Footnotes and style: some thoughts and books for (theological) writers and editors

I should say I am making this up and doing my best as I go along. I came late to footnotes and formatting and so on. During my undergraduate degree, I mostly just read out essays. One of my tutors had previously taught at the Open University and liked to go the extra mile and take in the essay and mark it. But even then, there was no expectation of references or page numbers or anything like that. And in the exam, "Professor Williams has said: "...."" seemed to work fine. It always would have been useful if studying Welsh history, I thought, to attribute quotations to Drs Jones or Davies if one was a little unsure of who said what! In those days your hand written script wouldn't be checked by a computer. And for me everything rode on the end of term exams. There was an option to do a dissertation, but they were harder to do well in without quite a lot of ongoing work!

So when I was training to be a Vicar, this sort of thing was a drag. Theological college and my PhD supervisor tried to drive this into me. I never got that PhD, and part of the problem there was getting the right words in the right order with the right references and so on. 

I apparently have the Gift of Dyslexia, so that may not have helped.

One might often think, who cares whether full stops are inside quotations or not? 

But there is a nerdy fascination with this sort of stuff. 

It is nice to be right. 

Accuracy is fairness to those you quote and serves those for whom you write.

And sometimes, commas can save lives. Let's eat, Grandma. Some of these things matter for clarity and communication. 

And messing this stuff up distracts. Is it Bible or bible, Scripture or scripture? Neither is really right nor wrong. But consistency is the right approach. It is probably wise actually to outsource such decisions to a style guide. The Microsoft Word spelling and grammar guides will only get you so far.  

In an ideal world, you might say, maybe the editor and copy editor will sort out my work, but much better to get it right first time. And harder for anyone to take your work seriously if it is just a mess.

Theological students might like to follow: The Society of Biblical Literature Handbook of Style, 2nd edition (2014). There are various free online introductions to SBLHS, such as https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/SBLHSsupp2015-02.pdf http://spu.libguides.com/cite_sbl

More general queries may be answered by The Chicago Handbook of Style. 

I have a weakness for book buying. Some are gathering dust on my desk but some I use regularly. I think you still want an Oxford Dictionary. As big as you can afford. Much better than most free online things. 

And a Thesaurus or another dictionary giving alternative words. That's my little joke. 

There are so many books on how to write. Some will inspire. Some will answer your actual questions. 

Fowler's Modern English Usage is a classic.

You may prefer a Style Guide like that of the Economist or The Times. (One issue to consider is English English or American English and so on). 

You can also get The New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors

New Hart's Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors (OUP)

You may want a grammar guide like Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation. 

A theological education in itself is Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology

What have you found most useful on writing well?

I'm currently really enjoying: 

Joe Moran, First You Write a Sentence.: The Elements of Reading, Writing … and Life. - https://www.amazon.co.uk/First-You-Write-Sentence-Elements/dp/0241978491

If you are going to write about how to write, you ought to be able to write. And Professor Moran can. This is not a list of rules but a lyrical and sometimes beautiful reflection. 

If you want to write, you might also benefit from controversial and prolific author Douglas Wilson's Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life (2011). He will tell you about keeping notebooks of ideas, words, metaphors and so on. 

Also on my wish list is Steven Pinker, 

The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century (Penguin, 2014).

All this talk of books might seem quaint and old fashioned to some. There are technologies on offer such as End Note or  Scrivener. It is hard to believe that previous generations sometimes did their PhDs on index cards!