levelThree

5.4. Level three notes

5.4.1. The purpose of level three notes

A typical level three note will fulfil a function similar in a print edition to an appendix that deals with a particularly knotty problem or an interesting topic that would overflow the normal constraint of a level two pop-up window. The note may look at a particularly complex textual issue, or an extensive discussion of a performance crux in a play, for example.

5.4.2. The format of level three notes

All level three notes will be recorded in a single file, with the name "[play abbreviation]_footnotes.xml" (Jn_footnotes.xml, for example). The Coordinating Editor will format the file when you have completed your notes. The footnotes file will be divided into sections, each of which is a discrete footnote; links to a particular footnote will open at the appropriate section.

The advantages of this format are threefold:

1. The electronic space will allow you to expand more fully than the confines of print on issues that are particularly interesting or challenging.
2. Since the file is seen by the computer as similar to an introductory essay, you can do everything with a level three note that you can with your essays: embed links, images, videos -- and even have footnotes (levels one and two!) to the level three note.
3. If you so wish, you can organize your level three notes so that they form a coherent narrative, such that a reader can focus on the notes as a separate document. This format would make your notes into, in effect, an essay. For an example of this approach, see the 'Historical Notes on the reign of King John', an essay that is treated as a series of level three notes to the annotations on the characters in the play.

5.4.3. Linking to level three notes

As in all essays, level three notes will have numbered paragraphs. To link to the note, treat the number of the paragraph as a TLN, and link to the first paragraph in your note. As an example, a link will take this format for a note in King John that links to the third note, which happens to start at paragraph 14:

<ilink component="text" href="Jn/footnotes#tln-14">See the full passage</ilink>.

Until you are sure that your notes are in a final state, with securely numbered paragraphs, you can substitute a placeholder number, as you would in a print volume:

<ilink component="text" href="Jn/footnotes#tln-00">See the full passage</ilink>.

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