Wikipedia:Technical terms and definitions: Difference between revisions

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When writing technical (scientific, medical, legal, etc.) articles, it is usually the case that a number of [[Technical terminology|'''technical terms''' or '''terms of art''']] and ''[[jargon]]'' specific to the subject matter will be presented. These should be defined or at least alternative language provided, so that a non-technical reader can both learn the terms and understand how they are used by scientists. It is also the case that such an article can cover a range of related subjects that might not each justify a separate article or Wikipedia page, and therefore making technical terms stand out in the text is the first level in a sequence from definition to subtitle to separate article. On the other hand, do not treat every “scientific” word as a technical term. Ask the question: Is this the only article or one of a very few where the term might be encountered in Wikipedia? Consider the examples presented below.

There are three basic markups used to make technical terms stand out; these are ''italic'' (in [[typography]] also termed ''oblique'' with regard to [[sans-serif]] fonts), '''bold''', and '''''bold italic'''''. The following uses of these styles are recommended for technical articles:

''Italic'' (edited as <code><nowiki>''</nowiki>italic<nowiki>''</nowiki></code>) is used for:

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*Terms that are not defined at that point in the text, but are nonetheless "technical", although will likely appear in numerous other articles in Wikipedia. Here, the "emphasize only the first time used on a page" rule could apply. Example (from [[Plant]]):

::Groups at this level of organization, collectively called ''bryophytes'', include….

*Words as words: <code>''Deuce'' means ''two''.</code>, Seeor also:<code>"deuce" [[Wikipedia:Manualmeans of Style]]"two"</code>, subsectionswhichever '''Captionwill style'''be andclearer '''Stylein forcontext words(consider asan words'''article andwith many quotations, or an article full of italicized foreign terms). See [[Wikipedia:CiteManual yourof sources]]Style#Words foras other useswords|Wikipedia:Manual of italicisedStyle: or"Words as words" subsection]] for obliquemore textinformation.

*Legal case names are always italicized: ''Plessy v Ferguson''.

*See also [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Captions|Wikipedia:Manual of Style: "Captions" subsection]] and [[Wikipedia:Cite your sources]] for other uses of italicized text.

'''Bold''' (edited as <code><nowiki>'''</nowiki>bold<nowiki>'''</nowiki></code>); used for:

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As in the fern example above, any of the three styles described above could be turned into a link if there exists a more detailed or better explanation of the technical term in a separate article. It may not be necessary then to define the term in the article if a link leads to a definition. However, to aid the reader in continuing with the text without having to leave an article for other details, it might still be appropriate to include a non-technical substitute in parentheses, as in the fern example above.

When a vast amount of jargon appears in an article, you might consider bundling all terms and their definitions within a [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (glossaries)|glossary]]. When you do so, do useusing the appropriate definition list markup:

Instead of

<blockquote><code><nowiki>*'''term''': definition</nowiki></code></blockquote>

use

<blockquote><code><nowiki>; term : definition</nowiki></code></blockquote>

Wikipedia uses "double quotation marks" (and for quotations within quotations, 'single quoations marks'), regardless of [[WP:ENGVAR|English-language variant]]. “Curly quotes” are not used in articles. See the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Quotation marks|"Quotation marks" subsection of the Manual of Style]] for more information.

==See also==

* [[Wikipedia:Explain jargon]]

* [[Wikipedia:Federal Standard 1037C terms]]

* [[Wikipedia:Make technical articles accessible]]

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