INF 397C - Professor Doty, Introduction to Research in Information Studies

Some Editing Conventions for Students' Papers

 

SYMBOL

MEANING

#

number OR insert a space; context will help you decipher its meaning

AWK

awkward; usually compromises clarity as well

BLOCK

make into a block quotation without external quotation marks; do so with quotations ≥ 4 lines

caps

capitalize

COLLOQ

colloquial and to be avoided

dB

database

FRAG

sentence fragment; often means that the verb and/or subject of the sentence is missing

ITAL

italicize

j

journal

lc

make into lower case

lib'ship

librarianship

org, org’l

organization, organizational

PL

plural

Q

question

Q’naire

questionnaire

REF?

what is the referent of this pronoun?  to what or whom does it refer?

RQ

research question

sp

spelling

SING

singular

w/

with

w.c.?

word choice?

I also use check marks to indicate that the writer has made an especially good point and wavy lines under or next to a term to indicate that the usage is suspect.

Dr. Philip Doty, 512.471.3746 (office), pdoty at ischool.utexas.edu
TA: Paul Stenis, p.stenis at gmail.com
| ©2007 Philip Doty