21
This chapter is an adaptation of the Style Guide chapter in the B.C. Open Textbook Authoring Guide, created by BCcampus and licensed with a CC BY 4.0 license.
A style guide helps an author or group of authors be consistent when presenting content to readers. It also saves a lot of work down the line during copyediting.
This chapter focuses primarily on copy. For style considerations that focus on textbook elements, formatting, and layout, please see the chapters in Textbook Organization.
Existing Style Guides
You may want to select the style manual particular to your discipline (e.g., MLA Handbook, APA, Chicago Manual of Style). However, if you are adapting an existing book, you may want to use the citation style chosen by the original author. As you’re writing, try to adhere to the punctuation rules for the citation style you’ve chosen.
Punctuation
The following are a selection of standard punctuation rules:
- Use one space between sentences (not two) and after a colon.
- Do not capitalize the first letter of the first word after a colon unless the colon introduces two or more sentences.
- In displayed lists, always start items with a capital letter. Use end punctuation, such as a period, with full sentences only.
- Use North American system for quotation marks: periods and commas always go inside quotation marks; semi colons and colons go outside.
- Use double quotes for all quoted matters. Single quotation marks should be reserved to enclose quotes within quotes (e.g., Mark exclaimed, “You have driven a stake into my heart! Now I truly understand Caesar’s words, ‘Et tu Brute?’ How could you treat me so?”). Some exceptions to this system may be appropriate in specific disciplines.
- Place footnote numbers outside punctuation (usually a comma or period).
- Do not use periods in abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms, (common exceptions are e.g., et al., etc., i.e.).
- Do not hyphenate Latin phrases used adjectivally: ad hoc proposal, post hoc analysis.
- For hanging hyphen constructions (15- to 19-year-olds), do not hyphenate after “to.”
- Don’t use a period after URLs when they end a reference list entry.
Commas, Commas, Commas
Most style guides use the serial comma. That means a comma placed immediately before the coordinating conjunctive (and, or, nor). Examples:
Serial comma: There were cows, horses, and pigs in the barn.
No serial comma: There were cows, horses and pigs in the barn.
Use commas in numerals over 999 (e.g., 1,000; 45,000).
Being Bold
Bold is reserved for key terms within the text body. It should not be used for emphasis.
Italics
- Use italics for words used as words (e.g., The term vocal cords is often misspelled. What do you mean by nexus?).
- Use italics for titles of movies, TV shows, and radio programs.
- Don’t use italics for bands and music channels.
Often words in other languages are italicized in a textbook. However, commonly used words or expressions do not require italics (e.g. ad hoc, vis-a-vis).
Dashes
Em dash