Publishing

[NW Mailing List]

On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 10:55 AM, Alex wrote:

First, with both spelling and grammar, copy editors have different

> approaches as to what is correct and I have had one professional copy

> editor making changes to another professional copy editors work with

> respect to grammar. Typos are generally easier to deal with but sometimes

> it depends on the style guide being used. Word/publishing programs will

> highlight questionable words or phrases, but you then have to decide how to

> proceed. As an example I spell coalfield as one word where many

> publications will spell it as two words. Another example is state names. I

> used to use post offices abbreviations such as WV for West Virginia and the

> copy editor agreed with it. However the Associated Press Style Book says

> not to use them, but it is ok to use W.Va., but in some circumstances you

> should use the full state name.

>


It appears that one of the first orders of business is for the Society to
declare what style it is going to follow (if it already hasn't) and stick
with it. I'm curious about the reference to the *AP Style Book* -- it is a
good reference, but it really applies to newspapers, magazines, press
releases (the Virginia Tech University Relations style guide uses it as a
starting point), and like publications. It isn't quite geared for journal
articles and books. One of the mainstays in that area is the *Chicago
Manual of Style*, which is much broader in its scope and coverage. I've
used both, the AP book a long time ago when I was a newspaper reporter in
Radford and the Chicago manual when I was marking up papers for an
education journal, before each issue was sent to the printer. I also know
that Microsoft Word is far from perfect when it comes to pointing out
grammar and other construction "errors" and shouldn't be followed blindly
just because it threw some green lines on the screen.

That said, I would be wiling on a volunteer basis to read, review, and copy
edit any Society publication at any point in the process. I know I won't be
able to catch factual errors, but can help weed out grammar problems,
typos, and misspelled words (depending on when, where, and how something is
sent on to a printer).

Bruce in Blacksburg
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