INTRODUCTION

Brookes style closely follows the sixth edition of Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) regarding editorial and reference style guidelines. In addition, Brookes sometimes uses the 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). Section and page information for APA and CMS style rules are provided for each topic, when applicable, along with any Brookes’ house style exceptions.

Brookes uses the American Heritage Dictionary 5th ed. https://ahdictionary.com/ for spelling, but not for punctuation. Brookes uses the 28th edition of Stedman’s Medical Dictionary for spelling of medical terms.

ABBREVIATIONS (APA, 6th ed. 4.22–4.30, p. 106–111)

Exceptions

• Spell out the term when it is first cited in the book or in each chapter followed by its abbreviation in parentheses. The abbreviation is then used throughout the rest of the book or chapter. This does not apply to terms first cited in a heading. Headings do not contain abbreviations. If a term that typically has an abbreviation or acronym only appears once in a book or a chapter, the abbreviation or acronym should not be listed.
• In the front matter, spell out the term followed by its abbreviation in each new section.
• Books written by a single author have abbreviations spelled out at their first occurrence in the text.
• Edited/contributed books have abbreviations spelled out at the first occurrence in each chapter.
• The abbreviation for versus, “vs.,” is used within parenthetical text only.
• Abbreviations of laws should come directly after the words they are abbreviating, such as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990, not Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (IDEA).
• Punctuate D.C. (as in Washington, D.C.) as DC in references and as D.C. in text.

ALPHABETIZATION: (CMS, 16th ed., 16.60, p. 832)

Brookes style follows the word-by-word system.

Exceptions

• Numbers: For public laws, PL numbers are sorted numerically.
• Concurrent reference citations: Alphabetize within the text as well as in the entries in a reference list.

Exceptions

• The interjection O
• Title of a person whether it precedes or follows a name and is not introduced with an article (e.g., President Jeff Brookes; Jeff Brookes is President; Jeff Brookes is the president)
• First letter of a name of a game (e.g., Pat-a-cake)
• When hyphenated compounds are capitalized, each part of the compound is capitalized if it could stand alone as a word. If part of the compound could not stand alone as a word, then only the first letter of the compound is capitalized.

COLLECTIVE NOUNS

Verbs with Collective Nouns (www.apastyle.org, 3.19 Supplemental Material)

Exceptions

Brookes always treats the noun staff as plural.

CONTRACTIONS

In general, contractions should be avoided except in extremely informal text (e.g., case studies, vignettes, dialogues), per author preference, and (of course) in quoted text. In addition, even in informal text, spelled-out forms should be used if contractions are awkward.

CREDITING SOURCES

Credit Lines

Credit lines may differ in format because some publishers require specific wording, but when specific wording is not required, Brookes style should be followed.

Generally, it is only necessary to indicate the source of an extract by author in the text prior to or at the end of the extract and to provide the year and page number(s) at the end of the extract per APA guidelines. If a publisher requires a specific credit line for an extract, put the necessary information on the copyright page of the front matter, on a special credits page for the book (if there are other such credit lines), or as a footnote on the page where the extract appears. The copyright page is the preferred place for this type of credit.

Examples:

• Brookes’ style
  Permission to reprint the following material is gratefully acknowledged: Page 8: Quotation from Wilensky, H.L., & Lebauxx, C.N. (1958). Industrial society and social welfare (pp. 67–68). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; reprinted by permission.
• Publisher specific
  The excerpt on page 32 is from OWEN by Kevin Henkes. Copyright © 1993 by Kevin Henkes. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

References and Citations (APA 6th ed., 6.22–6.26, pp. 174–224)

Exceptions

Brookes books: When Brookes books are cited in a references list, the publisher name should be styled as “Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.” even though “Co.” is omitted from other publishers’ names per APA style.

Degrees, Designations, and Affiliations (CMS, 16th ed., 10.20 p. 494)

Exceptions

The following degrees, which sometimes appear in Brookes books, are not listed in CMS:

• D.S.W., doctor of social work, and M.P.H., master of public health
  Unlike CMS style, Brookes style includes periods in abbreviations for all degrees. The spelled-out forms should be treated as generic terms, not proper nouns (master of arts, not Master of Arts).

FIGURE KEY

Certifications are avoided unless author wants to list them; if listed, they appear after the degrees (unless author prefers otherwise).
For a key, the note should begin with the word Key: in italics—for example,
A figure key is placed after the figure legend text (and its ending punctuation) as well as after any parenthetical credit or source line text, with all ending punctuation within parentheses—for example,
Key: EI, early intervention; ECSE, early childhood special education.
(Key: min., minute; hr., hour; wk., week.)

FIGURES VERSUS TABLES

Figures

A figure is a chart, graph, photograph, drawing, form, activity, or other depiction (e.g., a checklist, a flowchart). All figures should be easy to understand and their purpose readily apparent without having to consult the text.

Tables

A table is a collection of text, usually facts and figures. It usually is made up of statistical information relating two or more variables arranged in columns and rows. It might also be a list of items (using bullets).

GLOSSARIES

• In the glossary, each term should be boldface and all lowercase unless it is a proper noun. The first word of each definition should begin with an uppercase letter.
• Typically, the typesetter will be instructed to leave an em space between the boldface term and its definition. The manuscript file should contain a tab character between each term and its definition.
• Typically, each definition ends with a period even if not a full sentence.
• Each term and its definition should be the same part of speech.
• In main entries, all terms that are abbreviated in the book should appear followed by their abbreviations in parentheses.

SPECIAL TERMINOLOGY (APA 6th ed., 3.12-3.16, pp. 73–77)

Exceptions

Disease and Syndrome Names

Brookes Publishing follows Stedman’s Medical Dictionary for spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization style of disease names. Disease names that are commonly mentioned in Brookes books and exceptions are in the Brookes word list.

• An individual with disabilities, not a disabled individual
• Brookes style and Stedman’s usually call for no possessive when a disease is named after a person, with only proper nouns set as cap/lc: Down syndrome, not Down’s syndrome, Down’s Syndrome, or Down’s. Similarly, disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association) are styled in Brookes texts as lowercase unless they contain a proper noun: anorexia nervosa, not Anorexia Nervosa; bipolar disorder, not Bipolar Disorder. An exception to this style is made when the text is discussing a specific DSM diagnosis or the content of the DSM.