Lesson 3: The Importance of Word Choice and Consistent Writing
Develop a consistent style
A lot of different elements combine to define a style for your writing. In general terms a writer's style encompasses things like voice, word choice, the use of formatting, and other similar elements. It's the overall package, if you will.
When technical writers discuss style they generally concentrate on word choice and on the formatting and presentation of material - how different product elements are capitalized and typeset, how chapters are paginated, how indexes are formatted, and similar concerns. Most writing groups have their own style guides that cover that departments views on the spelling of certain ambiguous words (email vs. e-mail, for example). Often they select a particular book then add or change specific elements to suit their needs. The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications is the most popular choice, for good reason. It's the most comprehensive guide I've seen. By starting with this (or another) book and just modifying its rules to suit your needs, technical writing departments can save a great deal of time and effort.
These customized sections (or full, independent style guides) should contain lists of product-specific words and their acceptable usage as well as departmental rules for comma usage, preferred choice when there are two acceptable spellings of a word, and your choices for capitalization, bolding, and italicizing. This last part is particularly important when documenting a programming language or tool - there are so many different elements in a language and your readers need to know, at a glance, whether you are discussing a function or a query (for example).
If you're writing alone, you probably don't need a formal style guide as long as you can be consistent. If you find yourself wavering, or if during the editing process you notice a lot of variation in word choice or formatting, then take the time to write a short personal style guide. Make sure you actually refer to it when writing - its mere existence will not add consistency to your writing.
Style guides and issues related to style can be among the most divisive in any writing group. Everyone has their own ideas on what is proper and right, and often those ideas conflict with each other. It's almost certain that in any group situation you won't like all of the decisions, but it's important that you abide by them.
