Table of Contents

A.SDSN General Standards for Content Writing and Structure

Formatting a Document

Grammar: American vs. British English

Punctuation

Commas

Commas vs. Semicolons in a Sentence List

Acronyms

Bullet Points

Hyphens

Images and Figures

Numbers and Dates

Numbers Expressed in Words

Dates

Additional Number Rules

Frequent Writing Oversights

B. SDSN Writing Tips

Overall Structure

Paragraph Structure

Sentence Structure

Active vs. Passive Voice

Write Clearly and Concisely

Examples of Shorter, Clearer Writing

Parallel Constructions

Group Authoring of Reports

Quotations

C. Appendix

SDSN Social Media Guide

SDSN Logos and Usage Guidelines

Examples: SDSN Publications

Recommended Production Companies

Recommended Design Companies

Recommended Printing Companies

A.SDSN General Standards for Content Writing and Structure

Formatting a Document

  • When you have the option to select font and font size, SDSN always uses Calibri and size 12 font. Times New Roman is also acceptable.
  • Always use upper case letters for the first letter of key words in titles and headers.
  • Please use Zotero for all references and share the bibliographic database with colleagues.The citation style needs to be adapted for each publication. We recommend Chicago style, which you can set in Zotero. Please do NOT enter and update references manually.

Grammar: American vs. British English

This applies to both spelling and punctuation. The SDSN always uses American spelling and punctuation.

American English spelling / British English spelling
Apologize / Apologise
Analyze / Analyse
Color / Colour
Travel / Travelled
Center / Centre
Defense / Defence
Program / Programme

See comprehensive list here

American English punctuation / British English punctuation
Punctuation inside quotation marks / Punctuation outside quotation marks
Double quotation marks / Single quotation marks
Periods after titles (Prof. Sachs) / No period after title (Prof Sachs)

More info

Punctuation

Commas

  • SDSN uses the Oxford comma, whereby a comma is used ahead of the conjunction in a sentence with a list of three or more items.
  • Correct: SDSN has offices in New York, Paris, and New Delhi.
  • Incorrect: SDSN has offices in New York, Paris and New Delhi.
  • Commas always go inside quotation marks.

Commas vs. Semicolons in a Sentence List

  • Normally, list items are separated with a comma. Use a semicolon if there are commas within the list of items themselves. Example:
  • This means that economic well-being is widely shared among different ethnic, religious, and racial groups; that it is shared between men and women so there is gender equality; and that it is shared among regions of a country, so that there is not just one pocket of prosperity in a sea of poverty.
  • A semicolon should also be used when introducing a series of detailed items. Example:
  • We recommend the following activities for a network: research on technical issues that are important to the region; teaching students about sustainability; and organizing consultations with key partners to talk about sustainability issues.

Acronyms

  • Always spell out the full phrase/title/name in the first mention, with the acronym in parentheses directly after, and then the acronym can be used alone afterwards. Example:
  • The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) go from 2000-2015. The MDGs focus on poverty alleviation.
  • Select acronyms that are commonly known to a wide audience can be used on first use, without being written out. For example, UN, USA, NYC.
  • Additional information.

Bullet Points

  • The overall priority should be to have consistency in your bulleted lists, this should stay true in reference to tense and punctuation. Some lists have a mix of proper and incomplete sentences. In this case, you can choose to end with a period or not, but it must be consistent throughout the entire list (e.g. use gerund, present tense, or nouns for each bullet) and the text should begin with a capital letter in most cases.
  • If the text that follows the bullet point is not a complete sentence, it doesn’t need to begin with a capital letter, nor end with a period.
  • If the text following the bullet point is a complete sentence, it should begin with a capital letter and end with a period.

Hyphens

Use hyphens when it might have a different meaning if the two words were not linked. This often occurs when they are modifying a noun.

  • state-funded agency not state funded agency (in the first, it is clear that funding comes from the state. In the second, it just implies that the state agency is funded, but we don’t know from where.) “emissions-intensive” not “emissions intensive”
  • The hyphens below are only used when these combinations precede a noun.
  • energy-intensive production vs. this production is energy intensive
  • low-emissions solutions conference vs. conference on low emissions
  • well-known brands of coffee vs. the coffee is well known
  • “net zero emissions” (no hyphen)
  • “up-to-date” not “up to date”

Images and Figures

  • A caption appears above the item.
  • Typically, boldface or underscore the word “Figure” or “Table” and the associated number in the caption (e.g. Figure 4: Changes in dietary patterns from 1990 to 2010 among men and women in 187 countries).
  • The text reference to a table or figure should come before it appears.
  • Always provide a complete citation ifa figure, table, or data came from another source.
  • Commonly-used Creative Commons (CC0) or public domain image sites are listed below. They vary in their requirements. Please make sure to note any requested accreditation requirements if you use an open source image in an SDSN product. If you have any questions about usage requirements, please check with Jay Neuner at .

1. Pixabay: A huge database of public domain images

2. New Old Stock: Vintage photos from the public archives

3. Unsplash: 10 new high-quality photos released every 10 days. Released under the CC0 license.

4. Foodie's Feed: High-res food images. Free to use without attribution; however, the may not be resold.

5. Death to the Stock Photo: Free images for commercial use. Delivered monthly to your inbox. You do not have the right to claim these photos as your own.

6. Magdeleine: One free high-res photo every day (and access to a full repository of images). Use the handy filter to find images that are either public domain or require attribution.

7. Public Domain Archive: All images are completely free for personal or commercial use, no link or attribution required. I personally use this for my latest startup Due for some of the amazing whitepaper images that we're putting together for the big launch.

8. Good Free Photos:Public domain images taken by the owner of the site. Offers some good location-based images.

9. Free Range Stock: Free high-res images, registration required. It is suggested you link back to the site and give credit to the photographer, but it isn't required. You cannot resell, distribute, or claim ownership of the images.

10. Pickup Image: Searchable database of public domain images.

11. Photogen: Free for personal or commercial use, but not suitable for resale or redistribution.

12. Gratisography: Free collection of amazing images taken by photographer Ryan McGuire. All photos provided under CC0.

13. Skitterphoto: License-free photos, free to use under CC0.

14. Life of Pix: High-quality, public domain images with no copyright restrictions.

15. Pexels: Searchable database of CC0 images.

16. Morgue File: A huge repository of free photos. You're free to use the images for personal or commercial purposes, but you cannot claim ownership of them.

17. SplitShire: Free photos with no copyright restrictions.

18. 1 Million Free Pictures: Free amateur public domain images. What they sometimes lack in quality they make up for in quantity.

19. pdpics: Public domain images taken by their in-house team of photographers.

20. Flickr: Creative Commons: Access to all Flickr photos sorted by license. This allows you to find images under the public domain, non-commercial license, attribution license, etc. Make sure you select 'Public Domain' to find images that don't require attribution

Numbers and Dates

Numbers Expressed in Words

Numbers are always expressed in words instead of digits:

  • If they are under 10.
  • At the beginning of a sentence:
  • Sixty staff members received awards.
  • In simple fractions:
  • Almost three-quarters of the population had to be evacuated.
  • The amendment was adopted by the required two-third majority.
  • The project cost half a billion dollars.

An exception would be known phrases that use digits, such as SDG 6.

Ordinal numbers from first to ninety-ninth are expressed in words for most purposes.

Dates

In the body of a document:

  • The Leadership Council will meet from 12 to 23 April.
  • ICSD will take place on 26 and 27 September.

Not in the body of a document, for example as part of a document title

  • Paris, 12-13 April 2018
  • New York, 26 and 27 September 2018

Additional Number Rules

  • $100.5 million (not: 100.5 million dollars – the currency sign precedes the amount).
  • If you are writing them out, hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.
  • Write out and hyphenate all fractions (two-thirds).
  • Use commas for figures over four digits (1,124).
  • Decimals are always punctuated with periods (not commas) when writing numbers in English (example: 52.1)
  • Additional information.

Frequent Writing Oversights

  • Use consistent sentence structure and tense. For example, noun vs. verb, infinitive vs. gerund (to learn vs. learning).
  • Consistent capitalization.
  • If a word (particularly an adjective) can be removed without loss of meaning, then it’s often a good idea to do so.
  • Avoid jargon and diffuse terms (e.g. “capacity development,” “political will”).
  • Whenever possible, replace long words with short words and shorten sentences.
  • Put descriptions before nouns to use less words. Example: Representatives from different countries spoke at the meeting. Change to Country representatives spoke at the meeting.
  • When referring to the Sustainable Development Goals in an acronym and as plural, be sure to write “SDGs” and not “SDG’s.”

B.SDSN Writing Tips

Overall Structure

  • Consider your audience and the purpose of the piece: Each writing task will have a different motivation behind it and will require different techniques, voice, diction, formality, etc. In general, you can’t go wrong with simple, clear writing. After you draft a document, go through a second time looking for where you can simply language without sacrificing meaning. Also, eliminate any redundancy, such as if you stated the same concept multiple times.
  • Imagine someone is in a hurry–if they just skimmed your document quickly, would they be able to tell what point you were trying to make and why it mattered for them?
  • Think about the structure of the text before you start writing: map out the structure of the argument. It can help to start with an outline–write out the lead sentences of each paragraph, and bullet points underneath of what you’d like to include. This makes it easier to see the piece’s underlying points and structureand to move points around.
  • The introduction of the piece should make its purpose and thesis statement clear and should give a brief outline of what you will cover in the following pages. It should also motivate the reader to continue reading.
  • Group your ideas and arguments (people can typically remember three ideas, sometimes up to five).
  • Always include clear conclusions and takeaways/action points for the reader. Imagine someone is just going to be reading the conclusion and nothing else and ensure that they would still understand your main points.
  • It can help to reverse the outline once you have a written piece. Summarize the paragraphs in bullet points and look at the logical flow from bullet point to bullet point. Does the piece need reorganization?

Paragraph Structure

  • Aim to present one idea or thought per paragraph (see topic sentence).
  • Never use one-sentence paragraphs. The general rule is that a paragraph must include three sentences, though this rule is not hard and fast.
  • As you move from one paragraph to the next or one idea to another, be sure your reader can follow along. Topic sentences should introduce the main idea/question/subject/point your paragraph will be exploring. Sometimes the last sentence might be a summary of the preceding paragraph.
  • Topic sentences: The first sentence of the paragraph should outline the main points the paragraph will coverand, if possible, connect to the previous paragraph.
  • Transitions: How does this new paragraph relate to the one before? Think about including a transition sentence to explain. This can be at the beginning or end of the paragraph.
  • Moving to a new thought:Think critically about why you’re making a new point at this particular place in the piece, and how it connects to what you’ve previously stated.
  • Last sentences: What do I want my reader to take away from reading this paragraph? What is the main development in my thoughts that has occurred in this paragraph?
  • A good way to think about what needs to be in a paragraph is claim, warrant, impact:
  • Claim: What point are you trying to make? What is your thesis statement?
  • Warrant: What is your evidence or related information for your claim?
  • Impact: Why does your point even matter in the context of the piece and your overall argument or narrative?
  • Additional information.

Sentence Structure

Active vs. Passive Voice

Try to use the active voice instead of the passive voice whenever possible. This will make a huge difference to your writing! In the active voice, the subject performs the action. In thepassive voice, the subject receives the action. (The subjectof asentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something.)

  • Ex.
  • Active: Marilyn mailed the letter. (The subject, Marilyn, performs the action of mailing.)
  • Passive: The letter was mailed by Marilyn. (The subject becomes the letter and is “acted upon”/receives the action of being mailed.)
  • To change the passive to the active, look for a "by" phrase (e.g., "by Marilyn" in the last example above). If you find one, the sentence may be in the passive voice. Rewrite the sentence so that the subject buried in the "by" clause is closer to the beginning of the sentence.
  • Additional information.

Write Clearly and Concisely

  • Avoid repetition – don’t use the same words (particularly descriptive words) too much in the same paragraph. The Thesaurus tool in Word can be helpful to vary your language. For example: We had a very good meeting with good attendance. Change to: We had an engaging meeting with near capacity attendance.
  • Vary sentence openings – it’s easy to slip into starting every sentence with words like this, that, it, if, I.

Examples of Shorter, Clearer Writing

  • in view of the fact that: as
  • a certain number of: some
  • the majority of: most
  • pursuant to: under
  • within the framework of: under
  • accordingly, consequently: so
  • for the purpose of: to
  • in the event of: if
  • if this is not the case: if not
  • if this is the case: if so
  • concerning, regarding, relating to: on
  • with reference to, with regard to: about
  • carry out an evaluation of: evaluate
  • hold an investigation of: investigate
  • give consideration to: consider

Parallel Constructions

  • When you have a series of words, phrases, or clauses, put them in parallel form (similar grammatical construction) so that the reader can identify the linking relationship more easily and clearly.
  • Ex. Clear (parallel):In Florida, where the threat of hurricanes is an annual event, we learned that it is important to (1) be aware of the warning signs, (2) know what precautions to take, and (3) decide when to seek shelter.
  • Ex. Not as clear (not parallel): In Florida, where the threat of hurricanes is an annual event, we learned that it is important (1) to become aware of the warning signs. (2) There are precautions to take, and (3) deciding when to take shelter is important.

Group Authoring of Reports

Before beginning a writing project with multiple authors, it is a good idea to review the points mentioned in this document and, among other things, agree on standard terminology, capitalization, and acronyms that will be used for common jargon. Also, talk about who will introduce certain concepts in their section of the document, so that they are not repeated throughout, only to be deleted at a later stage.

A suggested process might go as follows:

  1. Authors meet to outline the document, assign sections to specific writers, and discuss the formatting and content issues noted above. A timeline is developed that includes each of the following steps. They discuss options for a technical editor, copy editor and report designer. Reasonably priced on-line editing services are available and may be considered, depending on budget.
  1. A lead author should be designated to compile the final report and oversee reviews and editing. They should reach out to the technical editor, copy editor, website manager and social media content to ask for their support and inform them of the timing.
  1. Authors draft content and provide it to the lead author, who compiles into a single document, checking for flow and redundancy.
  1. Each author is given the opportunity to review the synthesized document.
  1. Once author comments are incorporated, the document is given to an independent technical reviewer, such as a member of the Secretariat or an LC member.
  1. The technical review comments are incorporated by the lead author, consulting with other authors, as needed.
  1. Once all comments are addressed, the report is given to a copy editor.
  1. Copy editor revisions are made by the lead author.
  1. The report is formatted, including display of figures and tables, and the lead author checks for any display or format issues.
  2. The report goes to printing and is prepared for on-line posting. Also, plan for social media postings.

Quotations

  • Do you introduce the quote before you give itor just plop it in? Give the context for the quote or paraphrase before you use it; otherwise you are not fully engaging with it.
  • Do you explain the quote, evaluate it, or connect it to your claim or point after placing it in your paper? It’s important not just to insert the quote but to explain how it connects to your idea. Consider: why did you select this quote for your paper? How did it add to your understanding of the topic? Why is it important?

C.Appendix

SDSN Social Media Guide