Editor Guidelines

Return to Guidelines GUIDELINES STYLE SHEET Hancock House Publishers generally follows the Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition) for most of our books in the humanities and social sciences. This style sheet lists exceptions, preferences or points not covered by CMS. Certain books that we publish, particularly those in the natural sciences, follow scientific styles not covered by CMS or our style sheet. If you notice style that is different but consistently applied throughout the text, please consult the project editor. PUNCTUATION Use serial comma Use double quotes instead of single quotes; if quote is within a quote, use single within double Punctuation following italic copy is to be italic, and the same follows for bold Periods go after bibliographical entries Commas and periods go inside quotation marks; exclamation points, question marks, colons, and semicolons go outside unless part of quotation Ellipses: use three periods, closed up with a space on each side (e.g., Jack and Jill went up the hill ... and Jill came tumbling after). Follow this rule even if a complete sentence or more is omitted. Never begin or conclude quotations with ellipses, even if the quotation is a fragment. Don't put parentheses within parentheses; use square brackets instead, e.g., (see Jim Smith, "Why Now," PMLA 2, 36 [1996]: 34-6) QUOTATIONS Quotations of less than 100 words should be run into text with quotation marks; otherwise remove quotation marks and set as a block quotation, which will be set down in size and spaced from text by the typesetter Use double quotes (and single quotes within double quotes) Make sure that a source is cited for all quotations Interpolations should be placed in square brackets Don't put brackets around letters at the beginning of quotes or after ellipses to signify changes in upper or lower case (we take some liberties with capitalization of quoted material) Do not put ellipses at beginning and end of quotes even if the quotation is a fragment All quotations must be incorporated into the text with appropriate punctuation (i.e., no quotation should stand alone without being part of a preceding or following sentence) When editing, please flag any quotations longer than 100 words so we can ensure that permissions have been received NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Endnote / footnote numbers are always positioned outside of parentheses and semicolons. E.G., ("...state)24 as opposed to "...state24)and "...state;"24 as opposed to "...state24;" For names of publishing houses, delete suffixes "Inc.," "Limited," etc. (or short forms of ) Delete articles before names of publishing houses or journals (e.g., Free Press, not The Free Press; Vancouver Sun, not The Vancouver Sun) Use "and" instead of "&", even for publishers such as Douglas and McIntyre who normally use an ampersand Commas go between name of publishing entity and date (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998) and between place of publication and year (e.g., London, 1774) Periods go at end of bibliographical entries Abbreviate US states using two -letter abbreviations . The same applies to Canadian provinces (BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, MB, NS, PE, NF, NF, YT). Et al. and ibid, should be roman, not italic Close up initials of people's names (e.g., E.C. Eddy) in the text, notes, and bibliography For the first reference in the notes to a source listed in the bibliography, provide full bibliographic details. Use a short version consisting of a surname and short title for all following references within that chapter. Repeat all bibliographic information for the first entry in each chapter, and use short forms for all subsequent reference. Avoid the use of idem, op. cit., loc. cit. in notes. Use "ibid." if the title immediately preceding it is the same, otherwise use surname and short title. Multiple entries for authors in bibliographies should be listed according to date of publication (earliest to most recent) if author-date citation system used, and alphabetically (according to first major word in title) otherwise If we are using small caps through book, remember to put single letters (e.g., for file numbers) in small caps too. Also put roman numerals in small caps. In chapter headings in notes, section, chapter subtitle should be omitted In disertations and theses, the university department is not included (CMS 15.271) When citing volume and issue numbers for periodicals use the following format: MLA 34,2(1985):3-45 CLASSICS 25(1992):1-22 Do not put "vol." or "no." before the numerals. To avoid needless information, do not include the season, month, or date unless the volume and /or issue number are missing. COMPOUND WORDS In general we follow the rules and principles set forth in CMS (6.32-42.). Please review them carefully. Note, also, Table 6.1 in CMS, which is a spelling guide for compound words. Unless otherwise specified, the dictionary to refer to for compounds is Webster's 10th edition. SPELLING We generally follow Webster's for spelling, with a few exceptions (see below) See previous section on compound words Abbreviations generally take periods (e.g., Dr., Mr., Mrs., St.) Acronyms generally do not take periods (e.g., MA, PhD, BC, USA, UK) Use c. for circa (e.g., c. 1970) English Canadian culture (comp. Adj.), English Canadians, Asian Canadians (CMS Table 6.1) one-third, one-half, etc. Nineteenth-century art Capitalize "chapter, figure, and table" in textual references and use numerals, e.g., "... (see Chapter 4)." Spellings to note: - yze, not -yse (e.g., analyze, not analyse) - m, not -mme (e.g., program, not programme) Aboriginal (when referring to First Nations), even as an adjective (e.g., Aboriginal art) Acknowledgment Advisor Appendices Archeology, medieval Arctic (noun), arctic (adj.) Canada Cheque Cooperation, coefficient, coordination Data (always plural) Decision making / maker First / Second World War Focused, focusing Fulfil Governor general, lieutenant governor Grey Indigenous Inquire Jewellery John A. Macdonald Judgment Macmillan (not MacMillan or Macmillan's) for publishing houses Maneuvre Montreal (no accent) Mould Native (when referring to First Nations), even as an adjective (Native belief) Percent Policy making / maker Quebec (no accent) Québécois Skeptical Skilful Third World Towards / toward (make consistent, as with backward/s and forward/s Traveling Under way (two words) Also note: de facto, ibid., et al., sic, a priori, and similar foreign terms or commonly used in English and appearing in English-language dictionaries should be in roman type "alternate" in the sense of by turns or every other one in a sequence, "alternative" in the sense of another option first, second, third (not firstly, secondly, thirdly) style for legal cases: Calder v. Attorney Vernal of British Columbia (names in italic, but "v." roman - do not use "vs.") Close up all acronyms such as in FEAR, CPR, UN, UK, BC, USA Alphabetization is word by word, not letter by letter. Note also that "Mc" (e.g., McDonald) is alphabetized as if it were "Mac," and "St."as if it were "Saint." NUMBERS Numbers less than 100 are spelled out, 100 and over are numerals (unless numbers particularly dense in one section and refer to unit quantities, or if manuscript more scientific) $700-800, not $700-$800; 2 x 4mm, not 2 mm x 4 mm Dates, page numbers, and percentage numbers are in numerals 1990s, 1800s (no apostrophe) 2nd (not 2d) when referring to editions Dates: June 1992, 27 June 1992, 27 June For number sequences, the second number includes only the changed part of the first number (CMS 8.70). Note, however, that inclusive roman numbers are always given in full (e.g., xxv-xxvi, etc.) Equals sign has a space on either side (x = y) Data always takes the plural When specifying ranges of dates or numbers, if the construction between/and or from/to is used, do not use dashes. For example: between 1950 and 1963 (not between 1950-63) from 12 percent to 15 percent (not from 12-15 percent) but it is correct to say "in the period 1912-15" Back To Top Subscribe to our Newsletters to keep up to date Copyright © 2008 Hancock House Publishers. All Rights Reserved.