Writing and Editing a Reference Publication

For guidelines on how to write specifically for an encyclopedia or similar project, please see "The Encyclopedia or A-Z Project."

Bias Impairs Reference Writing

Bias in a reference work will surely handicap it. While it may not be possible to be completely objective, please present conflicting sides as fairly as possible. When discussing a particular debate or controversy present the important positions neutrally.

A good way to write about controversial topics, especially those that you might have strong beliefs about, is to provide a reportorial summary of all major positions, focusing neutrally on the claims, arguments, and evidence offered by proponents of each one. Readers should come away from your discussion with a clear understanding of the nature of the whole debate and not be persuaded to adopt one view or another.

Right: Supporters believed that Jane Doe did not receive a fair trial, pointing to the inexperience of her first lawyer and a police investigation that was later shown by journalist Mary Smith to have overlooked some key evidence, including.... Opponents saw her as a calculating murderer who wished to escape her marriage.

Wrong: Jane Doe was clearly the victim of a corrupt and prejudiced legal system, with a clueless lawyer defending her and sexist police officers who did a sloppy investigation.

Original Work

Greenwood expects the text you write or commission to be original material. Contributors' releases specify that their contributions are original. Never present another author's work as your own, even if it is from a public domain source.

You must cite all directly copied and paraphrased work, quotations, and "any facts or opinions not generally known or easily checked" (The Chicago Manual of Style, Fifteenth Ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003, p. 594).

Keep in mind, however, that your book will be marketed primarily to public libraries and read by non-specialist readers, and that excessive annotation can limit the appeal of your book among general readers. Please see The Chicago Manuel of Style, 15th Edition, "Remedies for Excessive Annotation" pp. 602-603 (Sections 16.36-16.40), if you are in doubt about how to achieve this balance in your writing.

Quotations

Quotations, especially long ones, should be kept to a minimum. They should be used only where they clearly or strikingly illustrate the points being made in the surrounding discussion.

A long quotation, called a block quotation, of more than 75 words, should be indented. Please use the margin setting feature on your software, rather than tabbing over. (Never use the space bar to indent.) Block quotations do not require quotation marks and should be kept in roman type, not italics. All direct quotations should be referenced, including a page number, with either a numbered endnote or an author-date reference, as shown below. Be sure the context and speaker are clearly provided for all in-text citations.

Aaron said simply, "Thank God it's all over with."1

Aaron said simply, "Thank God it's all over with" (Carson, p. 291).

Lengthy passages will require permission for reprinting. See the permissions section of these guidelines for more information.

Sources on the Internet

With the Internet it is easy to copy from Web sources, but even if the material is in the public domain, you cannot cut and paste text from it without identifying the source. In some cases, you may need permission to use the material. Many Internet sites are under copyright.

Why Can't I Use Wikipedia and General Encyclopedias?

Wikipedia, the online collaborative free encyclopedia, may be a useful source for general information, but it is not a valid source for citing in a reference work. One well-known issue is that Wikipedia is a work in progress and sometimes has incorrect or incomplete information.

The other problem with Wikipedia is that it is a general encyclopedia, which many teachers and professors do not accept as sources in student assignments. Since students will be using your work, do not cite any general encyclopedia, including Encarta, Encyclopedia Britannica, World Book, etc. Use authoritative primary and secondary sources instead.

Writing Tips

Write in a clear, authoritative, and accessible manner. In general, reference works should offer informative, engaging, and readable surveys or overviews of the assigned topic.

Do's and Don'ts

Do Keep Audience in Mind. When writing, keep your audience in mind at all times. You are writing for intelligent and interested students (high school and college) and other nonspecialist users of school, university, and public libraries.

Reference works require special stylistic and content presentation considerations because they rarely are read cover to cover. They provide authoritative and helpfully presented information, but they are not textbooks.

Don't Write Down but Do Explain the Unfamiliar. You should not talk down to your audience, attempt to "dumb down" your writing, or use an overly light or chatty tone, e.g.,

Now let us turn our sights to the Etruscans, patiently waiting in the wings.

Don't assume that your audience has a specialist's level of knowledge on the subject. Define terms, identify people, and explain importance wherever necessary. Make sure definitions are clear, direct, and positive; do not define a term by explaining what it is not.

In a reference work, avoid the use of unnecessary rhetorical questions. Refrain from making unsupported guesses as to feelings or events, e.g.,

He must have been thrilled to play baseball with his boyhood idol!

Provide a citation or quotation to back up any such assertions. Exclamation points should rarely be used in a reference work.

Don't Write in the First Person. Please use the third person in reference books (he, she, they, their, them, her, his, etc.) Don't use the first person, either singular ("I believe that..."), or plural ("We believe that"). You should generally not use the second person either (illustrated by this sentence), unless you are giving instructions, which is rarely necessary for a reference work.

Don't Write a Scholarly Paper. You do not need to tell readers what you are going to tell them or what you have told them:

Too Scholarly: I will examine four styles of American Cajun music and I will argue that they arise from the intersections of....

Unnecessary: As we have seen, the ethnic composition of the Southwest U.S. is more varied than we realize.

Spelling should be in American English (we recommend the latest edition of Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary).

Profanity

Although it is obvious that profanity and obscenities should not be used in reference writing, it may occasionally be necessary to include it in quotations. In some settings, it may be appropriate to keep a few passages, but it depends on the nature of the work and the audience. In general, ellipses or paraphrasing should be used instead.

References and Bibliography

In reference publications, citations and notes should be used more sparingly than in scholarly papers. They should be confined to material not generally known and to direct quotations. Please do not use informational notes; instead, work their main points into the text. Discuss with your editor whether a numbered endnote system or an author-date system is preferable. Either style may be acceptable so long as one system is used consistently throughout the book. Books in a series set should use the referencing system devised for the series.

Your references should generally be authoritative books and articles in easy-to-locate publications or on the Internet. Your lists should contain, when possible, at least one relevant and authoritative Web site. Avoid the use of foreign language items, unless essential.