COUNCIL OF EUROPE ENGLISH STYLE GUIDE Better English and style, in print and online 2017 COUNCIL OF EUROPE ENGLISH STYLE GUIDE 2017 Editorial Unit Documents and Publications Production Department (SPDP) Council of Europe French edition: Typomémo – Mémento typographique français 2017 The Council of Europe English style guide and the Typomémo – Mémento typographique français are available in electronic form (PDF) on the DGA intranet pages: – on the DGS portal, in the “Useful links” rubric; – on the Publications production page, in the “Theme Files” rubric. They are also available in the Administrative Handbook. A paper version can be printed using the in-house SCRIB printing system. For complete instruc- tions, please consult the guide “How to print the English style guide using SCRIB”, available in the Administrative handbook. Design and layout: Documents and Publications Production Department (SPDP) Cover photos: © Shutterstock © Council of Europe, November 2016 Printed at the Council of Europe Contents Alphabetical listing quick access links: A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z Foreword .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 FAQs – Frequently asked questions .................................................................................................................................................. 7 1. Sources and reference works ...................................................................................................................... 7 1.1. Main reference works .................................................................................................................................................. 7 1.2. Secondary sources ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.3. Other publications ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.4. Complementary online sources .............................................................................................................................. 7 2. Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1. Initials ................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 2.3. Official texts .................................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.4. Mr, Dr, Ltd, eds, etc....................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.5. Measurements ............................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.6. op. cit., ibid., cf., p., pp., etc........................................................................................................................................ 9 3. Bibliographies .............................................................................................................................................. 9 3.1. What is a bibliography and why do I need one? ............................................................................................... 9 3.3. Author–date references in the text ......................................................................................................................10 3.4. How to compile a complete bibliography ........................................................................................................10 3.5. “Bibliography” and/or “References” ....................................................................................................................10 3.7 Niceties of presenting bibliographies .................................................................................................................11 4. Capitalisation ............................................................................................................................................ 12 4.1. Council of Europe style .............................................................................................................................................13 4.2. State: initial capital or lower case? A matter of context ...............................................................................13 4.3. Initial capitals in bibliographies and reference lists .......................................................................................13 5. Footnotes and endnotes .......................................................................................................................... 13 5.1. Footnotes vs. endnotes ............................................................................................................................................13 5.2. Style and formatting .................................................................................................................................................14 6. Lists ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 7. Numbers, figures, numerals ..................................................................................................................... 14 7.1. House style ....................................................................................................................................................................14 7.2. In general .......................................................................................................................................................................14 7.3. Special cases and exceptions .................................................................................................................................15 8. Punctuation ............................................................................................................................................... 15 8.1. Quotation marks .........................................................................................................................................................15 8.2. Square brackets ...........................................................................................................................................................15 8.3. Ellipses ............................................................................................................................................................................15 8.4. Spaces .............................................................................................................................................................................16 8.6. Dashes ............................................................................................................................................................................16 9. Spelling ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 9.1. Hyphenation ................................................................................................................................................................16 9.2. Compound words ......................................................................................................................................................17 10. Text formatting ......................................................................................................................................... 17 10.1. Italics ...............................................................................................................................................................................17 10.2. Bold and underline ....................................................................................................................................................17 10.3. Superscript, subscript ...............................................................................................................................................18 11. Word division ............................................................................................................................................ 18 11.1. Hyphens and hyphenation .....................................................................................................................................18 11.2. Syllable division ..........................................................................................................................................................18 11.3. Morphological division .............................................................................................................................................18 11.4. Our recommendations .............................................................................................................................................18 Alphabetical listing .............................................................................................................................................................................