House Style (CMoS-based)
1. Spelling
1.1 Use US English spelling conventions.
organize, utilize, color, center, jail, draft, airplane, jewelry
Other spellings that occasionally occur in US English are acceptable, but must be consistent within a manuscript.
towards, amidst, whilst, theatre, café
1.2 For chapters, parts, or sections in the same volume, capitalize.
See Chapter 2 in this volume.
2. Dates and Years
2.1 Date ranges always should be provided in full.
1000–1005, 1005–1015, 1950–1976
NOT: 1000–5, 1005–15, 1950–76
2.2 Spell out calendar dates in the US order with unabbreviated months.
January 1, 2023
NOT: 1/1/23; 1 January 2023; 1 Jan. 2023
2.3 For the Gregorian calendar, use CE/BCE abbreviations.
2.4 For approximate years, use c. (circa)
2.5 For historical figures use b. (born), d. (died), or, in case neither date is known, fl. (floruit, blossomed)
3. Punctuation
3.1 Always use the Oxford comma.
He served a smorgasbord with Birdwood Blue Heaven, Duddleswell, and Cotswold.
3.2 Intersecting identities are not separated by commas or hyphens.
3.3 Contracted forms of words are always followed by a period.
Dr., edn., St., fols., vols., nos., eds., repr., trans., vol., ed.
3.4 Acronyms do not require periods.
USA, OED, HIV, DC, PhD, MA
3.5 Use double quote marks for quotations, and single quote marks for quotations within quotations.
“After long hours of research, they discovered that ‘the cheese’ was in fact an elaborate scheme to bring down the company.”
3.6 Semicolons are to be avoided between clauses. If possible, use a period or comma.
It was ironic that punctum strongly discouraged semicolons but used one in 3.7. Even though semicolons tend to be overused, sometimes rules have exceptions.
NOT: It was ironic that punctum strongly discouraged semicolons but used one in 3.7; even though semicolons tend to be overused, sometimes rules have exceptions.
3.7 Avoid the use of slashes in prose. Do not use and/or; simply use or. Slashes may be used to indicate line breaks (/) or white lines (//) in in-text poetry citations.
4. Names and Terms Referring to Places and People
4.1 English forms of place names should be used when they exist.
Padua, Seville, Athens, The Hague, Flanders, Tuscany, Istanbul, Tokyo
4.2 In other cases, a transliteration of the autonym is used. See Transliteration.
Beijing, Bengaluru, Tbilisi
4.3 Native spellings of foreign names are preferred. Common English renderings may be included between parentheses the first time the name is introduced.
Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Kongzi (Confucius), Yijing (I Ching)
4.4 When referring to a community of Native peoples, first of all, use "community" not "tribe." Always prioritize the community's specific autonym, with the English exonym in parentheses.
spoqín (Spokan), sntʔtʔúlixʷ (Upper Spokan), néhinaw (Cree)
4.5 When referring to minoritized communities, always use the terminology preferred by those communities themselves. When preference is not obtainable, use these forms:
LGBTQ2SIA+ or queer people (rather than homosexuals), people with disabilities (rather than disabled people), unhoused (rather than homeless), trans* (rather than transgender, drag queen/king), undocumented (rather than illegal), enslaved people (rather than slaves), they (rather than s/he, he/she, she/he), incarcerated people (rather than criminals).
4.6 Check your metaphors to remove latent racial, gender, sex, class, and ability hierarchies. Do not use "black" to mean bad or "white" to mean good. Do not use "blind" to mean not perceptive. Do not use "feminine" to mean weak. Remember that people of all races, sexes, classes, and abilities may be readers of your book and have a multiplicity of experiences that are real, specific, and material, not metaphorical.
4.7 Be as specific as possible when referring to topographical regions, avoiding generalizing terms such as "Third World," "developing countries," and "Global South." For more on this topic, begin with this page.
4.8 Foucault and Marx are not gods. All people referenced should get their full name on first mention per chapter before being mentioned by last name only.
"Highlighting the enormous effort of Black and formerly enslaved people as well as drawing attention to the structural resistance countering their contributions, W.E.B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America is a key text for our understanding of American history."
"By structuring Act I around the ego, Act II around the id, and Act III around the superego, the play dramatizes Sigmund Freud’s personality theory to draw out and explore resonances with contemporary artistic life."
NOT: "We do so by taking up Hegel’s teleological theory of history."
NOT: "By structuring Act I around the ego, Act II around the id, and Act III around the superego, the play dramatizes Freud’s personality theory to draw out and explore resonances with contemporary artistic life."