You’ve Met Chicago, Now Meet the Other Style Guides

The Chicago Manual of Style is a phenomenal book and style guide. Sometimes I leave it
on a pedestal in the middle of my living room so that everyone can look and admire it. Don’t
worry, it is protected behind bullet-proof glass so no one who is unworthy can touch it. I’m just
kidding (mostly). I love Chicago, and it is my go to style guide. However, as an editor, it would
be extremely beneficial for you to become familiar with some other style guides. Being able to
edit in different style guides will make you a more rounded (editorially, not physically) editor,
and you will be comfortable accepting a more diverse range of projects.
Here is a list of some of the most common style guides that it would benefit you to know.
APA—Also known as the style guide for the American Psychological Association. This style is
mainly used for uniformity in research papers. This style can be used by “researchers, students,
and educators across the social and behavioral sciences, health care, natural sciences, humanities,
and more” (APA Style Blog) APA 7th Edition is the style guide I use most often other than
Chicago. I would highly recommend looking into this style guide and familiarizing yourself with
it. Being comfortable with this style can help you when you are editing any type of research.
AP—Not to be confused with APA, AP stands for Associated Press, the AP Stylebook is
sometimes referred to as the “journalist’s bible.” This stylebook was originally published in
1953, and usually publishes an updated version every year. This style is specifically geared
toward journalism. If you are editing anything in the realm of journalism, you will definitely
want to get acquainted with this stylebook.
MLA—You are probably somewhat familiar with MLA if you have ever written a paper for an
English class. MLA, which stands for Modern Language Association, is almost exclusively used
in the humanities disciplines. You will see MLA used for papers on English studies, foreign
languages and literatures, literary criticism, comparative literature, and cultural studies, among
other subjects.
These are just a few of the style guides that are available. By familiarizing yourself with
the different styles, you will be able to tackle a wider variety of projects, and will be more
comfortable editing in the different styles.
How to access the different style guides:
Chicago: You can access The Chicago Manual of Style by purchasing the book, or by
going to https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org. You do have to pay a fee to access the online
version of this style guide.
APA: The APA style guide can only be accessed by purchasing the physical book.
However, the APA Style Blog is a great resource for getting answers to your APA questions.
You can find that blog at: https://apastyle.apa.org/blog.
AP: The AP Stylebook can be accessed through the physical copy of the book, or AP
Stylebook online. Their website is: https://www.apstylebook.com/.
 MLA: The MLA Handbook is available as an e-book or a printed book. You can get some
tips and suggestions from their website, https://style.mla.org.
Another great resource is Purdue OWL. This is a website where you can find a lot of
information about the different styles. If you are looking for a quick reference on how to do
citations or other things, this can be a really good resource for you. Their website is:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html.