Encoding Guide. Title

Record: TITLE
Most records represent correspondence and have an author and recipient. Sometimes, a record represents a unique document with an author followed by a period and a title. The key indicator to whether a title is present is the absence of the word “to.” Any text on the second line that cannot be clearly separated into either the author or recipient categories should be coded with the title tag, <ti>.

<ti>Declaration of Independence</ti>

<ti>An Elegy</ti>

<ti>Letters from Publicola</ti>

If a name (or initials) are present, followed by a period “.” this can be transcribed as an author of the following title statement. For example, “John Laurens. Memorandum of Agreement between John Laurens and Alexander Gillon, with certification by Thomas Paine” should be separated and tagged as:

<a>John Laurens.</a>
<ti> Memorandum of Agreement between John Laurens and Alexander Gillon, with certification by Thomas Paine</ti>

If there is any confusion in identifying an author with a title, simply tag the entire statement with <ti> tags.