Style manuals for writers & editors

QWERTY keyboard on an Underwood typewriter

To browse other articles on a range of HSL topics, see the wiki index.

Introduction

See also Citation management | Scientific journal | Scientific writing | Scholarly publishing and communication

Style manuals for writers & editors are used by academics and researchers to format bibliographic references for their research papers. Two very popular style sheets in medicine are the Vancouver style dating back to a 1978 meeting in Vancouver, and the US National Library of Medicine PubMed style. Vancouver style is also known as the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals As such, it is similar to other medical citation styles such as the American Medical Association style and only differs in matters of punctuation. Health librarians should be acquainted with the Medical Library Association Style Manual as it may be necessary to teach it, or the APA Style (American Psychological Association) and the Council of Biology Editors style. Style manuals provide advice about grammar, punctuation, conducting research and formatting papers. The distinction between a style manual and writing guide is subtle but there are detailed manuals and guides for writing papers, and manuscript preparation.

Canadian context

In terms of writing styles, there is no actual consensus that a Canadian style exists. However, many of the spelling conventions in Canadian English are a hybrid of British and American spellings, particularly as practiced by Canadian journalists. The Globe and Mail, for example, can be said to set the national standards for Canadian English and, as such, publishes its own style manual. There are other style manuals developed at medical journals such as the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Canadian Pharmacy Journal. The Oxford University Press also publishes a Canadian dictionary. This wiki HLWIKI Canada uses the Vancouver style almost exclusively.

Academic

• ACS Style Guide: style for scientific papers published in journals of the American Chemical Society
• American Medical Association Manual of Style: style for medical papers published in journals of the American Medical Association

• AMA Style generator http://mickschroeder.com/citation/

• APA style: academic style for the social sciences by the American Psychological Association
• American Sociological Association Style Guide: academic style for the social sciences by the American Sociological Association
• Council of Biology Editors. Manual for authors, editors and publishers: style for scientific papers.
• Lancet formatting guidelines for electronic submission of revised manuscripts
• "Turabian": popular name for a widely used academic style guide based on the Chicago Manual of Style
• Vancouver Citation Style "How to" Guide
• Words into Type: publishing conventions, less scholarly, more accessible than the Chicago Manual
• Nature - Formatting Guide (Word-file)
• Advances in Physics - Style Guide

Style guides for Canadian English

• CP Stylebook: Guide to newspaper style in Canada maintained by the Canadian Press.
• The Globe and Mail Style Book - created to help writers at the Globe and Mail present clear, accurate and concise stories.
• Globe and Mail Style book
• York University Style Guide (based on the Canadian Press Stylebook)
• The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing: by Dundurn Press in co-operation with Public Works and the Government Services Canada Translation Bureau.

General

• Fowler's Modern English Usage. RW Burchfield. London: Clarendon Press, 2004. Based on Fowler's Modern English Usage, by Henry Watson Fowler.
• Fowler HW, Fowler FG. The King's English.
• Oxford Style Manual

• Combines the Oxford Guide to Style and the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors

• Gowers E. Plain words.
• Strunk W. The elements of style. Bartleby, 1918.
• Patridge E. Usage and Abusage.

References

• AMA Style generator http://mickschroeder.com/citation/
• British Medical Association - Reference styles: Harvard and Vancouver
• Charters Library of Resources for Educators of Adults
• Citation builder http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/lobo2/citationbuilder/index.php
• Citation machine http://citationmachine.net/
• NoodleBib express http://www.noodletools.com/noodlebib/citeone_s.php?style=APA
• Vancouver style (uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals)
• Vancouver Citation Style "How to" Guide
• UBC Library. APA Style sheet