Style guide

Online or on the web? Ten or 10? AM, bees, right? 26th January, 26 January or 1 / 26? Chicago, Illinois, or Chicago, IL? United Nations or the UN? Do not use a serial comma is not it? (This is the last comma before and in a series of three or more. For example: Dick, Jane, and Harry went to the movies.)

Small decisions like this, can you slow down when you write or edit what you have written. In the longer pieces, you can lose track of decisions you have ever done.

A style can help you write and edit faster and more consistently. When you make your decision, they take on a paper or a word processing file. Some decisions have to be listed in categories such as punctuation, numbers so easily Words are listed alphabetically. Include words that you have spelling difficulties. It's faster to check the style of troublesome words, when they look up again and again or check your spelling them again and again.

By using the same format for everything you write, you'll soon know your personal style and is only available for your style from time to time. Book manuscripts, and other long documents can have their own style sheet must contain special conditions to their specific questions.

However, there is no reason to reinvent the wheel. You can choose from many published style guides for their support. Your choice depends partly on your topic, and graphics. Commonly used style guides are The Chicago Manual of Style, 2009 Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, MLA Style Manual and guide to scholarly publishing, the AMA Manual of Style and Turabian's Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Organizations and publishers often have a style of house at a meeting this basis, so that when and if you work for an organization or with a publisher. Choose a style guide and add your own style.