Editing Resources

Style guides

Chicago Manual of Style's FAQ
Common Errors in English—a compendium
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White
Guide to Grammar and Writing—Charles Darling's guide
Resources - Health Sciences Writing Centre—University of Toronto
U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual
The Yahoo! Style Guide—writing, editing, and creating content for the digital world

Dictionaries and other references

One Look—Searches many online dictionaries and a couple of acronym databases; a click to a link takes you straight to the entry without retyping
Merriam-Webster OnLine—handy dictionary and thesaurus
Bartleby links to an array of online reference volumes
TechWeb—an encyclopedia for technical terms; offers variants
U.S. National Library of Medicine See NLM's Recommended Formats for Bibliographic Citation (1991), a style guide that addresses electronic formats, including CD-ROMs, e-mail and the Internet, courtesy of your tax dollars
Webopedia—an encyclopedia of technical terms

Of further interest to editors

AcqWeb—publisher information for librarians and other professionals interested in acquisitions and collection development
American Copy Editors Society (ACES)—a resource for copy editors in journalism
Editing for the Web
Editcetera—a San Francisco Bay Area organization that trains editors in classes, and tests and certifies freelance publishing professionals, after which Editcetera can recommend its members for job and contract placement
The Editorium—important newsletter for editors presented by Jack M. Lyon. Editorium is geared toward mastering Microsoft Word and other contemporary editing programs. The Editorium offers macros and software programs, some for sale and others that are free and do tend to ease the editing life.
Electric Editors—a British-based group with discussion lists and free macros for Word and WordPerfect
General and Multiple Subject Publishers—listing of various categories from ClickInks.com
Media Alliance—offers classes in editing, writing, and computer applications related to publishing
ReferenceChecker—a program that checks all the name/date-style references in a document
The Observer—In "Black Day for the Blue Pencil," journalist Blake Morrison argues editors are now an endangered species
UC Berkeley Extension offers classroom and online courses in editing, writing, technical communication, and Web publishing
UC Berkeley Extension's four-course sequence in editing is for working editors who need a concentrated program to acquire additional skills, those who want to make a transition into editing, and those who want to enter the publishing field as editors. A certificate is awarded upon completion.

Of interest to freelance editors and writers

Editorial Freelancers Association—a professional organization of self-employed workers in the publishing and communications industries. Based in New York City, EFA has members nationwide.

Job links

Copyediting.com—the companion site to Copyediting newsletter; includes a searchable jobs board
Editor & Publisher includes job board

Of specific interest to writers

The National Writers Union Peek at NWU Writer Alerts, the instructive mini-hall of publishing scam artists who have contracted with writers but did not pay them
The Publishing Law Center
Writer Resources from Midwest Book Review
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America offers cautionary tales for writers
WritersDigest.com