Welcome to Compass Rose Horizons.
We offer expert proofreading, editing, book design, eBook formatting, and transcription services.

Academic Editing and Proofreading Style Guides

Style guides set out rules for language use, such as for spelling, italics, and punctuation. They are rulebooks for writers and editors to ensure language is used in a consistent manner. Authors, particularly students writing a thesis or dissertation, are often asked or required to use a style guide in preparing their work for publication. Copy editors are charged with enforcing the style. There are many, many reference books and manuals for copyeditors and proofreaders on the market. Some of these are “must haves” and should be on the shelf of every publishing professional. Others are geared toward a specific industry or type of writing. These are a few of the style guides, grammar books, and publishing-related titles we have in our library at Compass Rose Horizons.

The Chicago Manual of Style

The University of Chicago Press

In the 1890s, a proofreader at the University of Chicago Press prepared a single sheet of typographic fundamentals intended as a guide for the University community. That sheet grew into a pamphlet, and the pamphlet grew into a book—the first edition of the Manual of Style, published in 1906. Now in its sixteenth edition, The Chicago Manual of Style is an essential reference for authors, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers in any field.

The Elements of Style

William Strunk and E.B. White

Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. Intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature, it gives in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

American Psychological Association

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the style manual of choice for writers, editors, students, educators, and professionals in psychology and the behavioral sciences, sociology, business, economics, nursing, social work, criminology and justice administration, and other disciplines in which effective communication with words and data is fundamental.

MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing

Joseph Gibaldi

For nearly half a century, the style recommended by the Modern Language Association for scholarly manuscripts and student research papers has been widely adopted by academic journals, schools, college departments, and individual instructors. Today MLA guidelines are used by over 125 periodicals with circulations over 1000; by hundreds of smaller scholarly journals, literary reviews, and newsletters; and by many university and commercial presses. MLA documentation style is one of the major style guidelines used in the United States; it is commonly used in Canada and other countries as well.

Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications

Microsoft Corporation

The essential reference for technical writers, editors, journalists, and everyone else who writes about computer technology. Developed by Microsoft’s senior editors and content managers, this manual of style captures the up-to-date standards and best practices for delivering clear and consistent technical communications