EERE Style Guide - Energy

EERE Style Guide

April 15, 2021

EERE Style Guide (This page intentionally left blank)

ii

EERE Style Guide

Executive Summary

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Style Guide is an essential tool for preparing publications, exhibits, and websites. It features formatting, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and language guidelines.

Why Use This Guide?

This guide promotes the accuracy, consistency, and professionalism required for effectively communicating EERE's capabilities and accomplishments in research and development.

How to Use This Guide

Consult this guide first when you develop or edit a publication or website for EERE. The entries are listed in alphabetical order. You can also use the index to search for entries by topic. If you can't find an entry on a subject or topic, consult these style and reference guides in the following order:

? The Associated Press Stylebook* ? Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary ? The Chicago Manual of Style.*

* Available by subscription only.

1

EERE Style Guide

Style Guide

Entry

a, an

Definition/Rule

Use "a" before any acronym or word that begins with a consonant sound. Use "an" before any acronym or word that begins with a vowel sound. An acronym is pronounced as a word (e.g., a HEPA filter); an initialism is pronounced as its letters (for example, an NGO). The first sound of the word or letters indicates whether to use "a" or "an."

Usage Example(s) ? a light-water reactor: an LWR ? a request for proposals: an RFP ? a NASA astronaut ? a Project Management Plan: a PMP

abbreviations, An abbreviation is a shortened form of

acronyms, a word used in place of the full word.

and initialisms

An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of each of the words in a

phrase or name

An initialism is similar to an acronym, but it is pronounced by its letters.

Abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms are treated similarly.

Avoid abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms unless the phrase appears more than once. If a name is not used more than once, then the acronym/initialism should not be included, unless the acronym/initialism is better recognized than the full name, e.g., NASA. If they are well known, like R&D or PG&E, you can determine whether to spell it out.

Abbreviations

? Corp. ? Blvd. ? FedEx

Acronyms

? NASA ? laser

Initialisms

? DOE ? EERE

? PUCs (public utility commissions)

? CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons)

? Hz (Hertz) ? rpm (revolutions per

minute)

Spell out the full name on first use, followed immediately by the acronym/ initialism in parentheses.

2

EERE Style Guide

Entry

Definition/Rule

To avoid confusion, try not to use too many acronyms/initialisms in a sentence or paragraph. Don't use abbreviations, acronyms, or initialisms in headlines or page headers.

Usage Example(s)

Include a glossary or list of acronyms if your publication is at least 50 pages and contains at least 20 acronyms.

On the Web. The above guidelines apply to web content as well but try to avoid acronyms and use a shortened version of the name on second reference. If you can't avoid an acronym, define it the first time used on each webpage. Don't use in a page title or header.

Do not spell out common abbreviations, Common

acronyms, and initialisms in most

abbreviations/acronyms/initialisms

technical reports.

that do not require spelling:

Technical measurement units. Spell out a technical abbreviation in full in text when used without numerals.

? Mr. (mister) ? no. (number) ? vs. (versus) ? U.S. (United States) ? ASAP (as soon as

possible) ? R&D (research and

development) ? centimeter (cm) ? meter (m) ? foot (ft.) ? pound (lb.)

In text without numeral:

? "a few centimeters" not "a few cm."

Abbreviate units of measurement when they are used with a numeral or numeric value. With a few exceptions

In text with numeral:

? 15 cm ? 15 m

3

EERE Style Guide

Entry

abstract academic degrees

Definition/Rule

(such as %, ?, $, ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download