| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Editorial conventions (general)

Page history last edited by Deborah J. Leslie 8 years, 6 months ago Saved with comment

Examples

  • Use real-world examples (and be warned that they can take a long time to find), though the example can come from another module if it still fits. If an example that fits can't be found, but it is still conceivable that the instruction could be needed for the new module, can leave the text in without an example (and thus decrease its importance... but it might also decrease ease of comprehension). (C: we actually have a few made-up examples, as does B, though we tried to keep this to a minimum)
  • Can have appendix of MARC examples, but no MARC in the body of the text.
  • make formatting of "pairs of examples" consistent by separating with blank line and making conjunctions (or, but, not) lowercase
  • prefer the spelling found in the authorized access point in the LC/PCC Name Authority File when supplying place names in examples (per DSG email thread begun Feb. 1, 2014)

 

Tracking

  • identify any rules that prescribe the use of square brackets to indicate interpolations (want a comprehensive list for inclusion in index)
  • identify any major departures from existing standards (for inclusion in a general narrative summary)
  • identify any rules that call for mandatory notes (want a comprehensive list for inclusion in rule 7A and/or index)

 

Numbering and captioning

  • number a new paragraph unless it just expands on the previous paragraph. That is, if it's a different concept, or an "in contrast" it definitely gets a new number (this makes the indexing work)
  • use a caption for each numbered paragraph, unless it would just repeat most or all of the paragraph (but always try for a caption first)

 

Wording

  • avoid use of "should"; prefer imperative ("Make a note ...") or passive constructions ("A note may be added if considered important")
  • make sure the use of "area" and "element" conform to AACR2 definitions
  • use "if considered important" rather than "if desired" or "if desirable"
  • prefer the word "information" over the word "data"
  • prefer "grammatically inseparable" over "grammatically linked"
  • prefer "grammatically separable"
  • prefer "supply" over "add" or "give" in interpolation instructions
  • prefer "local note" over "copy-specific note"
  • precede text under examples with one of the following labels: "Note:" or "Optional note:" or "Local note:" or "Optional local note:" or "Comment:"
  • preface mandatory notes with label "Note:"; preface optional notes with labels "Optional note:" or "Optional local note:"
  • prefer "transcribe" over "record" if indicating transcription
  • "record" and "give" both okay if not indicating transcription, but prefer "record" if taking information from the item itself, especially if another cataloger would come up with the same result
  • "description" and "record" both okay but prefer "bibliographic record" over "record"; avoid "catalog record" and "cataloging record" and "cataloging description"
  • prefer "in a note" over "in the note area"
  • avoid "indicate in a note" or "give in a note" if possible; "record in a note" is okay if information is not transcribed but is taken from the item itself; "make a note on ..." is the preferred default if only one note is required; "make notes on ..." is the preferred default if multiple notes can be made.
  • prefer "in general" over "generally" at the beginning of a sentence; omit altogether whenever possible
  • prefer to start a sentence with "if ..." rather than "when ..." unless the meaning doesn't fit
  • optional notes should have wording such as "if considered important"; keep "if considered important" in fairly close proximity to the words "make a note" if possible (if too far away, put the "if considered important" at the beginning of the sentence)
  • prefer "chief source of information" over "chief source"
  • limit the number of options: too much "Optionally..." makes it too confusing, esp. if it's something that almost never happens (and some people will just do their thing anyway)
  • prefer "vocabulary" to "thesaurus"
  • prefer "letterform" to "graph"
  • prefer "actual" to "real"

 

Punctuation, Abbreviations, and Italicization

  • enclose editorial comments in parentheses, i.e., (Comments: Text of comment here)
  • do not include final periods in examples (except in appendix when full MARC coding is given)
  • prefer smart (curly) quotation marks and apostrophes in rules; prefer straight quotation marks and apostrophes in examples
  • prefer "nonroman" over "non-roman" to follow AACR2
  • prefer "uppercase" over "upper-case" and "lowercase" over "lower-case"
  • follow "i.e." and "e.g." with a comma in the rules (consider editorial comments to be rules) but not in the examples
  • need comma before "see" references, e.g., For instructions on , see .
  • follow "etc." with a comma, unless is end of sentence (per Chicago Manual of Style, 15th and 16th eds.)
  • use "cm" not "cm." in the examples (unless followed by another area)
  • prefer "see" over "cf."
  • use "v." not "vol." in notes, unless recording from item being cataloged. Exception: use "Vol." at the beginning of a note.
  • do not use a comma before "if considered important" at the end of a sentence
  • use "AACR2" (no space) not "AACR 2" (with space)
  • within editorial comments, use quotation marks around all quoted text for consistency
  • italicize note and comment labels, including the following colon. E.g., "Note:" ; "Optional local note:" ; "Comment:"
  • one space, not two, after periods at the ends of sentences (per Chicago Manual of Style, and general usage in the post-typewriter era) BUT don't use global search-and-replace to sweep for stray instances because document contains citations that follow Standard Citation Forms for Rare Book Cataloging (which says "leave two spaces after the period separating the forename initials from the title word(s)") and an example of roman numerals with extra spacing.
  • italicize "optionally" in rules, whether at beginning of sentence or not
  • use the letter 'x' (not the times symbol) in both rule text and examples for recording multiple dimensions

 

Cross-references

  • make sure references to area 7 and appendices are given when appropriate in the rules
  • make "see" references from other areas to 7, and in 7 to elsewhere in 7, but not from 7 back again (because everything in 7 refers back to somewhere).

 

Footnotes

  • avoid footnotes whenever possible

 

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.