Wikipedia:Technical terms and definitions: Difference between revisions
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Algebraist (talk | contribs) m the meaning of "deuce" is the number two, not the word "two" |
Nick Levine (talk | contribs) m Reverted 1 edit by 140.213.68.44 (talk) to last revision by Serols |
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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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*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>, or <code>"deuce" means "two"</code>, whichever will be clearer in context (consider an article with many quotations, or an article full of italicized foreign terms). See [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Words as words|Wikipedia:Manual of Style: "Words as words" subsection]] for more information.
*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.
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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]]
<blockquote><code><nowiki>; term : definition</nowiki></code></blockquote>
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* [[Wikipedia:Make technical articles accessible]]
[[pt:Wikipedia:Termos técnicos e definições]]
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