ADF&G Writer's Guide
In March 1992, Commissioner Carl Rosier adopted as policy the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Writing Standards to provide consistent word usage for department publications.
Now in its third edition, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Writer’s Guide (PDF 1,833 kB) provides direction for department authors as well as a reference for those seeking better understanding of the department’s work.
Divisions may make their own policies and procedures for publications and may provide specific guidelines or templates for those processes. Department authors should consult their publications specialists for further guidelines.
Department Copyright
All department works are copyrighted by the department, per Standard Operating Procedure III-401.
Media Guidelines, Production of Films
When writing for video or audio production, department authors should consult relevant Standard Operating Procedures and other department policy, including review procedures. Contact the department communications director for more information.
ADF&G Writer's Guide
Alaska Department of Fish and Game Writer’s Guide full PDF file download (PDF 1,833 kB)
| Page | Section | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| v | Foreword, Acknowledgments, Introduction (PDF 201 kB) | ||
| 3 | Section 1: Publication Guidelines and Printing Procedures (PDF 289 kB) | ||
| 3 | 1.1 | General Correspondence | |
| 3 | 1.2 | ADF&G Publications: Types and Standards | |
| 4 | 1.3 | Use of Images in Publications | |
| 4 | a. | First Amendment and the Right to Privacy | |
| 5 | b. | Publishing identifiable subjects and obtaing model releases | |
| 5 | c. | Writing captions | |
| 5 | d. | Photo illustrations | |
| 6 | e. | Use of official department portraits | |
| 7 | 1.4 | Publication Procedures Required by Law | |
| 7 | a. | Printing requirements | |
| 7 | b. | Procurement requirements | |
| 8 | c. | Production of publications | |
| 8 | d. | Cost blocks | |
| 9 | e. | International Standard Book Number | |
| 10 | f. | Office of Equal Opportunity statement | |
| 10 | g. | Provide a copy to Public Communication Section | |
| 10 | 1.5 | Cataloging, Distruction, and Archiving Requirements | |
| 11 | a. | Informational and educational publications | |
| 11 | b. | Scientific and technical publications | |
| 11 | c. | Information Services | |
| 13 | Section 2: Conflict of Interest and Copyright (PDF 148 kB) | ||
| 13 | 2.1 | Ethics, Disclosure, and Informed Consent | |
| 13 | a. | Use of commercial product or vendor name | |
| 13 | b. | Scientific journal articles and professional papers | |
| 14 | 2.2 | Copyright | |
| 14 | a. | ADF&G copyright information | |
| 14 | b. | ADF&G copyright notice | |
| 16 | Section 3: Acronyms (PDF 217 kB) | ||
| 17 | 3.1 | Pluralizing Acronyms | |
| 17 | 3.2 | Agencies, Organizations, Associations, and Commissions | |
| 17 | a. | ADF&G divisions and sections | |
| 18 | b. | State of Alaska | |
| 18 | c. | U.S./Federal | |
| 19 | d. | Other agencies, organizations, associations, and commisions | |
| 21 | 3.3 | Alaska Caribou Herds | |
| 22 | 3.4 | Miscellaneous Abbreviations and Acronyms | |
| 25 | Section 4: Compound Words (PDF 326 kB) | ||
| 25 | 4.1 | General and Technical Compound Words | |
| 37 | 4.2 | Fishing Gear | |
| 38 | 4.3 | Hyphenating Nouns and Adjectives | |
| 38 | a. | Compound adjectives | |
| 39 | b. | Established compound nouns | |
| 39 | c. | Meaning-dependent | |
| 40 | d. | Phrasal adjectives | |
| 40 | e. | Complex phrases without hyphens | |
| 41 | Section 5: Capitalization Help (PDF 211 kB) | ||
| 47 | Section 6: Watch-Out Words (PDF 342 kB) | ||
| 68 | Section 7: Plurals (PDF 205 kB) | ||
| 68 | 7.1 | Animals, Fishes, and Related Terms | |
| 70 | 7.2 | General Terms | |
| 71 | 7.3 | Apostrophes | |
| 72 | Section 8: Numbers (PDF 252 kB) | ||
| 72 | 8.1 | General Style | |
| 72 | a. | Cardinal Numbers | |
| 73 | b. | Ordinal Numbers | |
| 73 | 8.2 | Modern Scientific Style | |
| 73 | a. | Cardinal Numbers | |
| 75 | b. | Ordinal Numbers | |
| 75 | 8.3 | Dates | |
| 76 | 8.4 | Time of Day | |
| 76 | a. | General style | |
| 76 | b. | Modern scientific style | |
| 77 | 8.5 | Fractions, Percentages, and Decimals | |
| 77 | a. | Fractions | |
| 77 | b. | Percentages and decimals | |
| 78 | 8.6 | Ranges | |
| 78 | a. | Fractions | |
| 78 | b. | Modern scientifc style | |
| 79 | 8.7 | Units of Measure, Mathematical Symbols, and Variables | |
| 80 | 8.8 | Latitude and Longitude | |
| 81 | 8.9 | Measurements | |
| 81 | a. | Symbols | |
| 82 | 8.10 | Pacific Salmon Ages | |
| 83 | Section 9: Species Names and Related Rules (PDF 371 kB) | ||
| 83 | 9.1 | Scientific Names | |
| 83 | a. | First introduction | |
| 84 | b. | Multiple or unidentified species | |
| 84 | 9.2 | Common Names | |
| 85 | 9.3 | Family and Order Names | |
| 85 | 9.4 | Shellfishes of Alaska | |
| 87 | 9.5 | Finfishes of Alaska | |
| 89 | 9.6 | Anemones of Alaska | |
| 90 | 9.7 | Birds of Alaska | |
| 102 | 9.8 | Mammals of Alaska | |
| 106 | 9.9 | Amphibians and Reptitles of Alaska | |
| 107 | Section 10: Punctuation Format and Abbreviations (PDF 236 kB) | ||
| 116 | Section 11: Grammar (PDF 201 kB) | ||
| 119 | Appendix A: Units of Measure, Scientific Abbreviations, Symbols, Conversions, Variables, and Equations (PDF 247 kB) |
||
| 125 | Appendix B: Standard References (PDF 165 kB) | ||
| 131 | Appendix C: Reference Formatting (PDF 228 kB) | ||
| 140 | Appendix D: Reference Cited (PDF 83 kB) | ||
| 143 | Index (PDF 623 kB) | ||
This table of contents listing is also available as part of the Introduction (PDF 201 kB) file.
Staff wishing to suggest additions or make corrections to the material in this ADF&G Writer's Guide can do so by contacting ADF&G Writer's Guide Submissions.
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