It's A Matter of Style

by Kelle Campbell

If you manage the editorial process for your organization, sooner or later you'll discover one of the facts of writing life: everyone has their own ideas about what makes up good grammar or style. If you submit copy to three different people for approval, it may come back with three different alterations. If your staff hands in writing assignments, you've probably found yourself editing the work for consistency.

Grammar rules are not as hard and fast as we like to think. Do you put a comma before the conjunction in a series?  Is it U.S.A. or USA? Do you write "curricula" or "curriculums"? And do the same rules apply no matter what you're writing?

Since written material becomes part of your organization's public image, you can't get rid of the rounds of approvals and rewrites. However, using a style sheet or a stylebook can reduce your headaches by putting everyone on the same page when it comes to spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, etc.

Stylebooks
There are dozens of stylebooks available for the publications manager or copy editor. The ones listed below are a good place to start:

• The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law(for journalists and public relations practitioners)

• The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers, 14th Edition

• UPI Stylebook: The Authoritative Handbook for Writers, Editors and News Directors

• The MLA Style Manual (Modern Language Association stylebook for scholarly, literary and academic works)

• Wired Style (for the high-tech issues other stylebooks may bypass)

• Elements of Style

Style Sheets
Even the most comprehensive book cannot cover every situation that editors face.  A style sheet can define your organization's “house style" and serve as an easy reference tool in addition to or in place of a stylebook. The most common format involves dividing one or two sheets of paper into sections and assigning two or more letters of the alphabet to each section. You can also include general rules concerning numbers, punctuation and formatting.

Sample Style Sheet

General Styles/Punctuation Do not precede Inc., Ltd., Jr. or Sr. with a comma Use italics for emphasis	Numbers: Date format is day/month/year e.g. 10 April 2000
A/B	C/D dot-com, not dot.com or dot com	E/F editor in chief, not editor-in-chief
G/H	I/J/K	L/M livable, not liveable
N/O OK, not okay online, not on-line	P/Q plow, not plough	R/S
T/U	V/W Web site, not website or Website	X/Y/Z

Additional Tools
Decide on a particular dictionary as a resource for spelling and definitions.  Stylebooks usually recommend a specific dictionary, so if you choose the AP stylebook, for example, you'll also use Websters New World Dictionary. A good thesaurus and a solid reference library can also help you with the choice of words and to keep tabs on how the pundits in your field are handling the matter.

Taking Style to a New (Electronic) Level
Using your word processing programs to create customized dictionaries and writing styles is another effective way to reduce time, effort and stress when copyediting or compiling writing assignments. Adding, modifying and deleting specific spellings to your computers dictionary will enable your spell-check function to find any misspellings. Spelling and grammar functions allow users to customize or create their choice of writing style, (e.g., casual, technical, formal or standard) and will help detect wordiness, jargon, use of the first person, etc.

So take time out of your busy schedule to decide whether it's "email" or "e-mail." In the long run, it may help you leave the office earlier.

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