Style Guide
From QNFellows
This is a Style Guide for the QuarkNet Fellows Library. It describes the style choices and conventions used to create and maintain this site. It is (at least for now) an evolving document.
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[edit] Wikipedia Style
The software we are using is the same software used by the Wikipedia, and the goals of this glossary are similar, though smaller in scope. Therefore, it makes sense that we try to emulate the style guidelines of the Wikipedia, at least where they make sense.
That said, there are conventions which need to be explicitly stated which apply to this glossary and not (or not very strongly) to the Wikipedia.
[edit] References and Links
The purpose of the glossary is to quickly inform the reader about the topic, but it is not to be an authoritative source of information. When authoritative sources exist there should be a link to them from a separate section at the end of the article called External Links or References or something similar.
On the other hand, do not hold off on creating an article because you do not have external references. They can always be added or edited later.
Citations in an article or poster may be made using the Cite extension[1], which is also used on the Wikipedia. Here is how it works: Wherever you wish to cite a reference you put <ref>text of the citation</ref>. At the end of the article, in the References section, you then put <references/> and this will be replaced by the assembled list of references for the article.
[edit] Acronyms and Abreviations
As is true in most scientific endevors, acronyms and abreviations are used in everyday communication. One important role of this glossary is to help one quickly learn the meaning of an unfamiliar acronym. To make that easier, please:
- make the main article title the full name, with the acronym following in parenthesis. Example: "Data Monitoring Tool (DMT)"
A search for either "Data Monitoring Tool" or "DMT" will then lead the user to this page, without the need for creating separate redirection pages, and the List of Articles showns the names associated with all acronyms.
