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Editors | Emeritus | One Voice Style Guide

purpose

The Emeritus One Voice Writing Style Guide provides a set of standards for writing, formatting, and designing Emeritus products. Usage of the guide helps ensure that multiple contributors maintain a consistent style, voice, and tone across various types of documentation.

This card summarizes key style information and tone of voice notes that, as standard, you should keep in mind and apply during your edits for all Emeritus materials.

*REMEMBER* The course- and school-specific guidelines always take precedence, so if they contain an exception to any of these points, the school's preference is what you should follow in the first instance.

spelling/terminology

Please use "organization" (US) or "organisation" (UK) rather than "company"/"firm" across the board for all schools/courses (unless overridden by the course style guide).

REFERENCES

A reference to ChatGPT being used in the creation of content should appear in the following format. Please do not adjust it for the referencing style of the course/school:

  • ChatGPT. (YEAR). Starting Point for Connective Text, Video Context Statements, and Multiple Choice Questions. Chat conversation.

Tone of voice

See a few points summarized below; please familiarize yourself with these general guidelines for application across all Emeritus materials. If you're interested in more detail about editing for this professional but accessible tone of voice, please see pp. 8–17 of the full One Voice style guide.

  • Key words: readable, global, friendly
  • Avoid slang or overly formal/academic/affected language.
  • Readable
    • Concise—avoid unnecessary modifiers/adverbs.
    • Avoid passive voice.
    • Use simple, not continuous, present tense (people use, not people are using).
  • Global
    • Be mindful of cultural differences.
    • Avoid slang and idioms.
    • Avoid phrasal verbs ("manage", not "get by").
  • Friendly
    • Use gentle language: "please do this", not "you should/you must do this."
      • Imperative mood for questions/assignments (many come with instructions), but soften as necessary.
    • Starting a sentence with a conjunction is acceptable if it fits a friendly, but not too informal, tone.
    • Occasional use of "okay" is fine (always spelled out).
    • Aim for positive word/phrasing choices.
  • IMPORTANT: The occasional use of contractions is acceptable, but they shouldn't appear too frequently.

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