The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers (14th Edition)
by By Chicago Editorial Staff
Category: Language Arts & Disciplines , Reference

Here is the thoroughly revised and updated edition of the one essential reference for all who work with words - writers, editors, proof-readers, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers.Almost 200 pages longer than its predecessor, this edition reflects nearly every significant change in style, usage, procedure, and technology. It is easier to use, richer in illustrative examples, and informed everywhere by the presence of computers in publishing, from manuscript preparation to editing, typesetting, indexing, design, and printing.The result of more than a decade's worth of continuous editing and revision, the changes to this edition fall into two broad categories.First are the changes designed to make the Manual's editorial guidelines more systematic, more inclusive, more reflective of contemporary usage, and more accessible. There are major revisions in the chapter on quotations, which features a fuller discussion of speech and alternative punctuation; in the chapter on names and terms, expanded treatment of nationalities, tribes, and races; a reorganized chapter on foreign languages, with a new section on Hebrew; and a revised and enlarged tabular spelling guide for compound words and words with prefixes and suffixes.The most thoroughly revised portion of the Manual is the section on documentation. What was scattered across three chapters is now more logically and concisely presented in two. Chapter 15 now covers the humanities style of documentation, and chapter 16, the author-date style preferred in the natural and social sciences. Notes and bibliographic entries, text citations and reference-list entries are discussed separately, and there are many examples of ways to cite a range of material - from medieval documents to computer programs, with guidelines for citing data bases, network billboards, and other electronic documents.The other set of changes emphasizes new developments in publishing, from new technologies for composition, design, printing, and binding, to the shifting responsibilities of author and editor in an age of personal computers. For first-time and self-publishing authors, there is also new information about the outside of the book: jackets, covers, and how to obtain and display ISBN numbers and bar codes.The chapter on copyrights and permissions has been rewritten by attorney William Strong to cover current laws, practices, and procedures, with a more substantial section on interpreting the concept of fair use.The bibliography and glossary have also been extensively revised.This revision process has been guided by a set of basic principles: consistency, clarity, literacy, good sense, and good usage, all of them tempered by a respect for the author's individuality of expression. These principles have worked successfully at the Press for a century; constantly renewed, they are what makes the Manual the authoritative voice of publishing. There is no other reference so valued or so necessary.