SiteLock

Writing and editing standards

My internal style guide is an evolving database of standards based on the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), international standards for specific formats (such as weights and measurements) that are not mentioned in the CMOS, and my own experience. I've developed a software interface for this database and am currently working on an Internet interface.

My style guide helps me to identify and track more than three hundred types of errors in texts. These errors are organized in the following categories:

  • Bibliography
  • Capitalization
  • Cultural issues
  • Fact checking
  • Formatting
  • General observations
  • HTML
  • Interviews
  • Missing information
  • Lacuna (missing text)
  • Language
  • Lists
  • Media writing
  • Miscellaneous issues
  • Numbers
  • Organization
  • Outline levels
  • Paragraph/sentence structure
  • Plagiarism
  • Potentially offensive language
  • Punctuation
  • Script writing
  • Special issues
  • Spelling
  • Style
  • Syntax
  • Terminology
  • Translation issues
  • Typography
  • Weights and measures