SPEstyleguide - Society of Petroleum Engineers Style Guide 20142015 edition 2014 Society of Petroleum Engineers FOREWORD The Society of Petroleum

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) produces print and electronic publications and marketing materials which are distributed to engineers and others in the oil and gas industry worldwide. Because SPE disseminates technical information for a worldwide readership, clear writing is essential to enhance the comprehension of SPE publications by readers from a number of geographic areas, nationalities, and language backgrounds. SPE’s rules of style are intended to promote clarity, conciseness, accuracy, and consistency in the society’s publications. Guidelines on customary abbreviations, numbering, nomenclatures and reference lists, and punctuation are included in this booklet. TheChicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, may also be a helpful reference. While SPE believes that many others may find the guidance in this document helpful, other publications or applications may have somewhat different needs that require some differences in style. SPE’s objective in making this Style Guide available is to help authors and others understand the style that SPE uses in its publications. It is not SPE’s intention to try to establish a style that is broadly applicable across the oil and gas industry; rather, the intent is to define how SPE will treat style questions in its own publications.FOREWORD

TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1:WRITING A GOOD TECHNICAL PAPER...................................................................1 SECTION 2:COMMON ERRORS IN USAGE/GRAMMAR..............................................................2 SECTION 3:SPELLING..........................................................................................................................7 3.1GENERAL ................................................................................................................................................... 7 3.2BRITISH/USSPELLINGS .................................................................................................................8 SECTION 4:ABBREVIATIONS.............................................................................................................8 4.1GENERAL .......................................................................................................................................8 4.2UNITS ..........................................................................................................................................10 4.3ORGANIZATIONS .........................................................................................................................12 SECTION 5:PUNCTUATION...............................................................................................................13 5.1COMMA .......................................................................................................................................13 5.2COLON .........................................................................................................................................14 5.3SEMICOLON .................................................................................................................................14 5.4APOSTROPHE ...............................................................................................................................15 5.5PARENTHESES .............................................................................................................................16 5.6QUOTATIONMARKS ....................................................................................................................16 5.7DASHES .......................................................................................................................................17 5.8HYPHENATION .............................................................................................................................18 5.9AMPERSANDS ..............................................................................................................................22 SECTION 6:NAMES..............................................................................................................................23 6.1PEOPLE,PERSONALTITLES,DEGREES ........................................................................................23 6.2COMPANIES,ORGANIZATIONS ....................................................................................................25 6.3GEOGRAPHIC ...............................................................................................................................26 6.4MEETINGNAMES ........................................................................................................................28 SECTION 7:NUMBERS.........................................................................................................................29 7.1GENERAL .....................................................................................................................................29 7.2DATES ANDTIMES .......................................................................................................................30 7.3PHONENUMBERS ........................................................................................................................31 7.4UNITS OFMEASURE....................................................................................................................31

7.5WHOLENUMBERS .......................................................................................................................32 7.6FRACTIONS ..................................................................................................................................33 7.7CURRENCY ..................................................................................................................................33 7.8DIMENSIONS ................................................................................................................................34 SECTION 8:ELEMENTS OF TECHNICAL PAPERS......................................................................34 8.1CHECKLIST OFITEMS ..................................................................................................................34 8.2TITLES ANDHEADINGS ...............................................................................................................34 8.3BYLINES ......................................................................................................................................35 8.4BODY ...........................................................................................................................................39 8.5NUMBERINGTABLES,FIGURES,ANDEQUATIONS ......................................................................40 8.6ENUMERATION OFPOINTS ...........................................................................................................41 8.7EQUATIONS .................................................................................................................................42 8.9SYMBOLS ANDNOMENCLATURE ................................................................................................44 8.10REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................46 8.11FOOTNOTES .................................................................................................................................52 8.12CONVERSIONFACTORS ...............................................................................................................53 8.13AUTHORBIOGRAPHIES ................................................................................................................54 8.14FIGURES ......................................................................................................................................55 8.15TABLES ........................................................................................................................................56 APPENDIX A: OIL-INDUSTRY TERMS.............................................................................................58 APPENDIX B: COMMON ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................................63 APPENDIX C: COMMON OILFIELD UNITS....................................................................................66 APPENDIX D: MATH SIGNS AND OPERATORS.............................................................................68 APPENDIX E: GREEK LETTERS........................................................................................................69 APPENDIX F: SAMPLE FIGURES.......................................................................................................70 APPENDIX G: SAMPLE TABLES........................................................................................................71 INDEX........................................................................................................................................................75 LIST OF REVISIONS IN THE 2014–2015 EDITION..........................................................................76

SPE Style Guide12014–2015 EditionSECTION 1:WRITING A GOOD TECHNICAL PAPER 1.1Use active voice.The use of active rather than passive voice produces clearer, more concise writing.