Download - Style
Paul Mundy www.mamud.com
Style
Keeping the editor happy
Style
Follow the style used in the series you are writing for Audience Level of language Length Nature of text (scientific, professional, popular…) Use of headings, graphics, tables Citations and references
Style
Check the Instructions for Authors Ask for the house style Ask the editor for guidance Copy a previous issue in the series Use a style guide
See last slides in this presentation for references
Copy good examples
Find a book that is written is an easy, open style
Look at how good newspapers present information The Economist The Guardian Weekly
Gender sensitivity
Make sure pronouns refer to both men and women The boss… he The secretary… she
Use he or she Use the plural Alternate use of he and she
The boss… he or she Secretaries… they The farmer… she… The trader… he… The scientist… she
Gender sensitivity
Careful of words that refer to men or women Postman Policeman Chairman Webmaster
Find another word Mail carrier Police officer Chair Web administrator
Many farmers are women! The farmer and his wife Men and women farmers
Gender sensitivity
Careful of pictures that show men and women in stereotyped roles Men working, earning money, making decisions, in
important jobs, as aggressors Women cooking, washing, in kitchen, in junior jobs, as
victims Aim for a balance
Women working, as boss, being aggressive Men in kitchen, looking after kids Roughly equal numbers of men and women in pictures
Stereotyping
Be careful of other stereotypes Prostitutes preyed on the farmers The farmers are ignorant, so middlemen rip them off Farmers are lazy
Find other words The farmers spent their money on sex workers The farmers lack information about prices, so
cannot negotiate with traders Farmers lack incentives
British or American?
For an international audience, use International English
Set Word to UK spelling
British American Practise (verb) Practice Defence Defense Labour, colour Labor, color Programme Program
Zs or Ss?
-ization or –isation? Zs USA, Oxford English Dictionary,
Oxford University Press Ss Most British & Indian publishers
In Word, UK spelling = Ss Follow the style required by your series editor
To change from Ss to Zs
Manual Search and Replace (Ctrl+H in Word) isation ► ization ising ► izing ise ► ize isab ► izab
To change from Ss to Zs
Don’t do a global Search and Replace Some words always have -ise
Advise, practise (verb), promise… Don’t change web addresses Don’t change names
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization ILO International Labour Organisation
Don’t change publication titles or quotations
Use a dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary (UK) Webster’s (US)
Use a spell checker Microsoft Word: Tools > Spelling and Grammar
(or F7)
Use a thesaurus
Roget’s thesaurus
Microsoft Word thesaurus Tools > Spelling and Grammar (or Shift+F7)
Create a style sheet
ABCDcross-cultural
EFGHGreen Revolution
extensionist
IJKLindigenous knowledge
MNOPpolicy makermicrocreditMillennium Development Goals
QRSTreappraisal
UVWXYZ
Submitting your manuscript
Don’t expect the editor to do your typing for you
Provide a hardcopy and a softcopy Ask the editor what file format
DOC, RTF, plain text
Submitting your manuscript
Give the editor a clean word-processed file No Comments No Track Changes No missing info
Don’t try to reproduce the final layout or design That’s the editor’s/layout person’s job!
Style guides: Online, free
FAO style http://tinyurl.com/yj95gvq Practical Action Publishing house style manual
http://tinyurl.com/ygm5uu3 The Economist style guide http://tinyurl.com/kq879 European Commission, Directorate-General for
Translation. 2005. English style guide. A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission. http://tinyurl.com/yswxy6
United Nations editorial manual online http://tinyurl.com/na89rk
UNDP style manual http://tinyurl.com/yz9nsm6
Style guides: To buy
British usage Ritter, RM. 2003. Oxford style manual. Oxford University Press.
http://tinyurl.com/2vutc3 Truss, Lynne. 2003. Eats, shoots and leaves. http://tinyurl.com/jn755 Marsh, David. Guardian style. The Guardian. http://tinyurl.com/yzwgdsv
American usage University of Chicago Press. 2003. Chicago manual of style.
http://tinyurl.com/dlmp8j Associated Press stylebook. www.apstylebook.com/ Turabian, Kate. 2007. A manual for writers of research papers, theses,
and dissertations http://tinyurl.com/yz7ar84 Strunk, W. and E.B. White. 1973. The elements of style
http://tinyurl.com/s6coh Council of Science Editors. 2006. Scientific style and format: The CSE
manual for authors, editors, and publishers. http://tinyurl.com/ygl24xv