Q. Can you use the “transpose” proofreader’s mark for nonadjacent letters in a word? For instance, if I wanted to indicate that the a and e should be transposed in the word instenca (i.e., instance misspelled)? Thanks for your help!
A. Yes: to transpose the letters, start at the baseline on the left side of the e, draw up and over the e and back down to the baseline on its other side, then draw along the bottom of nc, then up and over the a and back to the baseline. Write tr with a circle around it in the margin.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How often should a good copyeditor consult his or her style manual or handbook? I work on a team of copyeditors whose client projects use CMOS or the AP Stylebook. On any given day, an editor might switch between editorial style guides four or five times. However, alarmingly, I have noticed that few of my fellow editors consult their style manuals and handbooks frequently. This concerns me. What are your thoughts?
A. Good copyeditors consult a style manual when they run into something they don’t know. The frequency is unpredictable, depending on the content being edited and the skill of the editor. The right answer might be “rarely,” if an experienced editor is marking the same kind of texts day after day and running into the same kinds of issues. As for your concern, if you are a supervisor and you’re concerned that your workers aren’t editing to style, the way to determine it is to look at their editing, rather than count the number of times they look at a manual. If you’re not their supervisor, you’ll be happy to know that this need not concern you at all.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. For proofreading on paper, how does Chicago recommend indicating that there should be one space between two words rather than two? Even a carefully placed “close up space” mark might suggest that both spaces should be deleted.
A. You can write “equal #” or “eq #” in the margin and a vertical line or slash through the offending space. If there are spacing issues throughout, you should make a general comment at the top of the document that spacing between words should be equalized throughout. Please see figure 2.6 in CMOS for proofreading marks.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. One of my professors insists on using the Chicago style when writing papers. The problem is that what he says often sounds like a CMOS truth from an edition that has not been in use for years. He wants single-spacing on things that according to the latest edition are now double-spaced. And worse, he is an anti-internet Luddite who will not make the effort to confirm what classmates and I insist are the current CMOS standards. Any helpful suggestions on handling something like this?
A. Certainly! First, for the purposes of surviving your class it doesn’t actually matter what current Chicago style is. You only need to know what Professor Luddite wants. Try one or more of these:
—Ask him to say which edition he wants you to follow. Your library will surely have a copy.
—Ask him if he would be willing to prepare a sheet of requirements for you. You might even make a list of elements for him to consider: margins, indents, type size, font, what to double-space, what to single-space, and anything else you’re wondering about.
—It’s possible that your prof is not referring to The Chicago Manual of Style at all, but to Kate L. Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, the standard student reference, which actually does call for single-spacing some elements, such as block quotations, notes, and bibliographies. (Turabian is based on Chicago style but diverges at a few points.) You can find a guide to Turabian here.
If none of this helps, there’s probably nothing you can do. You will triumph only by bearing it with good grace and by resolving not to torment others when you hold the power one day.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. What do you say (or do) to an author who makes extensive revisions (without tracking) to his original manuscript after you have sent him the copyedited version? Just wondering . . .
A. Please use your imagination; we would rather not say.
(As for the manuscript, Microsoft Word’s Compare feature might help.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. This is a question regarding the use of boxes of text in a manuscript. The boxes will be numbered box 1, box 2, box 3, etc. When tables or figures are included inside such a box, should they be numbered? If so, should the numbering continue sequentially with the tables and figures appearing outside the box?
A. Normally notes and tables within boxed text are numbered separately from the rest of the text, because the exact placement of the box cannot be known until the pages have been composed. That is, the author may intend for a box to fall after table 6 in the text, but in typesetting there might not be room on that page, and the box might end up on the next page, after table 7. A separate numbering system for boxed tables or figures can use letters or whatever you devise, such as “table B1.1,” “table B1.2,” and so forth. And if notes in the manuscript are numbered with superscript 1, 2, 3, then any notes in the text boxes might have superscript letters (a, b, c) or roman numerals (i, ii, iii).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. When including tables of statistics in an essay, do I place all the tables in one appendix or each table into a separate appendix? Is the appendix before or after the bibliography? Are there any conventions when using an appendix?
A. Please see CMOS 1.59: “Appendixes usually follow the last book chapter, though an appendix may be included at the end of a chapter (introduced by an A-level subhead) if what it contains is essential to understanding the chapter.” It’s your choice whether to have a single appendix that contains all the tables or to put each table in a separate appendix. If you can’t think of any reason why it will matter to readers, then it probably doesn’t.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Can you assume that a bulleted or numbered list will format correctly in a published book? I recently read that newspapers cannot publish bulleted lists because something in their process reads a bullet as an instruction to print something else.
A. To be safe, editors of book manuscripts typically code such lists for typesetters, flagging it with <bl> or some other code.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. For text following a long block quotation, is it a must to indent, even if adding a single line? It seems confusing (visually) to do so.
A. Indent only if you are starting a new paragraph. If the text continues the paragraph that precedes the block quotation, then it should begin with no indent. Please see CMOS 13.24.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m working on a document that has a glossary of terms, and for the first instance of each glossary term in the text there is a footnote saying that the word is defined in the glossary. I find this awkward, especially when there are three glossary terms in one small paragraph—it’s cluttered and distracting. I’d rather drop the footnotes and instead mention in the foreword or overview that the document has a glossary.
A. As you suggest, this method is not only awkward—it’s irritating. Even just the presence of “Glossary” in the table of contents can suffice, although a mention in the foreword is also a good idea.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]