Janet Burroway is the author of plays, poems, children’s books, a memoir, and eight novels, most recently Bridge of Sand. Her book Writing Fiction (10th ed., University of Chicago Press, 2019) is the most widely used creative writing text in America. . . .
Most writers and editors learn not to join (or splice) two independent clauses with a comma alone. . . .
If you cite your sources in your thesis or dissertation (or class paper) using numbered notes, you may have the option of using endnotes rather than footnotes. . . .
This month’s workout, “Word Usage, Part 6,” centers on section 5.250 of CMOS 17. This time we’re focusing on words beginning with the letters l as in “literally” and m as in “might.”
There are two different kinds of apostrophes: smart and straight. To use them correctly, it helps to understand how they work. . . .
If you cite your sources in your thesis or dissertation (or class paper) using numbered notes, you will probably also need to include a bibliography. A bibliography is an alphabetical list (by author) of all the sources cited in the notes. . . .
It’s time for another editing and proofreading quiz! This is the second in a series of workouts that will apply your editing knowledge and proofreading skills to Chicago style.
Okay, so you’re an editor or proofreader who knows Chicago style, but now you need to follow AP. Or you’re a student, and you need MLA for one project and Chicago (or Turabian) for the next—and APA after that. . . .
Many theses and dissertations (and some longer class papers) use photographs, drawings, charts, and other figures in the body of the paper to present data or to augment the text. . . .
Many of us write or say “12 p.m.” (or “12:00 p.m.”) when we mean noon and “12 a.m.” when we mean midnight. This seems reasonable enough, at least intuitively. . . .
Sharpen Your Pencils! To start off 2019, let’s take an editing and proofreading quiz. This is the first of a series of workouts that will test your editing knowledge and proofreading skills.
Okay, now that I’ve introduced myself, let’s talk about that headline up there. If you’re like me and edit or proofread for a living, you’ve probably noticed that something about it isn’t quite right. . . .
Most theses and dissertations (and some longer class papers) are divided into two or more numbered chapters. Most chapters carry descriptive titles in addition to the number. Here’s how to format the opening page of a chapter for a Chicago-style paper . . .
On a scale of 1 to 10, can you guess how big a stickler you are? (Your friends and colleagues probably can.) Just for fun, measure your peeving profile with this quiz.
The University of Chicago Press is pleased to announce that Russell Harper will become editor of the “Chicago Style Q&A” at CMOS Online and editor of the CMOS Shop Talk blog beginning January 1, 2019. Harper has
