MongoDB Documentation, Release 3.0.4 Punctuation Referencing General Formulations 931 13.5. Contribute to the Documentation – Do not use a period after every item unless the list item completes the unfinished sentence before the list. • Make lists grammatically correct. • Contractions are acceptable insofar as they are necessary to increase readability and flow. Avoid otherwise. • Structure references with the why first; the link second. • For non-object references (i.e. functions, operators, methods, database commands, settings) always reference only the first occurrence of the reference in a section. You should always reference objects, except in section headings. • To refer to future or planned functionality in MongoDB or a driver, always link to the Jira case. The Manual’s conf.py provides an :issue: role that links directly to a Jira case (e.g. :issue:\‘SERVER-9001\‘ ). • Avoid helper verbs, as possible, to increase clarity and concision. For example, attempt to avoid “this does foo” and “this will do foo” when possible. Use “does foo” over “will do foo” in situations where “this foos” is unacceptable. • The future perfect is also useful in some cases. For example, “Creating disk snapshots without locking the database will lead to an invalid state.” • When indicated, use the imperative mood. For example: “Backup your databases often” and “To prevent data loss, back up your databases.” • Use the second person. “If you need to back up your database, start by locking the database first.” In practice, however, it’s more concise to imply second person using the imperative, as in “Before initiating a backup, lock the database.” • Avoid the first person. For example do not say, “We will begin the backup process by locking the database,” or “I begin the backup process by locking my database instance.” • Place commas and periods inside quotation marks. • Do not add two spaces after terminal punctuation, such as periods. • Use the Oxford comma. Oxford commas are the commas in a list of things (e.g. “something, something else, and another thing”) before the conjunction (e.g. “and” or “or.”). Headings Use title case for headings and document titles. Title case capitalizes the first letter of the first, last, and all significant words. Verbs Verb tense and mood preferences, with examples: For example, instead of this: Use the Convert a Replica Set to a Replicated Sharded Cluster (page 699) procedure if you have an existing replica set. Type this: To deploy a sharded cluster for an existing replica set, see Convert a Replica Set to a Replicated Sharded Cluster (page 699).