General Author Guidance

• Authors should review the information on this page prior to contributing.
• Only users (authors) with a valid login will be able to modify or add pages and page content. All other users will not be able to access the editor feature. Login is in the drop down menu in the upper right. Only Working Group Chairs will be able to mark pages as approved.
• This wiki provides two different methods for editing pages. The simplest is using the visual editor that can be accessed by clicking on the "Edit" tab in the upper right of each page. Alternatively, authors can directly markup a page with MediaWiki's markup symbols (or even HTML) by clicking on the "Edit source" table in the upper right of each page. Most of the markup can be accomplished using the visual editor, "Edit". However, certain tasks such as inserting equations and tables is often best performed using the "Edit source" editor. Authors are encouraged to learn both editors for maximum control. Both are very easy to use.

• If you do inadvertently corrupt anything in the production wiki do not worry. Any modifications can be reverted to a previous version. If you are uncomfortable with reverting something please contact the project leader for assistance.
• This wiki contains a "Sandbox" page for each user. A user's sandbox is a place to practice editing, etc. Please use it to develop comfort with the MediaWiki environment.

• Except where the customary term of the art is different authors must use metric units.

• Avoid standard abbreviations such as d for day, y for year, bw for body weight. Acronyms should be avoided except when the acronym is part of the regularly used term of the art (e.g., BV for "bleeding value"). When an acronym or term of the art is used it should be defined on first use.

• Authors should be aware that their content may have a degree of overlap to other pages and should work with the project leader to coordinate with the drafting committee of overlapping content areas.

• Authors should be aware of pages in this wiki that have covered details about a point they are covering. For example, If an author were discussing calving difficulty a link to the Calving Difficulty page should be made rather than reproducing that content in their page. Using the search area at the top of each page or the search special page will facilitate finding places to make these links.

• http://Gramerly.com provides a powerful free plugin for browsers that checks spelling, grammar, and punctuation on the fly as it is typed. Authors are strongly encouraged to install this easy-to-use plugin.

• The MediaWiki basic markdown and editing environment are very easy to use. However, as with any software, the more powerful capability can be tapped with just a little effort. In order to develop the wiki capabilities of the stakeholder community, authors are encouraged to perform all their editing in the wiki.

• The MediaWiki software we are using is very powerful and will track authors' contributions. All new pages and edits are recorded and the attribution to the author can be seen by going to the History tab on each page. Additionally, the bottom of each page indicates the original author and the most recent changes.

• If an author includes content that is not original then citation must be made to the original work using the ref cite tags.

• Generally, pages should be kept to a minimum of one to two screens. Longer pages may be necessary but authors should consider breaking a longer page into logical multiple linked pages. Generally, it is best practice to organize pages in a hierarchy. The top page is the high-level explanation of the concept and the detail is on separate pages that are linked to the top page.

• Often pages can be shortened if, for example, larger tables or large images are placed on a stand-alone page with a link from the page.