Style Sheet
A style sheet is a document that an author can create to give to an editor so there are no misconceptions of the style an author would like their document to have. Design changes, fonts, types of bulleting, numbering and other style preferences are usually documented in a style sheet. A document should not list every editorial change made in the document because it isn’t a transcript of the document it is more like a guideline on stylistic changes the author would like to have in their document. To be consistent in your work and to the works of your peers, you might want to record choices that are already covered in a published style manual.
Guidelines for Editing for Style
The purpose of editing style is to increase overall document effectiveness. The guidelines for editing style are as follows:
Situation Make style serve readers and purpose; consider the possibility of an international audience; examine the text for discrimination.
Sentence structures Use structure to reinforce meaning.
Verbs Convey the action in the sentence accurately and forcefully.
Nouns, adjectives Choose words that are accurate, concrete, and understandable
Make style serve purpose and readers
Editing text must suit the audience as well as its purpose so there should be variation in style depending on the situation.
If you are editing a journal article that will be read overseas you would have to make sure that the language is appropriate. You would have to check over the document and make sure that everything is defined correctly because what is common knowledge here may not be common knowledge there.
If you are editing a proposal you must first think of your audience and edit the paper appropriately. In most of these cases your approach will be formal as it is a proposal. Therefore you would have to make sure the wording is formal as well as the stylistic appearance.
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