Creating effective style sheets - Ian Howe

Creating effective style sheets
Ian Howe
SfEP Conference, Aston, September 2019

What is a style sheet?
(1) a list of variable spellings, hyphenation,
capitalization, etc., drawn up by the copy-editor
for the typesetter’s and proofreader’s reference;
(2) a master page layout used in document
preparation systems such as word-processing and
publishing programs and in websites.
Butcher’s Copy-editing
(4th edition) (CUP)

No house style, however detailed, will cater for all
the editorial or design decisions needed to set a
publication in type … so the copy-editor needs to
record particular decisions on editorial style for
every book, sometimes supplementing the house-
style guidelines, sometimes preparing a completely
new set of ‘rules’ that govern the text.
New Hart’s Rules
(2nd edition) (OUP)

As a house style guide cannot cover every possibility,
it is often up to the copy-editor to make decisions
concerning particular items they encounter while
editing. [As a proofreader you should] always ask if
there is a style sheet … when you start a job, as it
will save you having to make those decisions yourself
if you notice discrepancies or departures from the
house style guide.
Margaret Aherne and Gillian Clarke,
Basic Proofreading (version 5) (PTC)

Although the core coverage of different publishers’
house styles may be similar, they vary greatly in
clarity and organization and may not always apply in
toto to your particular project.
In these circumstances, a style sheet … is an
invaluable aid. If you are expected to follow the
author’s prevalent style, such a style sheet becomes
essential.
Nicola Harris, Basic Editing (2003) (PTC)

Style guides and style sheets
A style guide represents a compilation of “best
practices” and proven solutions for the common
problems encountered by editors working in a specific
genre.
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to cover every
conceivable quirk of the English language in any style
guide … [So] we must use our judgment to reach a
decision that is broadly compatible with … the genre
and the advice in our style guides. … We record these
ad hoc solutions in a style sheet.
Geoff Hart, Effective Onscreen Editing (2nd edition)

Style guides and style sheets
Style sheets serve a different purpose for editors: these list
the style decisions that are made during an edit and that
aren’t included in a general style guide. Occasionally, they will
detail where a decision contradicts the style guide (and
editors should be able to explain such decisions).
Organisations may have generic style guides to be used
across several subjects or specialisms; an editor builds a
specific style sheet related to a particular document. A style
sheet can be added to by an author or proofreader – any
changes should be run past the content owner and
implemented throughout the content.
The style sheet aids those who work on the content at later
stages of production, or on future documents, and can be
used to inform updates to a style guide.
Christina Thomas with Abi Saffrey, Your House Style
(SfEP guide, 3rd edition)

(1) a list of variable spellings, hyphenation,
capitalization, etc., drawn up by the copy-editor
for the typesetter’s and proofreader’s reference.
Butcher’s Copy-editing,
fourth edition (CUP)

Why use a style sheet?
To ensure adherence to house style
To ensure consistency
To provide a quick and handy reference guide
To familiarise yourself with the style of the
publication
To record style choices not defined in the style guide
To provide information on style choices to the
proofreader, author and/or publisher
To provide feedback and share information

Who needs the style sheet?
… and when do they need it?
Proofreader Copy-editor
Author Typesetter
Publisher Designer
EVERYONE!
. . . as soon as possible
. . . and throughout the process

What should a style sheet include?

House styles, design specifications
and style sheets

A sample design specification (page 1)
From Basic Proofreading by Distance Learning, courtesy of Publishing Training Centre

A sample design specification (page 2)
From Basic Proofreading by Distance Learning, courtesy of Publishing Training Centre

Example of a very concise
house style guide
A.N. Other Publishers PLC
House Style
Spelling
• -ize verbs where the alternative exists
• Preferred spellings as given in the current edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (COED) and the
Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (ODWE)
• Do not capitalize articles, conjunctions or prepositions with titles of publications, works of art, etc.
• German translations: use ‘ss’, not ß (Eszett)
• Use ‘while’, not ‘whilst’
Punctuation
• Use serial comma only to avoid ambiguity
• Double quotes, with single quotes inside
• Spaced en dashes
• Ellipsis: three points only (use alt + ; on keyboard)
• Closed-up em rule for abrupt break in a word in dialogue
• Spaced em rule for abrupt break in a sentence in dialogue
• No full point after contractions: e.g. Mr, Mrs, Dr, St; or in acronyms and upper-case initials: e.g. NATO, BBC,
TV
• Full points after abbreviations: e.g. Co., Inc., abbr.
• Closed-up en rule for non-adjectival compounds: e.g. Anglo–French consortium
• Hyphens in compound adjectives: a tenth-century building, a five-year-old boy, an up-to-date opinion
• No hyphens in adverbial phrases
• No hyphen in ‘cooperate’; see ODWE for other guidance
• No hyphens in unjustified text
Numbers
•Spell out up to and including 99
• Spell out above 99 when used imprecisely: about two hundred years ago, a crowd of five hundred people
• Spell out all ordinal numbers: e.g. third, fifteenth
• Do not begin a sentence with a numeral: revise or, if impossible, spell out
• Use comma in numerals of more than three digits – e.g. 1,200, 15, 232 –other than dates
• Use ‘from X to Y’ and ‘between X and Y’, or connect with en rule: ‘X–Y’; do not use ‘from X–Y’ or ‘between
X–Y’
• elide ranges to the fewest number of digits and use an en rule: 1981–5
• Use ‘per cent’ and ‘percentage’, not %
Dates
• Use ‘day month year’: 1 January 2004
• No apostrophe in dates: 1980s, not 1980’s
• AD precedes, BC follows date; mark for small caps
Measurements
• Use imperial, unless circumstances demand metric
Italics
• Use for foreign words that are not Anglicized: refer to ODWE
• Use for genus and species: e.g. Homo sapiens
• Use for parties in citing legal cases
• Use for title of publications, series broadcasts, albums, works of art and performing art, etc.
• Use for names of ships: e.g. HMS Endeavour

A simple style sheet
Title
Spellings
Hyphenation
Quotes
Order of
punctuation
Commas
Possessives
Ellipsis
Dash
Abbreviations
& contractions
Spacing
(units, initials)
Numbers
(words/figures)
Elision of
numbers
Thousands
Decimal point
Variables
and vectors
Dates
Cross-
references
Caps in
headings
Lists
Special sorts
Based on Nicola Harris, Basic Editing
(Publishing Training Centre, 2003)
(used with kind permission of the PTC)

A sample style sheet sent
out to self-publishing
authors
Spellings UK or US spellings? If UK, should verb endings use ‘-ise’ or
‘-ize’?
Hyphenation Guidance on preferred use of hyphens, e.g. with prefixes (or
follow an agreed style guide such as OUP).
Quotes Single or double (and double or single for quotes within
quotes)?
Order of
punctuation
US or UK (e.g. in US style commas and full points (periods)
always come before the closing quotation mark)
Commas Serial comma or not? (i.e. A, B and C (without serial comma,
usual in UK usage) or A, B, and C (with serial comma, usual
in US).
Possessives Especially after names ending in ‘s’ (i.e. should there be an ‘s’
after the possessive apostrophe or not?)
Ellipsis Three spaced points (. . .) or single Word ‘ellipsis’ character
(…)
Dash Spaced en rule or unspaced em rule (former usual in UK style,
latter usual in US)
Abbreviations
& contractions
Normal UK style is for abbreviations to end with a full point
(e.g. etc.) but contractions (where final letter is included) to
have no full point, e.g. Mr, Dr, but US style uses full points for
both. Should there be a comma after ‘e.g.’ and ‘i.e.’ (usual in
US style, less usual in UK style)?
Spacing
(units, initials)
Should there be a space between initials (H. G. Wells or H.G.
Wells); and between figures and units: 1mm or 1mm.
Numbers
(words/figures)
Numbers in words up to ten, twenty or one hundred (and in
figures above those amounts)?
Elision of
numbers
In page ranges or in date (year) ranges, how many figures
should be elided? Min figs (1975–7), no elision (1975–1977)
or intermediate (1975–77)?
Thousands Should there be a comma in figures over a thousand (i.e. 1250
or 1,250) or only above ten thousand (i.e. 12,500)?
Dates Order of dates, e.g. 12 April 2014 (UK) or April 12, 2014
(US)? Should there be a comma? Should centuries be in words
or figures
Times Format of times, e.g. spacing and use of points in ‘am’ (a.m.),
colon or point between hour and minute etc.
Notes, citations
and references
Define style for citations in text and also style for reference
lists and bibliographies (only usually needed in text books and
not relevant for works of fiction)
Caps in
headings
Should chapter and subheadings use sentence case, minimum
capitals, all capitals or capitalise significant words?
Lists Styles of lists used, e.g. bulleted, numbered (preference for
roman or arabic numbers?), alphabetised etc.
Special sorts Any non-standard or special characters, such as unusual
accented characters or symbols.
This is sent out together with a blank
style sheet, to provide an explanation
of what is covered by each heading.
It is useful to focus the author’s mind
on aspects they may not have
considered!

A more comprehensive style sheet
based on the same templateElision of
numbers
Elide numbers except in measurements: 21–4, 130–3, 115–19.
Note that numbers from 11–19 retain the first ‘1’, i.e. 11–18,
rather than 11–8. Dates: elide, but not if first date is first year of
a century (thus 2000–2008). No elision in BCE dates.
Thousands Use a comma in thousands and larger numbers: 6,580.
Decimal point 0.5, not .5
Prelims and
endmatter
Order of prelims: see publisher guidelines
Dates 1 May 1975. Spell out centuries (but figures are acceptable (no
superscript). 1930s, not 1930’s, thirties or Thirties. ‘The mid-
fourteenth century’ (noun) but ‘an early-fourteenth-century
prelate’ (adjective). Times: 8.00 am. (US prefer May 1, 1975
and a.m.) Solidus in e.g. financial or academic year: 1895/6. BC
dates should not be elided. For circa, italicized c. spaced from
date.
Citations and
references
Use Harvard or short title, and ensure consistency (preference is
no comma and colon for page, e.g. West 1979: 141–6). Use
‘forthcoming’, not a future date. For four or more authors use et
al. (not italic). Do not use ibid. in the text; re-cite the reference
(but OK to use it in notes; not italic). Do not use op. cit or loc.
cit: use short title instead. Cross-references to page numbers
don’t work well in digital formats; use headings if possible.
Don’t separate the author’s name from the reference (date). Use
full URLs in references, with access dates if possible in square
brackets. In ref. list or bibliography always repeat author name
in multiple entries.
Caps in
headings
Min caps in headings (including chapters). Table/figure
captions initial cap only. Proper nouns and brand names take
initial cap. North, South etc. initial cap if part of a political
division.
Lists etc. Number as 1., 2., 3. etc. (no brackets). For numbered
paragraphs use (1), (2), (3), etc.. Apply consistent punctuation
in lists dependent on length of entries.
Italic Titles of books, names of ships, foreign words in an English
sentence, to identify letters (‘the letter t’) and passim.
Figures Show position in text with: [Figure 2.3 here]. Figure numbers
for authored book can be either 1, 2, 3 or by chapter (1.1, 1.2,
2.1 etc.); for contributed volumes they must be by chapter.
Credit lines can be included in list in prelims to avoid putting
them in captions too.
Tables Show position in text with: [Table 2.1 here]. Numbering styles
as for figures. Source style: Source: F. Sayer, Public History
(London: Bloomsbury, 2015).
Measurements Prefer metric unless case where official system is imperial.
Spell out units in the text, abbreviate in tables, lists, captions
etc.
Spellings Preference is UK -ize (but follow author preference if
consistent) and preferred reference is Concise Oxford
Dictionary.
Quotes Single, curly quotation marks (double within) (US: reverse).
Indent and display quotations of over 60 words (indent or not
after dependent upon whether a new paragraph or a
continuation); source normally run on at end (in parentheses)
unless poetry (or epigraph) when new spaced line, ranged right.
Order of
punctuation
UK
Commas No serial comma (except in US style), but use a comma when
linking two main clauses, e.g. ‘The sky was blue, and the sun
was shining.’
Possessives Use ’s for the possessive case in English names and surnames
wherever possible; in ancient classical names use s’: Mars’,
Venus’. For singular possessives ending with an -s that has an
‘s’ sound, use -s’s.
Hyphenation Major-General, Vice-President etc.
Ellipsis Ensure that proper ellipses characters are used (… not three full
stops), and that the spacing around ellipses is consistent. Three
points only. Omit ellipses at beginning of quotations.
Parentheses
and brackets
( ) are called parentheses. Brackets are square: [ ]. Do not use
angle brackets (this can cause problems with XML tags).
Reserve square brackets for interpolations within quotations or
round uncertain data in references (for instance, if the date or
place of publication is ascertainable but does not appear in the
book). Do not use them to avoid having parentheses within
parentheses
Dash Spaced en rule.
Abbreviations
& contractions
No final point on contractions, or on some abbreviations (e.g.
measurements), but no., e.g., i.e, et al., vol., seq. (BUT full
point on contractions in US style). No full points on plural
contractions: vols, eds, nos etc. No full points in upper case
acronyms/sets of initials, e.g. USA, UN.
Spacing
(units, initials)
5 kg, 6 km (space). Style examples prefer spaced initials: H. G.
Wells.
Numbers
(words/figures)
Use words for numbers one to ninety-nine (except for a series
of quantities). From 100 upwards use figures. However, follow
the author's predominant style if it is consistent. Spell out per
cent in text; use % symbol in tables and notes. In a list, write
‘£6.00’ and ‘£0.25’, not ‘£6’ and ‘25p’; spell out in text up to
ninety-nine. Use of figures in text for ‘2 million’ is acceptable.
Use figures to avoid too many hyphens: ‘a 62-year-old man’.
Spell out ‘per cent’ in text and use figures unless start of a
sentence; use ‘%’ only in tables.

Style decisions
US ☐ or British ☐ English -ize ☐ or -ise ☐ spellings
Hyphenated, closed or open?
Source (unless otherwise stated): Choose
an item.

Capitalisation
 Source (unless otherwise stated):
Choose an item.
 Headings: Choose an item.

Variant spellings

Proper nouns/people

Abbreviations
 Initials: Choose an item.

Punctuation
 Quote type: Choose an item.
 Quotes and punctuation: Choose an
item.
 Serial commas: Choose an item.
 Rules: Choose an item.
 Note markers: Choose an item.

Numbers and dates
 Words or digits: Choose an item.
 Commas: Choose an item.
 Number spans: Choose an item.
 Date spans: Choose an item.
 Dates: Choose an item.
 Units: Choose an item.
 Times: Choose an item.
 Per cents: Choose an item.
Lists and numbering style
 Run-on: Choose an item.
 Vertical: Choose an item.
 Second level: Choose an item.
 In words: Choose an item.

Foreign (and Latin) words/phrases

Other

Special sorts
Code Character Description
Checks to be made

© Hugh Jackson. Used with thanks.

STYLE SHEET: Author, Title / ‘Title’
Dictionaries and style guides
 main dictionary: OED / Oxford dictionaries / Merriam-Webster
 main style: New Hart’s Rules / NODWE / CMOS / SBL / journal style sheet
Spelling and hyphenation
 US English / UK English
 -ize, -yze / -ize, -yse / -ise, -yse [PerfectIt]
 single consonant in benefited, focusing, etc.
 minimal hyphenation (subcategory, cooperate, re-establish) / vowel-vowel hyphenation
(subcategory, co-operate, re-establish) [PerfectIt]
Punctuation
 overall: UK punctuation / US punctuation
 non-serial comma / serial comma [PerfectIt]
 parenthetical dash: spaced en-rule / closed-up em-rule [PerfectIt]
 ellipsis: 3 dots, spaced (no surrounding punctuation included); no dots at beginning or end
 initials in text: space (D. C. Laycock) / no space (D.C. Laycock) / no full stop (DC Laycock)
Quote marks
 quotations: double quotes / single quotes
 scare quotes: double quotes / single quotes
 meanings of linguistic items: double quotes / single quotes
 titles of articles and chapters: double quotes / single quotes
 other punctuation and quotes, ordering; quotation ends with complete sentence starting with a
capital letter [PerfectIt]
Words as examples
 English: italics / ‘single quotes’ / “double quotes”
 non-English: italics / ‘single quotes’ / “double quotes”
Possessives
 traditional (Jesus’, Pythagoras’, Thomas’s) / modern (Jesus’s, Pythagoras’s, Thomas’s)
Hyperlinks
 http / www
 underlined / normal text
 linked / unlinked
Abbreviations
 lower-case abbreviations: full point sg and pl (vol. vols.) / full point sg, not pl (vol. vols) / no full
point
 lower-case contractions: full point (St. Andrew, yr.) / no full point (St Andrew, yr)
 personal title contractions: full point (Mr., Revd.) / no full point (Mr, Revd)
 upper-case abbreviations: no point, closed-up (USA) / full point, closed-up (U.S.A.) / full point,
spaced (U. S. A.) [PerfectIt]
 i.e. and e.g.: comma after / no comma after
 US state abbreviations: MA / Mass. / Mass
 Bible book abbreviations: Gen / Gen. / Gn
 Bible book abbreviations: text, parentheses, notes / parentheses and notes only / notes only
Capitalization of headings [PerfectIt]
 chapter title: Minimum capitalisation: Cap after colon / Maximal Capitalisation
 heading level A: Minimum capitalisation: Cap after colon / Maximal Capitalisation
 heading level B: Minimum capitalisation: Cap after colon / Maximal Capitalisation
Figures and Tables
 Figure captions: beneath, Fig. + simple number, point and space, initial capital only, single sentence,
no full point, italic
 Table headings: above, Table + chapter.figure-number, point and space, initial capital only, single
sentence, full point, non-italic
 Labels on figures and axes: all l.c. / Max. capitalization
Cross-References
 refer back to Figure 3, Section 5.2, Chapter 7 with u.c., no abbreviation
 refer to “in Vowel Sequences, Section 2.2”, with maximal capitalization
 refer to Tayap Text 3
Lists [PerfectIt]
 prefer bulleted list
 introduce with colon
 numbers with full point 1., 2.; refer back with parentheses (1)
 short lists (e.g. single word or two) initial: cap / lower case; final: nothing / comma / semi-colon / full
stop
 medium lists (e.g. phrases, single sentences): initial: cap / lower case; final: nothing / comma /
semi-colon / full stop
 long lists (e.g. more than single sentence): initial: cap / lower case; final: nothing / comma / semi-
colon / full stop
Dates
 date format: 1 January 1800 / January 1, 1800 was … / January 1, 1800, was …
 72 BCE, AD 59 / 72 BCE, AD 59 / 72 B.C.E., A.D. 59
 year range in chapter title: full (1986–1987) / max. pronounceable elision (202–3, 212–13) / CMOS
elision
 year range elsewhere: full (1986–1987) / max. pronounceable elision (202–3, 212–13) / CMOS
elision
 birth and death dates: full (1986–1987) / max. pronounceable elision (202–3, 212–13) / CMOS
elision
 approximate year c.1997 / c. 1997 / c1997 / ca. 1997
 spacing with months: exceptional (February 1753 – June 1754) / normal (February 1753–June 1754)
 1980s, mid-1980s, late 1920s / 1980’s, mid-1980’s, late 1920’s [PerfectIt]
 centuries: 20th
century / 20th century / twentieth century [PerfectIt]
 times of day: 5.30 p.m. / 5:30 PM / 5:30 P.M. / 5pm
© Tim Curnow. Used with thanks.

Numbers
 one to ninety-nine; 100+; 1000 / 1,000 / 1 000; 10000 / 10,000 / 10 000; 6 million [PerfectIt]
 spell out approximations (only for very round numbers): about a hundred (but about 250)
 spelled-out numbers (e.g. twenty-three): with hyphen / with space / closed [PerfectIt]
 ordinals: 7th
/ 7th / seventh [PerfectIt]
 fractions: with hyphen / with space / closed [PerfectIt]
 percentage: per cent / percent / % [PerfectIt]
 reference to number marking (in running text): third-person singular / 3rd singular / 3rd sg
 range of numbers: en-dash / hyphen
 range of numbers: full numerals (35–36) / max. pronounceable elision (202–3, 212–13) / CMOS
elision
 ages: numerals / spell out; mid-40s
 money: £40 13s. 4d.
 units of measurement: about nine miles (approx.) but 2½ miles
 units of measurement: no full point, no plural, separate with non-breaking space, 6 kg (except 2°C)
[PerfectIt]
References to works in text
 titles of books (English / foreign): max. capitalization / initial capital only / italics
 titles of journals (English / foreign): max. capitalization / initial capital only / italics
 titles of article (English / foreign): max. capitalization / initial capital only / quotes
 titles of chapter (English / foreign): max. capitalization / initial capital only / quotes
 translations of titles: in parentheses after, no italics, no quotes, no capitals
 biblical references: Luke 11:31–32
 pages: p. 37, pp. 37–9; full numerals (35–36) / max. pronounceable elision (202–3, 212–13) / CMOS
elision
 use author-date:
(Jones 1987: 33–4)
(Jones 1987, 1992)
(Krauss 1992; Evans 2010)
(Jones & Smith 1987)
(Jones, Smith, and Brown 1987)
Reference list and bibliography
 general format:
Arabic transcription
 general Arabic transliteration scheme:
 if word in dictionary, treat it as English (and so no italic, no diacritics)
 well-known people: use traditional English names (Nasser) / use transliterated Arabic names (Jamal
ʿAbd al-Nasir)
 well-known places: use traditional English names (Damascus, Cairo) / use transliterated Arabic
names
 diacritics in names of people, places, political parties, and book and article titles / no diacritics in
names (but ʿ and ʾ)
 symbol for ʿ and ʾ
 initial hamza before alif / no initial hamza before alif
 ta marbuta: -ah / -a
 ta marbuta in idafa: -ah / -a / -at
 inseparable prepositions, conjunctions: with hyphen (bi-, wa-, li-, fa-) / with space
 al- after inseparable preposition, conjunction: al- (bi-al-) / l- (bi-l-)
 al- after long vowel: al- (abu al-) / l- (abu l-) / ’l- (abu ’l-)
 al-: first word in sentence (l.c. / u.c.); first word in title (l.c. / u.c.); first word in name (l.c. / u.c.)
 bin, ibn, abu: first word in name (l.c. / u.c.); later word in name (l.c. / u.c.)
Hebrew transcription
 general Hebrew transliteration scheme:
 final ha: -ah / -a
List of words in text – includes spelling, hyphenation, prefixes,
upper/lower-case, (non-)italics, abbreviations
Notes to typesetter
Codes used
<CH> Chapter heading
<CHN> Chapter heading number
<AU> Author name
<A> A head (main heading under chapter level)
<B> B head
<P> paragraph, full out to the left
<PI> paragraph, first line indented
<QT> Short quotation at chapter head
<Q> Displayed quotation
<V> Displayed verse
<EX> Linguistic example
<L> List (no numbers, no bullets)
<BL> Bulleted list
<NL> Numbered list
<Cap> Caption
Running heads
verso: chapter author
recto: book title
© Tim Curnow. Used with thanks.

Style sheet
Editing and Proofreading Services
Graham Hughes
Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders
Style sheet
GH Editorial job ref. Client
Book title Author
Contact Date
Key
 Grey – Not yet determined.
 Purple – Specified in style guide or brief, or in communication from client.
 Black – Determined using copy-editor’s judgement, from majority usage in the manuscript,
common conventions etc.
Style points
Abbreviations and contractions
Capitalisation
Captions
Compound terms
 Hyphenation – ?
Displayed matter
 Quotations of X words of more are displayed.
Endnotes / footnotes
Headings
 Significant caps
 Initial cap only
Initials
 Spaced / Unspaced
 Full points / No full points
Lists
 Bullets / Numbers / Letters / Unmarked
Numbers
Style sheet
 Words vs numerals:
▫ words for X to Y
▫ numerals for Z and above
▫ N million
 Thousands: comma separator
 Elision: none / minimal / maximal
 Dates & times
▫ date format, centuries, time format
 Measurements: spaced / closed up
 Money amounts
 Percentages: per cent / percent / %
Possessives
 ‘s’ after apostrophe for singular noun ending with ‘s’ ?
Punctuation
 Dashes: spaced en / unspaced em
 Ellipses: space before, space after, three spaced/unspaced full points / special character
 Serial comma used / not used except where it aids clarity
 Quotation marks: single (double within) / double (single within) / for quotations / for terms
Spelling and vocabulary conventions
 UK / US
 -ise / -ize
Titles of works
 Italics and no quotes for …
 Roman and quotes for …
Word list
A M
B N
C O
D P/Q
© Graham Hughes. Used with thanks.

Style sheet
Referencing in main text
Referencing in notes
*
Bibliography / reference list
Order of entries
*
Abbreviations
 ed / ed.
 eds / eds.
 edn / edn.
 et al / et al. / et al / et al.
Capitalisation
 Books:
 Chapters:
 Journal articles:
 Journals:
 Magazine/newspaper articles:
Italics
 ? Used for books, journals, magazines, newspapers
Quotes
 ? Used for chapters, articles
Punctuation
 Full point after …
 Comma after …
 Colon between …
Journal volumes/issues
 Vol. etc.
Formats
Book
Chapter in edited collection
Journal article
Style sheet
Magazine/newspaper article
Online article
Unpublished dissertation
© Graham Hughes. Used with thanks.

Some very comprehensive
examples
Katharine O’Moore-Klopf
KOK Edit
http://www.kokedit.com/library_stylesheets.php

A downloadable template for
fiction editors
Louise Harnby
The Parlour
https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/blog/
why-i-create-a-proofreading-style-sheet-for-authors

A basic spellings or word list

Style sheets in PerfectIt 4 (shown in Windows Edition)

SfEP Guide
Your House Style
Available as PDF or hard copy

Conclusions
A style sheet is primarily a tool to ensure
consistency.
It can capture variations and style choices not
covered in the style guide
– especially the author’s style preferences.
It is a supplement to the style guide (if there is one!)
– but it can also stand in for the style guide as
a shorter, handier document.

Conclusions
A style sheet can be a fixed reference guide defining
the styles to be used
– or it can be a dynamic document that
records the style choices
– or even one that provides feedback to
and dialogue with the author.

Conclusions
Don’t be afraid to experiment to create a style sheet
that works for you.
Adapt existing style sheets, choosing the format and
headings that suit both the job in hand and your ways
of working.
Or build your own style sheet from scratch, modifying
and streamlining it so that it works for you.
Style sheets can vary enormously, and different types
of publication or genre can have very different needs.

Creating effective style sheets - Ian Howe

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