Apsa Style Manual

Apsa Style Manual

Apsa Style Manual

Students don't often pay attention to academic style guides. Normally they become aware that such guides exist only at graduate level, at best. But they may thereby be doing themselves out of marks, since command of a formal style guide does – like it or not – add to the impression that a piece of work makes.

This essay explains a little about the difference between two main style guides – the Chicago Manual of Style and the Oxford Style Guide (a.k.a. Hart's Rules) – and notes the relative advantages and drawbacks of each. It argues that although the Chicago manual is clearly a superior work, Oxford style is on balance to be preferred.

Language and Style: American vs. British

It is common knowledge that there are differences between U.S and British English, with the U.S. having made some (largely Quixotic) attempts to reduce inconsistency in spelling, and parallel grammatical constructions having evolved – at least in colloquial use; the differences in the academic English are less marked.