Style guide

A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting and design of documents. It is often called a style
sheet, although that term may haveother meanings. These standards can be applied either for general use, or be required usage for an
individual publication, a particular organization, or a specific field.

A style guide establishes standard style requirements to improve communication by ensuring consistency both within a document,
and across multiple documents. Because practices vary, a style guide may set out standards to be used in areas such as punctuation,
capitalization, citing sources, formatting of numbers and dates, table appearance and other areas. The style guide may require certain
best practices in usage, language composition, visual composition, orthography and typography. For academic and technical
documents, a guide may also enforce the best practice in ethics (such as authorship, research ethics, and disclosure), pedagogy (such
as exposition and clarity), and compliance (technical and regulatory).

Style guides are specialized in a variey of ways, from the general use of a broad public audience, to a wide variety of specialized
uses, such as for students and scholars of various academic disciplines, medicine, journalism, the law, government, business in
general, and specific industries. The termhouse style refers to the individual style manual of a particular publisher or or
ganization.

Contents
Varieties
Sizes
Topics
Updating
Examples
International
Europe
Australia
Canada
United Kingdom
General
Journalism
United States
General
Academic papers
Business
Government
Journalism
Law
Religion
Science
Natural sciences
Social and cognitive sciences
Web publishing

See also
References
External links
Varieties
Style guides vary widely in scope and size.

Sizes
This variety in scope and length is enabled by the cascading of one style over another, in a way analogous to how styles cascade in
web development and in desktop publishing (e.g., how inline styles inHTML cascade over CSS styles).

A short style guide is often called a style sheet. A comprehensive guide tends to be long and is often called a style manual or manual
of style (MOS or MoS). In many cases, a project such as one book, journal, or monograph series typically has a short style sheet that
cascades over the somewhat larger style guide of an organization such as a publishing company, whose content is usually called
house style. Most house styles, in turn, cascade over an industry-wide or profession-wide style manual that is even more
comprehensive. Some examples of these industry style guides include the following:

AP style for journalism and most forms of corporate communications

USGPO style or AGPS style for government publications
Oxford style and Chicago style for academic publishing and readership
APA style and ASA style for the social sciences
CSE style for various physical sciences
ACS style for chemistry
AMA style for medicine
Bluebook style for law
Finally, these reference works cascade over the orthographic norms of the language in use (for example, English orthography for
English-language publications). This, of course, may be subject to national variety such as the different varieties of American English
and British English.

Topics
Some style guides focus on specific topic areas such as graphic design, including typography. Website style guides cover a
publication's visual and technical aspects along with text.

Style guides that cover usage may suggest ways of describing people that avoid racism, sexism, and homophobia. Guides in specific
scientific and technical fields cover nomenclature, which specifies names or classifying labels that are preferred because they are
clear, standardized, and ontologically sound (e.g., taxonomy, chemical nomenclature, and gene nomenclature).

Updating
Most style guides are revised periodically to accommodate changes in conventions and usage. The frequency of updating and the
revision control are determined by the subject matter. For style manuals in reference work format, new editions typically appear
every 1 to 20 years. For example, the AP Stylebook is revised annually, and the Chicago, APA, and ASA manuals are in their 17th,
6th, and 4th editions, respectively. Many house styles and individual project styles change more frequently, especially for new
projects.

Examples

International
Several basic style guides for technical and scientific communication have been defined by international
standards organizations. One
example is ISO 215 Documentation – Presentation of contributions toperiodicals and other serials.[1]
Europe
The European Union publishes an Interinstitutional style guide – encompassing 24 languages across the European Union. This
manual is "obligatory" for all those employed by the institutions of the EU who are involved in preparing EU documents and
works.[2] The Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission publishes its own English Style Guide, intended
[3]
primarily for English-language authors and translators, but aiming to serve a wider readership as well.

Australia
Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printersby Snooks & Co for theDepartment of Finance and Administration.
6th ed. ISBN 0-7016-3648-3.
Australian Guide to Legal Citation
Australian manual of scientific style (AMOSS) – onlineby Biotext; illustrated by Biotext. 1st ed.ISBN 978-0-9946369-
0-4

Canada
General

Public Works and Government Services Canada, Translation Bureau. The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and
Editing. Rev. ed. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997.ISBN 1-55002-276-8.[4]
The Canadian Press Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors , 14th ed. Toronto: Canadian Press, 2006. Guide to
newspaper style in Canada.ISBN 0-920009-38-7.
Lexicographical Centre for Canadian EnglishA Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles: Dictionary of
Canadian English Walter Spencer Avis (ed.) Toronto: W.J. Gage (1967) OCLC 301088035[5]
Editing Canadian English, 2nd ed. Prepared for the Editors' Association of Canada / Association canadienne des
réviseurs by Catherine Cragg, Barbara Czarnecki, Iris Hossé Phillips, Katharineanderlinden,
V and Sheila Protti.
Toronto, ON: Macfarlane Walter and Ross, 2000.
Journalism

J.A. McFarlane & Warren Clements. The Globe and Mail Style Book: A Guide to Language and Usage
, rev. ed.
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1998.
Law

McGill Law Journal. Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation / Manuel canadien de la référence juridique
. 8th ed.
Toronto: Carswell, 2014.[6]

United Kingdom

General

Style, by F. L. Lucas, 1955; 3rd edition, Harriman House, 2012

Butcher's Copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders , Judith Butcher,
Caroline Drake, Maureen Leach. 4th ed. 2006 Cambridge:Cambridge University PressISBN 978-0521847131
Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Ed. Jeremy Butterfield.4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2015.
ISBN 978-0-19-966135-0 (hardcover). Based on Fowler's Modern English Usage, by Henry Watson Fowler.
The King's English, by Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler.
New Hart's Rules 2005. (formerly republished asThe Oxford Guide to Style, 2002).
The Complete Plain Words, by Sir Ernest Gowers.
MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses , 2nd ed. London: Modern Humanities
Research Association, 2008.
The Oxford Style Manual. Edited by Robert Ritter. Oxford–New York: Oxford University Press, 2003 (republished a
s
New Oxford Style Manual, 2012). Combines New Hart's Rules (2002) and The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and
Editors (2000).
Usage and Abusage, by Eric Partridge.
Journalism

The BBC News Style Guide: by the British Broadcasting Corporation.[7]

The Economist Style Guide: by The Economist (UK).[8]
The Guardian Style Guide: by The Guardian (United Kingdom).[9]
The Times Style and Usage Guide. Rev. ed. Compiled by Tim Austin. London: Times Books, 2003.[10]

United States
In the United States, most public-facing corporate communication and journalism writing is written with styles following The
Associated Press Stylebook.[11] Book publishers and authors of journals requiring reference sections generally choose the Chicago
.[12] One of the most
Manual of Style, while scholarly writing often follows theMLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing
popular grammar guides used in third-person writing is The Elements of Style. The Associated Press Stylebook is written to be used
together with The Elements of Style to provide a very complete grammar and English style reference with no conflicts.

General

The Careful Writer, by Theodore Bernstein.

The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White. (Commonly called "Strunk and White")
Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams
The Well-Spoken Thesaurus, by Tom Heehler
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Chicago–London:University of Chicago Press, 2017.
Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors. By the editors of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1998. (rev. ed. of Webster's Standard American Style Manual, 1985)
The New York Public Library Writer's Guide ot Style and Usage. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
William A. Sabin. The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting, 10th ed.
Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
Words into Type, 3rd ed. Based on studies by Marjorie E. Skillin, Robert M. Gay
, and other authorities. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1974.

Academic papers

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , 8th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2016.
(Commonly called "MLA style".)
MLA Style Manual and Guide in Scholarly Publishing , 3rd ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America,
2008. Discontinued as of 2016.[13]
William A. Sabin. The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting. 10th ed.
Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
Kate L. Turabian. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations : Chicago Style for Students
and Researchers, 7th ed. Revised by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, and University of
Chicago Press editorial staff. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. (Commonly called Turabian
" style".)
Kate L. Turabian. Student's Guide to Writing College Papers, 4th ed. Revised by Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M.
Williams, and the University of Chicago Press editorial staff. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.

Business

The Business Style Handbook, An A-to-Z Guide for Effective Writing on the Job
, by Helen Cunningham and Brenda
Greene.[14]
The Wall Street Journal Guide to Business Style and Usage. Edited by Paul R. Martin. London: Free Press, 2002.

Government

The Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources: A Manual for Writers and Librarians
. Rev. ed.
Edited by Diane L. Garner and Diane H. Smith. Bethesda, MD: Congressional Information Service for the
Government Documents Round Table, American Library Association, 1993.
 United States Government Printing Office Style Manual, 31st ed. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,
2016.[15]

U.S. Geological Survey. Suggestions to Authors of the Reports of the United States Geological Survey
, 7th ed.
Revised and edited by Wallace R. Hansen. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1991.

Journalism

The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law , 44th ed. Edited by Darrell Christian, Sally Jacobsen,
and David Minthorn. New York: Associated Press, 2009.[16]
The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. Rev. ed. Edited by Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly. New
York: Three Rivers Press, 1999.

Law

ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citations, 3rd ed. Edited by the Association of Legal Writing
Directors and Darby Dickerson. New Y ork: Aspen, 2006.
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, compiled by the Harvard Law Review Association, the Columbia Law
Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal. Legal writers in most law schools in
the United States are trained using this.
Brian A. Garner. The Elements of Legal Style, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press,2002.
The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation, 2nd ed. Edited by the University of Chicago Law Review . 2000.
Despite the near uniform use of the Bluebook, nearly every state has appellate court rules that specify citation methods and writing
styles specific to that state – and the Supreme Court of the United States has its own citation method. However, in most cases these
are derived from the Bluebook.

There are also several other citation manuals available to legal writers in wide usage in the United States. Virtually all large law firms
maintain their own citation manual and several major publishers of legal texts (West, Lexis-Nexis, Hein, et al.) maintain their own
systems.

Religion

Catholic News Service.CNS Stylebook on Religion: Reference Guide and Usage Manual , 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.:
Catholic News Service, 2006.
The Little Style Guide to Great Christian Writing and Publishing , 13th ed. By Leonard G. Goss and Carolyn Stanford
Goss. This popular guide provides a fresh understanding and distinctively Christian examination of style and
language. It covers the basic rules of grammar , style, and editing, and is intended for writers and editors.
The SBL Handbook of Style for Biblical Studies and Related Disciplines , 2nd ed. Edited by Patrick H. Alexander.
Atlanta: SBL Press, 2014 (1st ed.:The SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early
Christian Studies. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999). The industry standard.[1]
Reporting on Religion 2: A Stylebook on Religion's Best Beat. Edited by Diane Connolly and Debra I. Mason.
Westerville, OH: Religion Newswriters, 2007.

Science

Natural sciences

AIP Style Manual, 4th ed. New York: American Institute of Physics, 1990.
American Medical Association. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors , 10th ed. Edited by Cheryl
Iverson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Primarily used in medicine. (Commonly called "AMA style".)
American Chemical Society(ACS). Primarily used for thephysical sciences, such as physical chemistry, physics,
and related disciplines. Commonly called ACS
" style".

The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information

, 3rd ed. Edited by Anne M. Coghill and
Lorrin R. Garson. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 2006; and
ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors(1997).
ASM Style Manual for Journals and Books. Washington, D.C.: American Society for Microbiology, 1991.
 Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers
, 7th ed. Compiled by the Style
Manual Committee of theCouncil of Science Editors. Reston, VA: Council of Science Editors in cooperation with the
Rockefeller University Press, 2006. Used widely in the natural sciences, especially the life sciences.
(Commonly
called "CSE style".)

Social and cognitive sciences

ASA. Style Guide. 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 2014.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 6th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological
Association, 2009. Primarily used insocial sciences. (Commonly called "APA style".)
Style Manual for Political Science, rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: American Political Science Association Committee on
Publications, 2006.
"Language Style Sheet."[17] Linguistic Society of America. Primarily for the journalLanguage, but also used
elsewhere.
"Unified Style Sheet for Linguistics."[18] Linguistic Society of America, 2007.

Web publishing

Janice Walker and Todd Taylor. The Columbia Guide to Online Style, 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press,
2006.
Microsoft Manual of Styleby Microsoft Corporation.
The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing and Creating Content for the W
eb, by Chris
Barr and the Yahoo! Editorial Staff.
Wikipedia Manual of Style
Guidelines for citing web content also appear in comprehensive style guides such as Oxford/Hart, Chicago and MLA.

See also
Graphic charter
Citation
Diction
Documentation
Disputed usage
English writing style
Grammar
List of style guides
Prescription and description
Punctuation
Sentence spacing in language and style guides
Spelling
Style sheet (disambiguation)
Usage
Wikipedia:Manual of Style

References
1. "ISO 215:1986 – Documentation – Presentation of contributions to periodicals and other serials"
(http://www.iso.org/i
so/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=4086) . Iso.org. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 17 June
2013.
2. Publications Office of the European Union (24 July 2008). "Interinstitutional Style Guide"(http://publications.europa.e
u/code/en/en-360400.htm). Europa. European Union12 May 2010.
3. Directorate-General for Translation (European Commission). "English Style Guide" (https://ec.europa.eu/info/files/en
glish-resources-english-style-guide_en). European Union.
 4. Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada(1997). The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing
and Editing (http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/tcdnstyl/index-eng.html?lang=eng)(Softcover)
(Revised ed.). Toronto: Dundurn Press Limited. ISBN 978-1-55002-276-6. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
5. Catherine Craig; et al., eds. (2000). Editing Canadian English(http://www.editors.ca/resources/eac_publications/ece.
html) (2nd ed.). Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-55199-045-3.
6. McGill Law Journal / Revue de droit de McGill(2014). Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation / Manuel canadien
de la référence juridique(http://www.legalciteguide.com/) (Hardcover) (in French and English) (8th ed.). T
oronto:
Carswell. ISBN 978-0-7798-6075-3. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
7. BBC News Styleguide (http://www2.media.uoa.gr/lectures/linguistic_archives/academic_papers0506/notes/styleshee
ts_3.pdf) (PDF), retrieved 18 April 2012
8. The Economist Style Guide, 10th edition (2010), ISBN 1-84668-175-8. Online version (http://www.economist.com/sty
leguide/introduction) as of May 2012.
9. The Guardian Style Guide(https://www.theguardian.com/styleguide), London, 19 December 2008, retrieved 13 April
2011
10. The Times Style and Usage Guide(2003) ISBN 0-00-714505-5. Online version (https://web.archive.org/web/201105
22060010/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/)as of May 2011 via archive.org
11. June Casagrande, Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite
(New York:
Penguin, 2006).
12. "What Is MLA Style?" (http://www.mla.org/style), mla.org, Modern Language Association, 2011, Web, 31 January
2011.
13. "Ask the MLA: Is a new edition of the MLA Style Manual going to be published?" (https://style.mla.org/is-a-new-editio
n-of-the-mla-style-manual-going-to-be-published/)
. The MLA Style Center. Modern Language Association. 8 April
2016. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180711091035/https://style.mla.org/is-a-new-edition-of-the-mla-style-
manual-going-to-be-published/)from the original on 11 July 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
14. Library of Congress Catalog Record forThe Business Style Handbook, 2nd edition: http://lccn.loc.gov/2012033481
15. "U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual" (https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016/content
-detail.html). United States Government Publishing Office. 2016.
16. The Associated Press Stylebook(http://www.apstylebook.com/?do=product&pid=978-0-917360-54-1), retrieved
13 April 2011
17. "Language Style Sheet (https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/style-sheet.pdf)" (PDF), Linguistic Society
of America.
18. "Unified Style Sheet (https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/unified-style-sheet)" (PDF), Linguistic Society of
America.

External links
But the stylebook says ...– Blog post about stylebook abuse, byBill Walsh of The Washington Post
Handouts about writing style guides, from a conference of theAmerican Copy Editors Societyin 2007

William G. Connolly. "How to Write a Stylebook in 10 Easy Steps"(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21
August 2010.
Doug Kouma. "Creating an In-House Stylebook"(PDF). Meredith Special Interest Media. Archived fromthe
original (PDF) on 21 August 2010.
Language Log » Searching 43 stylebooks

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