Reading Religion House Style Guidelines
Last Updated: January 15, 2025
For all matters not specifically addressed here, please follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Ed.: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed18/frontmatter/toc.html
GENERAL
- Plural possessives are formed with only an apostrophe (Jesus’, not Jesus’s)
- Use double quotes (single quotes only within double quotes; please see Quotations and Dialogue)
- Use serial (Oxford) comma
- Use gender-neutral language when gender is unknown (they/their is acceptable; please see CMS 5.255 on gender-neutrality)
- No space between initials in names (E.B. White, not E. B. White)
- List the full name of all individuals on the first reference; use only last name thereafter
- Understand the use of which versus that (please see CMS 6.27 for differences between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses)
- Omit ellipses at the beginning and end of quotes (with a possible exception for dialogue)
- Silently capitalize or lowercase initial letter of quote
- Spell out acronyms once, use (almost) exclusively thereafter
- Italicize all uncommon non-English words at every instance and provide an English translation in parentheses in the first instance.
- Set words used as words in italics if they are not in double quotes
- Do not italicize punctuation with italicized words
- Do not leave two spaces after a period
- Exempli gratia and Idi est should be abbreviated only in parentheses, and with a comma following (e.g., or i.e.,); however, it is better not to use Latin in the text—use “for example” and “that is.”
- Use en dashes for page and year ranges (1–6; 1939–1987) and em dashes without spaces to set off a phrase in a sentence (“There are simple alternatives to plastic shopping bags—namely, reusable cloth bags and foldable carts.”)
NUMBERS
- Write out all numbers one to one hundred, except as percentages (16 percent, not sixteen percent), and only in general prose. Use the symbol “%” in technical or scientific contexts.
- Write out large, round whole numbers
- Use ordinals for centuries (19th century, not nineteenth century)
WORDS
- Use “down” style, lowercasing generally, particularly official titles standing alone (the president), traditional casing in actual titles (President Lincoln); biblical, religious studies, Islamic studies, history of religions
- Do not capitalize/italicize titles of book series or put in double quotes
- Use American spelling, not British (analyze, not analyse)
- For example, not e.g. (except in parentheses; see CMS 6.51)
- That is, not i.e. (except in parentheses; see CMS 6.51)
- Lowercase book parts/use numerals and complete terms for book parts: part 2, chapter 11 (not Part I, Chapter XI, chap.)
- Common terms not capitalized (internet, web, website, e-mail, www.aaanet.org)
- Numbered lists in text should be given with Arabic numerals in parentheses, and semicolons between clauses (e.g., we will (1) copy edit the text; (2) return it to the author; (3) wait for author approval; and (4) post the review to the website)
- Western, the West when referring to the Occident (except westernization; otherwise lowercase)
- Orient, Eastern, the East when referring to the Orient (except oriental and orientalism; otherwise lowercase)
- Other (capitalized) only when used as specific reference to those seen as different (the Other)
CITATIONS
- Use page numbers in parentheses for references to the reviewed text
- For citations to other works—which should be kept to a minimum—put the entire citation in parentheses before the period that closes the sentence, as in this example: (Karen Armstrong, Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence, Anchor, 2015). (Note: city of publication and page number are not included)
HYPERLINKS
- Insert direct hyperlinks when referencing other titles in Reading Religion inventory or specific website content referenced