Business Writing Style Guide Your Writing Companion

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STYLE GUIDE �� H E A D I N G S ��

By Verne Ordman

Writing Business

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Business Writing Style Guide HEADINGS

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ISBN 978-0-9805266-0-8

Disclaimer: The Business Writing Style Guide is provided as a general guide only and does not claim to be

legal advice. Readers should seek legal advice in relation to particular legal issues arising from their writing.

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Contents

HEADINGS HEADINGS HEADINGS HEADINGS 1111

Wording 2

Parallel construct 3

Case 4

Spacing 5

Punctuation 5

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This guide promotes…

INDIVIDUAL consistency

GROUP consistency

ORGANIZATIONAL consistency

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HEADINGS

THE DECIMAL SYSTEM

1 HEADING 1

1.1 Heading 2

1.2 Heading 2

1.3 Heading 2

1.3.1 Heading 3

1.3.2 Heading 3

2 HEADING 1

2.1 Heading 2

2.2 Heading 2

2.3 Heading 2

2.3.1 Heading 3

2.3.2 Heading 3

2.3.2.1 Heading 4

2.3.2.2 Heading 4

2.3.2.3 Heading 4

2

Wording The goal of headings and subheadings is to indicate the scope and structure of information in an outline. The

outline of any document essentially becomes the document’s table of contents.

You should take extra care when deciding on the final wording of a document’s headings and subheadings.

There are two choices when deciding on the wording of headings, topic or talking headings.

Topic headings Topic headings are short and are made up of a

few words only. They do nothing but identify the

topics of discussion. Topic headings are more

conventional, with many companies choosing

them for formal reports.

�� HIERARCHY OF TOPIC HEADINGS

PURPOSE

BACKGROUND

Past situation

Current situation

DISCUSSION

RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION

Talking headings Talking (or meaningful) headings also identify

the topic, but in addition they cover what is

said about the content. They are more

descriptive, and their popularity is increasing

as they promote scanability and readability.

�� HOW COMPANIES CAN HELP THE

ENVIRONMENT

Install water saving rainwater tanks

Switch to energy saving light sensors

Distribute waste reduction recycling bins

HEADINGS

3

DIRECT AND INDIRECT QUESTIONS

Direct and indirect questions are often used effectively as talking headings.

Direct questions actually pose a question.

�� Where did the incident take place?

Indirect questions sound like they’re questions, but they are statements.

They don’t pose an actual question.

�� Where the incident took place

HEADINGS

Parallel construct To ensure you don’t violate a fundamental concept of balance, you need to check for parallel construct

in all your headings. Parallel construct is achieved when all headings in the same level of the heading

hierarchy are of the same grammatical construction. This means they are written as either all topic or all

talking headings. Mixing the different grammatical forms in the same heading level is usually viewed as

violating parallel construct.

You can mix topic and talking headings within a document. For example, you can use topic headings for

all Heading 1 level headings and use talking headings for Heading 2 level headings.

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Case

The readability of lower case letters is greater than that of capital letters. Therefore, it is recommended

that instead of using full capitals for headings that are longer than half a line, you use title case

[AMERICAN ENGLISH RULES] or sentence case [BRITISH ENGLISH RULES]. Use full capitals for

brief and higher order topic headings. A consistent approach is vital when writing headings.

Even when using AMERICAN ENGLISH rules, it is recommended you use sentence case for headings

that are direct or indirect questions, full sentences or phrases. This ensures a neater appearance.

We have used sentence case for headings in our Style Guide.

SENTENCE CASE

With sentence case, use capital letters for the first word, proper nouns and titles only.

TITLE CASE

Title case in writing occurs when each major word is a capital letter with the exception of short

prepositions (of, to in, for, on); coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so);

subordinating conjunctions (after, although, if, unless, because); correlative conjunctions (both …

and, either … or, neither … nor) and the articles the, a or an if they are not the first word.

HEADINGS

5

Punctuation Avoid using terminal punctuation (periods/full

stops or colons) in headings. However, when

headings are written as direct questions, they

need to end with question marks.

�� What does personal coaching involve?

Case �� Request for agenda items (sentence case)

�� Request for Agenda Items (title case)

�� BACKGROUND INFORMATION (all capitals)

�� Background information (sentence case)

�� Background Information (title case)

Spacing There are two options for line spacing around

headings. You can consistently use a slightly

larger line space above headings than below

them. Alternatively, and the preferred option

for consistency purposes, is to use one line

space above and one line space below all

headings except chapter headings.

Chapter headings should preferably begin at

the top of a new page.

The following is a suggested format. The font

size will vary depending on your preferred

typeface and font.

Heading 1 (chapter heading) HEADING 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

HEADINGS

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EXCEPTION

Use a colon to link a heading (or title) with a follow-on subheading (or subtitle). Used in this way,

the colon shows a subordinate relationship between the heading and the subheading. When used

in a heading, an initial capital letter after the colon is recommended.

Planning: A guide to planning for structure and content

Editing: A guide to editing for style and presentation

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stage 1: Pre-program competency review

Stage 2: Introduction to the rules of business writing

Stage 3: Personal coaching and ongoing editorial support

Stage 4: Program evaluation

Stage 5: Reporting and recommendations

Use a colon after a heading or title when it is directly followed by related information. It is also

acceptable to use a period (or full stop) instead of a colon.

Lack of support for Widget: It appears that the Widget software system has little or no support from our

internal Help Desk or the IT Department in general.

Use an initial upper case letter after the colon when the text is a complete sentence (as is the

case in the above example). Use an initial lower case letter after the colon when the text is not a

complete sentence.

Lack of support for Widget: little or no support from internal Help Desk or IT Department

HEADINGS

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eLearning Courseware

ONLINE COURSES: STYLISTIC CLARITY ONLINE COURSES: STRUCTURAL CLARITY

COMMON GRAMMATICAL ERRORS PLANNING YOUR DOCUMENT

WORD CHOICE AND SPELLING WRITING INTRODUCTIONS AND CLOSINGS

PUNCTUATION AND CASE WRITING THE OUTLINE AND BODY

SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION WRITING WITH TONE IN MIND

LISTS AND BULLET POINTS

SENTENCE SPRAWL AND PARAGRAPHS

NUMBERS AND SYMBOLS

LAYOUT AND VISUALS

TUTORIALS: STYLISTIC CLARITY TUTORIALS: STRUCTURAL CLARITY

GRAMMAR PAYROLL PROCEDURE

PLAIN ENGLISH BUSINESS CASE

OVERDUE ACCOUNT

DISPUTE

WRITING RESOURCES

CHECKLISTS, NOTES, DOCUMENT TEMPLATES, EXAMPLE DOCUMENTS, GENERIC WORKSHEETS