The Chicago Manual of Style - A Must for Writers
November 17, 2008 by Brad Shorr
Filed under Books
Have you read The Art of the Start, by Guy Kawasaki? Excellent book for start ups, especially if you are looking for funding.
Quite unexpectedly, one of my favorite takeaways from the book was a book recommendation from Guy - The Chicago Manual of Style.
This manual runs almost 1000 pages and covers in extraordinary depth every imaginable topic on publishing, editing, copyrights, grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling, terminology, numbers, foreign languages, quotations, dialog, illustrations, captions, tables, abbreviations, documentation, and indexing.
There are ten pages on pronouns. Not sure how to punctuate the Swiss Alps or the continental United States? See page 327. If you are doing medical work and are not sure how to write the islets of Langerhans, page 363 will give you the answer. When it comes to ellipses, if you’re not sure whether to use the three-dot method or the three-or-four dot method, pages 459-460 will clear it up. Unsure whether to specify the state, province, or country in a publication citation? See page 672.
You get the idea. The book has everything a writer or publisher would ever want to know when it comes to creating spot-on, perfectly constructed content.
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Brad, like you say - great minds think alike. Thanks for sharing the info on this resource.
Joanna Youngs last blog post..What Do You Look For in a Book Review?
The Chicago Manual of Style is a valuable resource. The things we take for granted are often tools that others may not know of, it’s good you shared it here.
Karen Swims last blog post..The Walking Wounded and Socially Fatigued
Joanna, We do think alike about many things, yet you are always surprising me. That is pretty amazing.
Karen, I may be one of the last people around to learn about the Manual, but as you say, it would be interesting for us to share all the writing tools we use. Maybe there’s a group project in there somewhere …
Brad Shorrs last blog post..The Chicago Manual of Style - A Must for Writers
Hi Brad - That is weird. I was just telling Guy on Twitter at the weekend that Art of The Start is my favourite book by him. He gives such great advice. The little man on your shoulder when you’re trying to come up with the benefits of your business is the best explanation I’ve ever read.
I’m looking forward to his new book though. It isn’t available on amazon uk until March so I’m ordering it from amazon.com
But I didn’t get the Chicago Manual of style yet - it definitely sounds worth checking out. Thanks.
Cath Lawsons last blog post..Do You Have Business Questions?
Cath, The Art of the Start was my first Guy book - he’s awesome. His advice is so practical … just like yours.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..The Chicago Manual of Style - A Must for Writers
Sounds like a great resource, Brad! But will it help me with MY vernacular?
Robert Hruzeks last blog post..Why I Hate Cell Phones
Robert, Well, nothing specifically on Texas slang, but plenty on usage and commonly confused words.
Brad,
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone used the same style guide? Instead we have Chicago for books, AP for newspapers/articles, and MLA, Turabian, and APA for academic work … I’d vote for Chicago as the standard.
Lillie Ammanns last blog post..Book Review: The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing
Lillie, All those style guides have slightly different strengths, don’t you think? Chicago is definitely the most comprehensive, but AP comes in handy for business abbreviations and usage conventions. Maybe someone should publish all these publications in one enormous volume?
Brad Shorrs last blog post..The Chicago Manual of Style - A Must for Writers
Brad,
Trouble with publishing them all in one volume is they are contradictory. For example, Chicago and APA use serial commas; AP doesn’t. There are zillions of such differences.
What I like to do for clients is to create a house style guide. Obviously it’s not as extensive as Chicago or even AP, but it covers the usages most commonly used by that business. Then we establish a standard style guide for anything not covered by the house style guide—that standard is specified in the house style guide.
Rather than use one of the print style guides, I usually recommend the Guide to Grammar and Writing from Capital Community College. It’s comprehensive and easy to use and understand, and it’s available free online so everyone in the company has access without the company spending a lot of money on style guides.
The Guide to Grammar and Writing is what I use most frequently as a style guide unless the client or publisher specifies a particular style. Reading print is difficult for me so I avoid it as much as possible.
Lillie Ammanns last blog post..Book Review: The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing