Using Correct and Consistent Spelling and Abbreviations

Using Correct and Consistent Spelling

Most of us do not consider ourselves excellent spellers. If you've been out of high school or college for more than five years, chances are your spelling is not as good as it once was – if you ever considered it good at all. There may be words that you aren't sure how to spell. Chances are there will also be words that have multiple correct spellings, and you aren't sure which spelling you should use. For example: acknowledgement and acknowledgment are both acceptable spellings of the same word.

The first rule of spelling in the age of word processing programs is never rely on a spell check feature to catch your spelling errors – or to keep you consistent in the way that you spell words. You always want to use a dictionary to not only find the correct spelling of a word, but to choose the preferred spelling of a word that you want to use in your report.

That said, avoid using online dictionaries when you're writing reports. There are too many online dictionaries to choose from, and you may find yourself using multiple online dictionaries without realizing it. To write reports, you need a physical dictionary. You need one of the big, thick heavy ones. Preferably, you want one that contains at least 600 pages and has been revised in the past five years.

Once you have your dictionary, you can use it to look up any word and confirm the spelling of that word. If the word has multiple spellings, the dictionary will show you alternative spellings. If you want to use an alternative spelling, you can take a colored pen and underline the spelling you want to use. This is the spelling you will use in the report you're writing, and you should also use it in all future reports. Being consistent with your spelling improves your image and professionalism. It also improves the effectiveness of all your written communications.

Creating Your Own Style Guide

If you're new to writing reports for your company, you may want to check if your company already has a style guide that they use. There may be an already published style manual they prefer that you use, or the company may have created their own style guide. If they haven't, and you're going to be writing a lot of reports, you can create your own style guide to use.

Creating your own style guide is as simple as opening a new word processing document, such as a new document in MS Word. You'll want to add the following sections to your style guide:

Introduction. In the introduction, list the dictionary and/or published style manual that you use as a reference. Make note of which version of a word you use, when there are multiple spellings of the same word. For example, if you use the first spelling of the word, or the first alternative spelling.

Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization. Do you want to use acronyms or spell the words out? What about ampersands, em dashes, and ellipses? Will you use all caps for emphasis or not? How will you use commas? For example, the Oxford comma. Write down any general rules that you want to follow in all your reports. You don't have to write all of it down right away. The beauty of creating your own style guide is you can add to it as time goes on, and you write more reports.

Commonly Misspelled, Misused, and Frequent Words. Add words that you tend to misspell or misuse. You can also add words that you use frequently in reports. For example, let's say your boss's name is Adamearaschwitz, but you can never remember exactly how to spell it correctly. You can add it to your style guide, so it's right in front of you each time you need to mention his name in a report. In addition, include the spellings of words you use frequently that have multiple spellings. If you use the word "acknowledgment" frequently and spell it without the "e," list this in your style guide to save yourself time. To make it easier, keep your word list in alphabetical order. Most word processing programs have a sort function to do the work of alphabetizing for you.

Style & Tone. If you're not the only person writing reports, you may want to add a section on style and tone so this remains consistent, as well. When you talk about style in your style guide, you may want to list things such as:
- Keep paragraphs short.
- Use bulleted lists whenever possible.
- Avoid using italics or bold face to emphasize words.
- Don't use parentheses more than once in a report.
- Always write in first person.

Once you have a style guide created, put the date at the top of it. For example: Created on 5/22/2015. If you add to or edit the style guide, put a revision date after the creation date. For example: Created on 5/22/2015. Revised 7/15/2015. Always print a copy of the latest version, and keep it nearby when you are working on a report.

While creating a style guide may seem like a lot of work, you'll find that it will save you time as you begin to write more and more reports. Think of it this way: It's a lot easier to reference your style guide than to thumb through the dictionary, or reference prior reports, to discover how you did things the last time.

]]>