Editorial terms – B
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B
bibliography: a list in the end matter of all works cited in a text that contains full publication details for each cited work. The list is usually ordered alphabetically by the surname of the author or first author of the work. Bibliographies are used with the author–date and short-title referencing systems, and may contain works not cited in the text, by way of further reading suggestions. See also references.
bleed: the area of a page that is trimmed away during the printing process. If printed materials have a background colour or illustrations that extend to the edge of the page, the design will need to run into the bleed area, which sits beyond the physical page dimensions.
blocked paragraphs: all paragraphs are full out to the left-hand margin and separated by a space.
blurb: the description of a work, usually a book, whose aim is to summarise the work and attract readers.
body text: the copy that comprises the main body of an article, thesis, chapter, book, etc, as opposed to headings, captions, figures, lists, etc.
book-style paragraphs: the first paragraph in a text or under a heading is full out to the left, with subsequent first lines of paragraphs indented. There is no space between paragraphs.
brief: the instructions provided by the client on the work that is to be done, the style elements that are to be applied and any other issues affecting the text that must be taken into account.