Introduction to the Thesaurus

This thesaurus module covers the domain of two stick kite parts and materials only. Materials for only two parts of the kite have been included. Materials for other parts will be included in later modules. Kite construction handbooks, web sites and glossaries were consulted to select preferred terms and establish their relationships. This thesaurus conforms to the National Information Standards Organization Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Thesauri (2003). The hierarchical "relationship is the primary feature that distinguishes a systematic thesaurus from an unstructured list of terms, such as a glossary"(5.3).

We have provided a complete alphabetical display of terms. We have
also provided a top term display and a sample hierarchical display.

Conventions:

A term is an entry in the thesaurus. It can be a single word or a multiple word term. It can be preferred or non-preferred. A preferred term or descriptor is one that can be used by the Association in its different informational and educational modes and can be used for future indexing needs. A non-preferred term is one that cannot be used for such purposes. Instead, a non-preferred term anticipates the potential queries of users.

This thesaurus employs British spelling throughout.
Example: centre NOT center

Numerals are spelled out.
Example: two NOT 2

Terms for parts are pluralized.
Example: tails NOT tail

Terms for materials are not pluralized.
Example: plastic NOT plastics

Preferred terms are shown in bold throughout the thesaurus.

Abbreviations:

BT =BROADER TERM: there is a broader or superordinate descriptor for this preferred term in the hierarchical relationship.

NT =NARROWER TERM: there is a narrower or subordinate term for this preferred term in the hierarchical relationship.

RT =RELATED TERM: there is a term that is related to the preferred term but it is neither a broader or narrower term.

SN =SCOPE NOTE: there is a definition provided for this term and/or there is a note explaining its use within the thesaurus

USE: directs you to the preferred term from a non-preferred term
Example: pine USE wood

UF =USED FOR: represents the reciprocal of USE and indicates that the term is preferred and identifies non-preferred terms for this concept.
Example: wood USED FOR pine

< >: Angle brackets identify a node label. Node labels are not descriptors and are not used for indexing. Instead they are used to group categories of related terms under a heading in the thesaurus.