Decoloyarns

Our style guide

Here’s why and how we use the AIATSIS style guide, our writer-led copy method of editing, and a short overview of the yarn segments Decoloyarns are made up of.

The nuts and bolts
Decoloyarns uses the AIATSIS Style Guide as a base model. Per the AIATSIS Style guide, we use the Australian Public Service Style Guide where the AIATSIS Style guide is limited or does not have a rule. 

We make the following exceptions to the AIATSIS Style Guide: 

  • Dashes: There is no space before or after an em, en, or hyphen. 
  • Citation styles: following our above policy on writer-led copy, the writer chooses their own citation style.

Writer-led copy
We are a writer-led publication, particularly regarding the expression of First Nations authors. Where an author’s expression preferences contradict spelling/grammar/punctuation norms, we follow the author’s preference. Our only rule here is that expression must be consistent throughout the text. Here are some examples of author expression that we would prioritise over western copyediting conventions: 

  • Use of pidgin Englishes.
  • Capitalisation differences. I.E. some of our authors never use capitalisation, whereas others will capitalise words that are not usually capitalised in conventional English.

Our structure
Decoloyarns are made up of four key sections:

An introductory paragraph or paragraphs. The editors will work with you on this section. These usually outline a problem, contain a lede, and introduce the author of the work—largely because of authorship attribution challenges with the publication style of WordPress as it stands. Introductory paragraphs stand at up to 200 words, ideally no more.
The body of the yarn.This is written wholly by the yarn author.
The final paragraph, or tail, of the yarn.The editors will work with you on this section. This section is usually guided by a call to action (CTA). It could be “what next”, “what you can do”, “how to do it yourself”; whatever it is, it is usually guided by the material of the yarn itself. As an editor, part of our job is to think about what would effectively lead on from the yarn we are presenting on the site, and produce that conclusive angle for the piece, for the author/s and mentor to approve.

The purpose of a Decoloyarns is not to simply leave a reader thinking, but to guide their momentum towards meaningful decolonising practices. This section can contain links to different types of texts, sites, petitions, or events. Make it clear what you are linking to—and refer to prior yarns to see the style of explanation, which is adjacent to a Wikipedia style of referencing. 

Beneath the call to action section is a references section, which is always hyperlinked where possible to the source text.
Beneath references are an image credit for the banner and article photo, and a copy-paste citation for those seeking to reference the article itself. The editors will collate this. Please note: in the current WordPress format, adding the URL of the article changes the size of the citation text and breaks the formatting for no clear reason. As such, rather than the URL itself, I add <URL> for writers to manually add the hyperlink themselves.