In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style. —Sydney Smith
Welcome to Compass Rose Horizons.
We offer expert proofreading, editing, book design, and transcription services.
Do You Need a Freelance Editor?
We hope you enjoy the free publishing-related articles we post on Compass Rose Horizons. If you found your way here because you are looking for a freelance editor or proofreader, we can help you. To reach one of our editing or book design professionals, e-mail: editor@compassrose.com.
The Chicago Manual of Style
Go to Amazon to purchase the Chicago Manual of Style.
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is a style guide for American English published by the University of Chicago Press (from which it receives its name). It prescribes a writing style that is widely used in the publishing industry. The CMS deals with all aspects concerning the editorial practice, from American English grammar and usage to document preparation. (Note that, in the field of publishing, style means punctuation, italicizing, bolding, capitalization, tables, and so forth; it does not refer to prose style.)
Overview
The first edition was published by the university in 1906, under the title A Manual of Style; it was officially retitled The Chicago Manual of Style upon publication of the 13th edition in 1982, a name that was already in widespread informal use by the book’s audience. In recent years, the publishers have released a new edition every decade or so. (The fourteenth edition was published in 1993.) The most recent edition is the 15th, published in 2003. The 15th edition has been revised throughout to reflect the increasing prominence of computer technology and the Internet in the publishing world, and offers guidance for citing electronic works. Other changes include a new chapter on American English grammar and usage, and a revised treatment of mathematical copy.
The CMS is currently published in hardcover and CD-ROM. There is also an online edition. The online edition includes the fully searchable text of the 15th edition with added features including tools for editors, a quick citation guide, and searchable access to the Chicago Style Q&A, a feature popular with copyeditors and grammar geeks, in which manuscript editors at the University of Chicago Press answer style questions submitted by readers. An annual subscription is required for access to the content of the manual, but the rest of the site is available for free.
History of The Chicago Manual of Style
What would become The Chicago Manual of Style was first published in 1906 under the title Manual of Style: Being a compilation of the typographical rules in force at the University of Chicago Press, to which are appended specimens of type in use. From its earliest edition of a mere 200 pages, the CMS evolved into a reference guide of 984 pages in its 15th edition. It was one of the first style methods published in the United States, and is in large part responsible for the standardization of research methodology, most specifically with the style of citation.
By 1969, the CMS had become the industry leader, selling around 150,000 copies of its 12th edition. However, throughout the 1960s the demand for a more concise and up-to-date style guide grew. The Modern Language Association found that The Chicago Manual of Style was not evolving fast enough to suit the demands of the modern humanities researcher, and, as such, made the citations excessively complicated for modern methods (e.g., the microfilming drive, and, in particular, the evolving world of electronic records). Consequently, they put forth their own MLA style guides, aimed at different audiences: The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. Style guides have continued to proliferate: first with the introduction of the MLA style, later with the American Psychological Association introducing its own citation style, and other disciplines following suit. Today, there are numerous style guides aimed at writers, editors, and publishers and each claims authority in a certain field.
The Chicago Manual of Style is still used as the citation style in some social science publications and in most historical journals; the publications of the Organization of American Historians and the American Anthropological Association are two examples. Since it also includes chapters more relevant strictly to the publishers of books and journals, it remains in wide use as a reference for the industry.
Criticism of The Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style does not hold much neutrality among its users: some say that it is excessively complicated to format, especially because some of the rules are overridden by Microsoft Word’s automatic formatting rules; others say that it provides—by far—the most comprehensive and structured citation style. Most notable in the controversy is the use of hanging indentation, that process by which all lines subordinate to the first line of an entry are indented (N.B. each new reference’s first line automatically moves to the margin). Many discipline-specific style guides are now in use, so The Chicago Manual of Style is less the gold standard for all editing and writing than it was in the past. Since it is, however, more comprehensive than other style manuals, including chapters on copyright law, indexing, and the publishing processes of books and journals, the manual remains an essential reference for the publishing industry, as well as for many individual authors and scholars. The recommendations of The Chicago Manual of Style are also contained in A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, popularly known as Turabian Style.
