User:RecycledPixels/sandbox/articleprep

A checklist of some not-so-obvious potential mistakes that have been pointed out in some of the articles that I have worked on by reviewers.

Arranged as a list of things to check, since it's annoying to make the same mistakes over and over again.

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Change to be consistent m-d-y or d-m-y including references. Use {{Use mdy dates}} with a date parameter near the top of the article, above the infobox to automatically manage reference dates without having to change them manually (if using American-style dates). MOS:DATEUNIFY
Comma after the use of a date that includes the year if using American style, unless other punctuation obviates it. MOS:DATEFORMAT
Do not use ordinals as dates. MOS:ORDINAL
Use {{nbsp}} in dates consisting of only a month and year, between the month and year. MOS:NBSP

WP:REPEATLINK: Only link the first time that a term has been used in the body of the article. Ok to link again even if it was linked in the lead section.

Comma after the name of a place that contains multiple levels of subordinate divisions (e.g. city, state, country). A comma separates each element and follows the last element unless followed by terminal punctuation or a closing parenthesis. MOS:GEOCOMMA
Washington, D.C., not Washington DC

Italics in the name of an aircraft
Italics in the name of a print publication
After the first use in the body of a long name, state an abbreviation in parentheses and only use the abbreviation after that. Example: Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), then use CAB every time afterwards. In the lead section, only provide the abbreviation if it is used multiple times in the lead section.

Don't start a sentence with a number. MOS:NUMNOTES
Integers from zero to nine are spelled out in words. MOS:NUMERAL
Generally spell out ordinals first through ninth for single digits. MOS:ORDINAL
Integers greater than nine that can be expressed in one or two words can be expressed in numerals or words. MOS:NUMERAL
When written as words, numbers from 21 to 99 are hyphenated. MOS:NUMERAL
Be consistent with words vs. numerals within a sentence. MOS:NUMNOTES
Use {{nbsp}} between a numeral and a million, billion, etc.
In tables and infoboxes, quantities are expressed in figures. MOS:NUMNOTES
Use the word percent, not the % symbol except in scientific/technical articles or tables/infoboxes. MOS:PERCENT
Hyphens in adjectives with numbers:
Hyphens join words that work together as a unit to describe something that follows them in the sentence, eg an easy-to-read report. This is called a compound adjective (or compound modifier). Where the description follows the noun, you won’t need the hyphens: the report was easy to read. The same rules apply when numbers are part of the description, and whether the numbers are cardinal (one, two, three …) or ordinal (first, second, third …).

It’s a three-and-a-half-page report.

The report is three-and-a-half pages.

There are too many pages in the report – I stopped reading after two and a half.

They are our second-biggest client.

This client is our second biggest.

Use two-letter suffixes, such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on, not 2d, 3d, etc, and do not superscript the two-letter suffixes. MOS:ORDINAL
Spelled-out fractions are hyphenated: seven-eighths. MOS:FRAC
When the numerator and the denominator of fractions can each be spelled out with one word, a fraction is usually spelled out, unless there is a unit of measure after it. MOS:FRAC

use p.m., or pm consistently, do not mix. Use {{nbsp}} between the time and the "pm", "p.m.", "am", or "a.m.". MOS:TIME.
When using 12-hour clock times, hours should not have a leading zero, i.e. 8:59, not 08:59. MOS:TIME
Where several times that are all a.m. or all p.m. appear in close proximity, then a.m. or p.m. need be only given once if there is no risk of confusion. MOS:TIME
Use times appropriate to the time zone where the event took place. Include a link to the time zone in the first occurrence. MOS:TIMEZONE.

New York Times articles from the Times Machine should use the permalink URLs generated by clicking on the actual article and then click permalink in the left panel. Don't use the Times Machine URL from the browser head because that is just per-issue, not per page or article.
Use title case on reference titles regardless of how they appeared in the original. Use title case unless the cited source covers a scientific, legal or other technical topic and sentence case is the predominant style in journals on that topic. (Help:Citation_Style 1#Titles and chapters).