Language[]

For consistancy, articles should be written using American English. Although the authors are British by birth, the Reacher franchise is largely American.

Other[]

Links to other episodes within pages should be in italics or inside inverted commas i.e.: ( ''[[Pie]]'').
Be aware that articles which exist on Wikipedia will not necessarily be created on this Wiki, even if they are mentioned in an article here. An article should only be created on the Jack Reacher Wiki if the topic is relevant to Jack Reacher. If it is deemed useful to give a reader access to more information on something, it is preferable to link directly to the article on Wikipedia.