Category: Style Guide

Answer Keys

Use bold, not asterisks, to indicate answers for a quiz or exam.

Style Sheets

Spring is here! Thank you for your patience while I play with this new colour feature in WordPress.

What Is a Style Sheet?

The most basic tool for editing, and one of the most practical, is a style sheet. Most of the time the editor creates this and shares it with others. A style sheet is a table or document used to track our decisions, so it is an essential tool for consistency in spelling and style.

More Work?

Normally editors track the decisions that are not covered by the house style or ones that conflict with the house style, perhaps due to a specific discipline’s style conventions or a writer’s preferences.

It is good to be thorough, but not so thorough that the style sheet becomes it’s own editing project.

But Why?

In addition to clarifying the spelling of tricky words, the style sheet reminds us of the types of changes we made in earlier parts of the document.

  • Did the writer use italics or bold for key terms?
  • Which heading level did we use in the table in Module 1?
  • Which terms did we capitalize?

All these choices are recorded in one place, so we don’t have to look them up each time. It makes editing easier since we don’t have to remember everything to be consistent throughout the document. It is also helpful as a reporting tool, since writers or course developers can quickly review the changes we’ve made without scanning through the entire document.

Format your document in whatever style works for you. I usually make it an online document (e.g., Google Docs) to share it with others, but many editors build a style sheet on paper or in a Word doc.

Example

 

Style Change: Development Team List

We are changing our house style for the list of course developers on a copyright and credits page.

  • Include the person’s terminal or highest credential only.
  • Group the list by years of editions and revisions.
  • Order the groups in reverse chronological order; i.e., most recent is at the top and earliest is at the bottom of the page

Copyright © 2018, 2014 (Revised), 2010 Thompson Rivers University. All rights reserved.

Course Development Team 2018
Course Writer: Name, PhD
Instructional Designer: Name, MA
Editor: Name, BA
Associate Dean, […]: Name, PhD
Program Coordinator, […]: Name, PhD

Course Revision Team 2014
Course Reviser: Name, PhD
Course Editor: Name, MA
Associate Dean, […]: Name, PhD     [include only if different from who is listed above]

Course Development Team 2010
Course Writer: Name, PhD
Instructional Designer: Name, MA
Course Editor: Name, BA

UPDATED May 2018: This list is constantly changing, and will be maintained in the future by Danielle Collins on her page on one.tru.ca. 

***

We list course developers on the copyright pages of courses. OL style was updated in May 2018 to:

  • Do not use periods between letters in degree acronyms.
  • Include the person’s terminal or highest credential only. 
  • Group the list by years of editions and revisions.
  • Include the year in the heading.
  • Order the groups in reverse chronological order; i.e., most recent is at the top and earliest is at the bottom of the page.

Course Development Team 2018
Course Writer: Name, PhD
Instructional Designer: Name, MA
Editor: Name, BA
Associate Dean, […]Name, PhD
Program Coordinator, […]: Name, MA

Course Revision Team 2014
Course Reviser: Name, PhD
Course Editor: Name, MA
Associate Dean, […]Name, PhD     [include only if different from who is listed above]

Course Development Team 2010
Course Writer: Name, PhD
Instructional Designer: Name, MA
Course Editor: Name, BA

Thanks to Cindy Ozouf for her excellent work creating a list of course developers in August 2017 and updating it in September 2017.

I’ve updated it on May 9, 2018 based on Dani’s work on May 1, 2018.

Please confirm with Dani’s master list on one.tru.ca OL Course Editors page, as I won’t update this blog post over time.

Editors
Supervisor, Editing & Copyright: Danielle Collins, BEd
Editor: Justin Frudd, MA
Editor: Mona Hall, Cert. Editing
Editor: Carolyn Hawes, BEd
Editor: Cory Stumpf, BJ
Editor: Christopher Ward, BA
Course Editor: Wayne Egers, PhD
Course Editor: Dawn-Louise McLeod, MEd
Course Editor: Brian Scrivener, MA
Instructional Design Team
Chair, Senior Instructional Designer: Melissa Jakubec, MA
Senior Instructional Design: Michelle Harrison, PhD
Senior Instructional Designer: Gail Morong, MEd
Instructional Designer: Linda Apps, PhD
Instructional Designer: Stephen Doubt, MEd
Instructional Designer: Ted Keating, MEd
Instructional Designer: Ken Monroe, MA
Instructional Designer: Fränzi Ng, EdD
Instructional Designer: Carol Sparkes, MITE
Adventure, Culinary Arts and Tourism Management
Dean, Adventure, Culinary Arts, & Tourism: Doug Ellis, MA
Arts 
Associate Dean, Arts: Brenda Thompson, MA
Program Coordinator, Arts: Michael Looney, MSc
Business and Economics 
Associate Dean, Business & Economics: Raymond Cox, PhD
Education and Social Work 
Associate Dean, Education & Social Work: Jane Hewes, PhD
Program Coordinator, Adult Basic Education: Michael Looney, MSc
Law 
Assistant Dean, Law: Alexis Kazanowski, LLB
Nursing 
Associate Dean, Nursing: Tracy Hoot, EdD, RN
Science 
Associate Dean, Science: Dennis Acreman, PhD
Program Coordinator, Science: [no incumbent]
Trades and Technology
Dean, Trades & Technology: Baldev Pooni, MSc

Changes to House Style: Anchor Text & Attributions

This post captures changes to our editorial house style following a meeting on Feb. 9, 2018.

 

Attributions and Credit Lines

Attributions in a course might appear in a resources list (at the beginning of the module), in the learning activity that assigns the reading or media (within the module), in a title page (created by Production and attached to the material), and/or in a references list (at the end of the module).

We can use a live link to the material if it appears in a learning activity or a resources section, but we do not use a live link for attributions in a references list or on a title page.

Attributions can include an academic citation and a copyright credit and license. Copyrighted materials often require specific wording from the rights holder. We always put this credit with the material where it appears in the course.

If the copyrighted material is a PDF or Word file, Production might create a title page that appears as the first page of the document to make sure the rights holder’s credit is directly associated with the material.

If the copyrighted material is a video, image, or figure, the rights holder’s credit will generally go directly under the caption for the image or figure.

Creative Commons licenses are sometimes used by rights holders who want to share their work, and we put the CC license with the image or material in the course as a live link to the actual CC license page.

The course writer provides the media. The editor provides the caption (e.g., Figure 1.1) and academic citation. The IP officer provides the rights holder’s credit and license if needed.

Example of Attribution

 

This example uses in-text citation. Keep in mind if you use in-text citations, the full academic citations must appear somewhere in the course.

Resources

In this module you will use the following:

or

References

Person, A. (2018). Title of image [Image]. Retrieved from URL_is_not_live_link.

 

Some readings or media do not require specific permission from the rights holders. For example, what if we claim Fair Dealing for our use of the material? We always provide attribution to the creator and publisher of the material. This means the writer or (more often) the editor must create academic citations in course’s style (usually APA or MLA styles).

Citations can appear with the material in the course module; they can come in a resources list at the start of a module; and they can come in a references list at the end of the section or module.

The editor must report the citations to the IP officer working on the course so the Production team member will see the correct credit listed in the IP report and not replace this information in the course.

In-Text Citations or Full Citations?

Some courses are especially media rich, which can make full citations cumbersome or seem to break-up the flow of the text somewhat.

If this is the case, consider using in-text citations or anchor text such as the title of the reading or image to link to the material. In-text citations generally use parentheses around the author or creator’s name(s) and the date it was published. Check APA or MLA style guides if you are unsure.

The in-text citation should appear with the quote or image caption (i.e., the figure number and title). We must have a complete citation somewhere in the resources and/or references sections to properly credit the creators of the material and to make sure students or Open Learning Faculty Members can search for the material if the live link no longer works due to technical problems or changes to the rights-holder’s website.

Anchor Text

In a learning activity or a module’s instructional content, we can use anchor text to point to a resource as a live link. The title of the article or media piece functions as the link for students. This creates a cleaner looking interface for students, and it may aid learners who use screen reading software since the software doesn’t have to “read” all the characters in a lengthy URL.

It is very important, however, to provide a complete academic citation somewhere in the module. The academic citation might appear in the resources section, in the learning activity, on the title page, and/or in a references section, or it might appear everywhere we reference the reading or material in the course. It really depends on the preferences of the course writer and editor, and choosing the best option for students.

Anchor text to a linked resource should be descriptive. If the link is no longer working, a student or OLFM should be able to use the anchor terms to search for the resource. Typically we should include the title, perhaps the location on the web page, publisher of the website, author, and date. Or use as many of these as possible or needed to search for the material. It is better to provide a lot of information as anchor text if the source seems likely to change or the URL will not be maintained by the website publisher. If the sentence seems too clunky (overly verbose) as a result, it may be better to simply provide a complete academic citation to organize the information more efficiently for learners. Editors, use your discretion!

Readings at TRU Library

If a reading is available at TRU Library, we often refer students to TRU Library’s home page with a live link, and include instructions to search and access the article there.

The full academic citation should appear either in the learning activity that assigns the reading and/or in Resources at the start of the module.

Examples of Anchor Text for Readings at TRU Library 

The first example has the full citation in a resources section at the top of the module. We use a live link to the reading if it has a DOI (see “DOIs: APA Style Update” for more), and use anchor text linking to TRU Library in the learning activity.

Resources

In this module you will read the following:

[… later in the module …]

Learning Activity 3

Read the article “Who Does What?” by A. Person in the Journal of Unnecessary Examples (2018) via TRU Library.

 

In the example below, the course doesn’t use a resources section or the editor thinks it is clearer for students to put the complete citation in the learning activity.

DOIs are live links, and include a live link to TRU Library in the instructions.

Learning Activity 4

Read the following articles via TRU Library:

  • Person, A. (2018). Who does what? Journal of Unnecessary Examples, 1(1). doi_is_live_link.com
  • Person, A., & Person, B. (2018). Who does what? Journal of Unnecessary Examples, 1(1) 7–14. 

Who Does What?

Production team members use the information in the IP report to verify what is in an edited course and make sure the course and our IP permissions agree.

The Production team member will replace or supplement text in an edited course with information from the IP report, so it is critical that the IP report lists all third party media and readings and provides the specific copyright credits and licenses and academic citations required.

Editors should review the current IP report and collaborate with IP officers to make sure their final report is accurate and the attributions (citations) are suitable for the course style before Production starts their work.

Course should have academic citations for the materials we use, and these citations might be created by the course writer, the IP officer, the ID, or (most often) the course editor.

Some third-party materials require a specific copyright credit or license. IP officers determine if we need this. If required, the IP officer will work with the rights holder to create this information.

Where Can I Go for Help?

Email copyright@tru.ca or talk to D. Collins if you have questions.

How to Format Lists

Our style guide formats bulleted or numbered lists with an introductory colon, a capital letter at the beginning of each listed item, and no punctuation at the end (unless the items in the list are complete sentences or they complete the sentence).

If the list includes nouns, it might look like:

  • Natural history
  • Natural selection
  • Homeostasis

If the list includes complete sentences, format it as:

  • Start the sentence with a capital letter.
  • End the sentence with punctuation.
  • Put punctuation inside of “quotation marks.
  • Choose the appropriate punctuation, right?

Best practice is to use parallel construction, which means  items in the list should feature similar grammatical structures or parts of speech. In the lists above, each item starts with either a noun or a verb. The same verb form is applied throughout the list (gerund, infinitive, or what have you).

If a list appears within a complete sentence, format the sentence and list just as you would in any sentence:

  1. follow each item with a comma,
  2. use lowercase in the list,
  3. write a conjunction after the comma in the second-to-last item, and
  4. end the sentence with punctuation.

If a list has a clause or phrase that requires internal commas for clarity (to separate adjectives, for example) or if each clause is especially lengthy, the list can be punctuated with semi-colons:

  1. follow each clause or phrase with a semi-colon;
  2. use lowercase for each item in the list;
  3. write and, but, or, so, however, or moreover (any conjunction will do) after the semi-colon in the second-to-last item;  and
  4. end the sentence with punctuation.

This last example is almost an exception to the style rule. An especially long, complex sentence is hard to understand when formatted as a vertical list, so consider making each item a complete sentence instead of linking them together as a paragraph-long run-on sentence. It’s just easier to read.

 

PhD(c)

Kudos to Mona Hall for researching and validating our house style! Ongoing PhD studies are not listed on the Copyright and Credits page of the course guide; therefore, do not include credentials such as:

  • Title (year): Name, PhD(c)
  • Title (year): Name, PhD(candidate)
  • Title (year): Name, PhD(ABD)
  • Title (year): Name, PhD(all but dissertation)

See also APA’s  The Misuse of PhD(c) and How to List Your Credentials and Title When You Publish.

Feel free to list “PhD candidate” in the long-form written bio for course developers.

Assessment Editing: Which Is/Are True?

The relative pronoun “which” can be singular or plural. Conjugate the verb to match the antecedent (noun or nouns, or noun phrase or phrases) that the pronoun replaces.

In a multiple-choice question stem, the antecedent often appears as the answer (or answers) to the question. This means we conjugate the verb depending on the number of answers we desire from students.

  1. Which of the following is true? (We expect students to select one answer.)
  2. Which of the following are true? (We expect more than one answer from students.)