Manifold Atlas:Instructions for writing

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* New and young pages bear the [[Template:Stub|Stub]] template indicating that they are under development.
* New and young pages bear the [[Template:Stub|Stub]] template indicating that they are under development.
* After a page reaches maturity, the editorial board will organise for it to be [[Manifold Atlas:Editorial Process|refereed]].
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* After a page reaches maturity, the editorial board will organise for it to be [[Manifold Atlas:Editorial Policy#Editorial criteria|refereed]].
== Hyperlinks ==
== Hyperlinks ==

Revision as of 15:29, 28 September 2009

This page describes the scientific writing style of the Manifold Atlas. You may also wish to read about writing groups.

Contents

1 Scientific style

  • The Manifold Atlas aims to be a reliable scientific reference for researchers and students of manifolds.
  • Please write rigorously and clearly for a topologically literate audience:
    • i.e. assume that your reader has taken relevant introductory graduate level courses for the area you are covering.
  • Please give proofs or references to peer-reviewed journals for all non-elementary statements.

2 The evolution of a page

  • It will typically take many edits for a page to reach maturity.
  • New and young pages bear the Stub template indicating that they are under development.
  • After a page reaches maturity, the editorial board will organise for it to be refereed.

3 Hyperlinks

  • A well-written article will find a good balance between the following extremes:
    • too few hyperlinks and your document is somewhat of a dead-end,
    • too many hyperlinks make texts hard to read and can distract the reader.
  • Here are some guides for using hyperlinks:
    • you can use hyperlinks to both define and emphasise key concepts,
    • you only need to link a give page once per page or section, unless emphasis is sought,
    • broken hyperlinks, appearing in red, can be useful: they indicate pages you think should exist but don't right now.
    • for ease of writing on your first draft, simply write your hyperlink as [[intended link]]:
      • later on you, or other users, can fill in the links to make them active.

3.1 Linking to Wikipedia and other web resources

  • Wikipedia and other web resources already contain a great wealth of mathematical information and there is no point in duplicating this content in the Atlas.
  • Atlas articles will differ from Wikipedia articles in that they assume a higher level of mathematical background and will typically discuss manifolds in greater depth and with greater precision than Wikipedia.
  • A good heuristic for linking to the web is the following:
    • use links to Wikipedia and other external web-sites define terms and concepts, assuming the definition their is adequate, but,
    • do not use Wikipedia as a reference: refer to peer-reviewed mathematical literature.
  • We hope that there will be a positive synergy between Wikipedia and the Atlas:
    • Atlas authors may wish to improve and add to Wikipedia articles to define the terms they use,
    • hopefully in time, Wikipedia can link and refer to articles in the Atlas.
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