Section (typography)
In books and documents, a section is a subdivision, especially of a chapter.[1][2]
In fiction, sections often represent scenes, and accordingly the space separating them is sometimes also called a scene break.[3] Scene breaks represent gaps in story time that do not correspond to discourse time, and thus reveal the story-discourse distinction.[4]
In law, sections are divisions of legislation that may be deeply nested to as little as single sentences.[5]
Section form and numbering
[edit source]Some documents, especially legal documents, may have numbered sections, such as Section Two of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or Internal Revenue Code section 183.[5] The symbol § (section sign) prefixed to a number indicates that it is the number of a section detailed elsewhere.[6]
The dotted-decimal section-numbering scheme commonly used in scientific and technical documents is defined by International Standard ISO 2145.[7][8]
In HTML
[edit source]The <section> tag may be used in semantic HTML to mark part of a webpage as a section.[9]
The <hr/> element originally represented a page-width horizontal rule, and now has the semantics of a "paragraph-level thematic break" which may be rendered in various ways.[10] In the Wikipedia markup language, it is represented as four hyphens ---- on their own line and renders like this:
previous section
following section
See also
[edit source]- Asterism – Triangular symbol of three asterisks (⁂) sometimes used to indicate a section break in literature
- Dinkus – Typographic device ( * * * ) to indicate a change
- Fleuron (typography) – Printer's ornamental flourish (for example, ❦)
- Paragraph – Self-contained unit of discourse in writing
- Paragraphos – Ancient Greek paragraph markers
- Section (bookbinding) – Group of printed leaves, folded in the middle and bound together into a book binding
References
[edit source]- ↑ "Definition of SECTION". www.merriam-webster.com. 2024-10-27. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ↑ "Section Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ↑ Williamson, Jill. "Section Breaks vs. Scene Breaks | Go Teen Writers". Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ↑ Shen, Dan (2003). "What Do Temporal Antinomies Do to the Story-Discourse Distinction?: A Reply to Brian Richardson's Response". Narrative. 11 (2): 237–241. doi:10.1353/nar.2003.0010. ISSN 1538-974X.
- 1 2 Bruce, Thomas Robert (2008-08-29). "Section identifiers (LII)". LII / Legal Informtion Institute. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ↑ Standler, Ronald M. (2004). "Legal Research and Citation Style in USA". Retrieved 2009-12-15.
- ↑ Kowalski, E. (3 June 2008). "Peano paragraphing". blogs.ethz.ch. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
- ↑ "International Standard ISO 2145:1978, Documentation – Numbering of divisions and subdivisions in written documents". Geneva: International Organization for Standardization. (paywalled)
- ↑ "The Generic Section element - HTML: HyperText Markup Language | MDN". developer.mozilla.org. 2024-08-01. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ↑ "hr – thematic break (CHANGED) - HTML5". HTML: The Markup Language (an HTML language reference)--W3C Working Draft. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
