The document provides writing guidelines for concise and readable articles, with multiple sections on shortening paragraphs, using active voice, proper formatting of italics, bold, and quotation marks, and tips for news and opinion writing. Key recommendations include keeping paragraphs under 7 lines, writing in an active voice, front-loading news articles with the most important information, and making opinion pieces interesting with unique perspectives.

1. Throwing Digital Sheep
Writing Guide
By TDS copy editor Paul Grzelak
June 2015
Version 1.1

2. Shorten Your Paragraphs — Part 1
Don’t scare readers with a big wall of text!
Break your articles into short paragraphs
so they are easy for readers to navigate and
make your articles look approachable.
You should always look for ways to make
your articles more manageable for readers.

3. Shorten Your Paragraphs — Part 2
In general, keep your paragraphs no more than roughly 7 lines high in desktop view.
For example: My love for Halo began in 2002 during a party at a friend’s house. Up until that
point, my gaming life was wrapped in a subscription to Nintendo Power and
bound to my beloved GameCube and Game Boy Advance. But after a few
games of 2v2 Team Rockets on Blood Gulch, I begged my parents for an Xbox.
Once I left the adventures of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and the
thrills of Super Smash Bros. Melee behind, I spent countless hours with my
brother blasting aliens in Halo’s spectacular sci-fi universe.
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Apply this rule to all your paragraphs in all your articles.
Limiting paragraphs to 3-5 sentences is also a good rule of thumb to write by.
If your paragraphs are 8-10 lines high or more, break them apart or trim them down.

4. Shorten Your Paragraphs — Part 3
Shorter paragraphs also benefit readers with large or small screens.
See how shorter paragraphs are
more manageable on the smaller
screen? And it won’t hurt
readers with big computer
monitors either!
If you’re on a desktop or laptop,
you can squeeze the sides of
your web browser’s window
close together to see how mobile
users will see your article.
Give it a try it!

5. Write Actively, Not Passively — Part 1
Write in an active voice instead of a passive voice to remove unnecessary words.
Active Voice
Passive Voice The postman was bit by the dog.
The dog bit the postman.
Active Voice
Passive Voice
Active Voice
Passive Voice
Active Voice
Passive Voice
Active Voice
Passive Voice
When you write in active voice, you pack more information into fewer words, and you
sound more concise. This will make you 20 times better at writing. No joke.
Nintendo put a delay on Zelda U.
Nintendo delayed Zelda U.
Many reviewers were disappointed with Destiny.
Destiny disappointed many reviewers.
Tom Brady had been cheating.
Tom Brady cheated.
The Illuminati has control over all the sheeple.
The Illuminati controls all the sheeple.

6. Write Actively, Not Passively — Part 2
I’ve seen a lot of passive voice using be or been in many articles by many writers.
Active Voice
Passive Voice Many titles will be appearing at E3.
Many titles will appear at E3.
Active Voice
Passive Voice
Active Voice
Passive Voice
Gearbox has been teasing Battleborn all week.
Gearbox has teased Battleborn all week.
The patch fixes problems players have been having.
The patch fixes problems players have had.
Passive Voice Active Voice
Writers at TDS of all levels of ability have been writing in
passive voice in some way or another, but the most
frequent mistakes have involved be or been, so be careful
when using these words. Writing in an active voice might
sound tedious, but it will make your writing more
approachable and much easier to understand.
TDS writers of all abilities write passively in varying
degrees, but the most frequent mistakes involve be or been,
so use them carefully. Writing actively might sound
tedious, but it keeps your writing concise.
See? Doesn’t this second paragraph read better?

7. WordPress Toolbar Guide — Part 1
Only italicize titles of games and other works of media.
Don’t use to emphasize words. See slide 14 for more details.
Use for headers (Heading 2)
and subheads (Heading 3)
Use to reveal lower
half of toolbar
Use the rest at your discretion. You can also set your article’s visibility to “Private” under the
Publish panel to preview it. This also allows you to share your article’s URL with
other staff members to collaborate on articles before they’re sent out for the world to see.
KEY
Don’t touch:
Your main body of text should be justified, so use this
instead of , , or .
Generally, keep this set
to its default values

8. Guide to the WordPress Toolbar
Use bold only for the final paragraphs of articles.
See slide Font Sizes description below. See next slide
Articles should end in a paragraph that invites readers to comment and visit our social media pages. These paragraphs
should always be all in bold (after italics are applied to game names and such), and set to Font Size 8.
Use the rest at your discretion. You can also set your article’s visibility to “Private” under the
Publish panel to preview it. This also allows you to share your article’s URL with
other staff members to collaborate on articles before they’re sent out for the world to see.
KEY
Don’t touch:

9. If you need to direct readers to information on another
webpage, give them a hyperlink that is convenient and
looks professional.
Hyperlinks should not stretch across long passages of text.
Hyperlinking a few words is sufficient for most uses.
We also don’t want any unsightly URLs cluttering up the
body of text in our articles. So…
Hyperlink like this:
Not like this:
Hyperlinking Within Articles
We want to keep traffic inside our website. Don’t link to
another website’s story if our website covered it too.
When you must hyperlink to other websites, set the link to
open in a new tab like so:
Conversely, whenever you hyperlink to our website, set
the link to open in the same tab like so:

10. Indicate possession with ’s at the end of words.
EXAMPLES:
- The dog’s house is green.
- Copy editing is Paul’s job.
- This trailer shows Fallout 4’s environments.
With words ending in s (including those that are
plural), indicate possession with ’ at the end.
EXAMPLES:
- For goodness’ sake!
- Have you read Thomas’ article?
- These PlayStation 4s’ hard drives were corrupt.
- I’m disappointed in Watch Dogs’ graphics.
The –’s and –’ Suffix: it’s important!
Some words are exceptions to these rules, like…
it’s
its
who’s
whose
=
=
=
=
Contraction of
it is or it has
Possessive
form of it
Contraction of
who is or who has
Possessive
form of who

11. Illustrated Guide to Quotation Marks
“Always put the comma inside quotation marks,” she said. Then she added, “The same
goes for the period.”
“Does the same rule apply to the question mark?” he asked.
“Only if the entire statement is a question,” she replied, “and never add a comma after a
question mark. Also be sure to lowercase the first word of a continuing quote that follows an
attribution and a comma.
“However, you must capitalize the first word of a new sentence after attribution,” she
continued. “Do not forget to open and close the sentence with quotation marks.”
“Why are there no quotation marks after the word ‘comma’ at the end of the third
paragraph?” he asked.
“Because the same person is speaking at the beginning of the next paragraph,” she said.
“Notice that the new paragraph does open with quotation marks. Note, too that a quote
inside of a quotation needs a single quotation mark, as around the word ‘comma’ above.”

12. Italics, Bold, and Quotation Marks — Part 1
Using italics, bold,
and “quotation marks”
to emphasize text.

13. Italics, Bold, and Quotation Marks — Part 2
Using italics, bold,
and “quotation marks”
to emphasize text.
DON’T DO THIS!

14. Italics, Bold, and Quotation Marks — Part 3
When to use
Bold
When to use
“Quotation Marks”
When to use
Italics
Only italicize titles of
games and other works
of media. Don’t use for
names of characters,
people, or companies.
Examples:
- Halo 2 has violence.
- Twister can be fun.
- Sonic the Hedgehog
runs fast.
- Sonic the Hedgehog
was a bad 2006 game.
Only use bold for the
final paragraph inviting
readers to comment.
Otherwise, don’t.
Just don’t.
Use only when directly
quoting a source.
Never use to imply sarcasm.

15. Tell readers what the news is within roughly the first 30 words of
your news article. This is not as hard as it sounds!
News posts should be front-loaded with the most pressing facts and
information. Don’t lead with a joke or background information. Tell
readers what the news is immediately; don’t waste their time.
Greater context, additional details, and less important news should
come after you’ve conveyed the most newsworthy information.
Your news article should end with the least important information.
News outlets around the world write in the style of an inverted
pyramid. Learn it well!
Writing News Articles — Part 1
Use The Inverted Pyramid Most Newsworthy Info
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Additional Important
Details
Background
Info
Other
Info

16. Writing News Articles — Part 2
Just The Facts
Remove your personal opinions from your news articles. News
articles should convey facts, not opinions.
All news articles should be written in third-person. Exclude words
such as I, you, your, us, our, we, my, and me from news articles.
Always reference your sources! Good news articles are littered with
phrases like according to and said. Hyperlink to sources frequently!
News articles should inform, not speculate. Maintain a neutral voice.
Don’t tell readers an event is terrible. Do tell them about the event.
Don’t tell readers a feature excites. Do tell them about the feature.
Don’t tell readers what to think. Do tell them the facts.
And don’t mistake your own conclusions for facts.

17. Writing News Articles — Part 3
When To Copy And Paste
You are a reporter, not a stenographer. You’re not doing your job if all you
do is copy and paste information from other sources.
You should only copy and paste when the exact phrasing or word choice of
a quote or written article is crucial to your news story. Otherwise, always
put things in your own words. Remember: paraphrasing is not a sin!
As a matter of integrity, your reporting must be independent and
respectable. Repeatedly copying and pasting sections of press releases or
“about” pages is neither independent or respectable.
Provide readers with the information they need, but don’t be a mouthpiece
for game makers, Internet celebrities, movements, or other organizations.
If you have little information to provide, put it in greater context!

18. Writing Opinion Articles
Be Interesting
You really are a unique snowflake! But unless you’re Ben “Yahtzee”
Croshaw, gamers won’t listen to your opinion just because it’s yours.
Don’t ramble about why you like or hate certain games unless you have a
unique take on those topics. Be ambitious, take risks, and write something
that will make readers think!
Play devil’s advocate, make unconventional arguments, or highlight an
important topic that is rarely discussed. You don’t have to use facts or cite
sources, but they often help. Some opinion articles can be objective.
Readers don’t have to agree with your opinion. In fact, sometimes an
opinion article’s goal is to provoke readers into discussing an issue, rather
than convincing them of something.
Most importantly, let your personal voice flow!

19. Too Long, Didn’t Read?
- No URLs
- Follow AP style
- Keep body text justified
- When in doubt, ask an editor
- Be a reporter, not a stenographer
- Cut to the chase in your news articles
- Use active voice instead of passive voice
- Use bold, italics and quotation marks properly
- Original opinions > EA sux / Xbone jokes / gushing
- Keep paragraphs shorter than 7 lines high in desktop view
- Hyperlink out? Open in new tab. Hyperlink in? Open in same tab.
- Keep the words I, you, your, us, our, we, my, and me out of news articles

20. STILL Too Long, STILL Didn’t Read?
Proofread your articles!