Powerbase:How to Structure an Article

Introduce your subject

When starting a new article, remember to establish context at the start of the page. Each article should begin with a brief (one- or two-sentence) general description of the individual, organization or topic. If possible, tell the reader why this person or group is in SpinProfiles. The reader should be able to tell from your introduction whether this article is relevant to their interests and whether they want to read on.

e.g.

The Joe Bloggs Institute is a London-based think tank that has come under criticism for its lobbying activities on behalf of polluting industries.

OR

Jane Smith is a British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) who was at the centre of an expenses scandal in 2002.

The first mention of the person, organization or topic (which should match the article title) uses bold text. Only the first mention should be in bold – for subsequent mentions, use plain text. Make text bold by selecting it with your cursor and clicking on the "B" in the editing menu at the top of the Edit page.

Using quotes

Put quotes in context

Avoid beginning an article or section by going straight into a quote. Lead in to your quote and put it in context, telling readers who is speaking/writing, who this person is, what they are talking about, and how it relates to your article. All this gives readers a clue as to what they are expected to draw from the quote. At the end of the quote, sum up what they should have learned, give a point of analysis, and/or lead in to the next piece of information. This is called "foregrounding" and "concluding" the quote.

Here's an example of a quote that has been put into context.

Joe Smith of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex provides a striking example of the unscientific nature of some of biotechnology advocate Jim Bloggs's claims. In his report "GM Crops and Poverty Alleviation in Africa", Smith notes:

Another surprising example of advocacy trumping facts is Jim Bloggs, the influential biotechnology advocate who has advised the US Trade Representative. Bloggs has repeatedly cited GM sweet potatoes in Kenya as a positive example of the benefits of GM for African countries, but has confessed to having no knowledge of the results of scientific trials in Kenya.

Other aspects of Bloggs's campaigning raise serious questions over the accuracy of the information on GM that he puts out to the public ...

The lead-in to the quote tells the reader what to look for, while the conclusion to the quote confirms what the reader has learned and links to the next piece of information.

Avoid over-long quotes

It's best to avoid very long quotes. Readers lose their way and don't know what they are supposed to draw from them. You can, however, split up a longer quote into sections of meaning, guiding readers through each section and making clear what they are supposed to draw from it.

Never make an entire article or section consist of a quote. It leads to confusion about who is speaking (the author of the SpinProfiles article or the person quoted) and readers will get lost.

Format lists

Often, sections of your article such as "People", "Funding", "Clients", and "Publications" will consist of lists of people or organizations. Please follow SpinProfiles formatting conventions for lists in order to keep them tidy and readable.

Give the new page a category

Before you save your new page, remember that all new pages/articles on SpinProfiles should be included in a category. This makes using SpinProfiles easier, makes it possible to find all pages on a topic from one place, and helps to avoid problems with duplicate pages being created.

To put your page into a category, add the coding [[Category:name of relevant category]] at the bottom of the page you are creating. For example, [[Category:PR Industry]]. When saved, this will appear as a link at the bottom of the page. Choose from the SpinProfiles list of categories.

Add a summary when saving

When you're ready to save your new page, remember to jot a note in the small "Summary" box below the larger editing box to help other editors keep track of what's happening on SpinProfiles. In this case something like "starting a new page" will suffice.

Stub pages

Stub pages are articles that currently have little content, but that through the ongoing work of their creator and the collaboration process grow over time into longer articles. Stub pages are noticed and picked up by search engines, and thus attract new readers and new contributors. Please show tolerance for stub page creation and feel free to add to, edit and generally enrich the stub page. Today's stub page acorn is tomorrow's big oak.

Remember that all content added to SpinProfiles may be used by others

Bear in mind that SpinProfiles is an open content encyclopedia. You are contributing to a free, publicly-usable database of information. You automatically license everything you contribute under the GNU Free Documentation License; you can only do that if you own the copyright to the material (which you do if you created it), or if the material is in the public domain. See Spinprofiles:Copyrights for details.

Never submit copyrighted material without permission from the copyright owner.