A style guide, or style manual, is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field. The implementation of a style guide provides uniformity in style and formatting within a document and across multiple documents. A set of standards for a specific organization is often known as "house style". Style guides are common for general and specialized use, for the general reading and writing audience, and for students and scholars of various academia, academic disciplines, medicine, journalism, the law, government, business, and industry.

International

Several basic style guides for technical and scientific communication have been defined by international standards organizations. These are often used as elements of and refined in more specialized style guides that are specific to a subject, region, or organization. Some examples are: * EN 15038, Annex DEuropean Standard for Translation Services (withdrawn) * ISO 8Presentation of scientific journal, periodicals * ISO 18Contents lists of periodicals * ISO 31physical quantities, Quantities & physical unit, units * ISO 214Abstracts for publication & documentation * ISO 215Presentation of contributions to periodicals and other serials * ISO 690Bibliographic referencesContent, form & structure * ISO 832Bibliographic referencesAbbreviations of typical words * ISO 999Index of a publication * ISO 1086Title leaves of a book * ISO 2145Numbering of divisions & subdivisions in written documents * ISO 5966Presentation of scientific & technical reports (withdrawn) * ISO 6357spine (book), Spine titles on books & other publications * ISO 7144Presentation of thesis, theses & similar documents * ISO 9241Ergonomics of Human System Interaction * ISO 17100Translation Services-Requirements for Translation Services

Australia

General

''Australian Government Style Manual''
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Digital Transformation Agency
7th ed. *''Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printers'' by Snooks & Co for the Department of Finance and Deregulation (Australia), Department of Finance and Administration. 6th ed. . * ''The Australian Handbook for Writers and Editors'' by Margaret McKenzie. 4th ed. . * ''The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage'' by Pam Peters of Macquarie University. 2nd ed. . * ''The Complete Guide to English Usage for Australian Students'' by Margaret Ramsay. 6th ed. .

Law

* Australian Guide to Legal Citation published by University of Melbourne Law School. 4th ed. .

Science

* ''Australian manual of scientific style (AMOSS)'' by Biotext; illustrated by Biotext. 1st ed.

Canada

* ''The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing'': by Dundurn Press in co-operation with Public Works and the Government Services Canada Translation Bureau. .

Newspapers

* ''CP Stylebook'': Guide to newspaper style in Canada maintained by the Canadian Press. . * ''The Globe and Mail Style Book'': Originally created to help writers and editors at the ''The Globe and Mail, Globe and Mail'' present clear, accurate and concise stories.

European Union

* ''Interinstitutional Style Guide''. * ''English Style Guide'' ("A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission" – executive branch of the European Union.)

United Kingdom

General

* ''Copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors and Publishers'' Judith Butcher. 3rd ed. 1992 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press * ''Fowler's Modern English Usage''. Ed. R. W. Burchfield. Rev. 3rd ed. London: Clarendon Press, 2004. (hardcover). Based on ''Modern English Usage'', by Henry Watson Fowler. * ''The King's English'', by Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler. * ''The Oxford Style Manual'' (2003 ed.). Combines ''Hart's Rules, The Oxford Guide to Style'' and ''The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors'', which concentrates on common problems. * ''The Complete Plain Words'', by Ernest Gowers, Sir Ernest Gowers. * ''Usage and Abusage'', by Eric Partridge.

For legal documents

* ''Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities'' (''OSCOLA''), by the University of Oxford Faculty of Law

For journalism

* ''The BBC News Style Guide'': by the British Broadcasting Corporation. * ''The Economist Style Guide'': by ''The Economist''. * ''The Guardian Style Guide'': by ''The Guardian'' * ''The Times Style and Usage Guide'', by ''The Times''.

For the computer industry (software and hardware)

* ''Acorn Technical Publications Style Guide'', by Acorn Computers. Provides editorial guidelines for text in RISC OS instructional publications, technical documentation, and reference information. * ''RISC OS Style Guide'' by RISC OS Open, RISC OS Open Limited. Provides design guidelines, help and dialogue box phrasing examples for the software user interface.

United States

In the United States, both corporate and journalistic forms of mass communication rely on styles provided in the ''Associated Press Stylebook'' (AP). A classic grammar style guide, which is designed to complement the AP Stylebook, is ''The Elements of Style''. Together, these two books are referenced more than any other general style book for U.S. third-person writing used across most professions.

For general writing

* ''The Careful Writer'', by Theodore Bernstein. * ''Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right'', by Bill Bryson. *''Garner's Modern American Usage'' by Bryan A. Garner. * ''AP Stylebook, The Associated Press Stylebook'' Basic Books . * ''The Elements of Style''. By William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White. (Often referred to as "Strunk and White".)

For legal documents

* ''Bluebook, The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation''. Jointly, by the ''Harvard Law Review'', ''Yale Law Journal'', ''Columbia Law Review'', and ''Penn Law Review''. * ''The Indigo Book, The Indigo Book: An Open and Compatible Implementation of A Uniform System of Citation''. Collaboratively by Professor Christopher Jon Sprigman and NYU law students, and published by Public.Resource.Org. * ''ALWD Guide to Legal Citation'', formerly ''ALWD Citation Manual,'' by the Association of Legal Writing Directors * ''New York Style Manual'': The Tanbook, by the New York State Reporter

For academic papers

* ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press. * ''A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Chicago Style for Students and Researchers'', by Kate L. Turabian. Often referred to as "Turabian." * ''MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers'', by Joseph Gibaldi. Often referred to as "MLA". * ''APA style, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association'', by the American Psychological Association (APA).

For journalism

* ''AP Stylebook, The Associated Press Stylebook'' Basic Books . * ''The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage''. By Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly. * ''The Wall Street Journal Guide to Business Style and Usage'', by Ronald J. Alsop and the Staff of the ''Wall Street Journal''. * ''The BuzzFeed Style Guide'': by Emmy Favilla and Megan Paolone.

For electronic publishing

* ''The Columbia Guide to Online Style'', by Janice Walker and Todd Taylor. * ''Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites'', by Patrick J. Lynch (biomedical illustrator), Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton. * ''AP Stylebook, The Associated Press Stylebook'', By the Associated Press, Basic Books .

For business

* ''AP Stylebook, The Associated Press Stylebook'' Basic Books . * ''The Business Style Handbook, An A-to-Z Guide for Effective Writing on the Job'', by Helen Cunningham and Brenda Greene. * ''The Gregg Reference Manual'', by William A. Sabin.

For the computer industry (software and hardware)

* ''Apple Style Guide'', published online by Apple Inc. Provides editorial guidelines for text in Apple instructional publications, technical documentation, reference information, training programs, and the software user interface.
An earlier version was the ''Apple Publications Style Guide.'' *''DigitalOcean documentation style guide,'' published online by DigitalOcean. *''GNOME documentation style guide,'' published online by The GNOME Project, GNOME. * ''Google Developer Documentation Style Guide,'' published online by Google. Provides a set of editorial guidelines for anyone writing developer documentation for Google-related projects. *''Mailchimp content style guide,'' published online by Mailchimp. *''Microsoft Writing Style Guide'', published online by Microsoft Corporation. Provides a style standard for technical documentation including use of terminology, conventions, procedure, design treatments, and punctuation and grammar usage. Before 2018, Microsoft published a book, the ''Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications''. *''MongoDB documentation style guide,'' published by MongoDB Inc., MongoDB. *''Mozilla Writing Style Guide,'' published online by Mozilla. *''Rackspace style guide for technical content,'' published online by Rackspace Technology, Rackspace. *''Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry'', by Sun Technical Publications, 3rd ed., 2010. *''Red Hat style guide for technical documentation,'' published online by Red Hat. *''Salesforce style guide for documentation and user interface text,'' published online by Salesforce. *''SUSE documentation style guide,'' published online by SUSE. *''The IBM Style Guide: Conventions for Writers and Editors'', 2011, and ''Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors'', 2014, from IBM Press. *''The Splunk Style Guide'', published online by Splunk. Provides a writing style reference for anyone writing or editing technical documentation. * ''The Yahoo! Style Guide'', 2010.

Editorial style guides on preparing a manuscript for publication

* ''AP Stylebook, The Associated Press Stylebook'' Basic Books . * ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', by University of Chicago Press staff. * ''Words into Type'', by Marjorie E. Skillin, Roberta

Academic

* ''The Chicago Manual of Style''. The standard of the academic publishing industry including many journal publications. * ''A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations'' (frequently called "Turabian style")—Published by Kate L. Turabian, the graduate school dissertation secretary at the University of Chicago from 1930 to 1958. The school required her approval for every master's thesis and doctoral dissertation. Her stylistic rules closely follow ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', although there are some differences. * ''ACS style, ACS Style Guide''—for scientific papers published in Academic journal, journals of the American Chemical Society. * ''AMA style, American Medical Association Manual of Style''—for scientific paper, medical papers published in journals of the American Medical Association. * ''APA style, American Psychological Association Style Guide''—for the behavioral and social sciences; published by the American Psychological Association. * ''ASA style, American Sociological Association Style Guide''—for the social sciences; published by the American Sociological Association. * ''Geoscience Reporting Guidelines''—for geoscience reports in industry, academia and other disciplines. * ''Handbook of Technical Writing'', by Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu.-for general technical writing. * ''IEEE style''—used in many technical research papers, especially those relating to computer science. * ''The Little Style Guide'' by Leonard G. Goss and Carolyn Stanford Goss—provides a distinctively religious examination of style and language for writers and editors in religion, philosophy of religion, and theology—. * ''MHRA Style Guide''—for the arts and humanities; published by the Modern Humanities Research Association. Available as a free download (see article). * ''The MLA Style Manual, MLA Style Manual'', and the ''MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers'' —for subjects in the arts and the humanities; published by the Modern Language Association, Modern Language Association of America (MLA). * ''Society of Biblical Literature#Publications, SBL Handbook of Style''—Society of Biblical Literature style manual specifically for the field of ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and early Christian studies. The ''SBL Handbook of Style'' includes a recommended standard format for abbreviation of Primary Sources in Ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and early Christian Studies. * ''Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers''—for scientific papers published by the Council of Science Editors (CSE), a group formerly known as the Council of Biology Editors (CBE). * ''The Style Manual for Political Science''—used by many United States, American political science journals; published by the American Political Science Association.

Communities

* ''GLAAD Media Reference Guide'', 8th ed., ''GLAAD College Media Reference Guide'', 1st ed., ''GLAAD Chinese Media Reference Guide'', 1st ed. - published by GLAAD to encourage media outlets to use language and practices inclusive of LGBT people. Available as a free download.

Art

* ''Association of Art Editors Style Guide''

References

External links

; General use of style guides ; American English *
Style Manuals & Guides
' listed by the University of Memphis Libraries (updated pag
Style Manuals
. *
Bartleby Searchable Usage Guides
'. ; Federal government of the United States, U.S. government publications *
U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual
'. ; British English *
BBC News Style Guide
'. *
Economist.com Style Guide
'.
The Guardian ''Stylebook''
; Canadian English *
York University Style Guide
' – Adapts ''CP Stylebook'' for university student use. ; Australian English *
Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printers
- online version of the Australian Government Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printers *
The ABC Style Guide
- the style guide of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ; International organizations
WHO English Style Guide

*
English Style Guide
' ("A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission" – executive branch of the European Union.) ; Academia
Citation Management
Online research tutorial to documentation style guides from Cornell University Libraries.
"Style Manuals & Writing Guides"
from the California State University, Los Angeles Library. ;Medical journals
ICJME Uniform Requirements: Sample References

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME)
''Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals'' (Updated Feb. 2006). ; Scientific journals
''Advances in Physics'' - Style Guide
for Physics journal published by Taylor & Francis Group (Taylor & Francis journals).
Writing for a ''Nature'' journal
for ''Nature (journal), Nature''. *
The Lancet: Formatting Guidelines for Authors
Formatting Guidelines for Electronic Submission of Revised Manuscripts''. ; WWW *
OSNews Style Guide:
Rules and Guidelines for Publishing and Participating on OSNews'', by T. Holwerda. OSNews, 2007. *
Web Style Guide
', 2nd ed., by Patrick Lynch and Sarah Horton. {{col-end Style guides, List Communication design Design Technical communication

International

Australia

General

Law

Science

Canada

Newspapers

European Union

United Kingdom

General

For legal documents

For journalism

For the computer industry (software and hardware)

United States

For general writing

For legal documents

For academic papers

For journalism

For electronic publishing

For business

For the computer industry (software and hardware)

Editorial style guides on preparing a manuscript for publication

Academic

Communities

Art

See also

References

External links