NovaRoma talk:Style Guide

Revision as of 17:19, 10 February 2007

Citations

What about citations and references? I have not yet looked carefully at the latest from Mediawiki on this. What is possible (intext citations especially)? Agricola 14:33, 30 January 2007 (CET)

I'll make a citation section my next project -- Media wiki uses footnotes in almost every article, but for our academic purposes (and with our academia user base) there may be better options for us. In text citations are generally an MLA thing, the Guide for the Writers of Research Papers and Dissertations uses footnotes and end notes.--Tiberius Octavius Avitus 18:24, 6 February 2007 (CET)

Here is the basic citation courtesy of wikipedia:

• Author, A. (2005b). Book or Article Name, City: Publisher. ISBN ##########

I like this format since it includes the ISBN by default which can help generate revenue for NR through our amazon affiliate account. --Tiberius Octavius Avitus 00:11, 7 February 2007 (CET)

Right, the ISBN is important not only because of the revenue via Amazon but also because Booksources links to so many libraries. In-text is both MLA and APA, actually. In-text plus references list versus numbered footnotes all depends on what Mediawiki makes easy. I agree that it seems Mediawiki makes numbered footnotes easy, I just have not had time to take a careful look. Agricola 00:56, 7 February 2007 (CET)

If we have all the same patches as wikipedia, then you insert a reference code with your reference in the text. Then you add another code at the bottom. When done correctly, all the intext references show as footnotes with links, which take you directly to the references of the page, which auto displays all the references inserted... I'll experiment with that and see if it works in our version. --Tiberius Octavius Avitus 01:33, 7 February 2007 (CET)

Commas

"Do not use a comma before the conjunction of a simple list: The senator, the consuls and the praetor"

Why? -- Cordus 18:18, 10 February 2007 (CET)

Periods

"After abbreviations: Mr. Mrs. C. Cn. Ti. M."

Traditional usage in British English is that a full stop is used after an abbreviation only if the final letter of the abbreviation is not the final letter of the unabbreviated word. Thus we would write "Rev. Green" and "Prof. Plum" but "Mr Brown" and "Mrs White".

Also I'm not sure that it's useful to lump together the rules for abbreviating English words with those for abbreviating Latin words. Roman abbreviations do not work in the same way as English abbreviations, and readers should not be led to assume that the same rules of punctuation apply to both. I suggest therefore that the examples "C. Cn. Ti. M." should be excluded from the list. If necessary a separate section dealing with Latin abbreviations should be added. -- Cordus 18:18, 10 February 2007 (CET)

Semicolons

"Use semicolons to join two phrases if excessive commas are already used: He had plans to run, swim, jump and play; but did not have time for any of it."

This seems to regard the semicolon as merely a stronger form of comma. This is not how it is, or should be, used, at least in British English. A semicolon is used to join together two passages which are logically linked but which could grammatically stand as independent sentences. The example given above is not a proper deployment of a semicolon because "but did not have time for any of it" is not a complete sentence. An example of a properly used semicolon is: "Early in April Decimus Brutus set out for Cisalpine Gaul; about the same time, it may be presumed, Trebonius went to Asia, Cimber to Bithynia" (plucked at random from Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution, p. 103 in the Oxford paperback edition). -- Cordus 18:18, 10 February 2007 (CET)

"The Semicolon is obligatory in front of certain conjunctions such as: however, moreover, therefore, etc."

Two points about this. First, here seems to be endorsed the view that a sentence can never begin with conjunctions of this kind. This view is commonly taught in schools, with particularly stern prohibitions on the use of the words "and" and "but" to begin sentences, but there are in fact many extremely elegant prose stylists who begin not only sentences but even paragraphs with such conjunctions.

Secondly, the statement could be rather misleading. What is the reader to do with a sentence such as "The particularly enlightened portions of Cicero's law, however, lay elsewhere"? In this case "however" is not being deployed as a conjunction, but a reader not well versed in syntax (i.e. exactly the sort of reader at whom this guide is aimed) might understand that he was obliged to write "The particularly enlightened portions of Cicero's law; however, lay elsewhere", which would of course be quite wrong.

It seems to me that the statement above is really trying to say two different things:

1. That a conjunction of this kind should not be used at the beginning of a sentence, but may be used to begin a new clause following a semicolon. Thus it is better to write "The three ways of acquiring manus were probably all known before the Twelve Tables, and it is likely that all three were specified in the code; however, it is also clear that the Twelve Tables recognised the desire, and made available the means, to avoid manus" than to write (as in fact Cornell does in The Beginnings Of Rome at p. 285 of the Routledge paperback) "The three ways of acquiring manus were probably all known before the Twelve Tables, and it is likely that all three were specified in the code. However, it is also clear that the Twelve Tables recognised the desire, and made available the means, to avoid manus."

2. That a clause beginning with a conjunction of this kind should not be separated from the main clause merely be a comma. Thus it is better to write "The three ways of acquiring manus were probably all known before the Twelve Tables, and it is likely that all three were specified in the code; however, it is also clear that the Twelve Tables recognised the desire, and made available the means, to avoid manus" than to write "The three ways of acquiring manus were probably all known before the Twelve Tables, and it is likely that all three were specified in the code, however, it is also clear that the Twelve Tables recognised the desire, and made available the means, to avoid manus".

These two points should be made separately, because one relates to the difference between a semicolon and a comma, and the other relates to the difference between a semicolon and a full stop. I also repeat that in my view the first of these two points is not correct. -- Cordus 18:18, 10 February 2007 (CET)