ENGLISH SACRED WRITINGS PROOFREADING PROJECT
(6 September 2001: UPDATED re PDF and Word Files)
(Adobe Acrobot (c) files and Microsoft Word (c) files found here will have been
created at the Baha'i World Centre and match the version released by, or
printed at, the World Centre. These STANDARDS apply primarily to the earlier
ASCII texts created by the ESWPP in the United States, and used by the World
Centre to start this archive in 1994.)
Standard Format of the Electronic Copies of the Baha'i Writings
1. Each line of the electronic text exactly matches the published text:
both texts (a) contain the same number of words per line;
(b) begin and end with the same identical words; (c) agree in
spelling, including capitalization; and, (d) have the same
punctuation marks.
The only exceptions to this are:
a. Each page begins with a +P symbol followed by the page number.
b. When the published text exceeds 80 characters on a line, the
word (or words) which are located beyond this limit appear on
the next line of the electronic text, immediately to the left
of any text on that line.
c. When a word in the published text is hyphenated at the end of a
line, the electronic text shows the entire word on the line
where the word begins. If the word is ordinarily hyphenated,
it retains its hyphen. If the placement of the entire word on
the line caused that line to contain more than 80 characters,
the word (or words) which are located beyond this limit appear
on the next line of the text, immediately to the left of any
text on that line.
d. Footnotes will always be numbered in the electronic text, even
when the book represents the footnote with a symbol such as * or +.
Each footnote number in the electronic text is preceded by
the symbol +F.
Each line of each footnote is printed with the footnote number
preceding the text of the footnote. For instance, if the fourth
footnote has three lines of text, each of its three lines will be
preceded by +F4.
Unlike the book, a footnote will always be completed on the page
on which it starts.
e. When a word in the book contains a symbol which is not a letter
(A-Z), an apostrophe, or a hyphen, it is preceded by an
ampersand (&) in the electronic text. Also, each of these
non-English symbols is removed in the electronic text. This
includes the underlining of pairs of letters, the placing of
dots underneath letters, any type of accent on a vowel, and any
occurrence of the `ayn character (see below).
In an attempt to preserve the legibility of words which contain
the `ayn (`) character, an apostrophe replaces each `ayn when it
occurs in the middle of a word. However, when a word begins with
an `ayn, the `ayn is removed and no apostrophe replaces it.
The following examples, which all require use of the ampersand (&),
summarize the correct handling of non-English symbols:
&Baha'i (the accents have been removed)
&Badasht (the line under the "sh" has been removed)
&Muhammad (the dot under the "h" has been removed)
&Abdu'l-Baha (the beginning `ayn and the accent have been removed)
&Mazra'ih (the `ayn before the letter "i" has been replaced
with an apostrophe)
&fellow-Baha'i (the ampersand precedes the beginning of the word)
2. One space separates words in a sentence.
3. One space follows each comma and semicolon.
4. When a period, exclamation point, or question mark is followed
by a word which is capitalized, two spaces separate the punctuation
mark from the word. When the word following the punctuation mark
is not capitalized, one space separates the punctuation mark from
the word. Abbreviations are followed by one space (for example,
Dr. and Mrs. Getsinger).
5. Two spaces follow each colon (:). However, when a colon is used to
indicate a reference such as Gen. 17:18, no space follows it.
6. Each dash is represented as two hyphens--with no space surrounding
them.
7. Quotations in American publications both begin and end with the
standard double quotation marks ("). A quote within a quote begins
with the single quotation mark (`) and ends with the single quotation
mark ('). The reverse is usually true in British publications:
quotations utilize single quotation marks, and each quote within a
quote uses double quotation marks.
8. The beginning of each paragraph is indented five spaces
from the left margin. When the text is indented a second
time, the entire paragraph is offset by five spaces: the
beginning is indented ten spaces and the body is indented
five spaces. For an example, see "Selections from the
Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha", page 22.
9. Ellipses are always a series of either three or four periods
with no space between them. The number of periods is determined
by referring to the published text. The number of spaces before
and after the ellipsis is determined by the following rules:
When the word following the ellipsis is capitalized and it
clearly begins a new sentence, no space precedes the ellipsis
and two spaces follow the ellipsis.
Example: Sel. Wr. Bab 27:15 will perish... This is
Example: Gleanings 216:14 upon men.... Please God,
When the word following the ellipsis is not capitalized, or if it
is capitalized but does not definitely begin a new sentence,
one space precedes the ellipsis and one space follows the ellipsis.
Example: Some Answered Questions 42:4 me ... at the time
Example: Sel. Wr. Bab 12:2 of God ... I would
However, no space surrounds an ellipsis when it:
(1) begins a new paragraph, or
(2) is located at the left hand margin of the page, or
(3) immediately follows a quotation mark.
Example (1): Gleanings 178:14 ...From that
Example (2): Gleanings 40: 4 ...The dust
Example (3): Some Answered Questions 239:1 "...whoso is
(When an ellipsis begins a new paragraph, the normal 5-space
indentation applies.)
10. Italics, boldface, and underlining are not represented in the
electronic text.
11. Typesetting decisions are not represented in the electronic text.
Examples of this are: the gothic type capitalization of the first
letter of a chapter, words which contain both upper-case and
lower-case caps, and the amount of blank vertical space (white
space) between passages.
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