List of style guides

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 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 D – European Standard for Translation Services ISO 8 – Presentation of periodicals ISO 18 – Contents lists of periodicals ISO 31 – Quantities & units ISO 214 – Abstracts for publication & documentation ISO 215 – Presentation of contributions to periodicals and other serials[1] ISO 690 – Bibliographic references – Content, form & structure ISO 832 – Bibliographic references – Abbreviations of typical words

ISO 999 – Index of a publication ISO 1086 – Title leaves of a book ISO 2145 – Numbering of divisions & subdivisions in written documents ISO 5966 – Presentation of scientific & technical reports (withdrawn) ISO 6357 – Spine titles on books & other publications ISO 7144 – Presentation of theses & similar documents ISO 9241 – Ergonomics of Human System Interaction

Australia

• Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printers Snooks & Co for the Department of Finance and Administration. 6th ed. ISBN 0-7016-3648-3.

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. ISBN 1-55002-276-8.

Newspapers

• CP Stylebook: Guide to newspaper style in Canada maintained by the Canadian Press. ISBN 0-920009-38-7.
• The Globe and Mail Style Book: Originally created to help writers and editors at the Globe and Mail present clear, accurate and concise stories. ISBN 0-7710-5685-0

European Union

• Interinstitutional Style Guide.[2]
• English Style Guide ("A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission" – executive branch of the European Union.)[3]

United Kingdom

General

• Copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors and Publishers Judith Butcher. 3rd ed. 1992 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-40074-0
• Fowler's Modern English Usage. Ed. R. W. Burchfield. Rev. 3rd ed. London: Clarendon Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-861021-1 (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 The Oxford Guide to Style and The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, which concentrates on common problems.
• The Complete Plain Words, by 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.[4]
• The Economist Style Guide: by The Economist.[5]
• The Fourth Estate's News Style Guide: by the Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation
• The Guardian Style Guide: by The Guardian[6]
• 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.[7]
• RISC OS Style Guide[8] by 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).[9] 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.
• The Classics of Style — presents writing guidance from William Strunk, Jr., Emerson, Whitman, Poe, and other writers.
• The Associated Press Stylebook Basic Books ISBN 978-0-917360-63-3.
• The Elements of Style. By William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White. (Often referred to as "Strunk and White".)

For legal documents

• The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Jointly, by the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, and Penn Law Review.
• 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".
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, by the American Psychological Association (APA).

For journalism

• The Associated Press Stylebook Basic Books ISBN 978-0-917360-63-3.
• The Fourth Estate's News Style Guide: by the Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation
• 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.[10]

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 and Sarah Horton.
• The Associated Press Stylebook, By the Associated Press, Basic Books ISBN 978-0-917360-63-3.

For business

• The Associated Press Stylebook Basic Books ISBN 978-0-917360-63-3.
• The Business Style Handbook, An A-to-Z Guide for Effective Writing on the Job, by Helen Cunningham and Brenda Greene.[11]
• 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.[12] An earlier version was the Apple Publications Style Guide[13][14]
• Google Developer Documentation Style Guide., published online by Google.[15] Provides a set of editorial guidelines for anyone writing developer documentation for Google-related projects.
• Microsoft Writing Style Guide, published online by Microsoft Corporation.[16] 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.
• 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 Yahoo! Style Guide, 2010.
• The Splunk Style Guide, published online by Splunk.[17] Provides a writing style reference for anyone writing or editing technical documentation.
• Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry, by Sun Technical Publications, 2nd ed., 2003.

Editorial style guides on preparing a manuscript for publication

• The Associated Press Stylebook Basic Books ISBN 978-0-917360-63-3.
• 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 Guide—for scientific papers published in journals of the American Chemical Society.
• American Medical Association Manual of Style—for medical papers published in journals of the American Medical Association.
• American Psychological Association Style Guide—for the behavioral and social sciences; published by the American Psychological Association.
• 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.[18]
• 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—ISBN 978-0-8054-2787-5.
• MHRA Style Guide—for the arts and humanities; published by the Modern Humanities Research Association. Available as a free download (see article).
• 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 of America (MLA).
• 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).[19]
• The Style Manual for Political Science—used by many 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.[20]

Art

• Association of Art Editors Style Guide[21]

See also

Citation Diction Documentation Disputed usage English writing style Grammar

Prescription and description Punctuation Sentence spacing in language and style guides Spelling Style guide Stylistics

References

1. "ISO 215:1986 - Documentation -- Presentation of contributions to periodicals and other serials". Iso.org.
2. "Publications Office — Interinstitutional style guide — Home". Publications.europa.eu.
3. "English resources: English Style Guide". European Commission.
4. "BBC News style guide". BBC Academy.
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2017-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. "Guardian and Observer style guide: A". Theguardian.com. 23 December 2015.
7. "Acorn Publications Open Style Guide" (PDF). Riscosopen.org. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
8. "RISC OS Open: Style Guide". Riscosopen.org.
9. "AP Stylebook: Know these AP Stylebook changes". Myblogeditor.com.
10. Paolone, Emmy Favilla, Megan. "BuzzFeed Style Guide". BuzzFeed.com.
11. Library of Congress Catalog Record for The Business Style Handbook. Lccn.loc.gov (2nd ed.).
12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-08-10. Retrieved 2018-08-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
13. "Wayback Machine" (PDF). 17 February 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2015.
14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-09-29. Retrieved 2013-09-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. "About this guide - Google Developer Documentation Style Guide". Google Developers.
16. pallep. "Welcome - Microsoft Style Guide". Docs.microsoft.com.
17. "Welcome to the Splunk Style Guide - Splunk Documentation". docs.splunk.com. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
18. "Shaw Communications". Members.shaw.ca.
19. Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers ISBN 978-0-226-11649-5
20. "GLAAD Media Reference Guide - 10th Edition". Glaad.org. 25 August 2011.
21. "AAE Style Guide NEW". 7 March 2015. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015.

External links

General use of style guides American English Style Manuals & Guides listed by the University of Memphis Libraries (updated page Style Manuals). Bartleby Searchable Usage Guides. 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 ABC Radio National style guide for Australian English. International organizations WHO English Style Guide EU Interinstitutional 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. 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.