Establishing a Corporate Style Guide: A Bibliographic Essay
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/1997/00000044/00000003/art00006
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MacKay, Peter D.
Technical Communication Online
1997

Abstract:

Deciding whether to establish a house style guide can be a difficult decision for corporate writing departments. Management must decide whether it is worth the time, money, and energy to develop its own specialized style guide when various general style books already exist on the market. And if a company does decide to go ahead and establish a house style guide, what form should the document take? Will the guide be effective? What considerations should be weighed in determining whether house style rules should be established in a particular business? This article surveys several recent studies that can help answer these questions by examining such mediating factors as explanations of why and how a style guide can improve document quality and consistency to the strategies for developing the guide itself.