bell notificationshomepageloginNewPostedit profile

Topic : What would sections of a book that are larger than a chapter be called? I'm writing a technical book, and I want to split my book up into about 3 to 6 very broad sections, each of which - selfpublishingguru.com

10.04% popularity

I'm writing a technical book, and I want to split my book up into about 3 to 6 very broad sections, each of which would have several chapters in it. Is there a standard name for these broad pieces that are bigger than a chapter? Unit? Part? Section?


Load Full (4)

Login to follow topic

More posts by @Chiappetta298

4 Comments

Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best

10% popularity

What would they be called, besides "section" which seems perfectly fine?

I suggest deploying modernist systematization, especially if that would be considered egregious for your project. For example, you might model your book as a human body, with each 'part' or 'section', here termed 'organ', with the specific organ HEART or FOOT* correlating in some symbolically mystical fashion with the contents of the chapter.

*(Don't be afraid to cheat at your own weird game!)

Note that the body has been done explicitly (as part of the explicit structure) and secretly (on the part of the author) in literary fiction as well as nonfiction extensively.

Which should encourage any technical writer worried that this might be egregious.


Load Full (0)

10% popularity

I don't see a big difference between "part" and "section". However, I would suggest something more descriptive than "Part One" or "Section 1". What do the chapters have in common? Why are the grouped together? It helps the reader if you could call them something like "Part One: Networking".


Load Full (0)

10% popularity

Generally for books, part works, but for a technical book, if each bit can be treated as a single lesson in the topic, then Unit works well.

If they are merely different parts of a whole, and are different sizes, I would stick to part.


Load Full (0)

10% popularity

Usually it's called a part. A section is typically a cohesive chunk within a chapter. Nobody would know what "unit" means.

But grab a handful of big-ish technical books to see what they call the chunks.


Load Full (0)

Back to top