Difference between revisions of "Guidelines:Topics"

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The only thing needed in this introductory section is the current definition of the term, idea or theorem that your article is about. This is the first point of information for readers, so it should tell them exactly whether or not this article will be of use to them.
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Normally, [[:Category:Topic|topic pages]] are created by the editors of the encyclopedia to ensure that each topic is properly classified as definitional, descriptive, or normative, that their central questions are formulated correctly, that topics are linked to correct parent topics, that their authors are correctly entered, etc. However, often topic pages are ''stubs'', as they lack proper ''Prehistory'', ''History'', and ''Description'' sections. Authors of the encyclopedia can help to fill in these gaps.
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Note that this section should only contain a concise, verbatim definition of a concepts or a verbatim statement of a theorem or axiom. It should be 1-3 lines maximum. You do not need to to include any explanation or justification for your topic in this section.
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== Description ==
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While the editors usually enter a few lines explaining the importance of the question, they don't normally illustrate the question with historical/hypothetical examples. This is where the authors can help. When editing the ''Description'' section of a topic page, try to answer the following questions:
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* What makes this topic interesting or challenging?
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* Why is the answer to this question not trivial?
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* Can you given an example - historical or hypothetical?
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If necessary, a diagram or two can be added to make the question as clear as possible.
  
 
== Prehistory ==
 
== Prehistory ==
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In this section, you will describe how past philosophers or scientists dealt with the subject of your article. This section has the potential to be the largest and least bounded, due to the fact that lots of the resulting concepts and theorems of scientonomy began as vague or implicit proto-ideas in other philosophical dialogues. So use your judgment and try to keep it as constrained as possible to relevant ideas. Great resources for this section can be found in the non-TSC readings listed on the syllabus of the seminar. Also check the references cited in any relevant section in Barseghyan's ''Laws of Scientific Change'' or the references cited in any relevant article in the ''Journal of Scientonomy''. Please make sure to cite any references that you use, carefully following the instructions given [[Guidelines:Citations|here]]. This section of the article will be collapsed upon a reader’s entry to the webpage, so they will have to click to expand this section if they want access to this pre-historical information on the subject.
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This section is meant to describe how past philosophers and scientists dealt with the topic. For instance, the ''Prehistory'' section of [[Mechanism of Method Employment]] topic page outlines what some famous philosophers of science had to say on the topic of method employment. Specifically, the section summarizes the views of [[Thomas Kuhn]], [[Paul Feyerabend]], [[Dudley Shapere]], [[Larry Laudan]], etc. As a general rule, the classics of the philosophy of science are a great resource for this section. Also check the references cited in respective scientonomic literature.
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This section has the potential to be the largest and least bounded, due to the fact that most scientonomic topics were originally discussed by the classics of philosophy of science. Yet, it is important to keep this section reasonably concise and only include those ideas that are directly relevant to the topic.  
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This section of the article will be collapsed upon a reader’s entry to the webpage, so they will have to click to expand this section if they want access to this pre-historical information on the subject.
  
 
== History ==  
 
== History ==  
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In this section, you will describe any changes to the subject of your article since its establishment in the TSC. Unlike the Prehistory section, this section will make no mention of philosophical discussion of the topic occurring prior to the creation of scientonomy. The process of tracking these changes will be described first by highlighting the open question that the change resolved, as well as who proposed that change and in what year. You will also mention proposed changes that were not accepted, as well as the reason why. An example of the content expected in this section would be the case of Rory Harder’s proposed change to [[The Zeroth Law|the zeroth law]]. You would begin by stating the problem with the zeroth law prior to 2013. You would then describe the proposed solution (the change from ''consistency'' to ''compatibility''). Make sure to cite any references needed, according to the instructions given [[Guidelines:Citations|here]]. Typically, in this section, citations will be to Barseghyan's ''Laws of Scientific Change'' or to articles in the ''Journal of Scientonomy''.
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The goal of this section is to outline developments in the topic within the ''scientonomic'' context. Large chunks of this section are generated by the encyclopedia automatically. This includes ''Acceptance Record'', ''All Theories'', ''Accepted Theories'', and ''Suggested Modifications''. Authors are only required to provide additional information if the automatically generated tables are not sufficient. Also, it is often helpful to provide a few line summary of the major transitions in our scientonomic views on the topic. For example, the ''History'' section of [[Mechanism of Method Employment]] topic page explains how Barseghyan's original formulation of the third law was deficient and came to be replaced by Sebastien's formulation. If there have been no changes on the topic in the scientonomic context, then it is quite likely that this section will be rather short. We anticipate in future years our accepted theories on any given topic will change, and thus the ''History'' section will serve its purpose of showing how these transitions took place.
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Even if there have been no changes made to your topic since the TSC was first proposed, you still need to include in this section a definition of your topic as it was first proposed in the TSC (along the lines of "In 2013, Barseghyan initially proposed <nowiki> [insert topic] as being/stating/claiming [insert definition]</nowiki>"). For cases where no changes have been made since the TSC's initial proposal, we realize this will look almost identical to what you write in the opening of the Current View section and Introduction. However, we anticipate in future years the ''Current View'' (and subsequently the ''Introduction'') of any given topic will change frequently, and thus the History section will serve its purpose of showing how the now-changed axiom or theorem was originally formulated. For a sample article see [[Scientific Mosaic]].
 
  
 
== Current View ==
 
== Current View ==
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In this section, you will re-state the current definition of the subject, going into more detail than was allowed in the introductory section. You will also state the definition of all terms associated with your article subject, insofar as they are required to fully understand it. If you need to cite references, follow the instructions [[Guidelines:Citations|here]].
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By default this section re-state the currently accepted theory on the topic; this is generated by the system automatically from the acceptance record of the respective theory. Sometimes authors may want to add some additional content to the automatically generated content. Please only do so if there is an important piece of information not rendered automatically.  
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== Open Questions ==
 
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In the current, semantic version of scientowiki, the wiki compiles a list of all the questions pertaining to your subject and indicates those that have not yet been solved.  In order for the software to make this compilation, when entering a topic, you must indicate parent topics and related topics. When entering a theory, you must indicate the questions that the theory aims to solve. The semantic wiki can then make the needed compilations and will track all attempts made to solve each question. This section should include in its compilation any relevant open questions that have been entered.  If it does not, please make any needed changes to those entries. The editors keep track of all open questions raised in the seminar and other discussions and upload the questions weekly to the [[List of Open Questions]]. Make this your second stop as a resource for open questions relevant to your topic. Note that in order to qualify as an open question, a questions needs to be discussed in a paper or, at minimum, be raised in the seminar. Please make sure that all the open questions are properly referenced to respective papers or iterations of the seminar.
 
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This section should display a list of questions in bullet point form. For example:
 
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=== Question 1 ===
 
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Formulation of the question.
 
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* Solution [x] proposed by [author 1] is no longer pursued.
 
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* Solution [y] proposed by [author 2] is still being pursued.
 
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=== Question 2 ===
 
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Formulation of the question.
 
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* No solutions have been proposed at this point; the question remains open.
 
  
 
== Related Articles ==
 
== Related Articles ==
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This section is meant to help direct readers of the Wiki to other relevant information on your topic. If you have made the proper entries for related topics the semantic Wiki will compile this list automatically. For example, an article on the definition of [[Theory]] might list [[Theory Acceptance]] as a related article. Please make changes as needed to ensure that the proper listing is automatically compiled.
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This section is meant to help direct readers of the encyclopedia to other relevant topics.  
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== Notes ==
 
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This section is similar to a Wikipedia article’s Notes section. You can collect all of your footnotes here.
 
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<div class="user-block">
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== References ==
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[[File:Bulbgraph.png|18px|Note|link=]] '''Note:''' While it might be tempting to include many examples to help illustrate the definition of your topic (for example, illustrating the third law means of by describing the transition from the Aristotelian-Medieval to the Hypothetico-Deductive method). We would ask that you minimize the use inclusion of examples in your article. While they do serve the purpose of reifying the utility of whatever axiom or theorem you are writing about, that role is largely served by the respective books and articles. If you do feel the need to provide an example or historical case, please keep it brief or reference it only superficially (for example, "The third law has proven effective in explaining such historical cases as the transition from the Aristotelian-Medieval method to the Hypothetico-Deductive method." and leave it at that). Remember, the role of the Encyclopedia is not to mount an argument as to the effectiveness of the TSC. It is only meant to be an efficient resource for those looking for concise and up-to-date information about the TSC.
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Please make sure to cite any references that you use, carefully following the [[Guidelines:Citations|citation guidelines]].
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</div>
 
  
 
[[Category:Guidelines]]
 
[[Category:Guidelines]]

Latest revision as of 03:18, 13 February 2017

Normally, topic pages are created by the editors of the encyclopedia to ensure that each topic is properly classified as definitional, descriptive, or normative, that their central questions are formulated correctly, that topics are linked to correct parent topics, that their authors are correctly entered, etc. However, often topic pages are stubs, as they lack proper Prehistory, History, and Description sections. Authors of the encyclopedia can help to fill in these gaps.

Description

While the editors usually enter a few lines explaining the importance of the question, they don't normally illustrate the question with historical/hypothetical examples. This is where the authors can help. When editing the Description section of a topic page, try to answer the following questions:

  • What makes this topic interesting or challenging?
  • Why is the answer to this question not trivial?
  • Can you given an example - historical or hypothetical?

If necessary, a diagram or two can be added to make the question as clear as possible.

Prehistory

This section is meant to describe how past philosophers and scientists dealt with the topic. For instance, the Prehistory section of Mechanism of Method Employment topic page outlines what some famous philosophers of science had to say on the topic of method employment. Specifically, the section summarizes the views of Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Dudley Shapere, Larry Laudan, etc. As a general rule, the classics of the philosophy of science are a great resource for this section. Also check the references cited in respective scientonomic literature.

This section has the potential to be the largest and least bounded, due to the fact that most scientonomic topics were originally discussed by the classics of philosophy of science. Yet, it is important to keep this section reasonably concise and only include those ideas that are directly relevant to the topic.

This section of the article will be collapsed upon a reader’s entry to the webpage, so they will have to click to expand this section if they want access to this pre-historical information on the subject.

History

The goal of this section is to outline developments in the topic within the scientonomic context. Large chunks of this section are generated by the encyclopedia automatically. This includes Acceptance Record, All Theories, Accepted Theories, and Suggested Modifications. Authors are only required to provide additional information if the automatically generated tables are not sufficient. Also, it is often helpful to provide a few line summary of the major transitions in our scientonomic views on the topic. For example, the History section of Mechanism of Method Employment topic page explains how Barseghyan's original formulation of the third law was deficient and came to be replaced by Sebastien's formulation. If there have been no changes on the topic in the scientonomic context, then it is quite likely that this section will be rather short. We anticipate in future years our accepted theories on any given topic will change, and thus the History section will serve its purpose of showing how these transitions took place.

Current View

By default this section re-state the currently accepted theory on the topic; this is generated by the system automatically from the acceptance record of the respective theory. Sometimes authors may want to add some additional content to the automatically generated content. Please only do so if there is an important piece of information not rendered automatically.

Related Articles

This section is meant to help direct readers of the encyclopedia to other relevant topics.

References

Please make sure to cite any references that you use, carefully following the citation guidelines.

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