Here are links to some major public style guides, such as for the governments of Australia, EU, and the US, and the United Nations, as well as a smattering of conscious language guides. (Updated 12 October 2021)
Tip: For specific projects, make sure you also create a style sheet.
Style guides are incredibly useful to make sure everyone consistently handles specific types of elements in a manuscript.
I’m always grateful to be handed a style guide because that means I don’t have to make decisions each time a stylistic point comes up (which English spelling to use? How to write out numbers? etc.).
Not all organizations have style guides but here are a few that I find useful. These are public, provided for free.
Australia
- Australian Government Style Manual
- The Australian Style Guide: Developed by Australia’s Plain English Foundation…so an excellent resource for anyone interested in plain language. Free registration to access.
Europe
United Nations
- United Nations Disability-Inclusive Communications Guidelines: New as of June 2021.
- United Nations Editorial Manual
USA
Other
- Conscious Style Guide: Not government at all—an online compendium of articles and links to resources on conscious writing. For example, the page on Ethnicity, Race & Nationality has links to guides from universities, governments, journalism organizations, etc.
- Disability Language Style Guide: From the National Center on Disability and Journalism; also available in Spanish.
There are also of course the Chicago Manual of Style, AP style, APA, MLA … all of which require subscriptions, etc. They are well known enough!
Chicago and APA share some basics for free.
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab is a great resource for overviews on citing in MLA, APA and Chicago styles.
If you would like to discuss whether we might be a good fit for your scholarly writing project, please send me details via the contact form or email me at info@theclarityeditor.com.
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