Cf.

The abbreviation cf. (short for the Latin: confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare")[1] is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. It is used to form a contrast, for example: "Abbott (2010) found supportive results in her memory experiment, unlike those of previous work (cf. Zeller & Williams, 2007)."[2] It is recommended that cf. be used only to suggest a comparison, and the word see be used to point to a source of information.[3][4]

Biological use

In biological naming conventions, cf. is commonly placed between the genus name and the species name to describe a specimen that is hard to identify because of practical difficulties, such as poor preservation. For example, "Barbus cf. holotaenia" indicates that the specimen is in the genus Barbus and believed to be Barbus holotaenia, but the actual species-level identification cannot be certain.[5]

Cf. can also be used to express a possible identity, or at least a significant resemblance, such as between a newly observed specimen and a known species or taxon.[5] Such a usage might suggest a specimen's membership of the same genus or possibly of a shared higher taxon. For example, in the note "Diptera: Tabanidae, cf. Tabanus", the author is confident of the order and family (Diptera: Tabanidae) but can only suggest the genus (Tabanus) and has no information favouring a particular species.[6]

gollark: Then, next year, mess up the color balance of eggs a bit.
gollark: And keep eggs bred on those days slightly rotated forever, even as adults.
gollark: I'm not sure that'd even show up.
gollark: My April Fools' idea: rotate all eggs to about 5 degrees offcenter so people might notice and be very annoyed.
gollark: Oh noooo, how horrible...

See also

References
  1. "cf.", Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus, Cambridge University Press, n.d., retrieved October 30, 2016
  2. Lee, Chelsea (May 13, 2010), "It's All Latin to Me: Latin Abbreviations in Scholarly Writing", APA Style Blog, American Psychological Association, retrieved October 30, 2016
  3. "Latin Terms and Abbreviations", The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, n.d., retrieved October 30, 2016
  4. "Chicago Manual of Style 15th Ed. Style Sheet" (PDF). Michigan State University Press. p. 6, citing Chicago Manual of Style section 16.58. Retrieved 2016-07-07. There is a distinction between see and cf.; use cf. only to mean 'compare' or 'see, by way of comparison'.
  5. Bengtson, Peter. "Open Nomenclature" (PDF). Palaeontology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  6. Hartmann, Anne (February 2007), Field Key for Selected Benthic Invertebrates from the HKH Region (PDF), Daft Version, retrieved October 30, 2016
  • The dictionary definition of cf. at Wiktionary
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