An important tool for technical communicators in all stages of the writing process is a style guide. A Style Guide is a reference guide that standardizes the writing and editing of publications. Editorial teams use them to create consistent and well-written documents.
There are many style guides available, with some being more general and other being written to fit a specific niche. This list names some of the most important guides available, along with its common users and usage, and a link to the website or a citation for the book. It follows some of the recommendations from the following lists:
- Style Guide Overview from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (Purdue Writing Lab, 2021).
- List of Style Guides from Wikipedia (“List of Style Guides,” 2021).
| Name | Common Users | Typical Usage | Links and Refences |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Associated Press Stylebook | US journalists | News articles | AP Style Book, (Froke et al., 2020) |
| CP Stylebook | Canadian journalists | News articles | (McCarten & Canadian Press, 2017) |
| The Chicago Manual of Style | Humanities academics | Academic papers and books | Chicago Manual of Style, |
| Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association | Social science academics | Academic papers and books | APA Style Book, (American Psychological Association, 2020) |
| IEEE Editorial Style Manual | Computer science and engineering academics | Academic papers | (Lane, 2021) |
| Microsoft Writing Style Guide | Technical writers | Documentation for all users | Microsoft Writing Style Guide |
| IBM Style Guide: Conventions for Writers and Editors | Technical writers | Documentation for all users | (DeRespinis et al., 2012) |
| Google Developer Documentation Style Guide | Technical writers | Documentation for developers | Google Developer Documentation Style Guide |
References
American Medical Association (Ed.). (2020). AMA manual of style: A guide for authors and editors (11th edition). Oxford University Press.
American Psychological Association (Ed.). (2020). Publication manual of the American psychological association (Seventh edition). American Psychological Association.
DeRespinis, F., Hayward, P., Jenkins, J., Laird, A., McDonald, L., & Radzinski, E. (Eds.). (2012). The IBM style guide: Conventions for writers and editors. IBM Press/Pearson.
Froke, P., Bratton, A. J., McMillan, J., Sarkar, P., Schwartz, J., Vadarevu, R., & Associated Press. (2020). The Associated Press stylebook 2020-2022.
List of style guides. (2021). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_style_guides&oldid=1055191337
McCarten, J. & Canadian Press. (2017). The Canadian Press stylebook: A guide for writers and editors.
Purdue Writing Lab. (2021). Style Guide Overview // Purdue Writing Lab. Purdue Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/guide_overview .html
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition. (n.d.). The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org
Notes on Technical Writing 