Editorial Comment

As in the editing of a printed text, it is necessary to provide mechanisms for comment by the electronic editor. The general editing policy should be stated in the preface of the documentation section. The following mechanisms are suggested for simple types of editorial comment at particular points in the text (source and orig are attributes specifying the identity of the editor and the original form in the case of correction and normalisation):

1. sic (indicating that the text is being faithfully reproduced even though incorrect or apparently so) <![ CDATA[ <sic>practis</sic> ]]>
2. correction (indicating that the text has been emended by the editor; the original form being supplied as the value of the attribute sic) <![ CDATA[ <corr ed=NN sic=practis>practise</corr> ]]>
3. normalisation (indicating that the text has been normalised by the editor; as with emendation, both editor and original may be specified as attributes) <![ CDATA[ <norm ed=SJ sic=an>and</norm> ]]>
4. addition of word(s) (use only where words have been inserted into the original) <![ CDATA[ if <add ed=SJ>you are</add> in doubt ]]>
5. editorial note (e.g. on omission of material, giving explanation) <![ CDATA[ <note source=HK>table omitted</note> ]]> Editorial notes are thus tagged like ordinary notes (cf. section ) and are identified by the attribute for source.

The type and level of detail of editorial comment must be evaluated in each individual case, taking into account the intended uses and users of the text. For a discussion of more complex cases of textual editing, see section .