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The Chicago Manual of Style
 
 
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The Chicago Manual of Style (abbreviated in writing as CMS or CMOS, or verbally as Chicago) is a style guide
Style guide

A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for design and writing of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication or organization....
 for American English
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
 published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press
University of Chicago Press

The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of advanced monographs in the academic field...
. Its 15 editions have prescribed writing and citation
Citation

A citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . A bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article , web page, or other published item....
 styles widely used in publishing. The CMS deals with aspects of editorial practice, from American English
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
 grammar and usage to document preparation.

History
What is now known as The Chicago Manual of Style was first published in 1906 under the title Manual of Style: Being a compilation of the typographical rules in force at the University of Chicago Press, to which are appended specimens of type in use.






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The Chicago Manual of Style (abbreviated in writing as CMS or CMOS, or verbally as Chicago) is a style guide
Style guide

A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for design and writing of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication or organization....
 for American English
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
 published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press
University of Chicago Press

The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of advanced monographs in the academic field...
. Its 15 editions have prescribed writing and citation
Citation

A citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . A bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article , web page, or other published item....
 styles widely used in publishing. The CMS deals with aspects of editorial practice, from American English
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
 grammar and usage to document preparation.

History


What is now known as The Chicago Manual of Style was first published in 1906 under the title Manual of Style: Being a compilation of the typographical rules in force at the University of Chicago Press, to which are appended specimens of type in use. From its earliest, 200-page edition, the CMS evolved into a reference style guide of 984 pages in its 15th edition. It was one of the first editorial style guides published in the United States, and is largely responsible for research methodology standardization, most specifically about citation style
Citation

A citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . A bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article , web page, or other published item....
. With the appearance of the 12th edition in 1969, the CMS was the leading style guide in publishing, selling some 150,000 copies. In 1982, with the publication of the 13th edition, it was officially retitled The Chicago Manual of Style, that name being the informal one already in widespread use.

More recently the publishers have released a new edition every decade or so; the most recent is the 15th edition, published in 2003. The 15th edition was revised to reflect the emergence of computer technology and the Internet in publishing, offering guidance for citing electronic works. Other changes included a chapter by Bryan A. Garner
Bryan A. Garner

Bryan A. Garner is a United States lawyer, a lexicographer, a teacher who has written several books about English usage and style, and the founder of LawProse, Inc....
 on American English grammar and usage, and a revised treatment of mathematical copy.

Overview

The CMS is published in hardcover and online. The online edition includes the searchable text of the 15th edition with features such as tools for editors, a citation guide summary, and searchable access to Q&A, where University of Chicago Press editors answer readers' style questions. An annual subscription is required for access to the content of the Manual.

The Chicago Manual of Style is used in some social science publications and most historical journals. It remains the basis for the Style Guide of the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association

Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association is the world?s largest professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology....
 and the Style Sheet for the Organization of American Historians
Organization of American Historians

The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is an organization of history focusing on History of the United States....
.

The Chicago Manual of Style includes chapters relevant to publishers of books and journals. It is used widely by academic and some trade publishers, and editors and authors who are required by those publishers to follow it.

Chicago style is very flexible and offers writers a choice of several different formats. It even invites the mixing of formats, provided that the result is clear and consistent. For instance, the fifteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style permits the use of both in-text citation systems
Citation

A citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . A bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article , web page, or other published item....
 and/or footnotes or endnotes, including use of "content notes"; it gives information about in-text citation by page number (like MLA style) or by year of publication (like APA style
APA style

American Psychological Association style is a widely accepted style of documentation, particularly in the social sciences. APA style specifies the names and order of headings, formatting, and organization of citations and bibliography, and the arrangement of table , figures, footnotes, and appendix, as well as other manuscript and documentat...
); it even provides for variations in styles of footnotes and endnotes, depending on whether or not the paper includes a full bibliography at the end.

See also

  • Citation
    Citation

    A citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . A bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article , web page, or other published item....
  • Linguistic prescription
    Linguistic prescription

    In linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used. These rules can cover such topics as standards for spelling and grammar or syntax, or rules for what is deemed Etiquette or Political correctness correct....
  • Turabian


External links

  • of the American Anthropological Association
    American Anthropological Association

    Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association is the world?s largest professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology....
     – Uses The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.
  • – Provided by Williams College
    Williams College

    Williams College is a private Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Massachusetts.Williams was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams as a men's college, located in the Berkshires in northwestern Massachusetts, at the foot of Mount Greylock....
  • – Provided by The Ohio State University
  • of the Organization of American Historians
    Organization of American Historians

    The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is an organization of history focusing on History of the United States....
     – Uses The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.