COURSE STYLE GUIDE
Introduction
This course style guide is for students in classes taught by Ida L. Rodgers, Ph.D. Students are required to follow the specifications found in this guide for their assignments unless instructed otherwise. Other instructors are welcome to direct their students to this site or to borrow and amend this site for their own use according to my Creative Commons license. Note, however, that this guide is based on - but does not exactly follow - the American Psychological Association (APA, 5th ed.) style except where 6th edition style is noted.
Most organizations provide style guides for their documents, and frequently that style is based on one of the major styles (i.e. APA, The Chicago Manual of Style, ,or MLA guides). Writers must be versatile and detail oriented so they can switch to different styles based on the context of a document and the specific rules of their organization or targeted audience.
This style guide provides a one-stop resource for my students and enables them to practice reading specific and detailed instructions such as those they encounter in academic and workplace settings.
One way to think of learning to use style guides (and becoming more comfortable with making the effort) is to compare it with learning a foreign language. Languages have structure and vocabulary. Style guides have structure and details. A guide's structure is to the guide as grammar is to language. The guide's details are as critical to communicating as vocabulary is to those who use language. Thus, when we are learning to use a new guide, we must observe the guide's structure and learn some of its details. However, just as we can use dictionaries and phrase books when we are speaking a new language, we can use the guides to look up its details. No one expects us to memorize entire guide books. When you study a new guide, notice what it has in common with other guides. That information will help you more easily learn the rules in the new guide.
Print Resources Used
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington DC: Author.
Dobrin, S.I., Keller, C. J. & Weisser, C.R. (2008). Technical communication in the twenty-first century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Locker, K. O. (2006) Business and administrative communication (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Markel, M. (2007). Technical communication (8th ed.) Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Most organizations provide style guides for their documents, and frequently that style is based on one of the major styles (i.e. APA, The Chicago Manual of Style, ,or MLA guides). Writers must be versatile and detail oriented so they can switch to different styles based on the context of a document and the specific rules of their organization or targeted audience.
This style guide provides a one-stop resource for my students and enables them to practice reading specific and detailed instructions such as those they encounter in academic and workplace settings.
One way to think of learning to use style guides (and becoming more comfortable with making the effort) is to compare it with learning a foreign language. Languages have structure and vocabulary. Style guides have structure and details. A guide's structure is to the guide as grammar is to language. The guide's details are as critical to communicating as vocabulary is to those who use language. Thus, when we are learning to use a new guide, we must observe the guide's structure and learn some of its details. However, just as we can use dictionaries and phrase books when we are speaking a new language, we can use the guides to look up its details. No one expects us to memorize entire guide books. When you study a new guide, notice what it has in common with other guides. That information will help you more easily learn the rules in the new guide.
Print Resources Used
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington DC: Author.
Dobrin, S.I., Keller, C. J. & Weisser, C.R. (2008). Technical communication in the twenty-first century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Locker, K. O. (2006) Business and administrative communication (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Markel, M. (2007). Technical communication (8th ed.) Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
For Discussion
How does a style guide assist readers with navigating and accessing specific information in documents?
Copyright
Course Style Guide by http://ccoursestyleguide.weebly.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Copyright Ida L. Rodgers, Ph.D., 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Edits and Revisions by James Piatt, 2008
Update: January 8, 2012
Edits and Revisions by James Piatt, 2008
Update: January 8, 2012
