A Handbook for Scholars

By its very nature, scholarly writing lacks the freedom and rhetorical panache of other types of prose. Custom, propriety, and a quest for certainty hem the scholar in on all sides. But while it is necessarily formal, allusive, and accurate, scholarly writing does not have to be--nor should it be--wooden, pedantic, and cryptic. A Handbook for Scholars helps scholars achieve the first set of characteristics without falling victim to the second.
Now available in a new revised edition, A Handbook for Scholars features the same comprehensive coverage of technical problems associated with scholarly writing that have made it so popular in the past, while offering for the first time complete compatibility with computer programs and word processors. More "user friendly" than ever, this handbook places everything from the fundamentals of footnote preparation to the editing of galleys right at the scholar's fingertips. Mary-Claire van Leunen--who has twenty-five years of experience editing scholarly books and articles--offers a contemporary rather than traditional approach to writing, stressing clarity over the convoluted "mumbo-jumbo" that so often muddles the meaning in scholarly works. Providing a wealth of examples along the way, she concentrates on new, simplfied forms of citation, quotation, and reference acknowledgement that help writers concentrate on what they are saying rather than how they are saying it.
Besides addressing the technical aspects of scholarly writing, A Handbook for Scholars also provides lively direction on a variety of usage and style questions, covering such topics as word choice, writing introductions and abstracts, capitalization, paragraphing, and the scholar's old nemesis, pedantry. It also offers advice on dealing with typists, editors, and printers, a handy "how to" section on creating academic CVs, and new chapters on computerized manuscript preparation.
Comprehensive, up-to-date, and absolutely indispensable, A Handbook for Scholars belongs on the desks of scholars and students of every discipline.