Usage Guides Aimed at Legal Writers
Grammar, Punctuation, and Style: A Quick Guide for Lawyers and Other Writers by Publication Date: 2013Print.
Just Writing: Grammar, Punctuation, and Style for the Legal Writer, 5th ed. by Publication Date: 2017Ebook.
Also available in print.
The Lawyer's Editing Manual by Publication Date: 2009Print
"covers effective use of quotations, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style. In this manual, Magat gets into the details of word choice and modifier placement to avoid ambiguity, structure sentences and paragraphs effectively, and improve conciseness and consistency. Magat is a law professor at Duke Law School and the general editor for the Law & Contemporary Problems Journal. Magat is known for her academic article Bottomheavy: Legal Footnotes." -- Blog post, What’s In Your Legal Writing Reference Library?, WordRake.
The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style, 4th ed. by Call Number: Gallagher Law Library Reference Area (& Reference Office) KF250 .G375 2018Publication Date: 2018Print.
"The book is a one-of-a-kind resource--the legal writer's equivalent of The AP Stylebook or The Chicago Manual of Style." -- Publisher
The Solicitor General's Style Guide, 3d ed. by Publication Date: 2018Includes: Office of the Solicitor General Citation Manual; Office of the Solicitor General Supplement to the Supreme Court Rules; Office of the Solicitor General Writing Preferences.
Usage Guides & Texts: General
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. by Publication Date: 2017Print.
Part I - The Publishing Process
Part II - Style and Usage
Part III - Source Citations and Indexes
NOTE: UW users also have access to The Chicago Manual Online.
Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Call Number: Gallagher Law Library Reference Area PN145 .D74 2019Publication Date: 2019Print.
"A sharp, funny grammar guide they'll actually want to read, from Random House's longtime copy chief and one of Twitter's leading language gurus"--Book jacket
The Elements of Style, 50th Anniversary ed. by Publication Date: 2008Recommended by Emerita Prof. Kate O’Neill.
The Elements of Style: Classic Edition (2018) by Call Number: Gallagher Law Library Reference Area LC PE1408 .S772 2018Publication Date: 2018Ebook. Also available in print.
This updated 2018 Classic Edition contains the original version of William Strunk's The Elements of Style [before E.B. White's edits], plus a variety of enhancements that make this book even more useful. -- Publisher
|
Sidebar on The Elements of Style The Elements of Style was originally published by William Strunk for his undergraduate students at Cornell. New Yorker writer E.B. White expanded it for commercial publication in 1959, and it has been very popular (for a usage guide) since. Advantages: it is short and easy to skim. Some writers find it refreshing to read the direct advice and be reminded of sensible goals, like clarity and concision. But some of the advice is muddled or incorrect. It can be taken too far. For example, a writer who understands the advice to avoid the passive voice as an unbreakable law would not be able to write, "It can be taken too far." But that sentence is fine. I chose to say "The Elements of Style was originally published by William Stunk" (passive voice) rather than "William Strunk published The Elements of Style" (active voice) because I wanted to emphasize the book (which you might have heard of) and not the author (who probably isn't important to you). For a critique of The Elements of Style, see Geoffrey K. Pullam, 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice, Chronicle of Higher Education (Apr. 17, 2009). |
Garner's Modern English Usage, 4th ed. by Publication Date: 2016Ebook. Also available in print.
Thousands of entries on word choice, syntax, phrasing, punctuation, or pronunciation. Longer entries (with titles IN CAPS) address topics such as Abbreviations, Adjectives, Parallelism, and Punctuation. Generally shorter entries (with titles in bold) discuss the usage of individual words, illustrated with examples.
Garner is not shy about expressing his preferences. But he is aware that usage changes over time, so uses a "Language-Change Index" to inform readers of where a term is in it's shift. For example, he prefers "pleaded" as the past tense of "plead," but recognizes that "pled" is increasingly common.
Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English by Print.
"Yes, this is a grammar book. I never had a formal writing class in college. When I started law school I knew I needed some extra help to catch up to my classmates who wrote more papers than I did in college (For some reason these people chose not to be math majors). This book was a good, quick, informative read. Even though I didn’t remember all the specific rules, the book helped me think more rigorously about my writing." Prof . David Ziff
The Writer's Diet by Publication Date: 2015Ebook. Also available in print.
Print ed. has subtitle: A Guide to Fit Prose
Usage
- Cambridge Dictionary +PlusFree registration.
Dictionary. Tools for learning vocabulary (word lists, including ability to create your own; quizzes). Grammar quizzes. Translator for about 20 languages. - Downloadable English Grammar Tutorials [Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching & Learning]21 short handouts on topics such as possessive nouns and subject-verb agreement. Each has exercises or a quiz to help you apply the lesson.
- Grammar GirlMignon Fogarty, a/k/a Grammar Girl, offers quick tips on word choice and usage. Browse the tips, listen to the podcast, or subscribe to the to weekly newsletter.
- Law Prose (Bryan Garner)Sign up for Garner's Usage Tip of the Day or the less frequent Law Prose Lessons.
- Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)Rich collection of material on the writing process, usage, punctuation, and more. Confused about prepositions, verbs, or pronouns? You'll find clear explanations here.
- The Writer's DietApp lets you paste in a passage to learn whether it is "flabby" (lots of passive voice, prepositional phrases, and "zombie" nouns) or "fit." Download a free add-in for Microsoft Word. View YouTube writing tutorials.
A Few Notable Texts on Writing
How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One by Publication Date: 2012"One of the first sentences author Stanley Fish discusses in this book comes from the significant school-prayer case, Lee v. Weisman (1992). It’s a scathing line from Scalia’s dissent—it’s penetrating and memorable. Fish spends the rest of the book exploring and explaining how sentences like this are built and why they move us. It’s a strategic approach to writing focused on the smallest building blocks of meaning. Fish is a law professor at Florida International University, a New York Times best-selling author, and the author of more than 10 other books." What’s In Your Legal Writing Reference Library?, WordRake blog
Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Publication Date: 2017Print.
Recommended by Carrie Sanford, LLM Academic Support Advisor.
Typography & Design
Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents, 2d ed. by Publication Date: 2015Print. Available on web at https://typographyforlawyers.com/.
"Great resource for legal writing!" Ambrogino Giusti, former part-time reference librarian
