Manuscript Preparation, Copyediting, and Proofreading

Q. I’m editing a paper that compares entries in two eighteenth-century French dictionaries. The author has included headwords—both French and English—in all caps throughout the paper. This is fatiguing, especially in long lists of entries in running text. Does Chicago style recommend a format for referring to headwords in running text?

A. I’m afraid CMOS isn’t that specific. If the paper is going to be published, the copyeditor, writer, and designer will likely consult over the typographical treatment of elements like this. In preparation, you might ask the writer to submit examples of quoted headwords from other sources on the topic.