Documentation Help Needed

[Carol Anne Wall]

In my circle of technical writing friends (the Lone Writers SIG), we rely on 
Chicago for most style related issues, with the occasional dip into the 
Microsoft Manual of Style or Sun's style guide (the name escapes me) for 
software related issues.

Back in my undergrad science major days, we were using Chicago as well.  But 
that was ... more years ago than I care to remember.  ;^)  I do remember my 
style guide frustration in my non-science classes -- everyone wanted me to 
use a different guide.  I got stubborn, and decided to use the style guide 
for my major in all my writing.  If the prof decided to mark me down for 
improperly formatting my footnotes and bibliography (according to their 
style guide), I took the hit.  I knew that I had fully documented my 
citations, and to my mind, that's the most important thing.

I take that approach in the class I teach.  The Intro class that I teach 
draws students from business, the sciences, computer science, and 
technical/professional writing majors.  I instruct my students to use the 
style guide that is applicable to their major.  If they don't know what that 
is, I point them toward Chicago.  When I review the footnotes and 
bibliography, I'm looking first for proper documentation, second for format. 
  I have access to all the style guides, so I can determine which version 
they are using, and then check for format.


Carol Anne

Carol Anne Wall - St. Paul, MN
carol_anne_t_wall at msn.com
Community Faculty - Metropolitan State University
STC-Twin Cities ListServ Manager