EH&S Style Guide

9 Editing Just as the university strives for consistency of communication design, it also encourages clarity and consistency in its messages. Our audiences oftentimes overlap; the parent of a prospective student also could be a graduate, a legislator, a donor, or an employer of our graduates. The Iowa State materials received by that one person could come from admissions, the alumni association, his or her college, governmental relations, or one of the college career services offices. It is important that we all treat language, punctuation, and grammar consistently and clearly. The Chicago Manual of Style, Sixteenth Edition, and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, are the foundations for this guide. Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style is also a resource. Materials created specifically for use by the news media may follow The Associated Press Stylebook but only those materials. Editorial Standards are listed on the University Marketing web page. We have two exceptions. 1. We enclose the area code in parentheses. See “Contact Information Formats”. 2. We use email. It is important to comprehensively edit all documents before submitting themtoTrainingandCommunication (T&C). During the editing process, documents should be reviewed for accuracy, clarity, and organization. Accuracy An accurate document includes no errors in facts, terminology, grammatical structure, punctuation, spelling, cross-references, topic headings or graphics. Inaccuracies include everything from simple typos to misleading information. The level of accuracy affects a reader’s confidence in the integrity of the information. You can use automated tools such as spell checkers to check a document, but ultimately, the accuracy of the information depends on close scrutiny by writers and editors. Several elements fall into this category. Factual Information Verify all publication dates, etc. Ensure information in tables is accurate and matches similar information presented elsewhere. Table captions should explain the information in the table. Double check that all cross-references to other pages are correct. Parallel Topics To improve ease of use, take care to present parallel topics in the same format and order. Use consistent terminology to describe features or concepts that are mentioned more than once. Headings Headings and section titles should accurately describe the content. Orphan Rule Do not allow a single word to end a paragraph or one line to end a section. Table Captions Captions of tables and figures should be meaningful and accurately reflect the content. Spelling and Typographical Errors Run a spell-checking tool against the document. Ask a co-worker to review the document. Sometimes an objective eye can identify errors that a document’s creator may miss.