Formatting

Abbreviations and acronyms

Use periods with most two-letter abbreviations. No need for the periods when in headlines.

·        U.S.

·        U.K.

·        U.N.

·        EU

·        MW

Abbreviations of three letters or longer must be fully capitalized with no periods, including those acronyms pronounced as a single word.

·        EIA

·        WWF

·        UNHCR

·        UNICEF

·        NASA

Avoid using abbreviations or acronyms in the lede, as this can spoil the flow of the copy.

Capitalization

Don’t capitalize IUCN Red List categories.

·        critically endangered, not Critically Endangered

Don’t capitalize the common names of plants and animals unless they include proper nouns. Italicize non-English common names on first reference.

·        greater adjutant stork

·        Burmese python

·        colocolo, or Pampas cat

Capitalize geographical regions and features

·        Amazon River

·        Mount Kilimanjaro

·        Southern Hemisphere

·        Congo Basin

Hyphenation

Commonly hyphenated words and those that look like they should be but somehow aren’t:

bird-watching, bird-watcher

clean up (v.), cleanup (n.)

clear-cut

database

data set

deep sea (n.), deep-sea (adj.)

eco-friendly

eco-guard

ecotourism

firsthand, secondhand

freshwater (n. & adj.)

frontline (exception to AP Style)

full time, part time (adv.), full-time, part-time (adj.)

·        The part-time worker works part time

gill net (n.), gillnet (adj.)

heat wave

life cycle

life span

lifetime

long-running

long-standing

longtime

·        They were longtime friends

·        They were friends for a long time

master plan

phase-out

road map

saltwater (n. & adj.)

scale up (v.), scale-up (n.)

seabed, seafloor

seawater (n. & adj.)

socioeconomic, socioenvironmental

startup

time frame

timeline

time span

trade-off

tree planting (n. & v.), tree-planting (adj.)

Dates

Spell out all months when used alone or with only a year.

·        January 2017

·        In October that same year

Months from August to February should be abbreviated to the first three letters when followed by a date. All other months are spelled out in full.

·        Jan. 27, 2017

·        On May 15 this year

Offset the year with a comma when the date is included. No comma if there is no date.

·        The expedition began on Feb. 2, 2017

·        The expedition began in February 2017

Spell out months no matter what in direct quotes.

Don’t use the day of the week, even when talking about something within seven days. This is an exception to the AP style guide.

·        The study will be published on Jan. 31. But not: The study will be released on Wednesday.

Italics

Italicize journal titles.

·        Nature Communications

Italicize genus and species names.

·        Pongo pygmaeus

Italicize photo captions.

Italicize non-English words on first reference only. This doesn’t apply to non-English words commonly used in English.

Non-English names and accents

Use the relevant accents and other diacritical marks for proper names.

·        Hawai‘i

·        Yucatán Peninsula

Prioritize the use of local or Indigenous names over Westernized ones, with a brief reference to the latter if needed.

·        Ganga River

·        A recent study published in the journal CATnews that analyzed scat samples in the region around Sagarmatha (also known as Mount Everest)

Prefixes

Generally don’t use a hyphen unless:

·        The word that follows is capitalized, e.g. pre-Columbian

·        You’re joining two prefixes, e.g. counter-counterargument

·        The prefix ends with the same vowel that starts the word that follows, e.g. ultra-addictive. Exceptions to this rule abound, including double “e” words, e.g. preexisting, preempt.

Common prefixes:

·        Co-

·        Counter-

·        Mega-

·        Multi-

·        Non-

·        Pre-

·        Semi-

·        Socio-

·        Super-

·        Ultra-

Specifically for the prefix “co-,” use a hyphen for words related to a person’s occupation or position:

·        co-author

·        co-host

Spelling

Use U.S. spelling for most situations. Beyond the obvious ones (colour vs. color), there are the subtler variations (fuelled/fuelling vs. fueled/fueling, or judgement vs. judgment). A good way to check is to search for it in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and go with the preferred spelling or first option used there.

However, don’t change the spelling of the name of an organization or agency if its proper name uses British English.

U.K. Labour Party

World Food Programme 

Don’t change or correct spellings in quotes from U.K. to U.S. English. For misspellings, add [sic] after the word to denote the mistake was on the part of the speaker and not the writer.

Tenses

Narrative can be in past or present tense, depending on the type of story. Present tense works well in feature writing or in “timeless” articles that can still stand on their own several months later. It helps keep the story feeling fresh. Conversely, past tense is more appropriate for a time-sensitive story like one reporting on a recently published study.

·        A third-generation plantation worker, Juma says he sees little future for his own children on this rapidly drying land.

·        The authors of the study called for further research to be done into the impact of increasingly severe storm surges on the mangroves.

Keep the tense consistent throughout a story.