Individualized Style Guides: Contextualized Writing Strategies for Seminar Participants  

Many communication trainers adopt a “rules” approach, giving participants the “right” answers for writing problems. Our alternative approach focuses on individual participants’ writing contexts. In our writing workshops for university personnel, we train participants to develop and keep style guides. Individualized style guides help participants identify the conventions common in their particular organizations and help them maintain consistency between and within documents. Participants also benefit by developing a rhetorical approach to writing which builds their confidence and ability to respond to future writing situations on the job.

Jervis, Amanda M. and Jane Perkins. STC Proceedings (1993). Presentations>Writing>Style Guides