Writers Style Guide
Chiefs Coalition Style Guide
The purpose of Chiefs Coalition’s style standards is to ensure the professional presentation of all Chiefs Coalition content. This professional presentation makes Chiefs Coalition content more attractive both to readers and to media partners, which in turn helps to maximize exposure for Chiefs Coalition writers. In that sense, our strict adherence to Chiefs Coalition’s style standards is essential to the long-term growth of the network.
Chiefs Coalition’s style standards are outlined in two distinct resources: this main Style Guide and a supplementary Style Question Clearinghouse from bleacherreport.com. The Style Guide identifies a fixed number of Primary and Secondary Style Standards that should be applied to all Chiefs Coalition content. The Style Question Clearinghouse (a) fleshes out the nuances of Chiefs Coalition’s Primary and Secondary Standards and (b) provides a forum for all further questions about the particularities of Chiefs Coalition style.
If you’re a Chiefs Coalition writer, you should carefully study the Primary and Secondary Style Standards in the Style Guide and apply them in all of your articles. You should also peruse the Style Question Clearinghouse at your leisure, not hesitating to ask any and all questions you may have about how to comply with Chiefs Coalition’s style guidelines.
If you’re a Chiefs Coalition editor, you should carefully study the information in the Style Guide and the Style Question Clearinghouse and apply it in all of your editing work. For clarifications on specific words and phrases, please refer to the Spelling, Hyphenation and Capitalization Dictionary. If and when you need clarification about any particular style issue, you should ask questions via the "Pending Questions/Entries" forum attached to each document.
In either case, thank you in advance for your efforts in helping Chiefs Coalition maintain its reputation as the Web’s premier source of fan-driven sports journalism.
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Primary Style Standards
Chiefs Coalition’s Primary Style Standards regulate three principal elements of style: (1) Paragraph and Sentence Length, (2) Keyword Usage in Headlines and (3) Presentation of Numbers and Statistics.
The style elements regulated by the Primary Standards are among the first things people notice when they read an article on Chiefs Coalition. If these elements are consistent in all Chiefs Coalition content, Chiefs Coalition will be well on its way towards cementing its status as a professional media outlet. If they aren’t, it will be harder for readers and prospective media partners to take the network seriously.
1. Paragraph and Sentence Length
Chiefs Coalition writers and editors are encouraged to create short paragraphs and short sentences wherever possible. Anything we can do to trim excess verbiage will improve reader experience on Chiefs Coalition. Long blocks of text make readers lose interest. Short paragraphs keep them engaged.
2. Keyword Usage in Headlines and Opening Paragraphs
The inclusion of search keywords in headlines and opening paragraphs helps articles reach the broadest possible audience. With that in mind, Chiefs Coalition writers and editors are instructed to add keywords to headlines and opening paragraphs when appropriate.
Beyond HKD entries, the best search keywords generally come from the following three categories, ranked here according to their effectiveness in generating search engine traffic:
1. Personal Names (first AND last names wherever possible)
2. Team Names (city AND nickname for pro sports; school AND sport for college/HS) and Events
3. Divisions, Conferences and Leagues
To put those principles into practice...
Poor choice of keywords: “Irish Eyes Are Weeping”
Better choice of keywords: “Notre Dame Football Drops the Ball”
Best choice of keywords: “Charlie Weis, Notre Dame Football Drop the Ball”
Because keywords at the beginning of a headline are weighted more heavily than those at the end, you should order keywords according to their effectiveness. So, personal names should come first, followed by team names and events and, finally, divisions, conferences and leagues.
And when it comes to the body of a story like this, make sure the first couple sentences feature as many relevant full keywords as possible without affecting the natural flow/readability. If the author just wrote "Pierce did it all for the Celtics," change that to "Paul Pierce did it all for the Boston Celtics" so the first reference of any player or team name is presented in full.
If "2008 NBA Finals" is not mentioned early in the story, do your best to work it in. Things like that. Having this become second nature is a great skill to boast as an online editor.
3. Presentation of Numbers and Statistics
As a general rule, the numbers zero through nine are spelled out in Chiefs Coalition articles, while the numbers 10 and above are presented in digit form.
The same logic applies to ordinal numbers: "First" through "ninth" are spelled out; "10th" and above are presented in digit form.
The two key exceptions to that rule are (1) single digits presented as part of a stat line (e.g. “9 PTS 3 REB 4 AST”) and (2) multiple-digit numbers that an author intentionally spells out for rhetorical effect (e.g. “a one in a million chance”).
The Style Question Clearinghouse contains a complete list of exceptions to Chiefs Coalition’s general numbers rules, along with sport-by-sport statistical style guidelines.
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Secondary Style Standards
Chiefs Coalition’s Secondary Style Standards regulate three elements of style: (1) Quotations from Written Sources, (2) Formatting for Subheadlines and (3) Formatting for Dashes.
The style elements regulated by the Secondary Standards are not as common as those regulated by the Primary Standards. They are, however, very important to reader perception of Chiefs Coalition articles. As noted above, our success in consistently applying the Style Standards in all Chiefs Coalition content will determine the extent to which readers and prospective media partners regard Chiefs Coalition as a source of professional-quality journalism.
1. Quotations from Written Sources
All article text excerpted from written sources must be surrounded by quotation marks. Chiefs Coalition writers who quote written text should explicitly identify a source.
Double quotation marks (“...”) are the standard form in all Chiefs Coalition articles. Single quotation marks (‘...’) should only be used to set off a quote within a quote.
Periods and commas should go “inside,” and not “outside”, the “quotation marks.” Any other type of punctuation should go inside if it is part of the quote. (“Got it?”)
2. Formatting for Subheadlines
In articles with a number of game, team, or player capsules, all subheadlines should be BOLDed and separated from the preceding text by a double line break. Subheadlines should not contain line-ending colons or hyphens.
The proper formatting for subheadlines in articles with multiple sections is as follows:
Text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text.
[double line break]
Subheadline No. 1 (BOLDed, No trailing colon or hyphen)
[single line break]
Text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text.
[double line break]
Subheadline No. 2 (BOLDed, No trailing colon or hyphen)
[single line break]
Text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text.
3. Formatting for Dashes
The em-dash (the longest dash) is used in all Chiefs Coalition articles. No spaces should appear on either side of a dash. En-dashes, hyphens and double-hyphens should never be used in place of em-dashes.
This—is correct.
This-is not. Neither is--this. (Note the difference in length between an em-dash and a hyphen: — v. -)
Remember — no spaces.
On a Macintosh, the em-dash is produced by holding down SHIFT and OPTION, then pressing the dash button. On a PC, the em-dash is produced by holding down ALT and then entering 0151 on the numeric keypad.
If you're working on a PC without a numeric keypad, you can copy and paste em-dashes as necessary. Here's one to get you started: —
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Thanks again to every individual Chiefs Coalition writer and editor for your help in making Chiefs Coalition a trusted source of professional-quality sports content.
