This guide is intended to promote consistency among assistant editors (a.k.a. line editors) working on any of USU’s publications. Contributors are welcome to suggest additions or changes.
USU generally follows The Chicago Manual of Style. Some alterations have been taken from A.P. Style or through discussion among USU press organization members.
Brief overview
Line editors review article drafts for typos, grammar, spelling (especially names), punctuation, readability, and accuracy. This is usually done after the Editorial Board has finished giving feedback on the draft’s premise and content.
Keep in mind that language is flexible, and try to preserve the author’s own voice in your suggestions.
Editing Process
- To avoid wasting your own time, check that the draft is ready for line edits before starting.
- Suggestion mode: Switch from “editing” mode to “suggesting” mode in the Google document before starting any edits (suggestions are called “track changes” in desktop programs). This lets the writer review edit suggestions.
- Commenting: Little typos and punctuation changes shouldn’t need explanation. However, leaving comments on more substantial edits (using the “Add comment” button) is helpful so the writer can see why you believe something is wrong or doesn’t come across as they intended. You are also welcome to discuss questions or suggestions in the writer’s Discord channel.
- Positive feedback: is encouraged, but you don’t need to fill the document itself with it.
- Let the writer know when you’re done editing.
Helpful Resources
- If in doubt, the Chicago Manual website has comprehensive guidance. Searching “[grammar point] CMOS” often leads you to the right FAQ page.
- Poynter has a free, self paced class called Cleaning Your Copy that can refresh your grammar. The class uses AP style.
- Ctrl+F is your friend
Voice
Every writer has their own voice, but all USU-published works should share a few qualities. Writing should respect the reader. The readers are, over all, allies or potential allies, and it’s never appropriate to condescend them. However, overly complex or academic language is counterproductive, and proper editing can help writers speak to a general audience. Simplifying language may involve suggesting more common vocabulary instead of a more obscure term, breaking up a very long sentence into two, more concise sentences, or just highlighting and commenting on a confusing section for the writer (or another editor) to look over again. This is not to say that a scholarly voice or formal tone is bad, but that the reading level should be approachable to the broadest possible audience.
Common Corrections
* indicates difference from Chicago style.
Punctuation
En dash: an en dash with no spaces (–) is used to connect things in a range
The city’s first subway line was built between 1998–2005.
*Em dash: an em dash with one space on each side ( — ) creates a pause in the sentence
The subway — long awaited by commuters — finally opened in 2006.
*Ellipses: use three periods with no spaces in between
Garfield had famously remarked “I hate Mondays… and lasagna.”
Percentages: numerals are preferred in all cases, and percent sign (%) is used in science or statistic-heavy writing, rather than spelling out “(number) percent”
Only 12% of beavers are employed in the hydroelectric industry.
*Abbreviation of initials: 2-letter initials are written with periods; no periods for initials more than 2 letters. No spaces within initials. (Note: literary abbreviations like “a.k.a.” and “i.e.” should retain periods, as in CMOS)
H.J. Parvey earned her PhD in the U.K. before working for the IMF.
IE/EG: general examples use e.g. followed by a comma, and exact specification uses i.e. followed by a comma.
They wanted the main color to be calming (e.g., green or lavender) and the accent to be Hector’s favorite color (i.e., bright purple).
Serial comma: a.k.a. Oxford comma should be used after the second to last item in a list
His bag was full of receipts, gum wrappers, and loose change.
Quotations: double quotes (“ “) are used for all quotations except quotes-in-quotes, which use single quotes (‘ ‘), or block quotes. Punctuation is inside of quotes in the American style. Quotes that take up 5 or more lines should be indented block quotes, and have no quotation marks.
Double spaces: only single spaces should be used after punctuation. Throughout the editing process, some changes also result in accidental double spaces. Manually skim and/or Ctrl+F to delete double spaces during the final proofreading pass.
Capitalization
Antisemitism: does not have a space or hyphen and is not capitalized as a proper noun
They accused the bus driver of antisemitism.
Cardinal directions: general directions (north, south, east, west) are not capitalized, including directions with -ern ending. Culturally significant regions are capitalized, including “the West.”
She’s from Boston in the Northeast. He’s also a northerner, from west Detroit.
National identifiers: the word for any given oppressed nation is capitalized as a proper noun.
The group was founded by an Indigenous woman and a Black man.
Fact checking
Help avoid potential misinformation (or embarrassment) by checking objective details in the writing. Depending on the length, level of detail, and time available to edit, you may not be able to check all the facts. It’s still a good idea, though, to spot check links and look up names with unfamiliar spelling.
Double check the following:
- Click links to check that they work and are inserted in the right spot
- Links to social media should be minimized since they’re easily deleted or banned. See if there’s a more permanent source (i.e., a press release on an industry news site is better than a tweet about the same thing).
- Numbers or statistics
- This could be significant statistics that influence the writer’s argument (e.g., the DoD’s yearly budget)
- Dates
- Names