Fox Tales: Are You in Step
with Your Style Guidelines?

By Susie Lynn Fox, 2007-2008 LSC President

In our fashion-conscious marketplace where beauty sells products, are you on the cutting edge of style, or do you feel out of step with the latest fads? Luckily, technical communicators can feel at ease and in high fashion when they adopt and practice their own style.

Just like the classic dresser whose look is always in, technical communication professionals can put their best foot forward, too. How? They can agree on a standard style guide or two, use or develop industry- or company-specific style guidelines, and select a preferred dictionary.

However, some of us would rather go to charm school than to reveal our most deeply held beliefs about punctuation with others. On the plus side, navigating the emotional twists and turns of sharing and agreeing on style standards can also be entertaining and enlightening.

When technical communication professionals get together, they might compare their favorite and least favorite style guides, confess war stories about tried-and-true editing processes, and expound upon particular pet grammar peeves. So how can a diverse technical communication group diplomatically settle on some core standards that everyone can live by?

Newsletter Finds Its Style

Take a style hint from this year’s Society for Technical Communication (STC) Lone Star Community (LSC) newsletter staff, led by Jackie Damrau, managing editor. The award-winning “Technically Write” newsletter staff, along with the Web and Public Relations teams have been exchanging ideas, comparing notes, and testing style guidelines for STC LSC.

The group got the ball rolling when they found an existing STC Office Style Guide, which they edited and expanded for use by STC LSC. After more discussion, the group adopted The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law as their first style guide choice and The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers for their second choice. In addition, their preferred dictionary is the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Thesaurus.

Special thanks go to the pioneers who have participated throughout the process, including Jackie Damrau, Doug Dow, Jeanne Foster, Mel Haughton, Mike Hiatt, Mary McWilliams Johnson, Karl Morris, Alan Oak, Paula Robertson, Arroxane Ullman, and Monica Winkelman.

This style-conscious group has effectively set a cornerstone in place that will benefit STC LSC this year and in the future. With style standards in place, multi-talented STC LSC members can communicate a more consistent message to its members and to the public using the newsletter, Web site, press releases, IPIC announcements, and other communication vehicles.

Yet the question remains: Does this mean that STC LSC style standards are set in stone and cannot change now or in the future? No. Why? Because the English language is always changing, and technical communication professionals will adjust to emerging styles and trends along the way.

Susie’s Favorite Style Guidelines

I don’t know every style nuance this group has pondered so far, but it makes me think of some style standards that have proved invaluable to me daily throughout my career as a writer and editor. Just like the classic black dress or tuxedo, style classics can hang in your “wordrobe” for years to come only to be pulled out at a moment’s notice for just the right occasion.

My favorites are largely influenced by my journalism education, work experience in various industries, and The Associated Press Stylebook, which is my first style guide choice. What are your favorites?

• Month with or without a year. Spell out a month if it is used with or without a year. For example: The party is in December. The pledge drive is in February 2008.

• Month with a day and/or year. Using applicable month abbreviations, abbreviate a month if it is used with a day and/or a year and set off the year with commas. For example: Nov. 8 is the next STC LSC meeting. Jan. 10, 2008, is the awards banquet. The last meeting will be in May 2008.

• State without a city. Spell out a state if it is used without a city. For example: Oklahoma is north of Texas.

• State with a city. Using applicable state abbreviations (not ZIP code designations), abbreviate a state if it is used with a city and set off the state with commas. For example: The STC conference will be in Philadelphia, Pa., this year. The conference was in Minneapolis, Minn., last year. The STC LSC meetings are in Addison, Texas.

• Times. Use figures except for noon and midnight, separate hours from minutes with a colon, and use preferred time listings of a.m. and p.m. For example: The meeting starts at 8 a.m. The lunch is at noon. The class ends at 5:30 p.m. The party is over at midnight.

• Street without a numbered address. Spell out a street name if there is no numbered address. For example: Carol lives on Melody Avenue.

• Street with a numbered address. Abbreviate only Ave., Blvd., and St. if there is a numbered address. For example: Carol moved to 1523 Symphony Blvd. Her grandma lives at 123 Orchestra Drive.

In Summary

To sum up, I’ve learned that a writer’s golden words are not always pure gold and can usually be refined by an editor. More importantly, every editor and writer can polish the gold to a shine if they share common style standards.

Now I can’t wait to see how the STC LSC newsletter editors edit this column! Go for it, team! You’ve got style now!