This
week we are turning our attention to terms and definitions and looking at the
fundamentals of drafting and presentation.
See Annex D in the Internal Regulations Part 3 for additional guidance on the
drafting and presentation of terms and definitions.
Terms
and definitions are to be listed in Clause 3 of CEN and CENELEC deliverables
and are a normative optional element.
Any
term or symbol which is not self-explanatory or commonly used and which can be
interpreted differently in different contents shall be defined in Clause 3.
The
form of a definition shall be such that it can replace the term whenever it is
used in the document. Any additional information shall be given only in an
example or note to entry.
Note 1 to entry: Notes to entry differ from notes
integrated in the text. They may provide provisions, further technical details
and are always numbered.
You
will notice that the grammar used in terms and definitions is quite distinct.
Terms shall be presented in their basic grammatical form, i.e. nouns in the
singular, verbs in the infinitive.
Before
a term or definition can be established for a concept it should be ensured that
no other term and definition for that concept exist in order to avoid
duplications and contradictions. This can be easily checked via the terms and
definitions search function on the ISO Online Browsing Platform www.iso.org/obp/ui/ or on Electropedia,
the IEC Online Electrotechnical Vocabulary database. Where it is necessary to
repeat or modify an existing definition, the source information shall be given
in square brackets, after any note to entry, with an indication of the
modification.
Finally,
terms and definitions should preferably be organized according to the hierarchy
or grouping of concepts. If this is not possible then alphabetical order is
also permitted.
The best way to capture this is visually. Here is an example, outlining the correct layout and presentation of terms and definitions:
It is
important that the term number, the term, the abbreviated term (if any) and the
definition are each formatted as separate paragraphs, with no line breaks. If
you look to the highlighted text in the example you will note that both terms
and definitions start by using lower case letters and that definitions do not
require a full stop to conclude.
Now, let's finish with a summary of the key aspects to keep in mind when
drafting terms and definitions:
Any questions about the topics covered in this post? Post us a comment!
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Extracts may be used providing that the source is mentioned.
Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of
sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.
It is true that the Terms and definitions clause presents difficulties for many standards writers. The rules are not complicated but are not intuitive. However, I have two warnings:
ReplyDelete1 There is a tendency to define terms that everyone knows or should know, in every standard, terms such as 'decibel' and 'RMS', even 'sine wave'. . We get along very well without a formal definition of 'time', which is a rather important concept, so it isn't necessary to define (nearly) everything;
2. Do refer to the ISO and Electropedia sources, BUT many of those definitions were written in a narrow context and are not suitable in other contexts. If an ISO/IEV defintion is not suitable, you don't have to use it.
You do raise an interesting point; it isn't necessary to define absolutely everything, so the Technical Body drafting the text is left with the, sometimes difficult, decision of what to define and what to leave out.
ReplyDeleteReference to ISO and Electropedia sources isn't obligatory indeed, however such sources can be a good starting point for Technical Committees drafters.
Thank you John for your comments!
Matthew Tomlin (mtomlin@cencenelec.eu)
Is it possible to automatically number the terms and definitions in a draft standard? I am drafting a standard with 40 Ts & Ds and it would be much easier to insert a new one without having to renumber the others each time.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Louise
Dear Louise,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for getting in touch. The terms and definitions will need to be numbered manually as whilst the template does assist with the formatting it does not generate the numbering automatically.
It would be great to hear if anyone has any drafting tips or solutions they might like to share on this, however in the meantime please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any further drafting queries.
Thank you Louise for your comments!
Sarah Gibson
(sgibson@cencenelec.eu)