An individual's writing style may be distinctive for particular themes, personal idiosyncrasies of phrasing and/or idiolect; recognizable combinations of these patterns may be defined metaphorically as a writer's "voice."
In many kinds of professional writing aiming for effective transfer of information, adherence to a standardised style can facilitate the comprehension of readers who are already accustomed to it.
They may also include features peculiar to a publication; the practice at The Economist, for example, is that articles are rarely attributed to an individual author.
General characteristics have also been prescribed for different categories of writing, such as in journalism, the use of SI units, or questionnaire construction.
Typically, students are encouraged to use a style commonly adopted by journals publishing articles in the field of study.