Keep Everyone on the Same Page
Create a style guide that gives every writer in your
company a set of standards to follow. Why?
Everyone's writing differs in style, tone, format, and
even choice of grammar, punctuation, and usage. A
style guide fosters consistency; streamlines the
writing, proofreading, and editing processes; and
serves as a primary resource with proven, effective
writing tools and techniques. Most important, a style
guide ensures that any document from your company
reflects the professional standards you want to project
to your readers.
Numerous writing resources are available online and
in books; however, you can create one comprising
your company's specific preferences for internally
produced documents. Listed below are sample
topics and examples of guidelines you may want
writers to follow:
- Organization: refer to it only by the company name
or
as the firm, the company, or the organization;
note what terms, if any, can be used
interchangeably
- People who work for the company: identify as
employees, associates, staff, or
team members
- Readers: address in the second person
(you) or third person (patient, applicant,
student)
- Writers: reference in the first person (I, we)
or in the company's name (Kelly's)
- Language: use preferred words
(affect instead of impact),
company-specific or unique terms, abbreviations, or
acronyms
| Grammar, Usage, and
Spelling |
- Verb tense: use present (applicant
completes) instead of future (applicant will
complete)
- Voice: write primarily in the active voice (Jill
wrote the
report); limit using the passive voice (the report
was
written by Jill)
- Spelling: note any non-standard words (Brite
White) or capitalization (Client, Account
Representative)
- Commas: use the serial comma, the
last comma before and with two or more items
in a series (wine, cheese, and grapes)
- Spacing: type one space after end punctuation,
no
space on either side of dashes
