Note to the Reader
OUP recommends a separate note/guide to the reader when a title needs to explain special conventions, terminology, or presentation, rather than overloading the preface. It is an optional publishing element, not a required section for every book.
A note to the reader is optional front matter used to explain special conventions, terminology, or presentation features that readers need before using the text.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
["Include one only when the reader needs this orientation; its title, length, and placement can vary by publisher."]
Further guidance
Placement
["OUP treats it as optional preliminary/front matter and recommends separating it from the preface when that improves usability."]
Practical Application
Use a note to the reader only when readers need a convention, terminology choice, accessibility note, or presentation rule before they can use the text correctly. Keep it short, concrete, and separate from a preface or introduction that discusses the work more broadly.
Purpose
["Use a note to the reader when readers need brief orientation to conventions, terminology, notation, or special presentation."]
Reader Check
Will this note prevent a predictable misunderstanding before the reader reaches the main text, or is the information better placed where it first becomes relevant?
Worked Example
A bilingual report might open with a brief note explaining that quoted names retain their original spelling while translated headings use the project’s English house style.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Front and end matter — Oxford Academic (opens in a new tab)Oxford University Press · OUP book-workflow guidance for forewords, prefaces, half-title/frontispiece, epigraph, illustration/map lists, contributors, reader notes and endpapers