Clicklaw Wikibooks Style Guide
This style guide for Clicklaw Wikibooks aims to help contributors produce Wikibooks with consistent and clear language, layout, and formatting. The goal is to make Clicklaw Wikibooks easier and more intuitive to use. See the Clicklaw Wikibooks Cheatsheet for shortcuts for commonly used wiki commands.
Page titles and in page headings
Page titles
The title of a page should be in plain language (as a description of the topic or, for Legal Help for British Columbians, a question), concise, and consistent with the titles of related pages.
The following points are important with page titles:
- Each page title on Clicklaw Wikibooks has to be unique, so make your page title as specific as possible. For example, use "Making Changes in Child Support" rather than "Making Changes".
- Use title case in page titles; that is, the first letters of all words should be capitalized except for articles (the, a, an), prepositions (in, of, to, from, with, etc.), and conjunctions (and, but, for, or and nor).
In page headings
Headings within a page are produced by typing multiple equal signs. A primary section heading is written ==Words in heading==, a subsection below it is written ===Words in heading===, and so on (a maximum of five levels is possible). Spaces between the equal signs and the heading text are optional, and will not affect the way the heading is displayed. The heading must be typed on a separate line. Include one blank line above the heading, and optionally one blank line below it, for readability in the edit window. (Only two or more consecutive blank lines will add more white space in the public appearance of the page.)
The following points apply to in page headings:
- Use sentence case for section headings — that is, the initial letter of a title is capitalized; otherwise, capital letters are used only where they would be used in a normal sentence.
- Headings should not normally contain links, especially where only part of a heading is linked.
- Section and subsection headings should preferably be unique within a page; otherwise section links may lead to the wrong place.
Capital letters
In general terms, resist using capital letters, as they hinder the reader when overused.
Legal terms and forms
- Do not use capital letters for legal terms — e.g., "a retainer agreement is a contract between a lawyer and you"; "a will appoints an executor".
- Do not use capital letters for party names — e.g., "after the claimant files a claim, the respondent has 14 days to reply".
- Use capital letters for the names of prescribed court forms — e.g., "the claimant must file a Notice of Family Claim" — but do not use capital letters for general legal forms — e.g., "a power of attorney enables you to appoint someone to look after your financial affairs".
Do not use capitals for emphasis
Do not use capital letters for emphasis; where wording alone cannot provide the emphasis, use italics.
Titles of works
Titles of books and other print works are given in title case — that is, the first letters of all words should be capitalized except for articles (the, a, an), prepositions (in, of, to, from, with, etc.), and conjunctions (and, but, for, or and nor).
Calendar items
- Months, days of the week, and holidays start with a capital letter — e.g., June, Monday, Christmas.
- Seasons are in lower case — e.g., last summer, next fall.
Compass points
Do not capitalize directions such as "north", nor their related forms.
Capitalize names of regions if they have attained proper-name status, including informal conventional names — e.g., "Lower Mainland". Do not capitalize descriptive names for regions that have not attained the status of proper names, such as "northern British Columbia".
Institutions
Names of particular institutions are proper nouns and require capitals, but generic words for institutions (e.g., "university", "college", "hospital", "high school") do not.
Italics
Emphasis
Italics may be used sparingly to emphasize words in sentences (whereas bold is normally not used for this purpose). Generally, the more highlighting in a page, the less its effectiveness.
Titles
Use italics for the titles of books or publications of greater length (including wikibooks). The titles of articles, chapters, and other short works are not italicized; they are enclosed in double quotation marks. (See examples below.)
Lists
Bulleted lists
Use bulleted lists to break up a list of items. Use numbered lists if the list is a series of steps.
When making a bulleted list, put an asterisk before each item to make it a bulleted list item:
*Bullet point*Bullet point
This will appear as:
- Bullet point
- Bullet point
Where the bulleted list has items that are less than a full sentence, use commas between the items, start each item with a lowercase letter, and use a conjunction after the second-to-last item. For example:
- To qualify for disability benefits, you must:
- be at least 18 years of age,
- have a severe mental or physical impairment, and
- need help or supervision because of the disability.
When a list is very brief, you can omit punctuation within the list. For example:
- To make scones you need:
- flour
- salt
- butter
- baking powder
Where the bulleted list has one or more items that are a full sentence or longer, use periods between the items. For example:
- Your best bets are:
- Family Law in BC, for forms, self-help materials and other legal information about family legal issues.
- Family Justice Centres, to make an appointment with a counsellor to discuss parenting arrangements, contact or support.
- Family Duty Counsel (Provincial or Supreme), for some assistance on the day you have to appear in court.
Where a heading for a bulleted list item is appropriate, use a colon after the heading, and a period at the end of the item:
- Common Experience Payment: A CEP is payable to all former students of Residential Schools.
- Independent Assessment Process: Under this process, a victim of abuse at a Residential School may apply for additional compensation.
Numbered lists
Use numbered lists if the list is a series of steps.
When making a numbered list, put a pound sign (#) before each item to make it a numbered list item. Note that you should have no space between the pound sign and the beginning of the item, and no spaces between list items.
You can nest a bulleted list within a numbered list. Use the syntax #* for the bulleted items within the numbered list:
#First numbered item#Second numbered item#*Bullet point#*Bullet point
This will appear as:
- First numbered item
- Second numbered item
- Bullet point
- Bullet point
Quotation marks
Use double quotation marks; use single marks for quotes within a quote.
Periods and commas go inside quotation marks, but semicolons and colons go outside.
References
Publications
When referring to a publication that is a book or other longer work, put the title in italics:
- Law Students' Legal Advice Program Manual
When referring to a wikibook, put the title in italics:
- JP Boyd on Family Law
When referring to a publication that is a shorter work like a chapter or fact sheet, put the title in quotation marks:
- the fact sheet "Dealing with a Problem Roommate" and the pamphlet "Tenant Info for Renters in British Columbia"
For publication titles, use title case; that is, the first letters of all words should be capitalized except for articles (the, a, an), prepositions (in, of, to, from, with, etc.), and conjunctions (and, but, for, or and nor).
Links
Internal links
Make links only where they are relevant and helpful in the context; excessive use of hyperlinks can be distracting, and may slow the reader down.
To make an internal link, use two square brackets to open the link, followed by the name of the linked page, followed by two closing square brackets:
[[Name of Page Here]]
Use a vertical bar "|" (the "pipe" symbol) to create a link while labeling it with a different name than the linked page. The first term inside the brackets is the name of the linked page (the page you would be taken to), while anything you type after the vertical bar is what that link looks like on the original page. Here are examples:
[[I Want to Write a Will | writing a will]][[Resource List | list of the best sources]]
These will appear as:
External links
Minimize using external links in the main body of a page; include only external links that are to essential resources or information. For other external links, look to include those in an external links section at the end, pointing to further information outside Clicklaw Wikibooks. The standard format for making an external link is:
[http://www.courthouselibrary.ca Courthouse Libraries BC][http://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/helpmap Clicklaw HelpMap]
These will appear as:
Where there is an external link that has a Clicklaw page, then link to the Clicklaw page. For example:
the fact sheet [http://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/resource/1012 "Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Benefit Application"]
This will appear as:
- the fact sheet "Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Benefit Application"
Numbers
- In general, write whole numbers one through nine as words, and write all other numbers as numerals: one to five; 21 to 30.
- For currency, don't use numbers after the decimal point: $25.
- In general, use a comma to delimit numbers with four or more digits to the left of the decimal point: 1,050.
- Write 3% or three percent but not three % or 3 % with a space.
- Write telephone numbers with dashes: 1-866-565-4526.
Punctuation
Em dashes between words
Use an em dash when you want to indicate added emphasis, a break in a sentence, or an abrupt change of thought. For example, "In matters of importance, sincerity — not style — is the vital thing."
To form an em dash on most PCs, hold down the ALT key while typing 0151. On a Mac, hold down the ALT key and SHIFT key while typing the dash (-).
Spaces
The number of spaces following the terminal punctuation of a sentence in the wiki markup makes no difference, as the MediaWiki software condenses any number of spaces to just one when rendering the page. That said, modern practice is evolving towards just one space following the terminal punctuation of a sentence.
Word usage
Avoiding legalese
Avoid using legalese. These words and expressions are to be avoided:
- in respect of
- to defray
That and which
Use that (not which) to introduce a restrictive relative clause (a clause that is essential to the grammar of the sentence).
Preferred usage for words
This alphabetical list features the preferred usage for words:
- Aboriginal child
- Aboriginal parent
- Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC)
- arbitrator
- BC
- birth certificate
- certificate of divorce
- Clicklaw Wikibook
- Convention refugee
- coordination
- cooperate
- court (as in "go to court"), but "Small Claims Court"
- court registry (but "Supreme Court Registry")
- Court Services Online
- Crown Counsel
- death certificate
- driver's licence
- duty counsel (but "Family Duty Counsel Program" when it's a specific program)
- Employment Insurance benefits
- Family Court
- family justice counsellor
- family law arbitrators
- family law mediators
- federal government
- fulfill
- Government Agent office
- Government of Canada (but government when used generically)
- Guide (as in "this Guide")
- homepage
- Indian band
- Indian reserve
- internet
- judge
- judicial case conference
- lawsuit
- legal aid representation ( but "Legal Aid Representation" when it's a specific program)
- legal notices section of the newspaper
- licence (noun)
- license (verb)
- Lower Mainland
- marriage certificate
- marriage commissioner
- Ministry of Children and Family Development
- Ministry of Social Development (MSD)
- Old Age Security
- online
- Parenting After Separation Course
- photo ID
- post office
- practice (noun)
- practise (verb)
- reasons for judgment
- Residential School
- Resource List (as in "see the Resource List in this Guide for helpful resources")
- Small Claims Court
- Supreme Court
- toll-free
- tribal council
- trustee in bankruptcy
- Vital Statistics Agency
- website
- well-being
- workers' advisers
- Yellow Pages
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