Scope Notes are descriptions of concepts, which include definitions, examples, and references to scholarly works. A concept is a specific term in the concept map that revolves around the central concept of the changing landscape in the North Atlantic. An exceptional scope note contains a thorough description of a specific concept, multiple examples related to the description, and several references to the discussions in the description and examples. This scope note must also connect to the central concept of the changing landscape in the North Atlantic. 

Scope notes are vital to the dataARC project, as they put each concept into context. They allow users to understand the premise of each concept and its connection to the changing landscape in the North Atlantic. They also allow users to gain a clearer view of connections between concepts. All concepts connect to many others, creating a large web of concepts. 

Scope notes must be written in a thoughtful and thorough manner. Writers must avoid jargon and be direct and to the point. Creators must also assume that the final user is not an expert in the respective concept topic, as there will be many users from multiple disciplines accessing these notes. It is also important to create useful examples for each scope note, as they help users understand each concept and its relationship to broader notions of the changing landscape in the North Atlantic. Writers must use highly cited sources that establish the data they are mapping. More recent sources are desired, as they include the most up to date information. Wikipedia and other non-scholarly webpages are not acceptable.

A number of the scope notes in the dataARC database were created in a host of workshops led by Western Carolina University masters student Brooke Mundy. These writing workshops consisted of groups of two to three participants taking part in two workshops. The first Scope Notes Writing Workshop, which lasted approximately two hours, consisted of Brooke training participants in scope note writing and then instructing the participants to write a practice scope note. The second workshop, which lasted between three and four hours, consisted of participants collaboratively writing and editing four to six scope notes. There have been many other contributors outside of these workshops who have devoted their time to scope note writing. 

Click here to view Brooke's presentation from the Scope Notes Writing Workshops. 

View the current set of scope notes for all dataARC concepts available in Github.