Images • Maps • Species Lists • Family Descriptions • Species Descriptions

Instructions for Authors (Demo)

This page last edited: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 21:16:42 -0500
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Please be aware that instructions may change without warning as advances are made in the database back-end and in the descriptions contribution and editing interfaces.

Authoring and reviewing species descriptions in The Nearctic Spider Database are community-driven processes undertaken by a team of dedicated and passionate araneologists. In order to maintain the dynamic nature of the peer-review process, you are encouraged to review as many descriptions as you author. More details about the peer-review process are available toward the bottom of this page.

Security & Browser Configuration

Because browsers often cache the contents of forms (including username & password), please do not contribute to species descriptions on a public computer. This contribution system is heavily reliant on javascripts; ensure that your browser is configured to parse them. Unless you have specifically disabled this, there is normally nothing that need be done. There is also no point in adding these pages to your browser's favorites or bookmarks; you will be redirected to the login page when you next visit from such links.

Session Length

You will have exactly 1 hour to write or edit any one species description. If you leave your computer unattended for longer than 1 hour while logged in to your account or if you do not submit your description within this time limit, the system will time-out and you must log back in. Any additions or changes to your species descriptions that were made without having submitted the form will be lost. To work around this potential constraint, either prepare your descriptions in advance or complete your descriptions after a number of individual sessions.

WYSIWYG Text Editors & External Applications

Please be aware that copying and pasting from applications such as Microsoft Word into the WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) text editors WILL introduce unwanted formatting code. Please use the "Paste Text" or "Paste Word" functions in the text editor panel to clear most of this unnecessary code. Only minimal, raw text should be present in these boxes and you may examine the actual contents by pressing the "HTML" button in the text editor panel. These editors require Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater or FireFox 1.5 or greater. Unfortunately, many available functions do not work with Safari.

Buttons in Text Editors

	Cut text (Ctrl+X).
	Copy text (Ctrl+C).
	Paste text (Ctrl+V).
	Paste and remove unwanted & bulky coding if the source text resides in a text file. Ensure that your cursor is in the text editor before clicking this button.
	Paste and remove unwanted & bulky coding if the source text resides in MS Word. Ensure that your cursor is in the text editor before clicking this button.
	Undo the last operation (Ctrl+Z).
	Redo the last operation (Ctrl+Y).
	Insert a new link.
	Unlinks the current selection/removes all selected links.
	Removes formatting from the selection.
	Edit HTML source code. Useful if, upon review of the description, odd formatting appears in place of what was apparently submitted. Knowledge of HTML is required. Click HERE (new window) for sites about HTML coding.
	Begins the spell check. Only works with IE5.0+ and requires a one-time modest download and install.
	Bold text style (Ctrl+B).
	Italic text style (Ctrl+I).
	Underline text style (Ctrl+U).
	Makes the selection subscripted.
	Makes the selection superscripted.
	Insert special character.

Spelling, Grammar & Terminology

Please be conscious of spelling and grammar. Upon submission of your species description, it immediately appears "live" on this website. To assist with spelling, text fields are provisioned with a spell check button. This latter tool requires a modest download and only works with Internet Explorer 5.0+. You are also free to make use of the spider glossary accessible HERE (new window). Other functions associated with the text editors are described above. Please make use of these functions. For example, species names should be italicized.

Citations and References

Citations
Citations should follow the format of the journal, Ecology. Examples as follows:

Example 1:
Pardosa moesta has a two-year life cycle in Alberta (Buddle, 2000) and in Newfoundland (Pickavance, 2001), but may have a shorter, one-year life cycle in the more southerly parts of its range.
Example 2:
This spider is an open-habitat specialist, and increases in abundance following disturbances, such as forest fire or harvesting, which open up the forest canopy (Buddle et al., 2000).

References
In order to reduce database overhead, references are stored in one indexed table. A maximum of one primary reference may be chosen for male, female, and morphometric descriptions while a maximum of 10 natural history references may be chosen. More details are described below.

Images

Images (high quality diagnostic photographs or drawings) must be prepared in advance for upload and must be *.jpg and less than 1MB in size. All your uploaded images will be automatically tagged with Credit: Shorthouse, David P.. Consequently, all uploaded images must be of your drawings or image captures. If you intend to upload images other than your own, these must be sent via email to the database manager, David Shorthouse (dshorthouse@eol.org) along with a full credit, which includes name, email address, and web address (optional). Two habitus images (typically one adult male and one adult female) and one of each of palp and epigynum are permissible for each species description. Habitus images will be resized to 450 pixels wide and palp and epigyna images will be resized to 300 pixels wide. In instances where multiple views of the palp or epigynum are desired, these must be combined into one image with the specifications as described. For example:

One image file of palp as follows:	One image file of epigynum as follows:
Above image is 300 pixels wide, 300 dpi resolution, jpg format (image courtesy of John Hancock).	Above image is 300 pixels wide, 150 dpi resolution, jpg format (image courtesy of John Hancock).

In order to ensure your images are truly effective and are diagnostic for the species, you are encouraged to use photo or image editing software to add tags, fly-outs, or arrows to point out important characters. You should then make reference to these in your textboxes. Prior to submitting the species description, all images must be uploaded and live thumbnails examined. You will have an opprotunity to delete uploaded images and start over again if required.

Instructions for Fields in Species Descriptions

Species descriptions in the Nearctic Spider Database should be as general as possible to encompass habitat associations, life & natural history, and male/female body descriptions where ever the species is found throughout the Nearctic. Consequently, collection-specific details should be avoided if possible. Please make every attempt to generalize your descriptions by citing published descriptions. In instances where citations are not possible and descriptions must rely on unpublished field observations, tag all such comments using the following format: (Shorthouse, pers. obs.).

General Comments Field
General comments about species should be succinct and, when included, should contain commonly understood facts not appropriately placed in other fields. Examples include items of medical relevance, known range or distribution, etc.

Hidden From the Public
Sensitive locality data for protected species is taken very seriously. If you check this box prior to submitting your description, please provide a reason. With your provided rationale, the locality information and maps for this species may be reconfigured such that they will not be visible on this website and will not be distributed to CBIF/GBIF or other data providers.

Recorded Habitats Field
Please include as many recorded habitats where the species has been collected as possible, separated by commas. These descriptions will eventually be included in text-based, dynamic queries to permit the construction of expected species lists across defined regions and habitats.

Life & Natural History Field
Please include as much information as possible about the life history and natural history of the described species. Details may include but are not limited to overwintering strategies, when males & females reach sexual maturity, number of egg sacs laid each season, number of eggs in each egg sac, number of instars, voltinism (# generations / year), lifecycles, and adaptations.

Male Description Field
Please include descriptive terms. Keep in mind that size and colour may be quite variable for each species throughout its range.

Male Measurements Fields
Measurements are in millimeters. These values are intended to represent average male total length, male carapace length and male carapace width. In instances when a range of sizes is known, but averages are not, please note this in the male description field.

Female Description Field
Please include descriptive terms. Keep in mind that size and colour may be quite variable for each species throughout its range.

Female Measurements Fields
Measurements are in millimeters. These values are intended to represent average female total length, female carapace length and female carapace width. In instances when a range of sizes is known, but averages are not, please note this in the female description field.

Descriptions Source
Click the provided button, "References", to open a pop-up window containing a list of all the references presently in the Nearctic Spider Database. Choose and click one linked "Ref #" from which the majority of your male, female, and morphometric information was retrieved. Doing so will close the pop-up window and fill the descriptions source text box with your chosen "Ref #". Only one reference may be chosen as the primary source for the descriptions of male, female, and their morphometrics; please choose wisely.

Natural History References (Maximum 10)
Click the provided buttons, "References", to open pop-up windows containing lists of all the references presently in the Nearctic Spider Database. Choose and click "Ref #" from these pop-up windows and the reference index number will appear in the appropriate text box. You may add a maximum of 10 natural history references in this manner. If a reference is not found in the pop-up window, please add your citation in the appropriate text boxes as described above and also send the full reference to David Shorthouse, dshorthouse@eol.org for inclusion in the indexed references table. You must later log back into your account and edit this species description to add the new reference(s).

Ready for Review Checkbox (VERY IMPORTANT)

Checking this box will tag your description as "Ready for Review".

Choosing NOT to check this box will tag your description as "In Progress". In this case, you will have 2 weeks to complete your species description before the contents of your description and your temporary authorship may be removed. After two weeks have passed and you have not made any progress on your description or have not tagged it as "Ready for Review", you will receive a flashing button on your account interface entitled, "Editor Notice". You will receive no other notification.

Consider leaving the "Ready for Review" box un-checked as a reservation system and an opportunity to continue working on your species description without fear that it will be submitted to the review process.

Successful Creation/Update

When your species description upload has successfully completed upon pressing the "Submit Description" or "Submit Changes" button, you will receive a confirmation window like the following. If you do not receive this confirmation window, your submission did not take place. Please contact David Shorthouse, dshorthouse@eol.org to resolve any issues you may be having.

The Peer-Review Process

Once you tag your description as "Ready for Review", it may receive up to three reviews. Don't discourage if this process takes a long time. Remember, reviewing descriptions is voluntary. You may continue to edit your description and may elect to integrate reviewers suggestions to improve your description. When a description receives its third  and final review, you will receive an automated email announcement from the database server. A new checkbox will be visible when you edit this species description a final time. Checking this box and submitting the description a final time will alert the editor that you have read the reviewer comments and have finalized your description. The editor will then read the reviewer comments and your finalized species description and, if there is evidence that the reviewers' concerns have been addressed, your description will be tagged as "Peer-Reviewed". At this point, your description can no longer be edited. Arbitration or rebuttals at any stage of this process may take place via email if required.