FAQ - Dmoz/Science

Archive-name:dmoz.org/Science
Posting-Frequency:none
Last-modified:2004-03-23 16:41:00
URL:http://dmoz.org/Science/faq.html
Category:Science

Table of Contents

1  Editing Policy
     1.1  I found an excellent collection of links and other scientific resources. Should it be listed directly under "Science"?
     1.2  Alphabetic Bar (Index)
          1.2.1  Some categories at the given level (3rd, 4th etc.) in the tree are listed in the bar, others are not...
          1.2.2  I found an entry in the index that points to a category with another name. Why?
     1.3  Category Structure and Names
          1.3.1  Why do you include Engineering topics in a category called "Technology"? Why isn't it called "Engineering" or "Engineering and Technology"?
          1.3.2  What is the relation between "Ethnology" and "Anthropology"?
          1.3.3  Why are topics such as Economics, Sociology, and Political Science listed under the Social Sciences category in Science? I think they should be in a separate top-level directory called Social Sciences.
2  Users guide
3  How to look for scientific information?
     3.1  Which subcategories of "Science" have their own FAQs?

1   Editing Policy
Q&A about the rules of building "Science" tree
1.1   Q: I found an excellent collection of links and other scientific resources. Should it be listed directly under "Science"?
A: No. We want to keep the top screen of "Science" as clean and lean as possible.

Please consider whether your URL would fit under a particular topic. Otherwise, please consider submitting your entry in the Science/Directories category.

by tschild at 2004-03-23 16:41:00
1.2   Alphabetic Bar (Index)
The letter categories are designed to allow fast access to scientific topics
1.2.1   Q: Some categories at the given level (3rd, 4th etc.) in the tree are listed in the bar, others are not...
A: The index was created and is updated manually. People can make mistakes and/or omissions. Please feel free to correct it or to ask the top level editors of "Science" to make additions/corrections.
by orlady at 2000-08-28 17:25:43
1.2.2   Q: I found an entry in the index that points to a category with another name. Why?
A: Many of the entries in the index are synonyms for the term used in the category name.

There are several possible reasons why a category name might have a synonym:

  • Sometimes the common name for a topic is different from the scientific name (example: "Animals" versus "Zoology").
  • Sometimes different names are used for essentially the same subject in different parts of the world or at different universities (example: in many countries the topic that is called "Anthropology" in this directory is known as "Ethnology").
  • Sometimes the category name does not include an important word because the word is included in the name of a superior category. However, that word might be included in the name listed in the index.
by orlady at 2001-11-19 17:46:32
1.3   Category Structure and Names
Explanation for some of the structure and subcategory names used in the Science category.
1.3.1   Q: Why do you include Engineering topics in a category called "Technology"? Why isn't it called "Engineering" or "Engineering and Technology"?
A: We prefer short category names, as long as they are understandable. In general "Engineering" is the process and "Technology" is its result. We do not want to separate these two concepts.
by orlady at 2001-11-19 17:50:40
1.3.2   Q: What is the relation between "Ethnology" and "Anthropology"?
A: What Americans call "Anthropology", Europeans term "Ethnology". For Americans "Ethnology" is a more specific term describing a part of "Anthropology."
by orlady at 2001-11-19 17:51:24
1.3.3   Q: Why are topics such as Economics, Sociology, and Political Science listed under the Social Sciences category in Science? I think they should be in a separate top-level directory called Social Sciences.
A: Classification of information is never straightforward. The classification of areas of knowledge and investigation differs between continents, languages, cultures, nations, and universities. In some world languages and cultures, these fields are considered to be subdivisions of the sciences, whereas others consider them to be a separate branch of knowledge or subdivisions of the humanities. In the English-language categories, the Open Directory has elected to treat Social Sciences as a subdivision of Science, but we have attempted to provide cross-links for the benefit of users who expect to find these topics somewhere else.
by orlady at 2001-12-04 16:17:48
2   Users guide
Q&A about the usability of "Science" tree
3   How to look for scientific information?
General questions about scientific resources
3.1   Q: Which subcategories of "Science" have their own FAQs?
A: We do not have a complete list. However, there is a FAQ at Science:Biology:Zoology.
by orlady at 2001-11-19 17:52:43

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