Adhering to certain rules of grammar and mechanics helps us keep our writing clear and consistent. This section will lay out our organization’s writing style, which applies to all of our content unless otherwise noted in this guide.
Basics
Write for all readers. Some individuals will read every word you write. Others will just skim. Help everyone read better by grouping related ideas together and using descriptive headers and subheaders.
Focus your message. Create a hierarchy of information. Lead with the main point or the most important content, in sentences, paragraphs, sections, and pages.
Be specific. Avoid vague language.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
If there’s any chance your reader won’t recognize an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out the first time you mention it. Then use the short version for all other references. Specify the abbreviation in parentheses.
- First use: Enhanced Illness Management and Recovery (E-IMR)
- Second use: E-IMR
If the abbreviation or acronym is well known, like FKA or HTML, then there is no need to spell it out the first time its used.
Active Voice
Use active voice. Avoid passive voice.
In active voice, the subject of the sentence does the action. In passive voice, the subject of the sentence has the action done to it.
- Yes: Kristen led the training.
- No: The training was led by Kristen.
Words like “was” and “by” may indicate that you’re writing in passive voice. Scan for these words and rework sentences where they appear.
One exception is when you want to specifically emphasize the action over the subject. In some cases, this is fine.
- Your research was reviewed by our team.
Capitalization
We use a few different forms of capitalization. Title case capitalizes the first letter of every word except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. Sentence case capitalizes the first letter of the first word.
When writing out an email address use all lowercase.
- leir003@umn.edu
When writing out our website address use title case capitalization and omit “www.”: PracticeTransformation.umn.edu
Practice types should always use title case capitalization:
- Enhanced Illness Management Recovery
- First Episode Psychosis
- Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment
Don’t capitalize random words in the middle of sentences. Here are some words that we never capitalize in a sentence.
- website
- internet
- online
Contractions
Use contractions where you deem appropriate keeping in mind that they give writing an informal, friendly tone.
Emojis
Do not use emojis in any public-facing writing.
Dates
Generally, spell out month and include the year. Abbreviate only if space is an issue in the app.
- January 24, 2020
- Jan. 24, 2020
Time
Use numerals and am or pm, with a space in between. Use minutes for on-the-hour time.
- 7:00 am
- 7:30 pm
Use an en dash between times to indicate a time period.
- 7:00 am–10:30 pm
Specify time zones when writing about a webinar. Since the Center is in Minnesota, we default to CST.
Abbreviate decades when referring to those within the past 100 years.
- the 00s
- the 90s
When referring to decades more than 100 years ago, be more specific:
- the 1900s
- the 1890s
Punctuation
Colons
Use a colon (rather than an ellipsis, em dash, or comma) to offset a list.
- The client is interested in three clinical trainings: E-IMR, First Episode Psychosis, and IMR.
Colons are often used in webinar and clinical tools titles.
- The Sanctuary Model: A Trauma Informed Therapeutic Community
- Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Guiding Principles and Recovery Strategies in Integrated Care
Commas
When writing a list, use the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma).
- Yes: The Center for Practice Transformation is committed to creating the highest quality, inspired, enthusiastic, and skilled workforce.
- No: The Center for Practice Transformation is committed to creating the highest quality, inspired, enthusiastic and skilled workforce.
Hyphen, Em Dash, En Dash
Use a hyphen to combine words or to separate numbers that are not inclusive such as phone numbers and Social Security numbers.
- well-being, recovery-oriented
- 651-095-7894
The en dash is slightly longer than the hyphen but not as long as the em dash. The en dash means “through. En dashes are most commonly used to indicate inclusive dates and numbers.
- 12:00 pm–1:00pm
- January–March
- 543–756
An em dash is used to create a strong break in the structure of a sentence. Em dashes are useful in a sentence that is long and complex or in one that contains a number of commas.
- Educational institutions must also respond to this need by providing comprehensive training—from training infused in the core curricula of social work and alcohol and drug counselor programs to targeted CEU initiatives for practitioners in the field—that will serve new and experienced providers within this emerging practice area.
Ellipses
Ellipses, in brackets, can be used to show that you are omitting words in a quote.
- “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, […] a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
Periods
Periods go inside quotation marks. They go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.
- Christy said, “I need a break.”
- I took a break (and I walked around the block too).
- I took and a break and a walk. (Janet went on the walk with me.)
Leave a single space between sentences.
Question marks
Question marks go inside quotation marks if they’re part of the quote. Like periods, they go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.
Exclamation points
Use exclamation points sparingly, and never more than one at a time. They’re like high-fives: A well-timed one is great, but too many can be annoying.
Exclamation points go inside quotation marks. Like periods and question marks, they go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.
Never use exclamation points when providing negative information.
Quotation marks
Use quotes to refer to words and letters, titles of short works (like articles), and direct quotations.
Periods and commas go within quotation marks. Question marks within quotes follow logic—if the question mark is part of the quotation, it goes within. If you’re asking a question that ends with a quote, it goes outside the quote.
Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.
- Who was it that said, “A fool and his donut are easily parted”?
- Karla said, “A wise man once told me, ‘A fool and his donut are easily parted.’”
Semicolons
Go easy on semicolons. They usually support long, complicated sentences that could easily be simplified. Try an em dash (—) instead, or simply start a new sentence.
People, Places, and Things
File extensions
When referring generally to a file extension type, use all uppercase without a period. Add a lowercase s to make plural.
- GIF
- HTML
- JPGs
Pronouns
If your subject’s gender is unknown or irrelevant, use “they,” “them,” and “their” as a singular pronoun. Use “he/him/his” and “she/her/her” pronouns as appropriate. Don’t use “one” as a pronoun.
Quotes
When quoting someone in a blog post or other publication, use the present tense.
- “Working with the Center for Practice Transformation has helped our practitioners evolve,” says Cathie Schilling.
Names and Titles
The first time you mention a person in writing, refer to them by their first and last names. On all other mentions, refer to them by their first name.
Capitalize the names of departments and teams.
- Leadership
- Clinical Trainers
Capitalize individual job titles when referencing to a specific role. Don’t capitalize when referring to the role in general terms.
- Our new Clinical Trainer starts today.
- All the clinical trainers eat lunch at noon.
Schools
The first time you mention a school, college, or university in a piece of writing, refer to it by its full official name. On all other mentions, use its more common abbreviation.
- First Use: University of Minnesota
- Second Use: UofM
States, Cities, and Countries
Spell out all city and state names. Don’t abbreviate city names.
Per AP Style, all cities should be accompanied by their state, with the exception of: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington.
On first mention, write out United States. On subsequent mentions, US is fine. The same rule applies to any other country or federation with a common abbreviation (European Union, EU; United Kingdom, UK).
URLs and Websites
Capitalize the names of websites and web publications. Don’t italicize.
Leave off http://www. from a URL whenever possible.
Writing About the Center
“Center for Practice Transformation” is our full name. Always use the full name the first time you mention it then use “the Center” for all other references. Using “we” or “our” may be deemed more appropriate than referring to the Center in the third person.
- First use: Center for Practice Transformation or The Center for Practice Transformation
- Second use: the Center
Always capitalize the words: Center, Practice, Transformation. Leave “for” in all lowercase.
Refer to the Center as “we,” not “it.”
Capitalize branded terms, like E-IMR Manual.
Don’t capitalize descriptive product or feature names, like training or webinars unless it is in a title or heading.
Writing About Other Companies
Honor companies’ own names for themselves and their products. Go by what’s used on their official website.
- College of Education and Human Development
- Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare
Slang and Jargon
Write in plain English. If you need to use a technical term, briefly define it so everyone can understand.
Text Formatting
Don’t use underline formatting, and don’t use any combination of italic, bold, caps, and underline.
Left-align text is preferred over center or right-aligned.
Leave one space between sentences, never 2.
Write positively
Use positive language rather than negative language. One way to detect negative language is to look for words like “can’t,” “don’t,” etc.
- Yes: To get a donut, stand in line.
- No: You can’t get a donut if you don’t stand in line.