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Got Style?
By admin | August 5, 2008
When I speak to law firms and businesses about their writing needs, many are surprised when I ask them if they have a style guide. While many people are under the impression that style guides are only for publishers and academics, in truth, anyone whose working life includes writing can benefit from using one. In addition to using a published style guide such as the Chicago Manual of Style, it’s useful to have an in-house style guide that addresses issues not covered in the printed guides, or ones for which your business has its own style.
Why do you need a style guide? First, it gives writers a quick and easy reference for questions that might otherwise send them on a wild goose chase. If associates do a Google search to find out whether “administrative law judge” should be capitalized (it shouldn’t), they’ll waste a lot of time and get conflicting answers. Even if you’ve reached a consensus within your office about these sorts of questions, having that knowledge in writing makes it easier for new employees to learn the preferred style. Another great reason to have a style guide is that it gets employees thinking about writing and creates an office culture in which good writing is valued and discussed. Finally, having a style guide will reflect well on your firm or business, as the writing your employees produce will be consistent – particularly important when multiple employees are collaborating on the same document or where employees commonly sign documents in their supervisor’s name.
How do you go about creating a style guide? I’m not suggesting that you write your own version of the Chicago Manual, complete with index. Instead, try these simple steps.
1. Start by selecting a respected, published style manual. Rather than re-invent the wheel, start by choosing a published style manual and a dictionary. As mentioned above, the Chicago Manual of Style is a well-respected manual, as is the Associated Press Style Guide. For law firms, I also recommend Bryan Garner’s The Elements of Legal Style and The Redbook: A Manual of Legal Style. For science-related businesses, the American Psychological Association’s Publications Manual may be more appropriate, whereas many scholarly publications prefer the Modern Language Association Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. It doesn’t matter so much which volume you choose, as long as you choose just one and stick with it. Depending on the size of your business, you may want to buy a copy for every employee, or keep one in a shared location so everyone can use it.
2. Begin a list of common style questions. Some firms find it helpful to choose one or two people within the firm to be in charge of this task. Have this Keeper of the Style Flame start a list of style questions and their answers and keep it on a shared drive, accessible to all employees. Have other employees e-mail The Keeper with their style questions. If the question is a common or important one and is not addressed in the standard style manual, add it to the in-house manual in alphabetical order.
3. Start a dialogue. Make it a habit to ask, at the end of every staff meeting, whether anyone has encountered any sticky writing situations since the last meeting. The Keeper can also bring up any style questions that employees have submitted, and you can discuss them as a firm to come to a consensus. You may be surprised to learn that your employees have strong opinions on such issues as hyphens and the serial comma!
4. Know what style isn’t. Before putting something in the style guide, be sure to find out whether there is a right answer. Style isn’t the same thing as grammar, spelling, or punctuation. The former are matters of preference not addressed by any set rule, while the latter have rules that should be followed unless you have a good reason to depart from them (intentional misspellings or idiomatic usages in advertising copy, for example, are common). Consult your published style guide and dictionary before making up your own wacky rule.
5. Don’t include everything. Not every issue brought up in a staff meeting necessarily needs to go in your style guide. The Keeper should be free to make judgement calls about which issues are important and common enough to go in, to avoid uncontrolled growth.
6. Do include a definition of plagiarism and your company policy on plagiarism. Plagiarism is not just unethical – it can get your business into serious legal hot water. Make sure employees are clear on what plagiarism is, how to avoid it, and the fact that your firm takes it seriously. Refer them to the published style guide for proper citation formats, if needed.
7. Embrace change. While the purpose of a style guide is to ensure consistency, language changes and over time, and your style guide can, too. Especially in this era of rapid technological change, new words go from odd to mainstream in record time (think about the word “blog,” for example). Updating your style manual from time to time will keep your business documents from sounding antiquated and will allow for changes in the tastes of your audience…or your management!
While it may seem like a lot of work, a style guide is actually easy to start and can grow over time into an indispensable tool that makes your firm or business stand out above your competitors.
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