WRITING STYLE CONVENTIONS

WRITING STYLE CONVENTIONS

and

FORMAT GUIDELINES

for Text in Microsoft Word Version 5.0

WRITING STYLE CONVENTIONS

1. Directives titles in the SUBJECT heading refer to the topic, but not to "FMS." Directives are internal to FMS, and apply only to this department. Similarly, directives titles do not mention "policy" or "procedures," since they are understood to be the focus of every directive. Thus, for example, the extended title "FMS Policy and Procedures on Directives Content and Format" is not necessary for this directive.

2. Directives text refers to the department as "FMS" even the first time it is used in the document.

3. Directives refer to "staff members" rather than to "employees," including references to members of the bargaining unit.

4. Directives use conventions found in the university's Writer's Style Guide regarding capitalization and other usage alternatives normally resolved by agreement on uniform writing practices.

5. Directives use the active voice or the form of expression used for instruction or directions to others. Directives use primarily the present tense, rather than the future tense, and rather than verb forms indicating the desirability or preferable nature of an action. Directives may use verb forms indicating permissive or discretionary actions.

FORMAT GUIDELINES

To write new directives or to revise existing directives, directors or their staff who use MSWord have access to the "stationery" file called "1 dir format." This file, when first opened, presents a worksheet called "Untitled1" and the stationery file remains unaffected by subsequent work in the new worksheet.

A worksheet opened from "1 dir format" contains all the font, paragraph, indent, margin and header and footer conventions that FMS has adopted for its directives. The user needs only to enter text in the pre-set formats that FMS uses in the various parts of its directives. The features of this format include the following items:

1. The format has set up the first header and first footer, and the header and footer for the remaining pages of a multi-page directive, as follows:

1.1. The first line in the First Header (most easily seen and entered in "Page Layout" under the "View" menu) contains the university logo in 48 point "Carnegie Mellon" font, and the department name in 12 point Helvetica font in all caps, boldface, using a 24 point superscript character setting. The second line contains the "Date" function under the "Insert" menu, indicating the current month, day and year. The user enters the directive number and, on the next line for text, the subject in initial caps; the preset format for both entries is boldface.

1.2. The first line for both the First Footer and Footer contain the word "Page" and the page number function. The user does not need to make any entries in either place.

1.3. The first line of the Header for a multi-page document contains the "Date" function and the Directive No. The user again enters the directive number and, on the second line for text, again enters the subject of the directive, in initial caps. Here again, both entries are preset for 12 point Helvetica boldface

2. The format has provided the following features, and anticipates the following treatments, for the section headings of the directives:

2.1. All headings appear in boldface capital letters. (References to headings in the text of a directive are in all caps, but not in boldface.) Text is single spaced, in Helvetica 12 point font, with a 6.5 inch width in the "Ruler" setting. All text is both left- and right-justified.

2.2. For headings with room on one line for the required entry (e.g., DISTRIBUTION, REVIEW DATE, and POSITION RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEW), the format contains a right-justified tab at the 6.5 inch margin on the Ruler. Move the cursor to the tab at the right-hand margin, and type the information.

2.3. The format uses a boldface horizontal line (from the "Border" function under the "Format" menu) to separate DISTRIBUTION LIST, REVIEW DATE, and POSITION RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEW from PURPOSE, BACKGROUND, POLICY, PROCEDURES, and RESPONSIBILITIES headings, and those from the REFERENCES, CANCELLATIONS, SIGNATURE and ATTACHMENTS headings. (There is no line for a border at the end of the directive.)

2.4. Set page breaks so as not to separate a heading from the text that follows.

3. The format contains the following features for the text of directives by heading:

3.1. Text styles have been preset for every heading in the format. The style that is currently in use appears in the lower of the two pull-down menu boxes in the MSWord ribbon, in the upper left corner at the top of the screen. The pull-down feature lets the user see, and choose among, the other styles available at any time.

3.2. For the block ¶ and #'d paragraph styles, the format uses the one-line-between-paragraphs format setting in the Ruler (rather than using a second carriage return between paragraphs); for the #'d sub-¶ style, it uses the no-line-between-paragraphs format setting. The user can change either setting by clicking the alternate paragraph button in the Ruler.

3.3. The preset style for the PURPOSE, BACKGROUND AND POLICY headings is the block ¶. The #'d paragraph and #'d 1st sub¶ styles are preset for the text in the PROCEDURES heading. The #'d paragraph style is preset for the RESPONSIBILITIES heading.

3.4. All numbered paragraph and sub-paragraph styles use so-called hanging indentations (i.e., they use the format of the numbered paragraphs in this text), at standard tab settings (rather than requiring the user to insert spaces or tabs at the beginning of each line), to achieve the intended appearance of numbered paragraphs.

3.5. Each sub-paragraph uses a full set of numbers to identify the paragraph set to which it is subordinate; e.g., a paragraph at a fourth subordinate level in a series might be numbered 1.1.1.1. FMS directives avoid the use of upper or lower case letters, parentheses, or upper or lower case Roman numerals for subordinate paragraph designations.