Apart from spellcheckers, style guides are the most valuable tool a proofreader has. If you’ve ever ordered a proofreading service before from a high-quality company, the proofreader you worked with is very likely to have used a style guide. These serve as an important cornerstone of the field.
When you use proofreading services, the company or freelancer you hire may ask you what style guide or formatting style you would like. If you’re unsure about what a style guide is, remember that a style guide is a set of standards for the design and writing of documents, consisting of rules such as:
- Standard nomenclature in technical fields
- Standardisation of labels (e.g., for figures and tables)
- Use of formatting (e.g., font size)
- Avoidance of sexism, racism, and homophobia
There are many available style guides, and most of these are associated with a specific field. For example, the New York Style Manual is used to prepare legal documents, whereas the Chicago Manual of Style is typically used for academic documents.
Another field in which style guides are used frequently is the computer industry, both for software and hardware. In software and hardware companies, proofreading services play an important role in assisting in the preparation of technical documents.
For example, a proofreader or editor may be employed to ensure that a body of text (e.g., a technical reference manual) conforms to a style guide such as the Google Developer Documentation Style Guide or the Digital Ocean Documentation Style Guide.
Technical style guides like these are less useful for academic papers or legal documents, but they help a lot to define conventions for writers and editors in technical documentation.
If you’re thinking about whether to use a style guide for your next writing project, there are a few general rules to consider that may help you decide whether to do so. These include:
- Type of writing – In academic writing, for example, using Harvard style is often required
- Document length – If you have a short document (e.g., an email), using a style guide may be overkill
- Collaborators – If you’re working on a project with a proofreader, you can rely on them to standardise your documentation as it progresses
All in all, style guides are valuable tools in all forms of communication, ranging from journalism and legal documents to electronic publishing and even general writing. Everyone would benefit from using style guides or editing checklists, particularly highly-readable books on general writing tips such as Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.
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