v. 2012
SOME GUIDELINES ON WRITING & EDITING IN THE GEOSCIENCES
General Geology Writing Rules
- Avoid “first person” tense.
- Recognized formations are always capitalized: e.g., Morrison Formation
- Use current Geologic time scale: e.g., Walker, J.D., and Geissman, J.W., compilers,
2009, Geologic Time Scale: Geological Society of America, doi:
10.1130/2009.CTS004R2C. ©2009 The Geological Society of America.
http://www.geosociety.org/science/timescale/timescl.pdf
For all of my writing assignments, please use the following formats for your
references:
Geological Society of America Bulletin format for References Cited
http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/bulletin/bulGuide5.htm
Example journal reference:
Leigh, D.S., 1994, Roxana silt of the Upper Mississippi Valley: Lithology, source, and
paleoenvironment: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 106, p. 430–442.
Example book reference:
Twiss, R.J., and Moores, E.M., 1992, Structural geology: New York, W. H. Freeman and
Company, 532 p.
A few excellent references on how to improve ones writing
Copeland, P., 2010, Communicating Rocks: Writing, speaking, and thinking about
geology, Pearson Press, 149 p.
Lunsford, A.A., 2005, The Every Day Writer, 3rd., Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, Boston &
New York, 2005, 519 p.
Additional On-Line References
Colorado State University “Writing Guides” website:
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/
Literacy On Line page for concise Abstract information from St. Cloud State:
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/bizwrite/abstracts.html
1 of 3
v. 2012
Editing Symbols - You will find these codes on electronic or autograph manuscripts that
are turned in for review.
[text]
Brackets enclose comments by me for you to consider. These may include
questions, elaborations, or other types of comments. These comments need
to be addressed in any resubmitted manuscript.
=
beneath a letter indicates capitalize
¶
insert paragraph
word
delete
Mylonite
make ‘M’ lower case
/
insert space; e.g., “4/mm” should read “4 mm…”
^
Insert a phrase or word here.
AWK
Awkward sentence/phrase that needs re-writing.
avd
Avoid (word, term, phrase, etc.)
d-i
Data and interpretation are combined in highlighted
sentence/phrase/paragraph; need to be separated
nn
Not necessary
V
Vague phrase/sentence
elab
Elaborate on highlighted phrase, sentence, or paragraph.
O3
Out of order. A sentence, group of sentences, or paragraph(s) is out of
order given the context of the paragraph or section of the manuscript.
ref
A reference needs to be supplied to support this statement.
red
Highlighted phrase/sentence/paragraph is redundant.
Reverse word/phrase/sentence sequence
rw
re-write
ro
Run-on sentence.
sp
Spelling error – these should not occur in the era of spellcheckers!
term
Incorrect usage of terminology.
geo-time
Reference to geologic time scale is incorrect. For example, “Late
Cretaceous rocks of the Big Bend region…” should read, “Upper
2 of 3
v. 2012
Cretaceous rocks of the Big Bend region…”. Upper = rocks, Late =
time”.
tense
Problem with verb tense in sentence. Keep tense the same throughout
sentence.
ts
No topic sentence. A topic sentence is pivotal to introducing the reader to
the subject of the paragraph and to provide transition from paragraph to
paragraph.
TH/WH
From Steve Reynolds: “Usage of “that” versus “which” probably not
correct. In general, that should be used for an essential clause, where no
break in the flow of the sentence is intended. "There is the Velociraptor
that ate Rush Limbaugh." The phrase after that is essential because there
may be more than one Velociraptor. “Which” should be used for a
nonessential clause, and is generally preceded by a comma to set off the
phrase as being nonessential to the sentence. "There is the Velociraptor,
which looks really hungry." In this case, there is only one raptor but I
wanted you to know that, by-the-way, it looks hungry. "Which" can be
used in some other ways that don’t require a preceding comma, in which
case you don’t need one right in front of "which".
unc
Unclear meaning, phrase, or grammar.
v-s
No verb-subject agreement. Example: “There is three processes that affect
mountain building.”
dang
no dangling preposition; e.g., “The mylonite was produced by high
temperatures and pressures that affected it.” Or, “What is it?”
p-a
Preposition and antecedent are unclear: e.g., “transmitting radio signals by
satellite is a way of over coming the problem of scarce airwaves and
limiting how they are used.” To what does “they” refer? Radio signals,
satellites, or airwaves?
vs
No verb-subject agreement. Example: “There is three processes that affect
mountain building.”
SI Prefixes for geologic time
ka
kiloannum,103 years
Ma
megaannum, 106 years
Ga
gigaannum, 109 years
Geologic convention allows for the following: “The Andalshatten pluton is a 442 Ma
granodiorite.” Meaning, the Andalshatten pluton crystallized 442 million years ago; or,
the Andalshatten pluton is 442 million years old. It is incorrect to write, “The
Andalshatten pluton is 442 Ma old.”
3 of 3