More than once in my writing career, I have been asked to create a Writing Style Guide. So, on that note, below you can see some of the items that I are addressed in a writing style guide.
This document is intended to give the reader an
understanding of how internal and external documents shall be written.
|
Topic
|
Font Style
|
Font Size
|
|
Headers
|
Times
New Roman
|
14
pt.
|
|
Sub-Sections
|
Times
New Roman
|
12
pt.
|
|
Standard
Text
|
Times
New Roman
|
12
pt.
|
|
List
of Tables Headers
|
Times
New Roman
|
10
pt.
|
|
List
of Figures Headers
|
Times
New Roman
|
10
pt.
|
|
List
of Acronyms and Abbreviations
|
Times
New Roman
|
10
pt.
|
|
Topic
|
Information
|
|
Justification
|
Left
|
|
Bold
|
Use
it sparingly to emphasize the part of your text you wish to stand out. This
could be someone’s name, a deadline date or another key piece of information.
Punctuation that follows bold text should not itself be bold (unless the whole sentence is in bold type). If you are transcribing a speech, you might
want to use bold text (or italic text) to emphasize words in writing on which
the speaker placed emphasis in speech.
|
|
Italic
|
Use
it sparingly to flag part of your text which is different from that
surrounding it. Titles of books, journals, plays, films, musical works, etc.
should be given in italics if they are a complete published work; if you are
referring to an individual short story, song, article, etc. within a larger publication,
use single quotation marks
|
|
Plurals
|
Use
in past tenses or other grammatical changes to italicized titles or phrases
should only be italicized up to the end of the title or phrase – do not
italicize the s, ed, etc. – and punctuation should only be italicized if it is
part of the title, quote, etc. Note that it is not always easy to tell whether
a full stop/comma is in italic.
|
|
Dates
|
MM/DD/YYYY
The
use of a comma between the DD and YYYY is not needed.
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Numbering
|
Spell
out the number when less than 10 (ten)
|
|
Spacing
|
Double
Space between Header Topics
Single
Space between Sub-Sections within the same Topic
|
|
Table
noted in the document
|
Listed
below
|
|
Figure
noted in the document
|
Listed
below
|
Time
·
Times
Use either the 12- or 24-hour clock – not both in the same text. The 12-hour
clock uses a full stop between the hours and minutes; the 24-hour clock uses a
colon and omits am/pm
·
Use
‘noon’ or ‘midnight’ instead of ‘12’, ‘12 noon’ or ‘12 midnight’.
·
If
using the 12-hour clock, don’t use additional ‘.00’ for times on the hour, and
close up space between the number and the ‘am’ or ‘pm’.
Grammar
·
If
a name already ends in s or z and would be difficult to pronounce if ’s were
added to the end, consider rearranging the sentence to avoid the difficulty
·
In
compound nouns and where multiple nouns are linked to make one concept, place
the apostrophe at the end of the final part (and match it to that noun).
·
Do
not use an apostrophe in its with the meaning ‘belonging to it’ (this is
analogous with his/hers/theirs): note that it’s is a contraction of ‘it is’.
·
Some
place names have an apostrophe, and some don’t – this can’t be predicted and
must be checked.
·
Use apostrophes with noun phrases denoting
periods of time (use an apostrophe if you can replace the apostrophe with ‘of’).
·
Use as little punctuation as necessary
while retaining the meaning of the sentence. Apostrophe to indicate possession
Use ’s after singular nouns, plural nouns which do not end in s and indefinite
pronouns.
Brackets
·
Brackets
round brackets ( ) Use in place of a pair of dashes or commas around a
non-defining phrase (one which adds extra information, a translation, dates, an
explanation or a definition). Using other punctuation with brackets Include
full stops/exclamation marks/question marks/quotation marks before the closing
bracket only if the complete sentence/quote is in brackets; otherwise,
punctuate after the closing bracket.
·
Square
brackets [ ] Use to enclose comments, corrections, references or translations
made by a subsequent author or editor
Colons
and Semicolon
·
Colon
and semicolon Use a colon to introduce a subclause which follows logically from
the text before it, is not a new concept and depends logically on the preceding
main clause
·
Use
a semicolon to link two related parts of a sentence, neither of which depends
logically on the other and each of which could stand alone as a grammatically
complete sentence.
·
Use
semicolons in place of commas in a complicated list or sentence if it will
improve clarity, particularly if list items already include commas.
Comma
·
Comma Use a pair of commas to surround a
non-defining clause (one which adds descriptive information but which can be
removed without losing the meaning of the sentence) – note that only ‘which’ or
‘who’ can be used in this type of clause, not ‘that’.
·
Do not use commas to surround a defining
clause (which cannot be removed without losing the meaning of the sentence) –
note that ‘which’ or ‘who’ can be replaced by ‘that’ in this type of clause.
·
Use commas to surround a non-defining word
or phrase (which adds information but could be omitted without changing the
sense of the sentence), and follow the non-defining word/phrase with a single
comma if it is at the start of the sentence.
Hyphen
·
Hyphen (-) When to use a hyphen In an
adjectival phrase before a noun
·
In an adjectival phrase including a verb
participle
·
With prefixes only if required to avoid
confusion/mispronunciation, such as where prefixes themselves or letters are
repeated
·
With prefixes before a proper name, number
or date
·
In numbers which are spelled out
Punctuation Marks
·
Quotation marks Use single quotation marks
for direct speech or a quote, and double quotation marks for direct speech or a
quote within that.
·
Names and titles General titles Use
capitals for titles prefixing names, but not for job descriptions. Note that
some job descriptions are never used with names, such as ‘prime minister’.
·
Using other punctuation with quotation
marks If the quote would have required punctuation in its original form, place
the punctuation inside the quotation marks. (If it is unclear, try writing the
whole sentence out without quotation marks and ‘he said’ etc., and replicate
the resulting punctuation.)
Images
·
PNG, GIF, and JPEG are
all acceptable submission formats. GIF or PNG are
preferred for images in which text features prominently. (Don’t use JPEG for
a gallery of typefaces or a screenshot of a web page.)
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