Pyramidality - Revision history

Kevin Wang at 18:37, 3 January 2023

2023-01-03T18:37:47Z

Kevin Wang at 15:07, 25 January 2022

2022-01-25T15:07:44Z

Kevin Wang at 15:21, 6 January 2022

2022-01-06T15:21:25Z

Kevin Wang: /* Internal pyramidality */

2022-01-06T15:20:54Z

Internal pyramidality

Kevin Wang: /* Non-pyramidality */

2022-01-06T15:20:36Z

Non-pyramidality

Kevin Wang: /* Structure */

2021-10-06T20:54:49Z

Structure

Kevin Wang at 20:47, 6 October 2021

2021-10-06T20:47:36Z

Bryce Avery: /* Internal pyramidality */

2021-08-09T15:56:11Z

Internal pyramidality

Bryce Avery: /* Purpose of pyramidality */

2021-08-09T15:53:46Z

Purpose of pyramidality

June Yin at 21:57, 28 June 2021

2021-06-28T21:57:54Z

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Intro}}
 <onlyinclude>
-'''Pyramidality''' is the concept that quizbowl [[tossup]] questions should consist of multiple [[clues]] arranged in descending order of difficulty, that is, with the hardest information first and the easiest at the end. It also encompasses the general idea that every quizbowl question should contain accurate, non-misleading information throughout the question and avoid deliberate [[hose|hoses]] or [[swerve|swerves]] that punish players with greater knowledge.
+'''Pyramidality''' is the concept that quizbowl [[tossup]] questions should consist of multiple [[clues]] arranged in descending order of difficulty; that is, with the hardest information first and the easiest at the end. It also encompasses the general idea that every quizbowl question should contain accurate, non-misleading information throughout the question and avoid deliberate [[hose|hoses]] or [[swerve|swerves]] that punish players with greater knowledge.
 Pyramidality is a defining characteristic of "[[good quizbowl]]" and is considered the most important determination of tossup quality. [[NAQT]], [[PACE]], [[ACF]], [[NHBB]], and tournaments considered part of [[the circuit]] use pyramidal tossups.</onlyinclude>

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:07, 25 January 2022
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	{{Intro}}
	<onlyinclude>		<onlyinclude>
	'''Pyramidality''' is the concept that quizbowl [[tossup]] questions should consist of multiple [[clues]] arranged in descending order of difficulty, that is, with the hardest information first and the easiest at the end. It also encompasses the general idea that every quizbowl question should contain accurate, non-misleading information throughout the question and avoid deliberate [[hose\|hoses]] or [[swerve\|swerves]] that punish players with greater knowledge.		'''Pyramidality''' is the concept that quizbowl [[tossup]] questions should consist of multiple [[clues]] arranged in descending order of difficulty, that is, with the hardest information first and the easiest at the end. It also encompasses the general idea that every quizbowl question should contain accurate, non-misleading information throughout the question and avoid deliberate [[hose\|hoses]] or [[swerve\|swerves]] that punish players with greater knowledge.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 '''Pyramidality''' is the concept that quizbowl [[tossup]] questions should consist of multiple [[clues]] arranged in descending order of difficulty, that is, with the hardest information first and the easiest at the end. It also encompasses the general idea that every quizbowl question should contain accurate, non-misleading information throughout the question and avoid deliberate [[hose|hoses]] or [[swerve|swerves]] that punish players with greater knowledge.
-Pyramidality is a defining characteristic of [[good quizbowl]] and is considered the most important determination of tossup quality. [[NAQT]], [[PACE]], [[ACF]], [[NHBB]], and tournaments considered part of [[the circuit]] use pyramidal tossups.</onlyinclude>
+Pyramidality is a defining characteristic of "[[good quizbowl]]" and is considered the most important determination of tossup quality. [[NAQT]], [[PACE]], [[ACF]], [[NHBB]], and tournaments considered part of [[the circuit]] use pyramidal tossups.</onlyinclude>
 ==Structure==

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 ==Internal pyramidality==
 Internal pyramidality is the idea that within a [[clue]], the sentence structure should be arranged pyramidally; that is, with the hardest information first and the easiest last.  An internally pyramidal clue will generally state descriptions before titles and more obscure names before more famous names. For instance,
-:Characters like Charles Bon and Thomas Sutpen appear in this author's novel ''Absalom! Absalom''.
+{{qq|Characters like Charles Bon and Thomas Sutpen appear in this author's novel ''Absalom! Absalom''.}}
 is an internally pyramidal clue. The same information could be rendered antipyramidally as
-:''Absalom! Absalom!'' by this author features characters like Thomas Sutpen and Charles Bon.
+{{qq|''Absalom! Absalom!'' by this author features characters like Thomas Sutpen and Charles Bon.}}
 In the first example, less well-known obscure characters like Charles Bon are stated before better-known characters like Thomas Sutpen, and the title (which is better known than either character name) comes last.  In the second example, the easiest information (the title) comes first and the character names come second and third (with the more obscure character's name being the latter).

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 For instance, a question such as:
-: What legendary chalice was sought by King Arthur's knights?
+{{qq|What legendary chalice was sought by King Arthur's knights?}}
 is a non-pyramidal question because it consists of only two clues and perhaps the easiest clue comes on the second and third words of the question, even though it's not uniquely specific at that point.

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 ==Structure==
-Pyramidal questions use multiple clues arranged in descending order of difficulty. The first (hardest) clue of a pyramidal tossup is conventionally called the '''[[lead-in]]''', and the last (easiest) is called the '''[[giveaway]]'''. Ideally, there are at least two or three middle-range clues in between the lead-in and the giveaway. At higher difficulty levels, there may be 4-5 lines of such middle clues.
+Pyramidal questions use multiple clues arranged in descending order of difficulty. The first (hardest) clue of a pyramidal tossup is conventionally called the [[lead-in]], and the last (easiest) is called the [[giveaway]]. Ideally, there are at least two or three middle-range clues in between the lead-in and the giveaway. At higher difficulty levels, there may be 4-5 lines of such middle clues.
 ==Purpose of pyramidality==

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 In the first example, less well-known obscure characters like Charles Bon are stated before better-known characters like Thomas Sutpen, and the title (which is better known than either character name) comes last.  In the second example, the easiest information (the title) comes first and the character names come second and third (with the more obscure character's name being the latter).
-Note that there may be times when striving for 100% internal pyramidality causes the clue to be incomprehensible, thus effectively eliminating both halves of the sentence and making the overall question less clue-rich and thus less pyramidally graded (will add the next example I come across but I've definitely dealt with this in editing before).
+Note that there may be times when striving for 100% internal pyramidality causes a clue to be incomprehensible. In such cases, a sentence should be broken into multiple sentences, making it easier to understand when read aloud.
 ==Misconceptions==

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 ==Purpose of pyramidality==
-The purpose of pyramidality is to fairly reward deeper knowledge of a topic: a player who knows harder, lesser-known clues about a topic will answer a pyramidal question before a player who knows only easier, more well-known clues. By applying this idea to many clues (generally five or more, depending on question length), a single question can be effectively targeted at a wide variety of player ability levels, rewarding many levels of knowledge and minimizing [[buzzer races]]. This allows teams of a wide variety of playing levels to enjoy playing the same set of questions and encourages teams to continue to learn more about various topics in order to buzz-in on earlier, more difficult clues. Thus, instead of simply being satisfied with knowing the author of a given novel, a pyramidal question would encourage players to learn more about the importance of that novel, the plot of that novel, and other more advanced clues.
+The purpose of pyramidality is to fairly reward deeper knowledge of a topic: a player who knows harder, lesser-known clues about a topic will answer a pyramidal question before a player who knows only easier, more well-known clues. By applying this idea to many clues (generally five or more, depending on question length), a single question can be effectively targeted at a wide variety of player ability levels, rewarding many levels of knowledge and minimizing [[buzzer races]]. This allows teams of a wide variety of playing levels to enjoy playing the same set of questions and encourages teams to continue to learn more about various topics in order to buzz-in on earlier, more difficult clues.
-There is often guesswork involved in determining which clues are most and least likely to be known, and the "right clue order" may vary significantly for different people. Experienced writers and editors generally do the best they can, and the results may or may not be perfect.
+Thus, instead of simply being satisfied with knowing the author of a given novel, a pyramidal question would encourage players to learn more about the importance of that novel, the setting, characters and plot of the novel, and other more advanced clues.
 ==Non-pyramidality==