Q. Is footnote numbering allowed in an index along with a page number?
A. Yes. You can refer to a footnote like this: 24n1 (that means “page 24, footnote 1”).
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have looked online, in your book, in the dictionary, and in numerous textbooks but cannot find the answer to this question: When correcting proof, what mark should a proofreader use to indicate that a word or words need to be underlined?
A. Since underlining rarely appears in published texts, this is not a common mark for proofreaders, but you can underline the text and write “underline” or “u.s.” (for “underscore”) in the margin with a circle around it. (If you underline the word without the clarification, the typesetters will set it in italics.)
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. The paper I am editing has five tables in the main body (which I am numbering 1 to 5) and one table in appendix 3. How should
the table in the appendix be numbered?
A. You could call it table A.1 or A1, or you might consider leaving it unnumbered.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Can you tell me the indentation for endnotes?
A. In Chicago style, we format them the same way as the rest of the manuscript: with half-inch paragraph indents.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I recently began working as a reporter and copyeditor at a small weekly newspaper. My editor tells me to correct grammar and style errors in letters to the editor. This seems strange to me. I think those errors characterize the persons writing them and we should leave them as is. Who is right?
A. It’s a kindness to save a writer from being characterized as sloppy or ignorant when a letter appears in print under his or her name. Your inclination not to meddle is well founded, however, since insensitive editing can also embarrass the writer. It’s best to be conservative with changes. Many newspapers and magazines print a notice that letters have been edited.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. As a trial attorney, I do many pleadings and briefs, which I think look better in “full justify” (fj) alignment. This troubles my new secretary, who dislikes fj as too “rote and mechanical,” and less reader-friendly. Though I highly value her opinion, am I being too hawkish on this?
A. Chicago doesn’t recommend full justification for typed documents (see CMOS 2.13). Short lines are stretched, creating awkward spaces between words, and full lines are squished. The result is difficult to read. The remedy is hyphenation, but that has its own problems, and I would imagine that legal writers would want to avoid confusion over spelling technicalities. Full justification is practical only when documents are typeset, since sophisticated typesetting applications are able to adjust spacing in ways that more basic word processors cannot. It sounds as though your new secretary knows what she’s doing.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Where should illustrations and the lines of text that refer to them be placed with respect to one another? Should the illustration
be allowed to interrupt the text, say with the last line of text aligned with the bottom of the illustration and saying “as
in the figure to the right”? Or should the illustration always go below an unbroken paragraph?
A. In a manuscript prepared for publication, figure callouts should go between paragraphs so the typesetter will see them. The
typesetter will place the figure; rarely will it fall neatly between paragraphs. Look at any illustrated book and you’ll
see that if paragraphs weren’t allowed to be broken, there would be a lot of white space on pages with
figures. It’s unwise to use words like “above” or “to
the right” in your manuscript unless you are certain where the figure will end up in the typeset book.
Sometimes it’s best to number the figures and refer to them by number.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In the references section of a paper I’m editing, I found a misspelled word. I checked the original
journal and found that it was published with this mistake. Should I correct the typo or leave it as is? My colleague says
the typo should stay because this is how it appeared in print originally. Thanks a lot!
A. You may correct the typo. If an error has important implications that you want to point out, you can reproduce the error
and write [sic] after it, but it’s not nice to do this just to point out that someone made a mistake. (Of course,
you must be very, very certain that it’s actually a typo before you change it.)
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m compiling footnotes for a history book, and in several instances a newspaper is cited. Is it proper to list the city of origin in parentheses and italics for each newspaper? The paper is located in Virginia, Minnesota. The name of the paper is Mesabi Daily News. The author of the book is listing this newspaper in the footnotes as (Virginia) Mesabi Daily News. Should all the words be in italics, or just the name of the paper and not the city? Thanks for your help.
A. CMOS 14.91 says, “A city name, if not part of the title of a local newspaper, may be added in parentheses after the title. The name of the state or province (as for Canada) may also be added if needed (usually in abbreviated form and in italics when in the middle of a title but roman when following the title).”
Based on that info, your newspaper would be the Mesabi Daily News (Virginia, MN). (Eliminate the state abbreviation when the city is well known.)
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. A styling trend lately that is keeping me up at night is a failure to identify new paragraphs by either a line break or an indent.
This new line of text, for example, is the sort of thing I mean. Is this a new paragraph or not? How can one tell? Does it matter?
I first spotted this ambiguous formatting in ad copy (which at the time I presumed to be bulleted points without the bullets), and then in corporate communications. But tragically, yesterday I read a review on the back of a novel that did the same thing: a new line for every sentence without letting me know if it was a new paragraph or not.
I’m already annoyed by the look of this email! Please help!
A. I suspect that this style began to appear unintentionally as a result of inept word processing and has by now become a fad. A styled paragraph indent (instead of a typed tab) can get lost when the electronic file is converted to another application on its way to typesetting. In some display contexts (like book jackets) it might succeed as a hip design tactic, but in text it’s difficult to read without either extra line spacing between paragraphs or paragraph indents. Although I’m not sure the trend qualifies as “tragic,” it’s certainly unhelpful to those of us who need our sleep.
[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]