Chicago Style Workout 14: Editing Tables

/ April 25, 2017

On your toes!

This month’s workout centers on sections 3.79–84 of CMOS 16, “Editing Tables.” Advanced editors might tackle the questions cold; learners can study sections 3.79–84 of the Manual before answering the questions.

(Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual. For a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online, click here.)

[Editor’s update: These styles have not changed in the 17th edition, although their section numbers may have changed.]

Note: These questions are designed to test knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style. Other style guides may have different rules and guidelines.

Chicago Style Workout 14: Editing Tables (CMOS 3.79–84)

1. Tables should be edited for style—with special attention to matters of capitalization, spelling, punctuation, abbreviations, numbers, and use of symbols.
a.
b.
2. Although the terms percent and percentage are interchangeable, one form should be used throughout a table.
a.
b.
3. Number ranges in tables normally overlap by one number; e.g., “5–10, 10–15, 15–20.”
a.
b.
4. In a column consisting exclusively of, for example, dollar amounts or percentages, the signs should be omitted from the cells and included in the column head or, occasionally, in the stub entry.
a.
b.
5. In statistical tables the total number of a group from which data are drawn may be represented by an italic capital N or a lowercase n.
a.
b.
6. One remedy for a long, skinny table is to double it up, running the table in two halves, side by side, with the column heads repeated over the second half.
a.
b.
7. To present a table broadside, rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise so it reads left to right from the bottom to the top of a page.
a.
b.
8. Decimal numbers in tables should align by decimal point.
a.
b.
9. For a vertical table of more than one page, the column heads are repeated on each page.
a.
b.
10. For a two-page broadside table presented on facing pages, column heads need not be repeated.
a.
b.

 

Photo: Ray C. Ewry [photographer unknown], George Arents Collection, New York Public Library. New York Public Library Digital Collections, accessed February 16, 2017.

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