Add elements from rOpenSci EML CONTRIBUTING

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -1,7 +1,60 @@
-# Introduction
+# Contributing Guidelines
 
-Thank you for considering contribution to `EMLassemblyline`. Insights and contributions from people like you make this a more robust and useful tool.
+## Repository structure
 
-We are in the process of writing our guidelines for contribution. In the mean time contact the project lead with any contributing related questions you may have (colin.smith@wisc.edu).
+This repository is structured as a standard R package
+following the conventions outlined in the [Writing R
+extensions](http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-exts.html) manual.
 
-Cheers!
+## Code
+
+All code for this package is found in `R/`. All functions should be thoroughly
+documented with `roxygen2` notation; see Documentation. Code should
+conform to the rOpenSci [Style guide](https://github.com/ropensci/onboarding/blob/master/packaging_guide.md).
+
+## Testing
+
+NOTE: We are still in the process of formulating our tests. Testing is a high priority of this project and will be added soon! Below are the guidelines for testing that we will be implementing.
+
+Any new feature or bug-fix should include a unit-test demonstrating the
+change.  Unit tests follow the `testthat` framework with files in
+`tests/testthat`. Please make sure that the testing suite passes
+before issuing a pull request. This can be done by running `check()`
+from the `devtools` package, which will also check for consistent
+documentation, etc.
+
+This package uses the [travis](https://github.com/craigcitro/r-travis)
+continuous testing mechanism for R to ensure that the test suite is run
+on each push to Github.  An icon at the top of the README.md indicates
+whether or not the tests are currently passing. 
+
+This package also uses
+codecov.io to
+measure test coverage. While not all code can be covered by automated 
+tests (in particular, functions involving user prompts), try to avoid
+decreasing coverage by writing unit tests for any contributed code. 
+Codecov.io will flag PRs that decrease coverage. 
+
+## Documentation
+
+All of the function documentation is generated automatically.
+Please do not edit any of the documentation files in `man/`
+or the `NAMESPACE`. Instead, construct the appropriate
+[roxygen2](https://github.com/klutometis/roxygen) documentation in the
+function files in `R/` themselves. The documentation is then generated
+by running the `document()` function from the `devtools` package. Please
+consult the [Advanced R programming](http://adv-r.had.co.nz/) guide if
+this workflow is unfamiliar to you. Note that functions should include
+examples in the documentation. Please use `\dontrun` for examples that
+take more than a few seconds to execute or require an internet connection.
+
+## General Development Goals & Guidelines
+
+1. High-level functions requiring little to no knowledge of EML or R.
+2. Functions to auto-detect metadata from data entities.
+3. Check user inputs for valid entries.
+4. Errors and warnings should guide users to solutions.
+
+## Attribution
+
+These contributing guidelines are based on those of the [rOpenSci EML project](https://github.com/ropensci/EML/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).