Style Guide

What is a style guide?

It is a set of guidelines which dictates how journalists on a publication or website use words, typography and tone when they tell stories. Writers should always refer to the style guide when in doubt about anything from how to write out the figure 10 to whether the word stylised has an s or a z.

The Scotzine style guide

The Scotzine style guide is based loosely on the Guardian’s online style guide. Use this guide as a quick reference point. But you should refer constantly to the Guardian style guide as it covers a vast array of issues and grey areas that will need to be resolved while writing news articles and features in print and online.

Your voice

Avoid being snobby, formal or colloquial. Find a natural style that suits you. Find a voice that would allow you to read your articles aloud without feeling embarrassed or seeming stilted.

Structure

Think before you write – and even before you interview. Have an idea of the issues you want to cover and ensure you get answers. While you must be spontaneous and listen to your interviewee, make sure you get the story. It might be a different story to the one you had anticipated, but even as you are interviewing you will begin to have some idea of how your article will work.

Plan your article if it is more complex than a straight-forward news story. Scribbling down a basic structure will help you grasp what the story is and how it should be told. Know your material thoroughly. Absorb yourself in it – the quotes; the statistics; the colour that will give your story depth and pull the reader into it, as if they were there with you.

Work out what treatment is most appropriate – or adapt your style according to what your commissioning editor needs. Is your story hard news, a light news-feature or a complex feature with many layers (and a couple of side bars)? Doing this will help you structure your article.

Plain English

Avoid making your story more complicated than it needs to be. Get rid of the jargon, snobbish language or unnecessary words. Clarity is your goal – if you tie yourself up in knots, you will have lost your reader by the second paragraph.

George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm, was also a respected journalist who contributed to The Observer and the left-wing periodical Tribune. In his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language, he outlined his five rules of writing, succinctly and plainly:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon words if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

But simplicity doesn’t mean simple minded. It is as off-putting for your reader to be underestimated as it is to be bamboozled. Gauge your readership and pitch your article at an appropriate level, using a suitable style.

Innovate

Keep your language as fresh as your stories. Journalism is about telling readers and audiences something they don’t know. Using tired, worn language will take the shine off your story so think before you opt for a convenient cliche.

Say it like it is

Avoid using euphemisms. People don’t pass away: they die. And for that matter, they don’t fall pregnant: they get pregnant.

Above all

Enjoy news writing – the limitations of time, word count, style, tone and convention can be liberating.

Guidelines for presentation of copy

Please follow these presentation guidelines when handing in any pieces of work.

• Submit work in Word Document
• Use double space.
• Leave a wide margin at the top of the first folio (page) and wide margin at the foot.
• Type to around 60 characters per line, this will leave you a good margin on each line.
• Do not run a paragraph or sentence over from one folio to another.
• Always make a second copy of your work and keep it safe. Do not throw out any of your work.
• At the foot of the last folio write ends and at the foot of all earlier folios write, more, mf or more follows.
• At the top of all folios put your name on the left, the date in the middle (in the form 18.01.11) and on the right hand side the article headline.
• Make sure that you meet all deadlines given to you.

News writing – 10 style tips

1. Figures: Spell out from one to nine; numerals from 10 to 999,999; thereafter 1m, 3.2bn (except for people and animals, eg 2 million viewers, 8 billion cattle); spell out ordinals from first to ninth, thereafter 10th, 31st, etc

2. Names: Prominent figures can just be named in stories, with their function at second mention: “Alex Salmond said last night … ” (first mention); “the first minister added … ” (subsequent mentions)
Where it is thought necessary to explain who someone is, write “Craig Levein, the Scotland manager, said” or “the Scotland manager, Craig Levein, said”, etc.
In such cases the commas around the name indicate there is only one person in the position, so write “the prime minister, David Cameron, said” (only one person in the job), but “the former Tory leader Michael Howard said” (there have been many).
Do not leave out the definite article in such constructions as “style guru David Marsh said … ” It should be “The style guru David Marsh” (if there are other style gurus) or “David Marsh, the style guru, … ” (if you feel only one person merits such a description)

3. Ages: David Cameron, 44 (not “aged 44″); little Lucy, four; the woman was in her 20s (but twentysomething, thirtysomething, etc)

4. Dates: Use the style 21 July 2011 (day month year; no commas).

In the 21st century but 21st-century boy; fourth century BC; AD2007, 2500BC, 10,000BC.

Use figures for decades: the 1960s, the swinging 60s, etc.

Should you have occasion to say 2011 out loud, for example in a podcast, pronounce it “twenty eleven”, not “two thousand and eleven”

5. Capitals: Articles were once littered with capital letters, but more recently upper case (uc) has been used more sparingly in the belief it trips readers up and disrupts the flow of copy. With the rise of the internet, the demise of the capital continues. Use capitals when appropriate and if they enhance clarity. These are the general rules:

jobs: all lower case (lc), eg prime minister, US secretary of state, chief rabbi, editor of Scotzine.

titles: cap up titles, but not job description, eg President Barack Obama (but the US president, Barack Obama, and Obama on subsequent mention); the Duke of Westminster (the duke at second mention); Pope Benedict XVI but the pope.

6. Quotation marks: Use double quotes at the start and end of a quoted section, with single quotes for quoted words within that section. Place full points and commas inside the quotes for a complete quoted sentence; otherwise the point comes outside – “Anna said: ‘Your style guide needs updating,’ and I said: ‘I agree.’ ” but: “Anna said updating the guide was ‘a difficult and time-consuming task’.”

When beginning a quote with a sentence fragment that is followed by a full sentence, punctuate according to the final part of the quote, eg The minister called the allegations “blatant lies. But in a position such as mine, it is only to be expected.”

Headlines and standfirsts (sparingly), captions and display quotes all take single quote marks. For parentheses in direct quotes, use square brackets

Avoid “that” quotes, ie The prosecutors maintained that “this was not a trial about freedom of the internet.” It should be The prosecutors maintained: “This was not a trial … ” etc.

Colons, rather than commas, should be used to introduce quotes, ie Guardian Style says: “Please use colons, not commas;” not Guardian Style says, “Please use … ” etc.

As a general rule, and particularly with lengthy quotations, it is better to start with the attribution, so the reader does not have to engage in a series of mental double-takes trying to find out who is supposed to be saying what. It should be:

Joseph Bloggs said: “Andy Muirhead asked me to attribute my quotes as early as possible. He insisted it would save confusion.”
Sean added: “It ensures the reader knows who is speaking.”

7. Apostrophes: the downfall of many a good journalism student. They might be small, but treat them with respect. They can make you look daft if they’re in the wrong place.

Used to indicate a missing letter or letters (can’t, we’d) or a possessive (David’s book).

The Guardian Style Guide uses these four phrases to illustrate how apostrophes in different places can completely alter meaning:

my sister’s friend’s books (refers to one sister and her friend).
my sister’s friends’ books (one sister with lots of friends).
my sisters’ friend’s books (more than one sister, and their friend).
my sisters’ friends’ books (more than one sister, and their friends).

The possessive in words and names ending in S normally takes an apostrophe followed by a second S (Jones’s, James’s), but be guided by pronunciation and use the plural apostrophe where it helps: Mephistopheles’, Waters’, Hedges’ rather than Mephistopheles’s, Waters’s, Hedges’s.

Plural nouns that do not end in S take an apostrophe and S in the possessive: children’s games, old folk’s home, people’s republic, etc.

Phrases such as butcher’s knife, collector’s item, cow’s milk, goat’s cheese, pig’s blood, hangman’s noose, writer’s cramp, etc are treated as singular.

Use apostrophes in phrases such as two days’ time, 12 years’ imprisonment and six weeks’ holiday, where the time period (two days) modifies a noun (time), but not in nine months pregnant or three weeks old, where the time period is adverbial (modifying an adjective such as pregnant or old) – if in doubt, test with a singular such as one day’s time, one month pregnant.

9. Cliches: Avoid them like the plague (no, really). They alienate the reader, making your copy look tired and unimaginative. Don’t spoil a great story with a catalogue of well-worn phrases (see what I mean?). If you’ve read a headline before, try to come up with something new, even if it is appropriate and it fits
the space.

The Guardian Style Guide suggests you should avoid overused words and phrases such as: ahead of, back burner, boost (massive or otherwise), bouquets and brickbats, but hey … , controversial, count ‘em, drop-dead gorgeous, elephant in the room, famous, fit for purpose, flagship, landmark, key, major, massive, meanwhile, ongoing, politically correct, raft of measures, special, stepchange, to die for, upcoming, upsurge.

Verbs overused or misused in headlines include: bid, boost, downplay, fuel, hike, insist, probe, quiz, set to, signal, spiral, target, unveil.

10. Collective nouns: Use common sense when choosing whether to treat a collective noun as singular or plural. The Guardian Style Guide advises: nouns such as committee, family, government, jury, squad and team take a singular verb or pronoun when thought of as a single unit, but a plural verb or pronoun when thought of as a collection of individuals:

The committee gave its unanimous approval to the plans;
The committee enjoyed biscuits with their tea.
The family can trace its history back to the middle ages;
The family were sitting down, scratching their heads.
The squad is looking stronger than for several seasons;
The squad are all very confident that they will win promotion this season.