Style Guide IES 2006-XXX

U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences IES Style Guide IES 2006-XXX December 2005 U.S. Department of Education Margaret Spellings Secretary Institute of Education Sciences Grover J. Whitehurst Director The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), established by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, is the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. Its mission is to expand knowledge and provide information on the condition of education, practices that improve academic achievement, and the effectiveness of federal and other education programs. Its goal is the transformation of education into an evidence-based field in which decisionmakers routinely seek out the best available research and data before adopting programs or practices that will affect significant numbers of students. December 2005 Content Contact Wilma Greene (202) 208-3380 [email protected] Contents (To quickly find guidance on a specific topic, refer to the index at the end of this style guide.) Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Abbreviations and Acronyms .................................................................................................................. 3 Spell out on first occurrence ............................................................................................................. 3 Repeat in major sections .................................................................................................................... 3 Match articles to the abbreviation .................................................................................................... 3 Note apostrophe, plural, and possessive usage................................................................................ 4 Use fiscal year (FY) abbreviation; AY and SY are optional .......................................................... 4 Outlying area and freely associated state abbreviations—not used in text ................................ 4 State, DC, PR, and directional abbreviations—not used in text .................................................. 5 Foreign country and Canadian province abbreviations—not used in text ................................. 5 United States: Spell out as noun, abbreviate as adjective .............................................................. 6 U.S. Department of Education ......................................................................................................... 6 Department of Defense schools ....................................................................................................... 6 Define abbreviations in tables ........................................................................................................... 7 Capitalization .............................................................................................................................7 Titles and headings ............................................................................................................................. 7 Capitalize most words in titles and higher level headings ................................................... 8 Use “sentence-style” capitalization in lower level headings ............................................... 8 In-text capitalization ........................................................................................................................... 8 Capitalize proper names .......................................................................................................... 8 Lowercase “figure,” “chapter,” “appendix,” etc., unless full title given ........................... 9 Capitalize per traditional usage and specified style .............................................................. 9 When to capitalize the first word of a sentence following a colon ................................... 9 Refer to this list of commonly used terms ............................................................................ 9 Table and figure titles .......................................................................................................................10 Compound Words ....................................................................................................................................10 Hyphens not always needed ............................................................................................................10 Comparatives usually not followed by hyphen .............................................................................10 “ly” words not followed by hyphen ...............................................................................................11 Unit modifiers versus predicate adjectives ....................................................................................11 Prefixes and suffixes closed up .......................................................................................................11 When “non” takes a hyphen ...........................................................................................................12 When the suffix “wide” takes a hyphen ........................................................................................12 Double vowels often separated by hyphen ...................................................................................12 No hyphen used with the unit modifier “Title IV eligible” ........................................................13 List of compound words .................................................................................................................13 IES STYLE GUIDE iii Copyright, Brand Names and Trademarks, Permission ..............................................................14 Copyright ............................................................................................................................................14 Brand names and trademarks...........................................................................................................15 Permission ..........................................................................................................................................15 Cross-References (within section you are in and to other parts of document) ......................15 Cite in order (items within the section; appendixes) ....................................................................15 Verify agreement ...............................................................................................................................15 Lowercase references (if full title not given) .................................................................................16 Place appropriately in sentence .......................................................................................................16 Refer to other parts of your document by title, not page number ............................................16 Definitions ..................................................................................................................................................16 Errata Sheets ..............................................................................................................................................17 Figures .........................................................................................................................................................17 Figures should have an identifier and title ....................................................................................17 Figure identifiers are different in different parts of report .........................................................18 Titles have special capitalization rules ............................................................................................18 Titles not footnoted...........................................................................................................................18 Scales must match .............................................................................................................................18 Scale breaks should be clearly visible .............................................................................................18 Labels and legends text should be horizontal ...............................................................................18 Tick marks should be outside the axis ...........................................................................................19 Gridlines, if used, must be lighter than other elements................................................................19 Line graphs should use distinctive lines and avoid geometric figures and legends .................19 Pie charts have labels outside the wedges .....................................................................................20 Bar charts have data labels, may have legends ..............................................................................21 Footnotes ....................................................................................................................................................21 Limit the number and length ..........................................................................................................22 Integrate .............................................................................................................................................22 Consolidate ........................................................................................................................................22

Load more