6 Basics To Include In Your Style Guide

A style guide will change your organisation for the better. In today’s post, we include 6 basics to include in your style guide.

I have explained what a style guide is and why it will change your organisation for the better. In today’s post, I am including six basics to include in your style guide.

6 Basics To Include In Your Style Guide

1. Language Rules

You can’t write a grammar book, but it will be worthwhile mentioning the rules that have bearing on your organisation, or clarifying rules that are regularly confused by employees. For example, if you work for a medical aid provider, you’ll need to know the difference between ‘dependent’ and ‘dependant’. If you work for lawyers, you’ll need to note that ‘comprise’ is correct, and not ‘comprise of’.

2. Spelling Rules

Does your organisation use US English or UK English? It will determine whether you use ‘realise’ or ‘realize’, or ‘fulfil’ or ‘fulfill’. Draw up a table that shows the differences in spelling between US and UK English, and be consistent in which you use. Furthermore, you’ll need to clarify other troublesome spelling. For example, do you say ‘cannot’ or ‘can not’? Which dictionary has the last say, in your organisation, when it comes to spelling?

3. Punctuation Rules

Do you say ‘e-mail’ or ‘email’? ‘Cooperate’ or ‘co-operate’? You’ll need to clarify these hyphen issues. Do you say ‘Internet’ or ‘internet’? Is it correct to say ‘bachelor of arts’ or ‘Bachelor of Arts’ when speaking about a degree? This is an example of clarifying capitalisation. What is the correct way to punctuate the separate items on a bulleted list? What is the correct way to punctuate a quote inserted into your text? Do you use single quotation marks, or double? Do you use the Oxford comma, or not?

4. Citation

It is important to include information on how to cite sources. Do you use the Harvard style? Or do you use the MLA style? Do you cite differently for Internet sources than you do for print sources? Provide examples on how to cite each kind of source.

5. Visual Composition

Are your headings uppercase, title case, or sentence case? Are they bolded or italicised? When you have lists, are they bulleted or numbered? Is there a line between the introductory sentence and the first bullet, or no space at all? What is your standard line spacing in your documents?

6. Brand terminology

What are the standardised terms used in your organisation to describe your product or service?

Please note.

These are only a few of the questions you’ll need to answer. When you draw up your style guide, it’s helpful to list the different elements in alphabetical order, or to have a detailed table of contents. You want your style guide to be as user-friendly as possible once you’ve completed it, so that you and other people actually use it on a daily basis when you write.

You can do it!

It’s a huge task, but a worthwhile one. Don’t give up. Take 30 minutes every day at work to think about what needs to be noted in your style guide, and work on it. Perhaps you can make it a team effort and draw in others who have a flair for language. Before you know it, you’ll have something in your hands that can revolutionise your organisation’s communication.

Resources for business writers:

1. The Complete Grammar Workbook
2. The Complete Email Workbook
3. The Report Writing Workbook

by Donna Radley