Style Guides

Style guides codify a set of document writing and design standards to ensure consistency across a group of documents or an organization. Sometimes they include best practices for compliance, ethics, or other necessary areas for the specific organization or field.

I’ve created style guides for organizations I’ve worked with. You can download the guide I created for The TOPS Program here. In it, you’ll see my preferences for grammar and orthography, which also are presented on the Grammar Lessons page.

Here are links to some of the most popular U.S. style guides:

• American Medical Association (AMA) 
• Associated Press (AP) 
• American Psychological Association (APA) 
• Chicago 
• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• Tourabian
• U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) 

Some style guides specifically aimed at technical writing have emerged:

• Apple 
• Microsoft
• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)

And, there are some wonderful books that offer guidance on how to write, in addition to prescribing style, including:

• The Elements of Style
• Words into Type

The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) is an excellent resource to quickly look up how to format citations and format/organize a research paper. Purdue OWL currently offers information on how to use the APA, Chicago, and MLA style guides.