RationalWiki:Science Text

Please use the talk page for discussions on these points.

Request
To start a category of science texts that are used twofold:


 * 1) Full text of popular or often-quote-mined books, papers and journals of science that are in the public domain (or granted a free license for RW to use), that includes easily-linked sections. These sections can also include sub-sections that are where popular quote mines come from, so people can link directly to these to refute the mined quote in online discussions.


 * Wow, that sounds like a huge amount of work.


 * 1) Discussion and explanatory annotations that coincide with the text, to make it easier for the not-so-scientific to understand what jargon or complexities are being used in the original text.


 * Ditto.

Examples
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species would be a great asset to include in such a fashion. His book is often quote mined, and it is full of naturalistic and biological jargon and discussions that would go over a layman's head. Why not make it more accessible so that people can understand what he said and what he helped found?

Purpose
When Creationists and their ilk quote-mine or misrepresent works, we can refute it with links directly to the RW article on the work. If the work is not in the public domain, we can ask the author(s) of the work if they will allow it to be licensed for use on RW for this purpose. Newer books would be more difficult to get (perhaps we can get the author to release the section that is mined?), but journals and articles we may be successful in licensing for free.

Problems
As mentioned above, it will be a gargantuan task, when it's easier to just use the full quote wherever or whenever it is needed.