Chicago Manual Style Writing - A little help?

If you want to talk about anything that doesn't fit the other boards do it here.

Moderators: Silver, shauni

Locked
User avatar
Josiah
Mew
Posts: 25726
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2004 10:57 pm
Location: Hawaii
Contact:

Chicago Manual Style Writing - A little help?

Post by Josiah »

Long story short, I need to write short story using the Chicago Manual Style. The thing is, I have no clue what Chicago Manual Style is like (I never liked writing styles in general, I'm only now learning APA and only because I absolutely have to for classes). Everything I've found online so far is either about how to cite things in CMS (which isn't much use since I don't need to cite things to write a short story) or costs money. I don't really want to pay for the whole manual (or read it for that matter) so I was wondering if any of you are familiar with CMS. If so, could you please give me a quick rundown of the basics? I don't need all the details, just the overview so I can figure out how how writing a short story with it is going to be different than writing a short story normally.
Image

My signature site. Because ripping off Silver's ideas is fun.
User avatar
Silver
Shiny Pidgeot King
Posts: 18079
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2004 9:25 pm
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow
Contact:

Re: Chicago Manual Style Writing - A little help?

Post by Silver »

Ok, I had never actually even heard of this before... so I asked Mr. Keffner about it. He said it's basically just MLA. The only thing that's really different is how things are cited... there may be a few other minor formatting differences - he wasn't entirely sure - but if you're not citing anything there shouldn't be anything to worry about.
"Irregardless" and "Over exaggerated" are NEVER CORRECT EVER because they are redundant
Regardless means "without regard", and adding "ir" on the front actually makes it a double negative; exaggerate means "to overstate" so you're literally saying "over overstate."
Example: I can not exaggerate the importance of this fact enough, regardless of how often people ignore it.
Image
User avatar
Josiah
Mew
Posts: 25726
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2004 10:57 pm
Location: Hawaii
Contact:

Re: Chicago Manual Style Writing - A little help?

Post by Josiah »

Great, thanks a lot! Of course, I still need to review MLA, but my brother has the entire style manual so that should be pretty easy. I'll post the story on the forums when it's done.

To add a few details, the purpose of all this is for a job application (I can see why they want the short story, not so much why they're hung up on styles). Unfortunately, if I do get the job, I'll probably have to buy and read both the CMS and AP style guides since they want someone with "comprehensive knowledge" of both. But, for the application, all I need to provide is a cover letter, resume, and that short story, so I can fake it for now.
Image

My signature site. Because ripping off Silver's ideas is fun.
User avatar
Silver
Shiny Pidgeot King
Posts: 18079
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2004 9:25 pm
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow
Contact:

Re: Chicago Manual Style Writing - A little help?

Post by Silver »

Hmm... Have you tried looking around in a library? If it was for a job application, I'd want to make sure I had everything exactly right. Taking a look at the CMS mannual couldn't hurt, and it seems like the type of thing they'd have at a library...
"Irregardless" and "Over exaggerated" are NEVER CORRECT EVER because they are redundant
Regardless means "without regard", and adding "ir" on the front actually makes it a double negative; exaggerate means "to overstate" so you're literally saying "over overstate."
Example: I can not exaggerate the importance of this fact enough, regardless of how often people ignore it.
Image
User avatar
Josiah
Mew
Posts: 25726
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2004 10:57 pm
Location: Hawaii
Contact:

Re: Chicago Manual Style Writing - A little help?

Post by Josiah »

I doubt my school's library has it, since they don't that style for anything. The city library might, it's just a matter of whether or not I'd have time to go there and check.
Image

My signature site. Because ripping off Silver's ideas is fun.
User avatar
Shadowman
Gym Leader
Posts: 4063
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:10 am
Location: Scarlet Devil Mansion, Gensokyo

Re: Chicago Manual Style Writing - A little help?

Post by Shadowman »

Image
"OH MY DEAR HOLY SWEET GOD ON EARTH! NO FAIR!!! MRWAAAAA! " -Shauni after typoing a word, correcting it, then typoing the correction
User avatar
Josiah
Mew
Posts: 25726
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2004 10:57 pm
Location: Hawaii
Contact:

Re: Chicago Manual Style Writing - A little help?

Post by Josiah »

Off topic, much?
Image

My signature site. Because ripping off Silver's ideas is fun.
Locked