Guidelines for Preparing a Report for Publication Prepared for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research July 2020 Introduction During fiscal year 2019, those interested in the It goes through a typical report section by section, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban providing explanations, tips, and dos and don’ts. It Development's (HUD's) research accessed more provides suggestions for making publications ready than 12 million downloadable files from for timely web posting and offers helpful hints for huduser.gov, the Office of Policy Development those asked to prepare material based on research and Research's (PD&R's) website. findings. The HUD USER Clearinghouse, PD&R's research RUD ensures that PD&R’s publications reflect information service, continued to experience HUD’s graphic and industry standards, are demand for printed copies of products and, appropriately formatted for print, and are accessible during that same year, distributed approximately online as quickly as possible after completion. 75,000 studies and reports to interested RUD’s goal is to make this guide useful to HUD staff constituents through its Web Store, via and contractors. subscription, and by other means. As technology and publication policies change, This guide was prepared initially in 2001 in RUD will update the contents and will welcome response to numerous inquiries received by PD&R’s suggestions from the guide’s users. Research Utilization Division (RUD) from HUD staff and contractors about publication standards Research Utilization Division and guidelines and how to prepare reports for Office of Policy Development and Research publication. Compiled into a single volume that can July 2020 be readily shared with others, this guide addresses standards and frequently asked questions concerning various areas of the PD&R style guide and publication standards. ii Contents I. Where and How to Begin ......................................................................................................................................... 1 II. Elements of a Report .............................................................................................................................................. 2 Covers ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Front Matter.............................................................................................................................. 2 Letter from the Secretary ......................................................................................... 2 Disclaimer .............................................................................................................. 2 Title Page ................................................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................... 2 Foreword ................................................................................................................ 2 Table of Contents .................................................................................................... 2 List of Exhibits ........................................................................................................ 2 Executive Summary ................................................................................................. 3 Body of the Report .................................................................................................................... 3 End Matter ................................................................................................................................ 3 Appendixes ............................................................................................................. 3 References or Works Cited ....................................................................................... 3 III. Preparing a Report ............................................................................................................................................... 4 For Authors ............................................................................................................................... 4 Software Recommendations ...................................................................................... 4 Draft Preparation .................................................................................................... 4 Grammar and Syntax ............................................................................................... 4 Headings ................................................................................................................ 5 Footnotes ................................................................................................................ 5 Block Quotes .......................................................................................................... 5 Interior Exhibits: Graphs, Tables, and Illustrations ................................................... 5 Headers and Footers ................................................................................................ 6 Page Numbering ...................................................................................................... 7 Page Orientation ..................................................................................................... 7 Justification, Spacing, and Line Length .................................................................... 8 Fonts ...................................................................................................................... 8 For Designers ............................................................................................................................ 8 Pagination .............................................................................................................. 8 IV. Publishing a Report ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Report Finalizing ..................................................................................................................... 10 Online Posting ......................................................................................................................... 10 Complex Documents ............................................................................................................... 10 Professional Versus Inhouse Printing ...................................................................................... 10 Binding Options ...................................................................................................................... 11 Legal Issues ............................................................................................................................ 11 Permission To Publish HUD Publications ................................................................. 11 Publication of Reports by Contractors ....................................................................... 11 Publication of Reports by Those in Cooperative Relationships ...................................... 11 Inhouse Publications ............................................................................................. 11 Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks ..................................................................... 11 iii V. Style Guide for PD&R Reports ........................................................................................................................... 13 General Guidelines ................................................................................................................. 13 Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Initialisms ............................................................................... 13 Agency Address Hierarchy ...................................................................................................... 14 Bulleted and Numbered Lists .................................................................................................. 14 Capitalization .......................................................................................................................... 14 Compounding and Unit Modifiers ........................................................................................... 14 Hyphens and Dashes .............................................................................................................. 15 Italics ...................................................................................................................................... 15 Numbers ................................................................................................................................. 15 Punctuation ............................................................................................................................ 16 General Guidelines for Editing Reports ................................................................................... 17 Editing Charts, Tables, and Graphs ........................................................................................ 17 Charts and Tables ................................................................................................. 17 Graphs ................................................................................................................. 18 VI.