Table of Contents

Preface

How This Guide is Organized

Guide Conventions

1. ORGANIZATION OF MANUALS

1.1 Title Page

1.2 Body of Manual

1.3 Appendixes and Glossaries

1.4 Index

2. STYLE AND PUNCTUATION

2.1 Writing Style

2.2 Punctuation

3. Abbreviations, Numbers and Additional Topics

3.1 Abbreviations, Acronyms & Units of Measurement

3.2 Numbers and numerals

3.3 Capitalization

3.4 font Conventions

3.5 Miscellaneous Topics

4. Choosing the Right Word

5. Company Information

5.1 Company Name and Address

5.2 Product Names and Trademarks

Appendix A: References

List of Figures and Tables

Example Figure

Example Table

Abbreviation Table

Misused Words Table

Trademarks Table

Preface

This guide describes proper writing style for documents written by Hawley & Associates. Good technical writing is often hard to identify because it usually goes unnoticed, while bad technical writing is easy to notice, whether it's spelling or grammatical errors, inaccurate or confusing technical language, colloquial or offensive language, or other problems. One way to avoid these pitfalls is to follow the rules found in a good writing style guide.

This guide is not the only definitive style guide in existence, and we recommend referring to other style guides, such as Elements of Style by Strunk and White and The Chicago Manual of Style in addition to this guide, for style questions.

How This Guide Is Organized

This guide contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Organization of Manual

Chapter 2: Style and Punctuation

Chapter 3: Abbreviations, Numbers and Miscellaneous Topics

Chapter 4: Choosing the Right Word

Chapter 5: Company Information

Appendix A: References

Guide Conventions

Main chapter topics or important concepts are displayed in bold text.

Examples or book titles are displayed in Arial font or italic text.

Computer messages are displayed in courier text.