Nobody owns the English language, which we believe is a good thing. But this can be a problem for a publication. On any given day, we’re likely to encounter a range of variations in spelling, punctuation and style, all technically “correct”. Or should that be ‘correct’, or just correct?

upstart isn’t here to arbitrate on these matters, but we do feel it’s important to aspire to a consistent house style. To this end we’re now recommending that everyone who writes for us follows the guidelines set out in the ABC Radio National online style guide.

This guide, which is regularly updated by the network’s online copy editor, is used by around 60 of Radio National programs, and it seems obvious that it’s both good practice and good practise for emerging journalists to get used to consulting guidelines produced by the national broadcaster. We’ve been in touch the ABC, and they’re happy for us to recommend this guide, which is freely and publically available on their website.

In it you’ll find clear and concise rulings on spelling, headings, the use of capital letters, abbreviations and acronyms, titles of books, films and songs, and quotations. So no more sweating over whether to italicise that book title (you should), or whether to use double inverted commas for quotes (you musn’t).   

More background on the style guide can be found in this 2009 Lingua Franca program.

Now if anyone can find any violations of those ABC guidelines in the article you’ve just read, be a good sport and let us know. We will publish all corrections. And if you’re thinking of writing to upstart, please check out our newly published Notes for contributors page.