Style Guide

Voices in the Dust will undergo periodic review by the Repair Lab to maintain a consistent style throughout the archive. This page details several stylistic conventions across the Voices in the Dust.

Sources

Numerical citations are placed outside of punctuation.

Uploads

Where possible, we have opted not to change the document title when it is uploaded to the archive. This decision was based on the thought that useful information may be present in the file title, especially those documents received from agencies and offices through requests under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA).

The Destination Filename will be generated by Mediawiki. In the Summary Box, include: [Document Title]. [Date].

This is the title of the document, not the file. The document title should use title case capitalization, and the date should be in the form of month day, year, for example, January 1, 2026. If there is no day, report January 2026. If there is no day or month, report 2026 only.

Photographs

• Citations/links to outside websites should be archived using archive.org (also called the Wayback Machine). For a guide on how to do this, see: Hertz, J. Archiving Websites and Preventing Broken Links. October 17, 2025.
• For process uploading new documents and adding citations see: Hertz, J. Documents and Citations on Media Wiki. October 17, 2025.

Uploading Documents

In the upload box: Title. Date.

• Title is the title of the document, not the title of the file.

• Capitalization is Title Case
• Date is in the form month day, year, e.g., January 1, 2000.
• If there is no day and/or year, report as: January 2000. Or: 2000.
  • Separate each element with a period.

Linking Documents and References

• Name: Last name and first initial. (e.g. Doe, J.)
  • If more than one author: Last-name et al. (e.g. Doe, J. et al.)
• Title is title case (meaning: The First Letter Of Each Word Is Capitalized)
• Source, if journal or newspaper title, then italicize. Write the full journal title (no abbreviations).
• Pages, separate with n-dash
• Date is in the form month day, year. (e.g. May 23, 2024)
  • If there is no day and/or year, report as: May 2024. Or: 2024.
• Hyperlink the entire thing!

Examples with varying levels of information available:

• Name. Title. Source. Article number. Issue number. Pages. Date.
  • Doe, J. Example Paper Title. Fictional Journal. Article 3. Issue 9. Pages 40-55. January 1, 2000.

• Name. Title. Date.
  • Doe, J. Example Paper Title. January 1, 2000.

• Title. Date.
  • Example Paper Title. January 1, 2000.

Documents

• Hertz, J. Archiving Websites and Preventing Broken Links. October 17, 2025.
• Hertz, J. Documents and Citations on Media Wiki. October 17, 2025.