About Concepts

• A concept is abstract and language-independent; it exists independently of the terms, names, symbols, or identifiers used to denote it.
• A concept may be represented by one or more terms (preferred terms, admitted terms, synonyms) in one or multiple languages.
• A concept may participate in semantic relationships with other concepts, such as hierarchical (broader/narrower), associative, or equivalence relationships.
• Definitions, scope notes, and usage constraints describe the concept; terms label it.

Distinction from related entities

• Concept vs term: a concept is the meaning; a term is the linguistic designation of that meaning.
• Concept vs physical thing: a concept is a mental abstraction; a physical thing is a concrete or individual instance.
• Concept vs class (in data modelling): a concept may correspond to a class, but the concept is semantic, whereas the class is a structural implementation.

Concept metadata

1. Concept text (the name of the concept)
2. Domain or discipline this concept belongs to or is associated with
3. Description of concept (not it's definition; a short overview or an explanation of its scope)
4. Role: Select how you intend to use this concept:
   • Preferred: primarily the one to use
   • Admitted: a variety of the same terms
   • Deprecated: this concept is no longer in use but might be found in older documents
5. Status: Identify the status of adding this concept
   • Draft: needs more info
   • Under review: by another person
   • Approved: for use but not yet published
   • Published: and available
   • There is a wide variety of status stages (see Also 'Terminology workflow')
6. Language: designate which language this concept has been added using (e.g., English)
7. Note: add any other information that is relevant (e.g., a guidance note on the use of this concept)

Concept definitions

1. The actual definition (see also 'Source')
2. Definition type (e.g., formal, informal, educational)
3. Audience: who is the intended audience for this definition (e.g., general public, employees, students)
4. Context (also known as register; e.g., academic, scientific)
5. Role: see above
6. Status: see above
7. Language: see above
8. Note: see above

Relationships

1. Relationships with specific terms:
   • Select the relationships type and use a shortcut key to tag another term to link them together
2. Collections: tags that identify what collection(s) you have added this term to
3. Documents: tags that identify what document(s) you have used this term in

Authority & Source

1. Authority refers to an organization or group that provided evidence for the use of this term (e.g., judicial, government, published)
   • Authority type: select the type of entity that provided authority for this term to exist
   • Add the description of the authority or use the shortcut key to select an existing person or oganization from your terminology data
2. Source refers to the external documentary evidence you used for compiling this record
   • The title of the reference work that contains this evidence (the work should be in your reference library)
   • Use the backslash key and enter the title to link the reference record
   • Open the library record for this source by clicking the library icon
   • Add a new reference record to your library by clicking the + icon

Adding a glossary into a document

1. A glossary smart list will produce a list of all records found in your document across all sections
2. A list can be generated for concepts, terms, people name, place names, organization names, event names
3. A table of abbreviations can be generated
4. See Style Guide / Terminology for editing the format of smart lists

Tips

• Create different collections for easy maintenance, exporting, or sharing
• We do not produce a list of work items, quotes, paraphrase, text blocks, or websites as these are generally not required when writing documents.
• You can export any collection in full directly from the collection record
• If a term has been added in multiple places and needs updating, you can do so by editing the record and it will automatically update all instances
  • Names: change a character name in a book you are writing
  • Places: Change the way you refer to a place
  • Fix any typo across all sections
• Work terms can be used for recording standards or competencies
  • Description: Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Math & English Language Arts in the U.S., defining K-12 learning expectations.
  • Link to an abbreviation; e.g., CCSS

See also

• Adding a collection of terms
• Exporting a collection of terms
• Annotations / Add terms
• Style Guide / Terminology smart lists