Before adapting an existing book or creating a new one, it’s important to establish a road map that will guide the style of the work. This is particularly important with collaborative work where multiple people will be working together on different sections and at different phases of the project. This module will provide a framework from which to begin.

Style Guide

A style guide is a comprehensive resource that defines elements of design and layout, style and usage, and citation of sources for a written document. This module distinguishes between a style guide (typically a published text compiled by a group of experts) and a style sheet (a shorter document that documents specific preferences and decisions made by a group working on a specific project).

You should choose a style guide at the beginning of your project, especially if you have multiple authors. This can be a standard style guide (Chicago, ALA, MLA) or a journal-specific one. Please be sure that all of your authors know and agree on which style guide you will use. Going back later to correct citations will simply delay the publishing process. Please consult the OERU if you have questions about which style to use.

Different disciplines prefer different style guides. For example, English literature and humanities scholars use the style guide compiled by the Modern Language Association (MLA). The American Psychological Association (APA) is the go-to for students and scholars in social and behavioral sciences, health care, natural sciences, and more. In publishing, The Chicago Manual of Style sets industry standards for the editorial and formatting decisions that go into the making of a book. These guides collectively represent the best practices and conventions for academic writing.

Clear, Precise, and Inclusive Style

Style guides get into the minutia of language so you don’t have to. But they do more than help settle disagreements about the Oxford comma or whether to use “toward” or “towards” (the above-mentioned style guides defer to Merriam-Webster’s take on the issue). The aim of all style guides is to increase clarity and precision. And in recent years, equity and inclusion have played an equally important role in new editions.

All style guides, for example, now embrace the singular “they.” It has long been accepted practice to use “they” as a pronoun for an individual who doesn’t identify as “she” or “he.” Most, if not all, style guides have accepted the use of this third-person pronoun to stand in for the awkward “he/she” binary.

If you haven’t already, decide now (APA, MLA, Chicago, or other). This will determine how you cite your sources, structure your headings, and resolve differences in word usage, punctuation, and style. Create a bookmark to the online version of this style guide, and see if your institution’s library provides access to the full online version of the guide. Most style guides, when they don’t provide an answer to a question, defer to the spelling and guidance of Merriam-Webster. If you want to know whether to hyphenate “antiestablishment,” trust Merriam-Webster over the built-in spellchecker in Google Docs or your word processing program. Bookmark that site as well; this dictionary is a resource you will return to again and again during the development phases of your textbook.

Style Sheet: A Definition

A style sheet is a shorter document that records any places where your project deviates from the recommendations of your chosen style guide. Often the style sheet records specific terminology you want to use (or avoid) that is not specifically addressed within the style guide. While a style guide is a static resource that generally relays agreed-upon principles for a field or discipline, your project’s style sheet is a flexible and responsive work-in-progress that tracks decisions made by your author team about how you want to proceed. It’s important that you familiarize yourself with the most recent edition of your discipline’s style guide (APA, CMOS, MLA) so that you don’t end up recreating the wheel with your style sheet.

When you’re just starting a project, it can seem premature to make stylistic decisions before your book or resource even exists. The purpose of this document, however, is to prevent decision fatigue and overwhelm as the project grows more complicated. If you can agree on a few core ideas before you get started, you will save yourself a lot of time and tears. A style sheet is a useful document to hand to members of the team who join later in the development process and, eventually, to a copyeditor or proofreader who will use the document to ensure you’ve followed the rules you set for yourself. The style sheet will also help you recall decisions you made early in the project to avoid duplication of effort.

Basic Elements of a Style Sheet

The OERU will provide you with an example style sheet in your project folder but it will be up to you to make the necessary changes. Each project is unique and a style sheet should be tailored to your project. What follows is a list of elements that are useful to include to help your team find a common vocabulary and consistent approach:

• • Working Title: Pick a title, any title, so that you can refer to your project by a proper name.
  • Author Team: This element lists your team’s names and roles (lead author, contributing author, etc.). It’s also helpful to include contact information here, including email addresses and phone numbers for emergencies, which tends to happen right before a critical deadline.
  • Style Guide: This is where you show your allegiance to one style guide or another. List the title, edition, and link to the online version of this guide to make it easy to consult in a pinch.
  • Dictionary: Go with Merriam-Webster. All the other guides use this, so don’t spend too much time deliberating here. If you have a discipline-specific dictionary or a prerequisite course with established terminology that students should know, you could include a link here.

Style Points

The following categories are here to guide the conversation as you work out the elements you want to include in your style sheet. You may not able able to answer all of these questions right now, but take some time to walk through them.

Content

• What is the scope and sequence of your content?
• How will you cite external sources? Footnotes? Endnotes? In-text? Informally?
• How will you track material that’s been adapted from openly licensed sources?
• How will you handle abbreviations?

DEI Approach

• How will diversity, equity, and inclusion be reflected in your choice of images, examples, and language?
• How will diverse perspectives be called out (i.e., a “Multicultural Moment” boxed feature) or integrated into the text as a whole?
• We recommend reviewing the following style guides as models:
  • Diversity/Inclusivity Style Guide from the California State University
  • DEI Style Guide from the University of Iowa
  • ACES D&I resources

Language and Tone

• What tone will you use (formal, business casual, or conversational)?
• How will you address the reader?

Organization

• How will you scaffold the content?
• How will you determine where to begin and end?

Pedagogical Approach

• How will key terms be identified and then defined? How many per chapter?
• What other pedagogical elements will you include?
• What ancillaries are you thinking about including?

It is essential to have this conversation early with your co-authors. You should create a Google Doc or some other form of a shared document to track your decisions and document these for everyone. A regular review of your style sheet is also recommended.

Attribution