Style Guides
What’s a Style Guide?
A style guide determines how spelling, punctuation, and other elements of your work should be handled.
For instance, some guides say the comma before “and” when listing items in a series should be omitted unless the lack of a comma causes confusion. (She brought gifts for her parents, Harold and God.) Other guides say to always use the serial comma.
Which is right, “Web site” or “website”? According to Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary, the preferred dictionary of the Chicago Manual of Style, “Web site” is correct.
A manuscript may require, in addition to a general stylebook, its own style sheet — a listing of proper names, spelling of made-up words, and so forth.
The standard style guide for books published in the United States is the Chicago Manual of Style. The standard for newspapers is the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.
Other guides exist and may be preferred. In addition, an organization or publishing house may follow a particular style but modify it to suit its preferences.
Style Guides I Support
- Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual
- Chicago Manual of Style
- Client style guide