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.

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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>

==See also==

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* [[Wikipedia:Make technical articles accessible]]

[[Category:Wikipedia how-to|{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:Wikipedia style guidelines|{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:General style guidelines]]

[[pt:Wikipedia:Termos técnicos e definições]]

[[zh:Wikipedia:术语和定义]]