Style Guide

This page exists to help editors in this community keep our wiki consistent and orderly. It is meant to be a living document, and sections will be added as needed.

Book and Series Titles

Books

• Titles are always italicized
• Initial T in "The" is always capital
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
  • should be shortened to The Perilous Journey unless title of infobox or page, or the first use of the name in a section.
  • Source Editor code for link:

''[[The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey|The Perilous Journey]]''

• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma
  • should be shortened to The Prisoner's Dilemma unless title of infobox or page
  • Source Editor code for link:

''[[The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma|The Prisoner's Dilemma]]''

• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages
  • should be shortened to The Riddle of Ages unless title of infobox or page
  • Source Editor code for link:

''[[The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages|The Riddle of Ages]]''

• The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict
  • may be shortened to Extraordinary Education unless it is the title of an infobox or page, or is the first mention of the title in a section.
• Mr. Benedict's Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums
  • should not be shortened, but may be referred to as a "puzzle book" or similar after the second mention in a section.
• Any prose work may be referred to as "the book", "the novel", or "the story" if it is clear which book you are referring to. Exceptions apply.

Series

• "The series", "the original series", and "The Mysterious Benedict Society series"
  • refer to The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Perilous Journey, The Prisoner's Dilemma, and The Riddle of Ages collectively.
  • Example: The original series follows the titular Mysterious Benedict Society...
  • The word "series" is not italicized.
• "The trilogy", "The original trilogy", and "The first three books"
  • refers to the The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Perilous Journey, and The Prisoner's Dilemma.
  • Example: The first three books follow Reynie, Sticky, Constance, and Kate as younger children...
• "The prequel"
  • refers to The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict
  • Example: In the prequel, we meet Mr. Benedict as a child.
  • It's best to use this only to avoid repetition in a sentence or paragraph. Name the books if possible.
• "The puzzle book" or "Perplexing Puzzles"
  • refers to Mr. Benedict's Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums, though it is important to write out the full title the first time it appears in a section.

Links

Link the first mention only.

A "section" is defined as the text within a second level heading. The "Links" heading is a second-level heading. The "Link the...only" heading is a third-level heading.

• Example: In the article about duskwort, Mr. Curtain is mentioned several times. Only the first instance is linked: "Both of these uses inspired Mr. Curtain (first instance linked) to make an extensive search for it...Since Mr. Benedict (first instance linked) and Mr. Curtain (subsequent instances not linked) are twins..."

• Treat infoboxes as separate articles. Link the first mention in the infobox even if it's already linked in the main article.

Do not include punctuation in the link.

Correct: In the article about duskwort, Mr. Curtain is mentioned several times.

Incorrect: In the article about duskwort, Mr. Curtain is mentioned several times.

Exception: In duskwort's article, Mr. Curtain is mentioned several times.

Plot Summaries

When summarizing a book or episode of a TV show (in that book or episode's article), follow the following:

• A book or episode's article should not include an exhaustive play-by-play of the media it is describing. When summarizing, highlight
  • Exposition (how the story begins);
  • Major points in the Rising Action (important events that occur before the climax);
  • Major points in the Climax (a brief summary of the climax);
  • Major points in the Conclusion (important events that occur after the climax);
  • Character Development (major shifts in the behavior or states of any characters, such as the revelation that Constance Contraire is only two years old).
• Puzzles, tests, and challenges the characters face may be mentioned at the editor's discretion, but often an article is better served by including a link to the challenge's article (as in The Test) or to the list of Puzzles and Challenges in The Mysterious Benedict Society.

Infoboxes

Infoboxes are templates which summarize the most important information in an article. They are created with one of the following templates, which should be the first line in any article's source code (exceptions including tophat templates; see below):

• {{Infobox}} Creates a generic infobox, with few variables. This should only be used if no other infoboxes are appropriate.
• {{Infobox/Book}} Creates an infobox describing a book, real-life or in-universe.
• {{Infobox/Cast}} Creates an infobox describing a cast member in a TV show, movie, or similar work recognized by this wiki.
• {{Infobox/Character}} Creates an infobox describing a character in a work recognized by this wiki.

Notices (Tophats)

A notice, or "tophat" template is a template notifying users of some important state of the page. They should use the first line(s) of code in the article or section they refer to. If a notice template affects several sections in an article, but not the whole page, the template should be included as the first line of each section. Notice templates include:

• {{NoBook}} For articles or sections providing information from an adaptation (such as the TV series) that is not confirmed, contradicted, or otherwise acknowledged in the universe of the books. If such information is contradicted in the books, instead use:
• {{VsBook}} For articles or sections providing information from an adaptation (such as the TV series) that is contradicted by information in the books.
• {{Stub}} For very short articles or articles with little information. If an article has no sections beyond its introduction, it's probably a stub.
• {{Spoiler}} As almost every article on this wiki includes spoilers, and indeed a wiki could be considered one massive, community-based, collaborative spoiler, this alert sees little use. As it may be assumed that anyone reading an article will have read the material pertaining to it, only include this template if an article mentions something not related to its subject, such as a "Foreshadowing" section on a book's page.
• {{Delete}} For pages that are candidates for deletion. These include duplicates and other articles that are not obviously spam or nonsensical. An article that has absolutely no place on this wiki should be marked with:
• {{Speedydelete}} Very similar to {{Delete}}, but marks it specially. Use this template on spam and utterly unrelated topics.
• Legal templates: Several alert templates exist on this wiki. They will be consolidated in a special page.

References and Citation

This wiki uses a number of templates and tags to ensure that information is verifiable. To provide cross-article continuity, here are some guidelines for citing sources:

Citing

There are two ways to cite any source.

Templates

• The first and easiest way is through the {{r}} template. See that page for instructions on use and a list of accepted names for canon sources.
  • Names and abbreviations acceptable in citation templates are not necessarily acceptable in articles. For instance, you can include the template code {{r|MBS}} to cite The Mysterious Benedict Society, but you may not refer to that book as "MBS" in articles.

HTML Tags

• The second and more detailed way is through the HTML tag <ref>. It's best for citing external sources or specific chapters of a book.

Citing Books by Chapter

<ref>[[MEDIA]]: [[TITLE]] – Chapter XX: "NAME"</ref>

• MEDIA is the source's prefix. For now, the only accepted prefix is PROSE.
• TITLE is the name of the source. See the list of accepted prose sources. Please reproduce the title exactly.
• XX: "NAME" is the Roman numeral for a given chapter and the chapter's name. Please enclose the chapter's name in quotation marks.
  • E.g. <ref>[[PROSE]]: [[''The Mysterious Benedict Society'']] – Chapter III: "Squares and Arrows"</ref> yields PROSE: The Mysterious Benedict Society – Chapter III: "Squares and Arrows"

Citing external websites

<ref>https://sub-subdomain.subdomain.website.tld/subpage/subsubpage/sub-subpage CITATION INFO</ref>

• "Citation Info" is what appears in the bibliography. Consider listing the website or news article's name. Be as clear and concise as possible.

Citation Superscript

• Citation superscript is the small number that appears in an article where the citation template or tag was inserted in the source code. It looks like this. Clicking the superscript will direct readers to the corresponding entry in the bibliography (see below).

References

• Citation superscript is created by the {{r}} template and the <ref> tag, but the source's name(s) are invisible without a bibliography.
• In any article that includes citations, a {{reflist}} template must be included under a second-level "References" header. If the article includes citations but does not have a bibliography, red error text will appear at the bottom of the article.
• The bibliography is the last section in any article.

Color Scheme

Color	Hex	RGB
Green	8ab581	(138, 181, 129)
Yellow	fbeaaf	(251, 234, 175)
Red	d33e41	(211, 62, 65)
Blue	80c7e5	(128, 199, 229)
Black	000000	(0, 0, 0)

Other Resources

Refer to the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide:

• quick answers for general situations on the APA Style website
• more specific situations discussed on the APA Style Blog
• excellent guide to APA from Purdue's Online Writing Lab

Example Article

This is an article that showcases the guidelines laid out in this document.