A: Some
style conventions "make sense," but
many don't. There are often several ways to do things, but all publishers
have a house
style and we do too. It is easier to settle on one way to do something
(punctuation, spelling, citations, table format), partly so we
don't always have to decide how to do it and partly for a consistent
look and feel. Our editing of style generally follows the Government
Printing Office (GPO) Style Manual (2000) and Suggestions to Authors
(STA), (7th ed.). We also consult the Chicago Manual of Style (14th
ed.), as well as glossaries of geology and other sciences.
