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CORE Econ Publishing Documentation The CORE editorial house style

This editorial house style is used for all CORE Econ publications, unless noted otherwise. It is based on the OUP style. You can refer to the New Oxford Style Manual (using a resource such as Oxford Dictionaries, which includes a working edition of the English dictionary and Hart’s Rules) for any editorial conventions not covered by these documents.

Editorial team members should also refer to the more detailed consolidated working stylesheet, maintained by Louis Greenberg. If you’re an editor who would like to collaborate on that sheet, please request edit access so that you can make your changes or additions in suggesting mode and discuss them in comments in order to reach shared agreement (bearing in mind that choices listed there have become the default current publications, so changes should be made with caution).

Abbreviations

  • US (for United States) and UK (for United Kingdom) rather than U.S. and U.K, in all cases except where spelled with points in titles of books and publications.
  • Avoid i.e., and e.g. (unless they appear in a table). Replace with ‘for example’ and ‘in other words’ or the like.
  • Spaces should fall between numbers and measurement units, for example, 10 km, not 10km.
  • Abbreviations used heavily in any one unit can be spelled out on first mention in that unit.
  • Versus: ‘v’ (roman with no point) in legal case names, for example, Sturges v Bridgman. In all other contexts, use ‘vs’ (roman with no point).

Project terminology

  • ‘TE 2.0’ or ‘TE2’ refers to the second edition of The Economy.
  • ‘EBW’ refers to CORE’s production partner, ‘Electric Book Works’.
  • ‘EB’ refers to the editorial board assigned to the CORE Econ project.

Note: These abbreviations are only for internal use; they should be spelled out fully in user-facing text.

Boxes

For a list of box types, see the CORE feature set.

When referred to in the text, box titles take an initial capital and are enclosed in single quotes, for example, See the ‘Great economists’ box about Adam Smith in Unit 1.

Data and computing

Data

Outside of code blocks:

  • Datasets are placed in single quotation marks. For example, the name of an Excel or Google Sheets file or tab, or the name of a dataset used in a programming language such as R.
  • Data variables (that is, the names of columns and rows) and cell ranges (for example A1:A33) are placed between single backticks (`). The backticks in markdown will make the data appear as monospaced code in the book.
  • Data values (that is, the values of individual cells) are placed between single quotation marks.

Referencing computing options

Use sentence case when referencing computer options and buttons, and so forth. For example: selecting the corresponding session from the ‘Previous results’ menu, and choosing the ‘Download as Excel file’ option from the ‘Data’ menu.

The walk-through styles provide additional examples for referencing computing options.

Excel and Google Sheets

  • When referring to a spreadsheet column by its letter or a row by its number, these take an initial cap. For example: Column A, Row 1.
  • In-text references to functions and formulas are placed between single backticks (`), not quotation marks.
  • Excel and Google Sheets functions are in all caps, not lowercase. For example: AVERAGE, not average.

Programming or markup language

All programming or markup language, and part thereof, is placed in backticks (`) so that the text displays as code (that is, in a different font to the body text). This includes any references to the language’s commands, functions, libraries, packages, and so forth.

Where the features of the program or markup language require character-literal syntax and precise line breaks, display, indentation, spacing, or special sorts, these must be reproduced exactly.

  • Inline code is placed between single backticks. For example: `this is code`
  • Multiple lines of code are placed in a code block with no line breaks before and after the backticks. For example:

```r
allHHc <- subset(allHHc, !(allHHc$loan_rejected=="Yes" & allHHc$did_not_apply=="Did not apply"))

# Show the number of observations
nrow(allHHc)
```

This renders as:

allHHc <- subset(allHHc, !(allHHc$loan_rejected=="Yes" & allHHc$did_not_apply=="Did not apply"))

# Show the number of observations
nrow(allHHc)

Code comments

  • Code comments sit inside a block of code. Their purpose is to provide high-level guidance to the user by explaining what the code does.
  • In R, each code comment starts with a single hash: #
  • The code comment appears before the command it applies to.
  • Each comment starts with a capital letter. Only use full stops for complete sentences (that include a subject and predicate).
  • Phrases using the imperative are preferable to complete sentences. For example: # Add a label to the horizontal line rather than # This adds a label to the horizontal line.
  • Entire blocks where each line starts with a double hash (##) are automatic outputs from R, and should not be edited.

Code layout

  • We use a space before and after each operator, except for: ==. For example:
    cex = 1.2.
  • We also use a space after a comma as in usual English.
  • When long lines of R code display in the PDF output, they sometimes wrap over a single line onto the next line. This can make the code difficult to read, so we’ve put line breaks in long lines of code to avoid long lines wrapping over in PDF.
  • However, line breaks can’t be added just anywhere: you can’t put a line break inside of a string (a string is a phrase that appears inside quotes, "like this"). But you can let a long string, like a long sentence, simply flow over onto the next line.
  • You can add a line break in the following places:
    • inside of parenthesis: ("")
    • inside of round, square or curly brackets (after the opening bracket (, [, or {, and before the closing bracket ), ], or })
    • after operators such as =, ==, +, %>%, or <=
    • and after commas which are not inside of strings (that is, not inside of "").
  • When you do add a line break to break a line of code over two lines, the second line needs to be indented by two spaces. If that second line is itself broken into two lines, the third line is indented by four spaces, the fourth line (if a subset of the second line as the third is) is also indented by four spaces. In the following example, the second line is indented by two spaces, and the third line by four spaces:
legend("topleft", lty = 2:1, lwd = 2, cex = 1.2, legend =
  c("China, 1980", "China, 2014",
	"US, 1980", "US, 2014"),
  col = c("blue", "green", "red", "orange"))

Dates, time, time periods, and historical periods and events

  • Date ranges, such as 1997–2010, always use a closed-up (unspaced) en dash: –, not a hyphen (-) nor an em dash (—).
  • Times are treated as in this example: 9 a.m. That is, with a space after the number and full stops in ‘a.m.’ and ‘p.m.’.
  • Centuries are written out in full, for example, ‘eighteenth’ not ‘18th’ century.
  • Initial capitals are used for historical periods and geological time scales, and the formal names of wars, treaties, councils, assemblies, exhibitions, conferences, and competitions. For example: First World War, Second World War, American Civil War, Vietnam War, Cold War, Great Fire of London, Great Depression, Industrial Revolution, Russian Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution, French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars.
  • Lower case is used for modern periods, and events when part of a looser, more descriptive designation. For example: the east Asian crisis, great recession, great moderation, global financial crisis, golden age of capitalism, capitalist revolution. (The distinction between ‘modern’ and ‘historical’ is subjective, but the copyeditor can check when a period has become formalized and make a call.)

Direction and location

  • Cardinal directions such as ‘south-east’ and ‘north-west’ are hyphenated.
  • We opt to spell ‘coordinate’ as one word.
  • Unless a location is part of a proper noun, such as ‘North America’ or ‘Middle East’, the location is lower case. For example: northern hemisphere, southern Africa. If in doubt, check the current listing in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Exercises

In exercises, do the following:

  • Use a numbered list for a series of questions, and bullet points for any other lists.
  • If there is only one question in the exercise, do not number it.
  • Capitalize the list using the general guidelines on lists, starting with a capital letter if each question is a full sentence, or with a lower-case letter if each sentence is a fragment that follows on from the introduction.

Figures and slidelines

Artwork creators, see also: Artwork styles.

  • Figures are numbered consecutively per unit, for example, in Unit 1: Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2, Figure 1.3, and so on.
  • Figures in extensions are numbered in separate consecutive runs per unit, for example: Figure E2.1, Figure E2.2, and so on.
  • All graphs, charts, tables, maps, and any other visual information that students are expected to engage with, get a figure number and caption.
  • Figure captions end with a full stop, even if they are not complete sentences.
  • A repeated figure can either retain its original number reference (when linking back to the original) or take a new figure number (when mentioning that it is a repetition).

Slidelines

For a description of this feature, see the CORE feature set.

  • Each image in the slideline gets a title and caption. The summary image does not get a title.
  • The captions of subfigures in a slideline do not end with a full stop, unless they contain a full sentence.
  • Don’t refer to ‘slidelines’ in the text. Rather use ‘Figure x.x’.
  • When discussing a slideline, we use the phrase ‘the analysis in Figure x.x …’ or ‘the steps in Figure x.x …’.
  • When discussing a single slide, we use the term ‘slide’ (for example ‘The final slide shows that …’).

Axes

  • Refer to the horizontal and vertical axis, and never the x-axis and y-axis (not all of our students are maths students).
  • Axis label syntax is: Describe, [variable name] (unit [qualification of unit]). For example, ‘Price, P ($)’, ‘Government debt (% of GDP)’
  • Use currency symbols, but spell out multipliers (thousands not 000s). For example, £ millions.
  • Do not use units beside the numbers in axis-grid labels/markers. The unit is mentioned in the axis label. For example, ‘$’ should be part of the main axis label, for example, GDP ($), not next to the numbers on the axis.
  • When axes denote the year of an event or time-series, the label should be ‘Year’ not ‘Years’.
  • When denoting purchasing power parity within an axis label, the year the currency value refers to is spaced with the currency, for example: ‘Annual income (2005 $ PPP)’.
  • Units of measure and their abbreviations in axis labels take lower case, ‘kg’ rather than ‘Kg’.

Game theory

  • The titles of games are generally lower case. For example: ‘a hawk–dove game’, ‘the prisoner’s dilemma game’.
  • The players (Proposer, Responder, Dove, Hawk, and so forth) take an initial capital.
  • Strategies also take an initial capital, for example ‘They choose Cooperate’ or ‘Ameera will choose Accuse’. (See Unit 4 of The Economy 2.0: Microeconomics for more examples.) However similar terms can also be used descriptively, in which case they are lower case, for example ‘They choose to cooperate’ or ‘Ameera will accuse’.
  • Strategies with more than one word have each word capitalized. For example, ‘The player chooses Set Very Low Emissions.’

Glossary

  • A glossed term is not a substitute for explaining the term at its first occurrence in the text.
  • The glossary may simply repeat the textual explanation or it may expand upon it, but in any event, the definitions in text and glossary must conform.
  • Bold is used to indicate headwords in the text that correspond to a glossary entry.
  • Terms are glossed the first time they appear in the body text (this excludes headings, captions, and MCQ feedback) of the unit (after the introduction section).
  • Terms are glossed again in the conclusion section of The Economy 1.0 and Economy, Society, and Public Policy but not in later publications.
  • Avoid using headwords in leading sentences and in list items of one word.
  • Avoid glossing terms in the introduction section of each unit. If the term only appears in the introduction, it should be introduced later in the text and glossed there.
  • Terms can be glossed a second time, if the authors believe it’s necessary to provide the definition in context (for example, when the term needs to be understood to answer an MCQ or exercise.)
  • Avoid repeating the glossary term in its definition (but do use the term if it helps with clarity).
  • The glossary term, where possible, should be defined in its singular form. For example, ‘unemployment benefit’ instead of ‘unemployment benefits’.
  • Terms with quite general applications, like ‘market’ or ‘utility’, are generally first introduced in a particular setting, but the glossary definition should not be related to that setting but instead be sufficiently abstract and general to capture all of the common (correct) uses of the term.

Italics

Use italics for:

  • words from languages other than English that haven’t been naturalized into English (the New Oxford Style Manual lists many words and phrases in use in English that should take italics)
  • the headline phrase and colon in a list of defined or explained phrases
  • letters standing for variables or quantities in maths; see the mathematics section for more detail
  • titles of freestanding publications in references and regular text.

Do not use italics for:

  • abbreviations and initialisms in maths; for example: IC (for indifference curve), WS (for wage-setting)
  • points on graphs and line segments; for example: ‘triangle ABC’, not ‘ABC’; point F
  • reverse italics: words that should be italicized in a line or title that is already styled in italics; for example: What would you do in this situation?

When adding internal (from within the book) and external (from a source outside of the book) links, there’s a certain amount of judgement required, rather than any one hard and fast rule. Keep in mind that over linking can be distracting and focus on what will be useful for the reader. When readers see a link they want to click it. If we don’t want or need readers to be diverted away from the page, then we shouldn’t hyperlink. In some cases, a unit is mentioned in passing and it is not required that the reader goes to that unit straight away. If the reader did, for some reason, want to go to a unit or section in another unit, the navigation menu easily lets them go there within a few clicks.

References to links should be phrased so as to avoid them sounding ungainly when appearing in print. Constructions like ‘This’ and ‘Here’ and ‘This link’ are to be avoided. As far as possible, the text that is clickable should be the name of the ‘thing’ being linked. For example (where square brackets denote linked text): Read [‘What is a purchasing power parity?’] for an explanation of ….

All URLs must be included as tinyco.re links.

For guidelines on how to include or indicate links within content, see the links section of the CORE feature set.

Print-visible URLs are necessary when the reader is directed to or offered the option of reading outside material, and where bibliographic detail alone won’t suffice to quickly access material through Googling. Where sources are offered principally as references, print-visible URLs can be omitted (they will always be accessible online).

Note to editors working into markdown: This means placing the full stop after the show-url tag. If the URL falls within the middle of a paragraph it can look odd starting a new sentence directly after a closing bracket, and we can’t add an extra full stop as that would render on the web.

The styling of links in CORE ebooks differs slightly from standard reference styles to accommodate their multi-format nature. This is most noticeable in the placement of points/full stops in relation to links. Full stops must fall after the visible URL in print. This often means moving the full stop at the end of an article title outside of the closing quotation mark so that it reads better in print when the URL is showing. For example:

[‘This is the title of an article’](https://tinyco.re/8617393). And this is normal text.

As opposed to:

[‘This is the title of an article.’](https://tinyco.re/8617393) And this is normal text.

  • References to figures are usually linked.
  • References to other units, to other sections within the same unit, and to exercises, MCQs, and so forth, are usually linked. The link should be to as specific a location as possible, for example, the section, subsection, or exercise rather than the full unit.
  • Regarding references to journals, books, and the like, only add a link to things that can be freely read online. (See the Referencing online sources section.)

The exceptions are as follows:

  • If the figure or the section is close by (within a few paragraphs), don’t link to it again. (For example, at the beginning of Section 3.3 if it says ‘as we discussed in Section 3.2 …’ don’t add a link, or when we discuss a figure shortly before or after showing the figure itself, don’t add a link).
  • If another link to the same thing is close by, don’t link to it again (for example, if the author has referred back to Figure 3.5 and links the first mention, don’t link any other mentions in that or the next few paragraphs).
  • For any print-only books, it wouldn’t be possible to link to the book itself, only to the publisher or bookshop website for someone to purchase the book. In these cases we wouldn’t include a link as the content is not freely available to read online.
  • For any ebooks or articles that aren’t open access, we don’t include a link because it would require the reader to pay to read the article.

Lists

  • Avoid starting a list directly after a heading. Lists should aways be introduced with a leading sentence.
  • If list items are full sentences, capitalize the start and use a full stop at the end of each point.
  • If list items are fragments, as in many definitions, or partial sentences following on from the introduction to the list, start each item with lower case (unless it opens with a name or other proper noun). Do not use closing punctuation apart from a full stop at the end of the final item.
  • Where list items open with a headline phrase and colon, that phrase should usually be italicized.

Mathematics

This section summarizes the most important rules to be applied to CORE publications. As maths styles are complex, writers and editors may also need to refer to thorough and authoritative sources such as The Chicago Manual of Style or the CSE’s Scientific Style and Format, 8th ed.

  • For accessibility reasons, use a Unicode minus sign: −. Don’t use an en dash (–) or a hyphen (-). The exception is that when a hyphen is enclosed in LaTeX/MathJax delimiters ($$-$$) it will render as a minus sign.
  • Individual symbols and letters standing for variables, physical quantities, the f denoting a function, and physical constants are set in italic type. This includes use in regular text, equations and graphs; whether Greek or Latin or other text; and as superscript or subscript modifiers. For example, V for volume and h for Planck’s constant, τ (as a variable).
  • Italics can be applied either by making a letter italic for an inline variable (that is, one within a sentence or paragraph), or enclosing it in LaTeX, which automatically italicizes letters which are not within a text{…} tag. Since LaTex will render in a particular sans-serif font (see more in the Using LaTeX section) in a sidenote, for instance, which is sans-serif, when there is no maths nearby you may just use an italic letter (‘a’ rather than the LaTeX ‘\(a\)’ [$$a$$]), so that the font matches the surrounding text.
  • For multi-letter variable symbols, mathematical constants, trigonometric functions, mathematical operators, numerals, and punctuation, use roman type. For example, π, sin, and Δ (difference), δ (small difference), and d (infinitesimal difference).
  • Points on graphs and line segments are roman capitals. For instance, describe a triangle by its points ‘ABC’, not ‘ABC’ (italic).
  • Initialisms such as MC (for marginal cost) and MRT (for marginal rate of transformation) do not take italics. However C (for cost) and Q (for quantity), do take italics. Sometimes it is difficult to determine when two capital letters next to each other are two variables multiplied by each other (such as CQ for Cost × Quantity, which would both take italics) and when they are one initialism (such as MC for marginal cost, which should not take italics). When in doubt, raise a query to determine what type of concept is being illustrated.

Using LaTeX

MathJax, which is used to render the LaTeX in CORE’s publications, forces a particular sans-serif font, so LaTeX should primarily be used for standalone mathematics (that is, content separated from surrounding text by a new line), to avoid unnecessary visual distinction.

Authors should use LaTeX whenever:

  • there is an equation on a separate line (‘standalone’ maths), or
  • an in-text equation requires math symbols other than ‘=’, ‘+’, or ‘−’ (for example, ‘y = x’ doesn’t need to be in LaTeX but ‘y = ac/bd’ should be, to avoid any ambiguities).

When formatting LaTeX math, do the following:

  • Surround the maths with double dollar signs: $$…$$
  • Use $$\begin{align*} … \end{align*}$$ formatting in multi-line equations so that the equals signs (or other relevant text) are aligned.
  • Place all words in equations within a text{…} tag, so that they display as roman text, as LaTex italicizes everything not placed within that tag. For example, if ‘marginal cost’ is in the numerator of a fraction, then it should not be in italics and needs to be within a text tag.
  • Use the MathJax live demo tool to check how the LaTex will render, and to make formatting adjustments.

Note: If the formatting is particularly complex, it is useful to include a screenshot of the equation within the manuscript for EBW to check against the rendered maths.

Multiple-choice questions

While we refer to them as ‘Multiple-choice questions’ or ‘MCQs’ here, you should refer to multiple-choice questions as ‘questions’ in the text.

Note to editors working in markdown: Addition of the internal link on the web and a page number in print is achieved with an internal link and a show-page-number tag. For example: [Figure 2.4](#figure-2-4){:.show-page-number}.

Where a question refers to an image, we include the actual image only if it is not a repeat of an image used in a figure elsewhere (as the ‘summary’ image, which appears in print and as the last slide on the web). If the image is in a figure elsewhere, we refer the reader to that figure by its reference (for example, Figure 2.4). In print, that figure reference is followed by the page number that it appears on. On the web, the figure reference is a link to the figure.

  • In MCQs, answer options should not finish with a full stop or take a capital letter if they are fragments.
  • If they are full sentences, the beginning of the sentence is capitalized and the end of the sentence is punctuated. That is, treat them the same as we do bulleted lists elsewhere.

MCQs should either ask a question (followed by a question mark or a colon) or give an instruction (for example, ‘Read the following statements and choose the correct option(s).)’.

Names and descriptions

  • Having general descriptions before proper nouns (for example, ‘the economist John Maynard Keynes’ rather than ‘John Maynard Keynes, the economist’) is preferred as it avoids the use of two commas, and the possessive form can be added more easily (for example, ‘the economist John Maynard Keynes’ ideas’).
  • Initial letters before a surname, as in W. G. Grace, should be separated by a space.

Numbers, units of measurement, and currency

  • Use commas to separate thousands, for example, R1,000,000.
  • Numbers up to ten are written out, unless there are many other multiple-digit numbers in the surrounding text, in which case, lean in favour of keeping all numbers as digits.
  • Use figures below 10 in specific quantitative contexts, for example, when referring to quantities on a graph or in a game.
  • Ranges: ‘Units 12–14’ (that’s an en-dash, not a hyphen), rather than ‘Units 12 to 14’. However, in less quantitative or more general contexts it may be appropriate to spell it out. For example, ‘She seemed to be about 12 to 14 years old’.
  • Use decimal points between a currency and its subunit, for example, £12,345.67
  • Metres: write these out in full, usually, to avoid confusion with million.
  • Leave a space between sum and unit abbreviation, for example, $4 billion.
  • (Fiat) currencies generally are lower case: euro, dollar, and so forth.
  • Avoid the use of ‘euro’ instead of a currency symbol. That is, we talk about ‘euros and dollars’, but write ‘Anil paid €5’, not ‘Anil paid 5 euro’.
  • Billion: spell out with numerals, for example, ‘$1 billion’, not ‘$1bn’ or ‘$1bn’.
  • Million: spell out with numerals, for example, ‘$1 million’, not ‘$1m’ or ‘$1 m’.

Quotes

  • Enclose quoted matter between single quotation marks (‘’), and use double quotation marks (“”) for a quotation within a quotation.

Blockquotes

When one or more entire paragraph/s comprise a single quote, make that a blockquote. Oxford style recommends only doing this for quotes that are about 60 words or longer, but use your discretion.

To indicate a blockquote within MS Word or Google Docs, simply indent the relevant text.

  • Blockquotes are in roman text and do not retain opening and closing quotation marks.

  • If the source of the quote is not made clear elsewhere (by context), it may carry two kinds of sources itself:

    • a footnote, usually to a full bibliographic reference (see References), or

    • an inline source after the final punctuation of the blockquote, run-in, in parentheses. This is often better for an epigraphic source, such as:

      All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure. (Mark Twain)

The footnote style is not standard OUP practice, but rather our choice to hide administrative details from readers, especially on small screens.

(Note that blockquotes are not equivalent to pullquotes. Pullquotes are a sentence or two copied from the main text and displayed large as a design feature to capture attention. These are not currently a feature of CORE publications.)

References and citations

When do we include a reference in the bibliography/reference list?

When we add a reference to the end-of-book bibliography, it is also included in the references list at the end of the chapter or unit it appears in. However, it is not listed at the end of the section it appears in (references that are listed at the end of a section are those included in that section as footnotes). See the CORE feature set for further details on the differences between bibliographic references and footnote references.

A bibliographic reference should be included:

  • when the author(s) and work are mentioned within the text
  • for all footnote references.

There is no need to include a bibliographic reference when:

  • a data source is discussed in text, or a work is cited only as a data source
  • an author is discussed, but the specific work is not referenced
  • the work was a source, and is not cited explicitly in the text.

Bibliographic references

We base our referencing style on Oxford University Press’s numbered notes style.

Note that place names within references (that is, the city of publication) are omitted.

Works in the reference list at the end of a chapter or unit as well as within the bibliography at the end of a book are formatted as follows.

Authored book

Required elements

Lastname, Firstname/initials. Year of Publication. Title of Work.

With optional elements

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname/initials Lastname. Year of Publication. Title of Work, 2nd ed. Publisher.

Chapter in an edited book

Required elements

Lastname, Firstname/initials, Year of Publication. ‘Title of Chapter in an Edited Book’. In Title of Edited Volume, edited by Firstname Lastname.

With optional elements

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname/initials Lastname. Year of Publication. ‘Title of Chapter in an Edited Book’. In Title of Edited Volume, edited by Firstname Lastname, page number(s) [or alternative locator info]. 2nd ed. Publisher.

Journal article

Required elements

Lastname, Firstname/initials,Year of Publication. ‘Title of Article’. Name of Journal vol. number: start page.

With optional elements

Lastname, Firstname/initials, and Firstname/initials Lastname. Year of Publication. ‘Title of Article’. Name of Journal vol. number (issue number) (Month or Season): start page–end page. doi: DOI [or stable URL].

Citation (footnote) format

In-text citations are included as numbered footnotes. We list the full details of the source in the same way as the reference, with the following exceptions:

  • The author’s first name is listed first.
  • Page numbers are added when the resource is printed, otherwise cite a specific locator, for example, chapter title and subheading. Do not use proprietary location numbers such as Kindle location numbers.
    • All page references are preceded by p. (for single pages) or pp. (for a range of pages); p. and pp. are followed by a single space, for example, pp. 26–30.
    • In page ranges, use all page numbers (as we do for dates). For example, pp. 137–158, not pp. 137–58.
  • Place names (that is, the city of publication) are omitted.

For example: Adam Smith. (1776) 2003. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Random House Publishing Group. pp. 126–127.

And not: Smith, Adam. (1776) 2003. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. New York, NY: Random House Publishing Group. pp. 126–27.

Referencing online sources

Many CORE publications are available in print and online, which means we need to accommodate weblinks within references (when they are available) in CORE’s ebooks.

These links are added to titles in the web version, and will appear after the title in print if we include them. There is no point between the title and the hyperlink in brackets. For example:

  • Jennifer Robison. 2011. [‘Happiness Is Love – and $75,000’](https://tinyco.re/6313076). Gallup Business Journal. Updated 17 November 2011.
  • Joseph A. Schumpeter. 1949. [‘Science and Ideology’](https://tinyco.re/4561610). The American Economic Review 39 (March): pp. 345–59. [Note that the Journal volume is not in italics.]

See the Print-visible URLs section for further explanation.

Titles in references

  • Titles of free-standing publications are italicized. For example, Adam, Smith. (1776) 2003. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Random House Publishing Group. This includes title of books, journals (excluding the volume number), magazines, websites, and blogs.
  • Titles of items within a publication are roman, enclosed in single quotation marks. This includes titles of short stories, chapters or essays within books, articles in journals, sections within websites and individual blog articles. For example, Jennifer Robison. 2011. ‘Happiness Is Love – and $75,000’. Gallup Business Journal. Updated 17 November 2011.
  • Titles of speeches and lectures are roman, enclosed in single quotation marks.
  • Titles of working or discussion papers are roman, enclosed in single quotation marks. For example: Murray Leibbrandt, Ingrid Woolard, Arden Finn, and Jonathan Argent. 2010. [‘Trends in South African Income Distribution and Poverty since the Fall of Apartheid’](https://tinyco.re/8617393). OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 101, OECD Publishing. [Note that the name of the working paper is not in italics. The same applies to Discussion Papers.]
  • Capitalize titles in references as they appear at the source.

Author names

Authors are listed Lastname, Firstname/initials in the reference list at the end of a unit or chapter, and Firstname/initials Lastname in footnotes (in-text citations), source notes, and sidenotes.

Initial letters before a surname, as in W. G. Grace, should be separated by a space.

Where an author name is not available:

  • The publication or organization’s name comes first in the reference list. For example: The Economist. 2008. [‘Economies of Scale and Scope’](https://tinyco.re/7593630). October 2008.
  • The article title comes first in footnotes, source notes, and sidenotes. For example: [‘Economies of Scale and Scope’](https://tinyco.re/7593630). The Economist. October 2008.

Publication dates

  • Dates always appear after the author’s name or title of publication where the author’s name is not available.
  • When referencing an online publication the full date is included at the end of the reference when available. For example: Jennifer Robison. 2011. ‘Happiness Is Love – and $75,000’. Gallup Business Journal. Updated 17 November 2011.

Tables

  • Tables get a figure reference. When referring to tables in the text, it’s preferable to say, for example, ‘as shown in the table in Figure 5.1’ instead of ‘as shown in Figure 5.1’ .
  • Units and symbols, where needed, are usually in parentheses (in the column heading), and should not be repeated in the body of the table.
  • Column and row headings: capitalize only the first word and proper names in each heading (sentence case); do not include end punctuation.
  • The head row of a table similarly uses sentence case, not title case.

Alignment

Note to editors working in markdown: When right-alignment is necessary, apply the .align-right class to row headers and the .data-align-right class to table data.

  • Column headings are centred, but exceptions can be made when this improves layout.
  • Table body content is aligned left by default:
    • Row headings (stubs) are left aligned unless they contain the type of data which should be right aligned.
    • When data within each column is related, align it to the final digit on the right.
    • Where decimals are used, all cells should have the same number of decimals so that the numbers align correctly.
    • Only centre data if it is unrelated, and requires this to improve readability.

Spelling, capitalization and punctuation

Spelling

  • We use Oxford ‘ize’ spelling. For example: izing, not ising; monopolize, not monopolise. For exceptions:
  • Past participle: For regular verbs that can end in either ‘ed’ or ‘t’, we used ‘ed’ spelling. For example: learned, not learnt.
  • Gender: Use singular ‘they’ where possible. Use ‘he’ or ‘she’ if it is necessary for clarity (especially if it needs to be clear that it is one individual, not a group). If named examples are given, then use ‘he’ or ‘she’ as appropriate.
  • Spell out ‘and’ rather than using ‘&’ in all cases except in existing titles where the ampersand is used.

Capitalization

  • We use lower case for initialized common nouns and noun phrases. Capitalizing common nouns and noun phrases because they have been initialized may be considered a common redundancy in much quantitative writing. Using lower case avoids miscomprehension and emphasizing phrases that needn’t be emphasized. Examples:
    • initial value
    • buyer value
    • network externality factor
    • seller cost
  • Acts of law take an initial capital letter, for example ‘Ten Hours Act’ or ‘Criminal Procedures Act’.
  • Use an initial capital letter when referring to a specific column in a spreadsheet (for example, Column N), otherwise lower case.

Punctuation

Apostrophes

Add an ’s to all possessives, whether or not ending with an s.

Commas

Use a serial comma (or Oxford comma) in lists of three or more items including ‘and’ or ‘or’.

Dashes

  • Use an em dash for dashes in text, not an en dash with spaces. (This style choice was originally made for The Economy 1.0, following OUP, which uses the em dash (for a parenthetical dash) along with other conventions we continue to follow, such as -ize and the serial comma. It also has the benefit of being visually distinct when used in a sentence from the minus sign used in equations.)
  • See also: Dates, time, time periods, and historical periods and events

Ellipses

Note to editors working into markdown: In running text use an html non-breaking space before an ellipsis (&nbsp;), and a normal space after.

  • Use the ellipsis Unicode character … not three full points ....
  • An ellipses should be spaced on either side.

Hyphenation

  • Use a hyphen in spelled-out fractions, for example, one-tenth.
  • In general, compound adjectives take a hyphen when they come before the noun, but not after the noun. Some examples include:
    • people are well fed vs well-fed people
    • a country is well developed vs a well-developed country
    • a project is cost effective vs a cost-effective project

See the American English stylesheet for exceptions in hyphenation.

Stylesheet extension: American English

Where it is pertinent to the content and primary readership, the editorial board and authors of a CORE publication may choose to follow American spelling and style conventions.

These conventions were followed in the ‘Financing American Government’ and ‘Persistent racial inequality in the United States’ Insights.

Spelling

  • -ize/-ization
  • neighbor, color, behavior (without the ‘u’)
  • percent (one word)
  • center not centre

Hyphenation

Prefixes are often joined to words with no hyphens in US spelling. For example:

  • non: nonprofit organization nonviolent, nonnegotiable, but non-beer-drinking and non-English-speaking
  • pre: premodern, prewar, preempt, but pre-Columbian, Pre-Raphaelite
  • pro: proindustrial, promarket, but pro-life, pro-Canadian
  • post: postdoctoral, postmodernism, posttraumatic, but post-Vietnam, post-First World War

If not noted in this section, use the styles as described in the rest of this documentation.

Stylesheet extension: Spanish translations

These conventions indicate deviations from CORE’s English editorial style, particular to the Spanish language and preferred by the print-publisher of this translation of The Economy.

They are applied in the Spanish translation of The Economy 2.0.

Numbers, units of measurement, currency

  • Decimal separator: comma
  • Thousand separator: regular non-breaking space (only in numbers with five digits or more)
  • Percentages: The % sign follows the number and a non-breaking space: 17 % – the same as currency signs and measurement units (17 $ and 17 km).
  • Degrees: Degrees alone are not separated from the number (17°), but are separated if accompanied by unit (17 °C).
  • Currency: Currency signs are used throughout, placed after the number, and separated from the number with a non-breaking space.

Em dashes

In Spanish, em dashes are formatted like parentheses are, that is, with a space preceding the opening em dash and a space following the closing em dash unless there is a comma, period or semicolon.

An exception is their usage in the preface, where they are used as a separation between a quotation and its author, rather than as parentheses.