Q. Is there some sort of resource available with definitive information about names and titles of various media programs? For
example, is Oprah Winfrey’s talk show really The Oprah Winfrey Show or just Oprah? Do Matt Lauer and
Meredith Vieira appear on The Today Show or Today? Often there is conflicting information. An authoritative resource would
be extremely helpful for the copyediting process.
A. These days, the most authoritative resource for such things is often the website run by a program’s
owner. According to the Today show’s website, they’re just Today (in quotation marks, but Chicago’s rule is to put the titles of shows in italics). Oprah’s
talk show is officially called The Oprah Winfrey Show, though its website also refers to The Oprah Show.
Q. How would the University of Chicago Press render the names of universities with multiple campuses?
A. As a copyeditor, I allow either a comma, an en dash, “at,” or nothing—but
only after looking at what the university in question seems to favor (all universities have an Internet presence these days)
and then taking into account, if necessary, questions of consistency within the document or book or publication that I’m
editing.
University of Wisconsin–Madison (that seems to be what they favor, and an en dash looks elegant here)
Indiana University South Bend (that’s how they do it)
University of California, Berkeley (that’s how they do it; remember to add a comma after “Berkeley”
if the name occurs in midsentence)
A one-size-fits-all rule would be far easier to apply, but these days it’s pretty easy to find out the
right answer.
Chicago Style Q&A: New Questions and Answers
