- Footnotes
- References to printed information
- References to online information
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
References to printed information
Apply the following guidelines to refer to printed information, such as articles, white papers, books, and chapters or sections within books.
General guidelines
Follow these general guidelines for using cross-references:
- Provide a reason for the cross-reference. Unless the reason is clear based on the context, tell readers why you are referring to other information.
Example
For examples of diagnostic reports, see Chapter 12, “Reports,” on page 211.
For more information about these parameters, see the DB2 Object Comparison Tool for z/OS User’s Guide, SC19-3037.
For detailed information about the financial benefits of using these tools, see the IBM white paper IMS Database Tools Reduce the Total Cost of Ownership.
- If the cross-referenced information is essential and short, such as a restriction or parameter description, consider reproducing it instead of referring to it. However, reproduced information can become obsolete if the original is updated. If you reproduce content in multiple places, establish a process for keeping all instances of that content at the same version over time.
References within the same document
Follow these guidelines to create cross-references between different places in a book, article, or printed set of topics:
- Refer to a part, chapter, or appendix by its number or letter and include the page number. For a reference within the same chapter of the book, provide the heading and a page number.
Example
For detailed information about error codes, see Appendix B, “Messages and codes,” on page 246.
For more information about these topics, see Chapter 9, “Programming techniques,” on page 99.
For software requirements, see “Requirements” on page 5.
- Always use the cross-reference function of your authoring tool, even if it produces cross-references that do not conform to the guidelines in this topic. Most authoring tools track and automatically update the page numbers in cross-references if the location of the content in the document changes. Page numbers that you type can become incorrect if you add or remove content.
- Use initial uppercase letters on the words Appendix, Bibliography, Chapter, Contents, Figure, Glossary, Part, Preface, Table, and Volume when you use these words in a cross-reference. When you use these words generically, use lowercase.
Example
Hexadecimal conversion codes are in Appendix C, “Conversion utility,” on page 316.
For an illustration of these relationships, see Figure 6 on page 147.
Definitions for unique terms are included in the glossary.
- Do not abbreviate Chapter, Figure, Part, or Volume in cross-references or elsewhere.
- Do not use a cross-reference to a figure or table when the figure or table immediately follows or precedes the text that mentions the figure or table.
Example (incorrect)
The required parameters are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Configuration parameters
Parameter name
Default value
ABCPARM
100
Example (correct)
The required parameters are shown in the following table.
Table 2 Configuration parameters
Parameter name
Default value
ABCPARM
100
When you refer to figures or tables, do not include captions.
Example (incorrect)
See Figure 6, “Data structures,” on page 26.
Example (correct)
See Figure 6 on page 26.
References outside the document
Follow these guidelines to create references from one printed publication to another printed publication:
- When printed publications are revised, chapter titles, section headings, and page numbers can change. When you must refer to information in another publication, use general references. Include the title of the publication but not its chapter titles, section headings, or page numbers. Paraphrase the headings, or describe the information by using the same terminology that is used in the other publication.
Example (incorrect)
For more information, see “Identifying new terminology” in Chapter 6 of the ID Workbench Getting Started and User’s Guide, SH21-0783-16.
Example (correct)
See the information about identifying new terminology in the chapter that explains Easy English in the ID Workbench Getting Started and User’s Guide, SH21-0783-16.
- When you refer to a publication that is listed in the preface or bibliography, use a short title that distinctly identifies the publication, and italicize it. Do not include the document number.
Example
For more information, see the DQTI book.
For syntax details, see the Programming Reference.
- If your publication does not have a preface or bibliography, use the full title of the publication, and italicize it. Provide the document number (without the suffix) in a regular font. Use commas to separate the document number from the title and from subsequent text.
Example
For information about 9370 configurations, see Introducing the IBM 9370 System, GA24-4031, and Planning for your System, GA24-4032.
- Include a definite article and an identifying noun when they are needed for clarity. For example, you can add the words the and book to a title.
- When you refer to multiple publications that share a common element in their titles, do not shorten those references by omitting the common element.
Example (incorrect)
See the DB2 Administration Tool Installation and User’s Guides.
Example (correct)
See the DB2 Administration Tool Installation Guide and the DB2 Administration Tool User’s Guide.
- When you refer to a white paper, use the full title of the document and italicize it. Do not include the document number.
Example
For more information, see the IBM white paper Planning Considerations for HiperDispatch.
- Do not include the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) in references. The ISBN changes with every publication of a book. If you include an ISBN in references, you limit the reference to a specific edition of the book.
- Italicize titles of diskettes and CDs. Do not italicize references to generic types of diskettes and CDs, such as diagnostic diskette, option diskette, reference diskette, starter diskette, and system diskette.
Example
Insert Installation Diskette 2 in the diskette drive.
The Digital Library Publications CD contains all the publications in PDF and HTML files.