Style guide writing

All organisations need a style guide.

If your organisation is drafting text or producing documents for print or publication online then your organisation needs a style guide.

A style guide is a must for organisations because it outlines the standards that staff must adopt if they are to draft comprehensible and clear documents and content.

A style guide is not about branding. Rather a style guide outlines the conventions in text that staff should follow when writing.

A good style guide results in more professional and coherent documents. A good style guide also helps organisations work more effectively and efficiently. Because standards are made explicit and consistent, staff are liberated to focus on content rather than, say, the correct use of capitals.

Ethos CRS wrote the style manual.

Ethos CRS researched and drafted the 7th edition of the Commonwealth Style Manual. As a consequence, only Ethos CRS can authoritatively talk about what constitutes good style for Australian government and state government organisations, for regulatory agencies and non-government organisations.

Ethos CRS can advise your organisation if it needs to align an existing guide to the standards contained in the 7th edition or create an entirely new style guide. We can also assist you if your team of writers needs information on technical topics, such as:

  • clear or plain English
  • easy read documents
  • style, tone and voice
  • preferred spelling in Commonwealth style
  • punctuation, numbers and capitals.
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