CZ:Article mechanics

Introductory material

Bold titles

In most articles, we should bold the title of the article. For example:

Philosophy, both the field and the concept, is notoriously hard to define. The question "What is philosophy?" is itself, famously, a vexing philosophical question. It is often observed that philosophers are unique in the extent to which they disagree about what their field even is.

But on some pages this is unnecessary, particularly where it would produce strange or nonsensical results. Such pages include lists, as in list of snake scales, or where the title of the article is an idiosyncratic phrase that does not name a single, particular item to be defined or described, such as potassium in nutrition and human health.

The first sentence

What the first sentence of the article should look like depends on whether the article concerns a concept or, instead, a particular thing.

Generally, in articles about concepts, or where the word in the title has a definition, the first sentence in the article is a definition. For example:

Dermatology is the specialty of medicine concerned with the skin and with the skin appendages (hair, nails, sweat glands, etc.).

If, however, there is no agreed-upon definition, and particularly where the disagreement about the definition is an important aspect of the topic--one thinks of freedom or racism--it is preferable not to begin with a single (and controversial) definition. In such cases, it is actually preferable to begin in some other way, even by describing the difficulty of or the controversy over the concept. (See the "Philosophy" example above.)

In articles about particular things, such as persons, historical events, or publications, it is usually preferable to begin the article with a description of what the item in question is most notable for:

Princeton, New Jersey is located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, and is best known as the home, since 1756, of Princeton University.

William Shakespeare (baptised April 26, 1564 – died April 23, 1616) was an English poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer of the English language, as well as one of the greatest in Western literature, and the world's preeminent dramatist.

Etymologies

Most etymologies of terms are not so interesting or important that they deserve more than cursory treatment. So, usually they should be placed in parenthetical clarifications

Physics (from the Greek physikos, nature) is the science of nature at its most fundamental form...

or even in footnotes, where the etymology is of interest, but is desired not to interrupt the flow of the article.

But occasionally the etymology of a term is itself of such interest that it can be made a subject of its own sentence, paragraph, or even section:

The word morphology came into English in the mid 19th century from Greek words μορφή (morphi) meaning "shape or form" and λόγος (logos) meaning "speak". In English the suffix "-(o)logy" means "the study of". For ancient Greeks, study often involved a great deal of debate; and this is still true for scientists today.

A lengthy etymology is called for particularly when discussion sheds some special light on other than merely linguistic facts. A classic example can be found, again, in philosophy.

Authors are encouraged to follow one of the above conventions for reporting etymologies.

Definitions

How to write 'em particularly for controversial topics.

The introductory section

Summaries for longer articles

Miscellaneous style guidelines

No long quotations

As a general rule, we should not use quotations that are longer than one sentence, and we should not use many quotations in any one article. The purpose of a quotation is typically to illustrate or support some point. Quotations are, therefore, texts that support the main text, which the Citizendium writes.

There are at least two main reasons for this policy against many and long quotations.

First, such quotations prevents collaboration on the substance of the text (quotations are uneditable). It is inherently biased to have an extended quote that speaks for the Citizendium, since in that case the Citizendium is made to endorse a whole series of points that are only that source's idiosyncratic views. Second, the practice of adding a long quotation cannot be generalized. If we have a long quotation that supports one point, why should we not have long quotations that support every point? There is a vast universe of books and other potentially supporting verbiage. We can find long quotations for everything, if we wanted to. Therefore, unless there is some particularly good reason to use a quotation beyond one sentence, don't do it; summarize.

The exceptions will, perhaps, be in cases where texts themselves are the primary subject of an article. Even in this case, extended quotations are to be used sparingly and only with excellent justification.

Craft articles for maximum readability

Craft articles for maximum readability. Many topics are inherently complex and impossible for a nonspecialist fully to understand. Nevertheless, our task is to write at the university level. Therefore, if a difficult or advanced piece of text can be written in a way to make it more accessible to educated nonspecialists, then it should be.

Scientists, business people, lawyers, and academics are famous for writing mumbo-jumbo that is decipherable only by people in their fields. But, as this is a general encyclopedia, not a single topic encyclopedia, is our obligation to "translate" the jargon of a specialized field, so far as is possible, into elegant English prose.