Skip to main content

Questions tagged [faq]

These questions are the most frequently asked and answered questions on Meta.

10 votes
6 answers
241 views

FAQ: How should I use external sources on Chemistry Stack Exchange?

Contents When do I need to provide citations? Is quoting directly from an article / book / website acceptable? Can I link to a website which circumvents publisher paywalls? What citation style should ...
16 votes
14 answers
945 views

Everything you need to know about Synthesis Golf

Contents What is synthesis golf? What should my answer include/ are there any rules? What previous synthesis golf challenges have taken place? How often does synthesis golf take place/ how long does ...
19 votes
1 answer
186 views

What are some basic guidelines for good edits on Chem.SE?

I came across a post on the main site just now that I think could use some changes. I found the editing help page in the Help Center, but its write-up is pretty cursory and high-level. What makes ...
hBy2Py's user avatar
  • 17.4k
22 votes
3 answers
3k views

How to ask and answer nomenclature questions?

A small but significant fraction of the questions consists of nomenclature questions. In principle, virtually all nomenclature questions resemble one another, but they are quite different from other ...
56 votes
21 answers
3k views

Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know

Making a good edit is hard. On Chem.SE, we (would/should/could) care about the finest points of formatting. There are basic points of editing many editors know about: Put some fancy MathJax/ $\mathrm\...
20 votes
4 answers
594 views

What do I need to know about tagging?

From the tour of Chemistry.se: All questions are tagged with their subject areas. Each can have up to 5 tags, since a question might be related to several subjects. This post is a guide on ...
14 votes
2 answers
648 views

What is the recommended style of citing on chemistry.se?

In principle citing is fine in any way that attributes the original author(s) unambiguously. The highest principle should always be: Give credit. However, recently we decided to have a community ...
28 votes
0 answers
807 views

Main Chatroom Etiquette Guidelines

When I was walking through some of the chatrooms on the network, I found that mathematics.se has some rules for their chat. I thought this might be a good idea for us as well, hence I propose these ...
5 votes
1 answer
141 views

A guide to moderating chem.SE yourself - close voting

We have an awesome guide on close voting posted by Ninefingers for crypto.SE. I'll just copy it to our meta-faq, with a few tweaks.
8 votes
2 answers
231 views

What can I do for this site?

I really like this site, and want to help it succeed. What can I do for Chemistry-Stack Exchange at this stage of the beta?
47 votes
1 answer
18k views

How do I ask homework questions on Chemistry Stack Exchange?

Mainly copied from https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/714/7433 What is the policy on asking homework questions on Chemistry Stack Exchange? What kinds of questions are considered homework ...
20 votes
2 answers
2k views

How can I enable MathJax in chat?

Last updated: 9 May 2017 This is an offshoot of ChatJax, which enables MathJax along with mhchem on chat. In order to enable MathJax in chat, please follow the following instructions (courtesy of ...
ManishEarth's user avatar
  • 15.2k
131 votes
10 answers
23k views

FAQ: How can I format math/chemistry expressions on Chemistry Stack Exchange?

This FAQ explains and gives examples how to typeset chemical equations, quantities and units, and mathematical expressions on Chemistry Stack Exchange (rather than posting pictures, which you can't ...