Spelling Authority: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary

1. Italicize titles of albums, movies, or television series, as well as the titles of all publications: books, magazines and other periodicals, newspapers, etc. Titles should be fully spelled out on first occurrence but may be shortened on subsequent mention. Shortened versions of titles should also be italicized. (i.e. Winter in the Blood or Winter)

2. Place song titles and lyrics, television episode titles, book chapter or section titles, and article titles in quotes, no italics.

3. For Q & A articles, separate questions from responses by space and typeface (either bold or italicized). Questions should be preceded by a “V:” and responses should be preceded by the first letter of the respondent's last name and a colon. On first occurrence, spell out “Variance” and the respondent’s name.

4. One space between sentences.

5. Refer to AP style for comma and other punctuation guidelines.

6. Reading The Elements of Style is recommended before submitting your next article. A few select tips from Strunk and White:

• Avoid too many introductory phrases
• Vary your sentence length
• Choose active, colorful verbs over adjectives or adverbs when possible
• Edit for repetitive constructions, words, and phrases
• Maintain a consistent tense, usually present unless you’re telling a specific story that happened in the past
• Omit needless words wherever you can. “That” is usually one of them.
• Remember: Specific > General; Definite > Vague; Concrete > Abstract

7. All other questions should be directed to the AP Stylebook and Gregg’s Reference Manual. If you have a specific question you can’t find a reasonable answer for in either of those, contact us at editor@variancemagazine.com.
8. Just for kicks, here are a few commonly confused words to avoid in your submissions:

• “entitled” vs. “titled”: Gen Yers are often said to be entitled young people. Grandchildren are often entitled to their grandmother’s china. But Young the Giant will never have a song entitled “My Body.”  Ingrid Michaelson will never have an album entitled Be OK. Albums, songs, movies, books, and anything else that has a TITLE are, therefore, titled. 
• “who” vs. “that” vs. “which”: “Who” and “that” are used when referring to people. “Who” is your choice for describing individuals or the individuality of a group. “That” is your choice to describe a group or type. “Which” refers to places, objects and animals, but is always used to introduce non-essential clauses. “That” also refers to places, objects and animals, but introduces essential clauses. (Gregg 1062)

9. Correct spelling/capitlization of commonly used words in Variance (AP style):

• Google can be used as a verb.
• Mic is shortened form of microphone.
• On-screen, smart phone, social networking, Web page, hip hop, 3-D, OK (instead of "okay"), Internet (always capitalized) 

Variance Style Sheet:
1. Documents should be submitted in Times New Roman, 12 point font, left justified.
2. Use single spacing within paragraphs.
3. Leave a line of space between paragraphs.
4. No indent on the first line of each paragraph.
5. Article titles should be bold, left justified, not italicized.
6. Post the article’s word count in parentheses, excluding the title’s word count, at the end of the document.

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