Renee Leonard

Renee focuses on the intersection of word counting and academic conventions, writing for students and researchers who need to hit exact limits. She pays close attention to what different style guides actually say about counting. Her approach is to read the fine print so you don't have to.

She gets into the weeds on questions that come up around citations, footnotes, and appendices. Does an APA abstract word count include the title? Are in-text citations part of the count or separate? What about tables and figure captions in a dissertation? She traces each question to the relevant section of a style manual whenever possible, and flags where the guidance is ambiguous.

She is careful to distinguish between what style guides recommend and what individual institutions or instructors require. A journal might follow Chicago style but still have its own submission rules that override the manual. Renee's articles summarize published guidelines and remind readers to confirm with whoever will actually be evaluating their work.