Style Guides
There are a lot of style guides out there, and clients from different literary, business, and academic backgrounds will use different ones.
Here, we’ve put together many of the style guides that you may come across as a proofreader. We’ve provided links where possible so you have access to these whenever you need them.
Academic Style Guides
- Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, Chicago University Press, 2010. Available online at: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
- The Modern Humanities Research Association Style Guide (MHRA): https://www.mhra.org.uk/style/
- The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA): https://apastyle.apa.org/
- The American Medical Association Manual of Style (AMA): https://www.amamanualofstyle.com/
- The Modern Language Association Handbook (MLA): https://style.mla.org/
- The OWL Purdue Writing Lab guides to MLA, APA and Chicago (footnote) citations: https://owl.purdue.edu/
Regional Style Guides
- A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H. W. Fowler (British English).
- The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage, by Pam Peters, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- The Elements of Style by W. Strunk and E. B. White (American English).
Publishing, Journalism and Creative Writing Style Guides
- Inside Book Publishing, 4th edition, by Giles Clark and Angus Phillips, Routledge, 2008.
- The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook: https://www.apstylebook.com/
- New Hart’s Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors, 2nd edition, adapted from The Oxford Guide to Style by R M Ritter, revised edition, Editor-in-chief Anne Waddingham, Oxford University Press, 2014.
- The Guardian Style Guide: https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a
Other Style Guides
- Your House Style: Styling Your Words for Maximum Impact, 2nd edition, by Christina Thomas, Society for Editors and Proofreaders, 2014.
- The Business Style Handbook, 2nd edition, by Helen Cunningham and Brenda Greene, McGraw Hill, 2013.
See more from the category
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Business Writing Style Sheet
Use this example style sheet as a model for creating your own when proofreading or editing a business document.
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Academic Writing Style Sheet
You can modify this template to make notes on stylistic preferences in an academic document.
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Nonfiction Style Sheet
Use this style sheet template to note down stylistic elements in nonfiction writing, whether it’s a technical guide, historical study, or biography.
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Fiction Style Sheet
There can be many unique stylistic elements in creative writing, so a customized style sheet helps you keep track.
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Publishing Glossary
This is a collection of terms you might come across when proofreading or editing for a client in the publishing industry.