Theopedia:Writing guide
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Theopedia is distinctively Christian
Theopedia is distinctively Christian and thus rejects the requirement to provide "neutral" content, or a neutral point-of-view (NPOV), as maintained in Wikipedia.
Endorsed perspective
Content consistent with the statement of faith and content generally accepted within traditional evangelical Protestantism may be written assertively and is the stated point-of-view (POV) of Theopedia.
Dissident perspective
Content that runs contrary to the statement of faith and traditional evangelical Protestantism may be respectfully and reasonably criticized.
Neutral perspective
Other content, particularly that which is not addressed in the statement of faith, but which finds a respected place within evangelical Protestantism among varying positions, should be written descriptively and without unnecessary bias.
Intended audience
Theopedia is intended to be a resource for laymen with varying degrees of experience and interest in Christianity and theology. Articles are to be written accordingly, for the edification of a diversity of people.
Acceptable content
Articles which are appropriate for inclusion are those which address issues confronted by Christians who might turn to Theopedia for information. Examples include topics in theology, doctrine, biblical interpretation and application, Christian living, church polity, denominations, and notable pastors, authors, and theologians.
Specific guidelines
To maintain a desired level of quality, the material and content offered on Theopedia should meet the following criteria:
- Include a concise introductory paragraph defining the topic at hand and mentioning the most important points. The reader should be able to get a good overview by only reading this first paragraph.
- Submit biographies only for individuals who meet some reasonable standard of notability, e.g., they are widely published, are a principal leader in a well-known Christian organization, or are key proponents for a major school of thought or religious movement.
- Create new articles only if you have specific content and links to include. This avoids giving the false impression that there is information available when there is nothing of substance to read.
- Provide internal links only to established articles or to topics which meet the above stated criteria.
Unacceptable content
It is generally unnecessary and unacceptable for Theopedia to have an article that:
- Contains only a list of external links with no context
- Is of minimal significance to evangelical Christians
- Serves only to promote the cause of one individual or organization
- Relies primarily on sources of dubious reliability
User Pages
Users may include some personal information, links, quotes, thoughts, and images in their own User Pages (or sub-pages). One may not, however, use Theopedia in a similar way that people use personal web pages or blogs. Administrators reserve the right to regulate User Page content at their own discretion.
Commentary
Rather than attempting to develop a verse-by-verse Commentary on the Bible, Theopedia has chosen to take a Bible Handbook approach. Articles at the book level, e.g. Romans, should focus on overview, authorship, dates, outlines and themes in the book. Articles on individual chapters of a book, e.g. Romans 5, should focus on overview, theme, relevant theological issues, and links to external commentary or authoritative sources for further insight. While we are not attempting a verse-by-verse detailed exegesis, chapter-articles may cover particularly salient passages in some detail. It is preferred but not required that contributors work on book-(introduction) articles before chapter-articles.
Make sure to abide by fair use law when quoting a source.
Style
- Keep the article encyclopedic in style. Articles should be factual in nature. Avoid personal comments (or turn them into general statements if legitimate). Don't use personal forms (e.g. I found that. . .), and don't present personal opinions. Also in keeping with the encyclopedic style, add etymology or provenance when appropriate.
- Avoid stilted, over-technical and complex language in constructing articles, which may appear as arrogance and pseudo-intellectualism. Simple, clear wording is more understandable and the most effective way to communicate ideas.
- Separate the major sections of your articles with section headlines. For many topics, a brief history section is very appropriate, outlining the origins and historical development of the concept. Make sure to link to other relevant Theopedia articles. Also, where appropriate, add links in other articles back to your article. See other sections here and in How to contribute for editing help regarding format, producing links, emphasizing text, lists, headlines, etc.
- If there are significant differences of opinion about your topic, characterize that debate for the reader. Present the information as objectively as possible while being mindful of Theopedia's stated point of view.
- A good article may often be developed by collaborating with other members of Theopedia. Use the Talk pages to refine the topic and ask for suggestions and confirmations. The composition of a commonly-agreed presentation is an important ingredient of a serious Theopedia article.
- At the end, you should list all references you used and pertinent external links about the topic. Don't neglect the "External Links" and "References" sections that should appear at the bottom of every page. The most useful and accurate material you've found by "online searching" during your research might make good links for a reader too. All strong articles will contain a list of references.
External links
When available, links to publications, articles, and blog posts by seminary professors and established Christian leaders are to be preferred. Links to resources by others are permitted but subject to the collective wisdom and discernment of the Theopedia community.
Formatting
Prioritize multimedia resources
Given that people are more inclined to watch / listen to a multimedia presentation, such are to be prioritized in articles. You can see an example of this here.
Spelling
Check your spelling. Theopedia does not contain a spell checker, but you can write and spell-check your article first in a word processor or text editor and then paste it into the text-box.
Note: Mozilla Firefox now comes with a decent spell checker built-in. We recommend you use that when editing.
Capitalization
In article titles, capitalize the first letter of the first word only, except for proper names that are normally capped. This should be the same scheme for the titles of sections and sub-sections in an article.
According to the Chicago Manual of Style, Bible and Scripture as proper names are capitalized, but biblical and scriptural as adjectives are normally not.
Reference your work
- See also: Wikipedia's standard appendices guide, copyright, and copyright FAQ
Being a wiki does not relieve contributors from academic rigor. Contributors must respect copyrights and, as much as possible, cite their sources.
It is, of course, preferable that you write articles in your words; however, sometimes we all find articles, webpages or books which just put it so well that we couldn't possibly improve upon it. In cases where this happens, you may want to copy that source directly. Before doing so, you must ensure that you have the relevant permissions. When copying the text, you should make it quite plain where you are getting it from, with a link or a clear citation in a "References" section, in case of hard copy.
Checking before copying, and referencing your sources, are not optional extras: they are part of a good Christian witness towards others who have put in hard work on articles, web pages and books, showing honesty and good manners in crediting those who deserve it. They also help to keep us on the right side of the law!
No original research
Theopedia (like Wikipedia[1]) is not the place for original research. Citing sources and avoiding original research are inextricably linked: the only way to verifiably demonstrate that you are not doing original research is to cite reliable sources which provide information that is directly related to the article, and to adhere to what those sources say.
Original research is a term used by Theopedia to refer to material added to articles by Theopedia editors that has not been published already by a reputable source. In this context it means unpublished theories, data, statements, concepts, arguments, and ideas; or any new interpretation, analysis, or synthesis of published data, statements, concepts, or arguments that would amount to a "novel narrative or historical interpretation."
Wikipedia
Some projects and documents may be better placed in the Wikipedia project rather than Theopedia. This is not a definitive rule, but articles about topics such as general biographies, geography, historical events, or philosophical positions may be better placed at Wikipedia so that they can enjoy the expanded scholarship represented by that site. Furthermore, "interwiki" links to Wikipedia from Theopedia are easy: any wiki link that starts with w: or wikipedia: will link to the Wikipedia article on the topic. E.g. [[w:postmodernism]] becomes w:postmodernism. Theopedia uses all of the standard Wikimedia interwiki shortcuts; see Special:Interwiki for Theopedia's full interwiki chart (including sites like MormonWiki.org).
Copying Wikipedia articles
Content from Wikipedia should not be imported.
Creative Commons License
The textual content of Theopedia, unless otherwise noted, is under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. When using content from an article, take note of any images that are not under our Creative Commons license. Images are often used in accordance with fair use or with their own compatible Creative Commons license.
Please mention any copyright infringements at the Village pump, or on the talk page of the specific article in question.
Citation Formats
We have not been consistent in the way we cite resources, references and/or footnotes. However, as we move forward we should strive for consistency. The following is from the Chicago Manual of Style, which is in agreement with the Turabian Style Guide. Our most common departure is to use the "footnote format" for bibliographic as well as footnote citations -- so much so that we deem this "an acceptable alternate" and should not set out to manually change them.
Bibliographic entry for Book, Journal article, and Website:
While Theopedia does not ascribe to a specific style guide (e.g. Turabian), the following are examples of how bibliographic content should be listed. This is often done in a section entitled Resources. Please try and list entries in either alphabetical or chronological order for a given article.
- Hodge, Alexander. Outlines of Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980. ISBN 0-310-26200-3
- Cowen, Stephan B. "Common Misconceptions of Calvinism" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Vol. 33, No. 2 (June 1990): 124-130.
- University of Georgia, "Points of Pride," University of Georgia, http://www.uga.edu/profile/pride.html.
Footnote entry for Book[1], Journal article[2], and Website[3].:
While we have gone through some iterations, the preferred method for creating footnotes is as follows:
- At each citation point in the text, add <ref> author, title, publisher, date, page no.</ref>
- Create a new section by adding ==Notes== or ==Footnotes== in a proper place.
- Under this new section, add the command {{reflist}}
This will automatically list all footnotes/info in proper sequence as shown below:
- ↑ Alexander Hodge, Outlines of Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980), 159.
- ↑ Steven B. Cowen, "Common Misconceptions of Calvinism" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Vol. 33, No. 2 (June 1990): 124.
- ↑ University of Georgia, "Points of Pride," University of Georgia, http://www.uga.edu/profile/pride.html (accessed October 30, 2003).
