Wiki Law School talk:MPEP Outline/Archive 1

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Hello. I'm planning to stiudy for the patent bar this summer. I would also like to help contribute to this MPEP outline. Please let me know what I can do to help. Marc.

Great! As you may have noticed, the MPEP sections are huge. Really huge, and full of stuff that we don't need to know for the patent bar. Some of these unnecessary parts are pretty obvious; such as the forms that examiners use in their patent examinations.

I think this project can be divided into two main phases: formatting and substantive editing. The formatting is a mind-numbing and thankless task. If this appeals to you, here is a brief description of what we need:

Formatting Help Needed

What I have started doing is:

• breaking up the chapters into their component sections
  • (see MPEP 700 as an example, all it does is transclude each individual section into the main chapter outline.)
  • do this by cutting and pasting each main section into new pages that are named "MPEP <section number>" i.e., MPEP 701
• adding the heading markers throughout the text, as follows:
  • for secondary section headings (i.e., 702.01) add "===" (three equal signs) before and after the section number and title:
    • "===702.01 Obviously Informal Cases==="
  • for tertiary section headings (i.e., 704.11(a)) add "====" (four equal signs) before and after the section number and title:
    • "===704.11(a) Examples of Information Reasonably Required==="
• add the templates Template:MPEP Chapter to each chapter and Template:MPEP Section to each section.
  • These templates include category tags and navigation templates.
  • If you don't have experience with wikis, don't worry about this one unless you want me to explain how this works; you have to define variables for the template (but it's pretty simple).

Substantive Editing Help Needed

Participating in the editing process is what will help us learn the MPEP and prepare for the patent bar. This will require reading each section, deciding if it is important for the patent bar, deleting if not, and summarizing if it is.

How can you tell if something needs to stay or go? Some things are obviously unnecessary for our purpose, so immediately delete those. Otherwise, just play it by ear. Taking old exams will help you get a feel for what is tested and what is not. Plus, taking old exams is the most important part of your study regimen (IMO). If in doubt, leave the section there and ask on the discussion page for that section (as opposed to this talk page for the entire project).

I have started with MPEP 700 because I believe it is the most important chapter. The other biggies are MPEP 600 and MPEP 2100. If you want to begin there, that would be great.

Other

Also, please check out the Patent Bar Preparation page, if you have anything to add, please feel free.

If all this makes sense, great. If not, please let me know. I'm glad to have to aboard and look forward to your contribution! Sysop 20:44, 23 May 2007 (MST)

Now I have memorial day weekend plans: MPEP 600.

Sounds like a fun weekend! If you have any questions and want to see an example, some sections of MPEP 700 are formatted in a way I think is good (including proper headings and navigation template).

I will be spending a lot of time for the next few days on migrating the wiki to a new server, which will allow us more flexibility (like a table of contents that is limited to only certain headings and that does not have the annoying section numbers (1.1, 1.1.1, etc.)).Sysop 17:28, 25 May 2007 (MST)