Style guides for writers

Ever struggled with how to best structure your writing? Here are links to style guides for all types of writing.

Technical writing

• Microsoft’s Writing Style Guide
• How to write UI (user interface) text (from Google)

Scientific writing

• The Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing is an online searchable tool

Plain English

• The classic Elements of Style by William Strunk

Online content

• MailChimp’s online content style guide
• Content Design London’s online readability guidelines

Journalists and freelance writers

• The BBC style guide (A guide for journalists, but it details many general rules of spelling, punctuation and grammar. It also covers accuracy, fairness and impartiality)
• The Guardian has a detailed style guide on its website
• The Daily Telegraph style guide is online here
• The Chicago Manual of Style is online as a subscription service
• The Associated Press Stylebook (2013) is a well known American tool for journalists and can be purchased here

Legal writing

• Here is the New Zealand Law Foundation’s guide

Academic writing

• The APA style guide is often used. Waikato University has key APA guidelines on its site

Business writing

• From writing consultancy The Write Group is a wide range of writing resources

Public sector writing

• How to provide good content for NZ government organisations
• Style guides for US government agencies
• The British government’s online content style guide
• The Canadian government’s online content style guide
• The Australian government’s style guide for digital content

Wikipedia

• The Manual of Style documents Wikipedia’s house style