Written Style Guide

General Principles

Generally spell out acronyms at first instance including acronym in parenthesis

Example: Integrated pest management (IPM) 

Exception: CSA, while it’s fine to spell out community sustained/supported agriculture, it actually becomes confusing as a direct substitution for the acronym which is used like a noun. CSA is more commonly used and occasionally included in farm names.

We try to limit our use of “BIPOC”

When referring to historically marginalized groups, we try to be specific

(ex. Black farmers, Lenni Lenape people)

Note from Hannah

Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). In addition to the fact we provide services to a few farms that technically would be considered CAFOs (like organic hen houses), I prefer we say what we stand for and support instead of what we are against. Even though, obviously, I am opposed to CAFOs.

Capitalizing Titles

Articles (a, an, the) are always written in lowercase unless they start the title. 

Prepositions (for, of, on, etc.) of more than four letters should be capitalized if they are in a title.

Conjunctions (and, but, or, etc.) of more than four letters should be capitalized if they are in a title.

Pronouns are always capitalized in titles.

Every other part of speech should be capitalized in a title.

Proper Nouns

“Communications” vs. “the communications team”

“The communications team” is used as an improper noun.

“Communications” is used as a proper noun.

Climate-Smart

Capitalize when referencing the formal program name, i.e. “Climate-Smart Farming & Marketing”

Use lower case when utilizing as an adjective/general description, e.g. “climate-smart practices”

Sentence Case vs. Title Case

We try to stick with sentence case most of the time, unless it seems appropriate for titles.

We do still use title case for main titles of resources (report titles, webinar titles, etc.) but generally use sentence case in subheaders, figure titles, titles of form fields, etc.

For many people, including those with sight impairment and reading disabilities, it’s easier to read.

Usually mention the county name

Unless near cities like Pittsburgh or Philadelphia

Spell out state names

(ex. Pennsylvania, instead of PA)

General Principles

Generally spell out numbers under 10.

Exceptions:

When numbers need to stand out or when connected with farm acreage 

(ex. 1.5 acre vegetable farm) 

Before percentage sign (%)

(ex. 2%)

Formatting Times

10 am – 12 pm

8–9 pm

9:30 am

Measurements

Generally spell out measurements

(ex. 10 inches, 12 feet)

Ampersand

Use & in title headers and to shorten small bits of copy text

(ex. Climate-Smart Farming & Marketing)

In a running text, we write out “and”

(ex. Climate-Smart Farming and Marketing)

If in a series, we omit the serial comma before &

(ex. Running, jumping & screaming)

Dashes & Hyphens

No space on either side of em dashes (—)

En dash (–) between spans of numbers and times

Punctuating Titles

Unlike the AP style, we italicize book titles

(ex. The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South)

When mentioning the name of news outlets, we italicize them

(ex. The New York Times)