Style Guide

This is the Plain Technical General American English (PTGAE) style guide for this vault. It governs published content: term definitions, concept notes, essays, lessons, index pages, and discipline content. Both human-written and agent-written content follow these rules.

PTGAE is the formal, technical register — clear, precise, and respectful. emsenn’s natural writing voice (used in babbles, letters-to-the-web, and personal writing) operates differently; see the Voice Notes in personal/writing/style/ for that register. When writing published vault content, use this guide.

The guide covers:

1. General writing rules that apply to everything
2. Evidence and citation standards
3. Conventions specific to each content type

Voice

Voice is the combination of content and style that gives writing its personality. Tone varies by content type — a babble is informal, a term definition is precise — but voice stays consistent.

Respect the reader

Don’t tell the reader how to feel. Present the material; let them respond.

• Bad: “This fascinating result shows…”
• Good: “This result shows…”

Don’t assume the reader shares your background or vocabulary. When a term has a specific meaning in this vault, link to it on first use.

Respect the subject

Acknowledge that people have qualities but aren’t those qualities.

• Bad: “Foucault is a poststructuralist.”
• Good: “Foucault’s work is situated within poststructuralism.”
• Bad: “emsenn is a researcher.”
• Good: “emsenn’s work is research.”

This isn’t pedantry. People aren’t reducible to their roles, and writing that reduces them trains the writer and reader to think reductively.

Active voice

Prefer active voice and direct phrasing. Passive voice obscures who does what.

• Bad: “The derivation is produced by the impossibility of nothing.”
• Good: “The impossibility of nothing produces the derivation.”

Passive voice is acceptable when the agent is genuinely unknown or unimportant, or when the emphasis should fall on the object rather than the actor.

Names and references

People

First mention of a person uses their full name: “Charles Sanders Peirce,” not “Peirce.” Subsequent mentions may use surname only. Link to the person’s encyclopedia page on first mention using a wikilink.

emsenn

Always lowercase, never capitalized, even at the start of a sentence. Restructure the sentence if needed.

• Bad: “Emsenn develops relationality.”
• Good: “The relational framework is developed by emsenn.”
• Better: “emsenn develops relationality.” (if not sentence-initial)

Word choice

Verbs

Prefer	Over	Unless
use	utilize	the thing is being used for a genuinely unusual purpose
to	in order to, as a way to
also	in addition
remove	extract, eliminate, take away	those words are more precise in context
method	methodology	you mean the study of methods, not a method

Contractions

Use common contractions to create a natural tone: it’s, you’re, that’s, don’t, can’t, won’t.

Rules:

• Never mix contractions and their spelled-out equivalents in the same piece. If the piece uses “don’t,” don’t also use “do not.”
• Never form a contraction from a noun and a verb. “emsenn’s developing” is wrong. “emsenn is developing” is correct.
• Avoid ambiguous contractions: there’d, it’ll, they’d.

Adverbs to avoid

These adverbs weaken writing by substituting vagueness for precision. Drop them; if the sentence feels empty without one, the sentence needs rewriting, not an adverb.

Drop	Why
clearly	If it were clear, you wouldn’t need to say so
completely	Whatever it did, it did it. Specify only if incomplete
very, extremely, exceedingly	Intensifiers that add no information
quite, fairly, relatively	Hedges that undermine the claim
significantly, substantially	Quantify instead
interestingly, surprisingly, remarkably	Let the reader decide what interests or surprises them
literally	Almost always used non-literally
mostly, largely	Specify the proportion

The full list: clearly, completely, exceedingly, extremely, fairly, huge, interestingly, largely, literally, mostly, quite, relatively, remarkably, several, significantly, substantially, surprisingly, tiny, various, vast, very.

Adjective order

When stacking adjectives, follow this order:

1. Quantity (many, seventeen, a few)
2. Opinion (interesting, good, gorgeous)
3. Size (big, narrow, tall)
4. Quality (broken, uncut, smooth)
5. Shape (square, rotund, triangular)
6. Age (twelve-year-old, young, elderly)
7. Color (cerulean, green, pink)
8. Origin (English, Roman, Argentinian)
9. Material (wood, aluminium, concrete)
10. Type (U-shaped, professional)
11. Purpose (cleaning, camping, baking)

Exceptions: modifiers to an adjective directly precede it (“several not calm individuals”), and reduplicatives (“big bad wolf”) may override the order for better meter.

Cliches

Avoid: “not rocket science,” “outside the box,” and similar dead metaphors. If a phrase has been used so often that it no longer creates an image, replace it with something precise.

Quotation marks

• Double quotes for a term used literally or as a strong metaphor: “closure operator” means exactly what it says.
• Single quotes for a term used as a loose analogy: the vault is ‘alive’ in the sense that it changes.
• Italics for emphasis or for introducing a term that will be defined.

Centuries

Capitalize “Century” when referring to a specific one: “the 18th Century.” Lowercase for the plural: “over several centuries.”

Sensory descriptions

When a sensation matters to the writing, provide three ways to apprehend it — three details, three comparisons, three angles. One is a claim; three is an experience.

Structure

Sentences

Lead with the important information. The sentence’s subject and verb should appear early.

Paragraphs

One idea per paragraph. The first sentence states or implies what the paragraph is about. Subsequent sentences develop it.

Sections

Use headings to create scannable structure. A reader should be able to understand the document’s argument from its headings alone.

Evidence and citation

This vault aspires to discipline-appropriate standards of evidence. Every factual claim in published content should be traceable to a source.

Citation format

• Use [@citekey] for bibliography citations (entries in bibliography.bib). Place the citation after the sentence it supports: “Relations are ontologically prior to entities [@emsenn2025].”
• When citing a person, link to their encyclopedia page on first mention.
• When citing a published work by title, use italics for the title and include a bibliography citation.

Standards by content type

Content type	Evidence standard
Term definitions	Cite who introduced the term and where. If it’s emsenn’s term, say so and cite the text where it’s developed.
Concept notes	Cite the sources that inform the concept. If the concept synthesizes multiple sources, cite each.
Essays and papers	Follow the citation standards of the discipline the essay engages. A philosophy essay cites differently from a linguistics paper.
Lessons	Cite the sources the lesson draws on. State where the reader can find the original treatment.
Discipline pages	Cite foundational texts that define the discipline’s scope and methods.
School pages	Cite the school’s founding texts and key thinkers.
Encyclopedia entries	Cite at least one authoritative source per factual claim.

When you don’t have a source

If a claim matters but you don’t have a citation, mark it. Use [citation needed] as a visible flag. Don’t leave unsourced claims unmarked — the reader should always know which claims are backed and which aren’t yet.

Bibliography

The vault bibliography lives at bibliography.bib (BibTeX format). Before citing a work, check whether it already has an entry. If not, add one using a citekey of the form authorYear (e.g., foucault1975, whitehead1929). For emsenn’s own works, use emsenn plus year.

Content types

Term definitions (terms/)

A term definition answers: what does this term mean?

Structure:

1. Opening sentence: “[Term] is [definition].” State what it is and who introduces or uses it. If it’s emsenn’s term, say so: “[Term] is a term emsenn introduces to name…” Cite the source: [@citekey].
2. Elaboration: 1-3 paragraphs developing the definition with enough context that someone unfamiliar can understand it. Cite the sources that inform the elaboration.
3. Related terms: a list of links to terms that are conceptually connected, each with a one-line gloss explaining the connection.

Don’t write a term definition as an essay. It should be compact, precise, and referenceable.

Concept notes (concepts/)

A concept note develops an idea that is broader or more exploratory than a term definition. Where a term definition answers “what does X mean,” a concept note answers “what is going on with X” or “how does X work.”

Concept notes are more discursive than term definitions but less structured than essays. They should still be organized under clear headings. Cite the sources that inform each section.

Essays and papers (text/)

Essays develop an argument. They have a thesis (stated or implied), evidence, and a conclusion. The thesis should be identifiable within the first two paragraphs.

Follow the citation conventions of the discipline the essay engages. A philosophy paper and a linguistics paper cite differently — use whatever standard the discipline’s practitioners would expect.

Letters-to-the-web and babbles are less structured: letters address a public topic at length, babbles are unedited thought. Both follow the general style rules but aren’t held to structural or citation standards.

Discipline pages (disciplines/)

A discipline page describes a field of study. It should answer: what does this discipline study, how does it study it, and why does it matter to this vault?

Structure:

1. Opening paragraph: What the discipline studies. What questions it asks. How it relates to the vault’s broader project.
2. Methods: How practitioners in this discipline produce knowledge. What counts as evidence. What the core methods are. This section is often underdeveloped — prioritize it.
3. Key texts: Foundational works that define the field. Cite each with [@citekey].
4. Key thinkers: People whose work defines or shapes the discipline. Link to encyclopedia entries.
5. Subdirectory overview: Links to schools/, topics/, terms/, curricula/ within this module.

Don’t dump content under disciplines/ that belongs under schools/ or topics/. A discipline page describes the field; a school page describes a specific tradition’s approach to that field.

School pages (schools/)

A school page describes a named theoretical tradition, approach, or thinker’s body of work. It should answer: what does this school claim, how does it produce knowledge, and where does it differ from other approaches?

Structure:

1. Opening paragraph: What the school’s core claims or commitments are. Who founded or developed it.
2. Methods and approach: How this school differs from others in the same discipline. What it pays attention to that others don’t. What its characteristic methods are.
3. Key texts: The founding and defining works. Cite each with [@citekey].
4. Key thinkers: Link to encyclopedia entries.
5. Relationship to this vault: How this school’s methods or claims relate to emsenn’s work.
6. Critiques and limitations: What this school doesn’t handle well, from the perspective of this vault.

Schools are currently underdeveloped relative to disciplines. When in doubt about whether something belongs under disciplines/ or schools/, put it under schools/ — specific traditions and approaches are more useful to the reader than abstract disciplinary overviews.

Lessons (curricula/)

Lessons are NOT reference documents. They guide the reader from not-understanding to understanding. See the Designing Effective Lessons curriculum for full pedagogical guidelines.

Key rules:

• One core idea per lesson, with at most 3-4 new concepts
• Concrete before abstract: worked example first, then definition
• Every lesson needs a worked example and self-check exercises with collapsible answers
• State prerequisites explicitly
• State what the reader will be able to do after completing the lesson
• Forward-link to the next lesson
• Cite the sources the lesson draws on

Index pages

Index pages are the interaction surface for a directory. They should:

1. Open with 1-2 sentences explaining what this area of the vault covers
2. List the most important pages with brief descriptions
3. Use hideChildListing: true in frontmatter when the hand-written overview makes the auto-generated listing redundant

Don’t write an index page as an essay. It’s a navigation aid with enough context to orient the reader.

Encyclopedia entries (encyclopedia/)

Encyclopedia entries are reference documents about people, events, terms, and time periods. They should be factual, concise, and cited.

• Every factual claim needs a source. If you can’t cite it, mark it [citation needed].
• Don’t editorialize. Present the facts; let the reader draw conclusions.
• Link to related vault content where relevant.

Mathematical writing

When writing about mathematical concepts in prose:

• Define notation before using it
• Use inline LaTeX ($...$) for symbols within sentences and display LaTeX ($...$) for equations that need their own line
• When introducing a formal definition, give the intuition first, then the formal statement
• When a proof or argument is long, state the result first and then develop the argument

Cross-referencing

• When a concept mentioned in the text has a page in the vault, link to it on first mention using a markdown link: [concept name](./path/to/concept.md).
• When citing a person, link to their encyclopedia page on first mention.
• When citing a published work, use a bibliography citation: [@citekey].
• Don’t over-link. Link on first mention per page, not on every occurrence.

What this guide does not cover

This guide covers style — the choices that make writing clear and consistent. It doesn’t cover:

• Content decisions: what to write about, where to put it, how to organize the vault. See the ASR specifications for that.
• Frontmatter conventions: what fields go in the YAML block. See Semiotic Markdown and semantic frontmatter.
• Pedagogical design: how to structure lessons for learning. See Designing Effective Lessons.
• emsenn’s natural voice: the informal register used in babbles and letters. See Voice Notes.
• Discipline-specific writing: each discipline may have its own writing skill (e.g., pedagogy/skills/writing-curricula/) that extends this guide with field-specific conventions.