PROOFREADING
Mechanics
Use your handbook and reliable sources like Purdue OWL to help you make correct mechanics choices. The following are rules of special concern.
Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only if the context, audience, and purpose support their use. Always spell out the term to be abbreviated on its first use, follow the term with the abbreviation in parenthesis, and do not use periods in the abbreviation. [e.g. American Psychological Association (APA)].
Boldface font is to used only for symbols for vectors (APA, 5th, p. 140) for academic and journal writing. The design of technical documents may require the use of boldface font, but it should be used sparingly because it easily overpowers a short document.
Bullets (not recommended for use by APA) are used in business and technical writing for lists that contain items with no particular priority (non-ordered lists). Capitalization and punctuation of bulleted lists must be consistent within the list and logical for the context of the text.
Capitalization should follow standard English capitalization rules found in handbooks, dictionaries, and on the Purdue OWL Web site. Do not capitalize words to emphasize them. Do capitalize the first person, singular pronoun, I. Do capitalize proper names and the first word of sentences.
All caps can be considered shouting when used merely for emphasis in most communications. All caps are not used for report headings when following APA guidelines. All caps may be used in the heading block of memorandums, and they are often used as headings in situations where other formatting techniques are unavailable. All caps as headings on Web pages is a design decision. All caps text is often used for legal notices, but unless your lawyer specifics that all caps must be used, do not use it. Using all caps for large blocks of text is wrong because it is harder to read than upper-and-lower case text and using it results in hiding the message to be conveyed because most people do not make the effort.
Italics are used for titles of major works such as books, movies, large Web sites, and journals. Italics are used for first time introduction of a new, technical, or key term or label. Italics are used to indicate that a word is a linguistic example (e.g. Use the words first and second rather than firstly and secondly).
Italics are not used for Latin phrases commonly found in English (check a dictionary), chemical terms, Greek letters, or for mere emphasis. The use of italics for emphasis is preferred (when necessary) over the use of quotation marks.
Numbered lists are used when the list items are prioritized and are full sentences. The first word is capitalized and a period follows the end of each sentence. When using numbered lists, use a plain numeral followed by a period and a single space.
Numerals should be written out if they occur at the beginning of a sentence, are under 10, or are not part of a specific measurement. Use numerals for time, dates, age, scores, exact sums of money, population size, or numerals as numerals (APA, 5th, p. 124).
Small letter lists are (a) used within sentences, (b) separated by commas, and (c) bracketed with parenthesis. Generally this technique is used to provide clarity for series containing long elements or requiring special emphasis.
Spelling follows the American style except when requested otherwise by a client (e.g. theater, not theatre; color, not colour; and check, not cheque). Failure to use spell-check causes readers to suspect lack of professionalism on the part of the writers. Use Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary or Webster's Third New International Dictionary. If the dictionary provides choices, use the first spelling listed. Two special spelling concerns are the following:
i.e. or e.g.? Use i.e. when your meaning is in other words. Use e.g. when your meaning is for example. See Grammar Girl's excellent entry on this topic: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ie-eg-oh-my.aspx
Symbols must be used correctly. For information about intellectual property, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyright, click here.
Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only if the context, audience, and purpose support their use. Always spell out the term to be abbreviated on its first use, follow the term with the abbreviation in parenthesis, and do not use periods in the abbreviation. [e.g. American Psychological Association (APA)].
Boldface font is to used only for symbols for vectors (APA, 5th, p. 140) for academic and journal writing. The design of technical documents may require the use of boldface font, but it should be used sparingly because it easily overpowers a short document.
Bullets (not recommended for use by APA) are used in business and technical writing for lists that contain items with no particular priority (non-ordered lists). Capitalization and punctuation of bulleted lists must be consistent within the list and logical for the context of the text.
Capitalization should follow standard English capitalization rules found in handbooks, dictionaries, and on the Purdue OWL Web site. Do not capitalize words to emphasize them. Do capitalize the first person, singular pronoun, I. Do capitalize proper names and the first word of sentences.
All caps can be considered shouting when used merely for emphasis in most communications. All caps are not used for report headings when following APA guidelines. All caps may be used in the heading block of memorandums, and they are often used as headings in situations where other formatting techniques are unavailable. All caps as headings on Web pages is a design decision. All caps text is often used for legal notices, but unless your lawyer specifics that all caps must be used, do not use it. Using all caps for large blocks of text is wrong because it is harder to read than upper-and-lower case text and using it results in hiding the message to be conveyed because most people do not make the effort.
Italics are used for titles of major works such as books, movies, large Web sites, and journals. Italics are used for first time introduction of a new, technical, or key term or label. Italics are used to indicate that a word is a linguistic example (e.g. Use the words first and second rather than firstly and secondly).
Italics are not used for Latin phrases commonly found in English (check a dictionary), chemical terms, Greek letters, or for mere emphasis. The use of italics for emphasis is preferred (when necessary) over the use of quotation marks.
Numbered lists are used when the list items are prioritized and are full sentences. The first word is capitalized and a period follows the end of each sentence. When using numbered lists, use a plain numeral followed by a period and a single space.
Numerals should be written out if they occur at the beginning of a sentence, are under 10, or are not part of a specific measurement. Use numerals for time, dates, age, scores, exact sums of money, population size, or numerals as numerals (APA, 5th, p. 124).
Small letter lists are (a) used within sentences, (b) separated by commas, and (c) bracketed with parenthesis. Generally this technique is used to provide clarity for series containing long elements or requiring special emphasis.
Spelling follows the American style except when requested otherwise by a client (e.g. theater, not theatre; color, not colour; and check, not cheque). Failure to use spell-check causes readers to suspect lack of professionalism on the part of the writers. Use Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary or Webster's Third New International Dictionary. If the dictionary provides choices, use the first spelling listed. Two special spelling concerns are the following:
- Typos. Typos happen to everyone, but generally they can be located by running a spell-check. To leave typos that would be signaled with spell check in a document suggests to readers that the author did not do due diligence.
- Wrong words, commonly confused words, homophones (words pronounced the same but differ in spelling or meaning), and homonyms (another term for words pronounced the same but differ in spelling or meaning). Typical examples include: there/their/they're, to/too/two, cite/sight/site, accept/except, and affect/effect
i.e. or e.g.? Use i.e. when your meaning is in other words. Use e.g. when your meaning is for example. See Grammar Girl's excellent entry on this topic: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ie-eg-oh-my.aspx
Symbols must be used correctly. For information about intellectual property, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyright, click here.
- Copyright symbol (©) is used to claim authorship. This complex, legal topic should be further explored in your textbook, at the VAIL ©Primer tutorial, and other online sources. Writers should understand copyright law.
- Paragraph symbol (¶) is used in in-text citations when the abbreviation (para.) is not used.
- Percentage symbol (%) is used when preceded by a numeral. The word, percentage, is used when a number is not given (APA, 5th, p. 140).
- Registered symbol (®) indicates registration of a trademark with the Federal Government.
- Trademark symbol (™) is used to indicate that rights to the item are being claimed but the claim is not yet registered.
For Discussion
If you like playing with words and learning in the process, you may like the Grammar Girl crossword puzzles. This is a PDF file available online at http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/static/GrammarDevotional_5.pdf Enjoy!
Copyright 2012
Ida L. Rodgers, See terms on Course Style Guide Home page.
Copyright 2012
Ida L. Rodgers, See terms on Course Style Guide Home page.