 | | Articles>Style Guides 102 found. Page 1 of 5. |
#30998
404 File Not Found: Citing Unstable Web Sources 
Researchers, including students, must accommodate to the mutating character of hyperlinks on the World Wide Web. A small study of citations in three volumes of BCQ demonstrates the phenomenon of 'URL rot,' the disappearance of sites cited in the sample articles. Digital technology itself is now being used to create pockets of permanence, but with the understanding that preservation of content is only one ingredient in the mix of media and format migration. Databases like JSTOR offer digitally preserved copies of many scholarly journals. Online journals and search engines may offer their own archives. In general, researchers should cite digital articles in databases where possible and consider avoiding references to online journals with print editions.
Griffin, Frank. Business Communication Quarterly (2003). Articles>Research>Style Guides>Online
#20465
Commas, semi-colons and colons are the sentence tidiers. Used correctly, they'll give your written language the 'punctuation' that pauses, voice modulations and gestures provide when you speak.
#20469
'Agreement' refers to elements in a sentence having the same number, gender, case or person. In English, it's probably an issue only for number (that is, singular vs plural) and case (that is, 'I' vs 'me', 'he' vs 'him' and so on).
#28137
Review: The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
If you are still struggling to decode the complex jargon and structure of English grammar with a long list of reference books, relax. The long wait for a reader-friendly book on English grammar is over. With her straightforward and perfectly-logical approach, Jane Straus reveals the mysteries of grammar and punctuations in her book The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. The book is extremely well-organized, allowing readers to quickly locate the required topics. Concepts are described in clear and simple phrases, backed with examples from everyday language usage.
Kudesia, Saurabh. International Journal for Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Reviews>Style Guides>Grammar
#20926
Why are style guides so frequently created, but so rarely successful? All too often, businesses ask for a style guide as a means to create a common look and feel, in the belief that it will solve usability problems and establish consistency between applications – only to be disappointed in the results. Even if such a style guide is followed carefully, the resulting interfaces may not meet usability goals.. This paper explores strategies for creating a style guide that is more than a simplistic rules book. By making the style guide part of the process, it can be used to promote a shared vision, to help the product meet business and usability requirements for consistency and…it may actually be used.
Quesenbery, Whitney. Usability Professionals Association (2001). Articles>Style Guides>Rhetoric>Usability
#10616
You might think a chapter about how to read a dictionary is a waste of paper, but you'd be wrong. Stylebook entries are designed to be even more explicit in their explanations than dictionary definitions are, but writers and editors still manage to miss the point. When members of the American Copy Editors Society were asked to cite examples of often-misused words, John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun nominated 'stylebook.' The most common form of stylebook abuse is the use of an affirmative entry as a negative entry. Boneheaded editors see x in the stylebook and decide that means they must never, ever use y. A lot of stylebook entries do work this way, but the authors of the stylebook are giving us a little credit and figuring that we can tell which y they're discouraging. One entry, for example, reads 'spaceship.' This doesn't mean all other words in the language are banned; it means simply that AP does not use 'space ship' as two words.
Walsh, Bill. Slot, The (2001). Articles>Style Guides
#20466
Many documents suffer from over-capitalisation. The writer sprinkles capitals everywhere in an attempt to make words stand out - with the result that nothing stands out. Here are some simple rules to help you avoid this capital offence.
#23493
Capitalization of Headings and Titles
The following summarizes the replies to the question of 'capitalization of headings and titles' in the mailing list tcf-gen in recent months.
TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Style Guides>TC
#20471
Have you been told, perhaps by your computerised grammar checker, that too many of your sentences are passive? Have you heard the rule of thumb that at least 80 percent of the sentences in any passage should be active? If you've had the problem or heard the rule, and wonder what the terms active and passive mean, and why one is good and the other frowned on, this article is for you.
#20798
Choosing the Right Style Manual(s)
Editors should consider at least four points in selecting, or reevaluating, primary and secondary manuals.
Mulford, Carolyn. Writing that Works (2003). Articles>Style Guides>Writing
#24926
Collecting Books about Editing 
Intercom's 'friendly editor' discusses his extensive collection of dictionaries, grammars, and other books of interest.
Bush, Donald W. Intercom (2005). Articles>Editing>Style Guides>Grammar
#20095
Communicating in Spite of TLAs (Three-Letter Acronyms)
The unchecked use of acronyms and initialisms in technical writing presents a huge obstacle to clarity and readability. Although technical communicators are certainly more aware of this problem than are the engineers, scientists, and managers with whom they work, they need concrete guidelines and at least a small degree of self-righteousness on this subject to help them cope with the onslaught. That acronyms frustrate communication is well-founded in linguistic theory and common sense. Suggestions for mitigating their effect include issues of audience, term selectivity, frequency and occasion of use, and aesthetics.
Miller, Diane F. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Writing>Style Guides
#29056
Committees within international standards organizations write standards. Prior to approval, these standards must pass through several reviews for technical accuracy and stylistic appropriateness. The style considerations are based on documents published by both the umbrella organization (International Organization for Standarization, or ISO) and the various committees and subcommittees within it. Because authors and editors who use these documents frequently do not have English as a first language, the documents must explain unambiguously just how committees should prepare their documents. This study looks at a sample of those instructional documents using Restricted and Elaborated Code and metadiscourse analysis to determine how easily users can read and understand the material. The findings suggest that the documents do not send a clear message to authors and editors and can be stylistically hard to understand. Consequently, the approved standards themselves are hard to read and interpret.
Warren, Thomas L. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Editing>Style Guides>Standards
#25242
Creating, Implementing, and Maintaining Corporate Style Guides in an Age of Technology
This article details a step-by-step process for creating, implementing, and maintaining a corporate style guide to ensure consistency in organizational communication. Through literature research, analysis of sample style guides, and practitioner interviews, this article provides recommendations for gaining management support, building a process to develop a style guide, determining content, encouraging employee buy-in, and maintaining a corporate style guide.
Bright, Mark R. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Editing>Style Guides>Collaboration
#23466
The Current Demand for Style Guides
During my research for a book project, I have found style guides in a wide variety of forms. Some are only a couple of pages. Others consist of hundreds of pages, delivered in ring binders. Some companies produce well-printed and bound books (for example, Microsoft and Sun). A lot of style guides, differing in quality and size, are in the Internet. Most of them cover the design of web pages; only a few deal with document design in general. From one company I received a multimedia CD containing their style guide. It is a well-designed piece of software, presenting graphic arts, sound and video.
Baumert, Andreas. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Style Guides
#24033
Several years ago, four new prefixes, for representing very large and very small measurements, were introduced into the International System of Units (Système International d'Unités, or SI): yotta, zetta, zepto and yocto.
Ivey, Keith C. Editorial Eye, The (1996). Articles>Style Guides>Standards>Scientific Communication
#18186
Design Guidelines for Written Assignments
This paper discusses design guidelines educators can use to format their assignment instructions. The purpose of formatting is to avoid students' misinterpretation of the assignment and to receive more readable papers. Topics covered are design awareness and formatting tips on using headings, chunking information, and using special features.
Dyrud, Marilyn A. University of Pittsburgh. Articles>Education>Style Guides
#30134
Designing Automated Custom Templates as Part of A Global Corporation's Style Guide
When CH2M HILL staff ignored the Times 12 standard for document production and began inventing their own formats, they often bypassed the company's Publications groups, resulting in client bewilderment and anger. We will orient the audience to how creative thinking and innovative programming made it easy for staff to produce consistently attractive and effectively formatted documents. We also will demonstrate the final Toolset version and supply information about how you can apply the benefits of a Toolset product in your company's environment.
Sippel, Martha K., Brock McFarlane and Deborah Gillespie. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Document Design>Style Guides
#22838
Developing a Company Style Guide
Every company that produces external publications--whether brochures, research papers, or reference manuals-benefit from a company style guide. This paper discusses the advantages of a style guide, why a company-specific style guide is preferred, how to develop a style guide, and what a style guide should (and should not) include.
Gelb, Janice and Jefferey J. Gardiner. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Style Guides>Editing
#29642
Developing a Corporate Style Guide
Developing corporate style guides helps documentation departments or any other group apply the same standards when writing documents for publication or presentation. Three types of style guides exist: static, dynamic, and multi-level. The information that goes into a style guide depends upon corporate and department guidelines. Publishing, promoting, and maintaining style guides are the responsibility of the responsible department. In many corporations this may be the technical documentation department, while for others it may be the corporate marketing or internal communications departments.
Damrau, Jackie. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Style Guides>Business Communication
#14140
Developing a Departmental Style Guide
As a technical writer, you may be asked to develop a style guide for the hardcopy and online documents you produce. Sounds easy enough. After all, commercial style guides and, potentially, examples shared by your colleagues should provide enough information to get you started. In researching your task, though, you may find a variety of definitions and explanations of what a style guide is and why companies use them. What's more, you many find that style guides don't seem to have consistencies among them that can help guide you in developing one.
Weber, Jean Hollis. TECHWR-L (1998). Articles>Style Guides>Workflow
#20133
Developing and Implementing Project Style Guides
Style guides can be very effective tools for achieving uniformity in documentation. Their use can enhance the appearance, readability, and tone of a document. In this progression session, I would like to discuss why style guides are needed, what should be included in them, and how to create a style guide appropriate for your project. I invite participants to bring style guides with them for critique and discussion.
Marks, Sandra R. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Style Guides>Editing
#10322
Disciplinary Style Manuals as Reliable Guides to Scientific Discourse Norms
Style manuals sponsored by professional associations in various scientific disciplines have received virtually no scholarly attention. These manuals, however, specify many disciplinary discourse norms that writers need to follow in publishing scientific research. Consequently, these manuals provide an important and reliable source of information about how communities of working scientists conceptualize, construct, and publish their scientific texts. The disciplinary norms that these style manuals promulgate derive both from general scientific research practices and from the practical demands of scientific publishing. Because of their unique normative nature and their connection with scientific practice, disciplinary style manuals should be categorized separately from other types of scientific style manual, and the material they contain can reliably be used in technical writing and editing.
Hagge, John. Technical Communication Online (1997). Articles>Scientific Communication>Style Guides
#23401
Do Not Forget Bibliographical Data in Technical Documentation!
Information products, e.g. manuals, drawings etc, must, besides the technical message, contain certain formal data, which too often is left out. Proper formal data contributes to good order and favours the producer as well as the user of information products.
Rullgård, Åke. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>Style Guides
#23501
Do Technical Writers Need an International Standard for English-Language Spelling?
He demonstrates how ministers of state who speak different languages often choose English as the most convenient language of communication. He cites the 11-nation European Central Bank in Frankfurt as a typical organization that works only in English. And he notes that many of the journals published by respected international organizations such as the Pasteur Institute also are published in English. TC-Forum is another example.
Blicq, Ronald S. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Style Guides>International>Technical Writing
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