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Copy Editing and Formatting

Follow the editorial style and formatting conventions described below when developing content on behalf of the Office of Head Start. Review exceptions to these rules.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

  • Spell out the first mention of a term in the text, followed by its abbreviation or acronym in parentheses, e.g., Office of Head Start (OHS).
  • Do not use an abbreviation or acronym if a term is mentioned only once.
    • Exception: Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC)
  • Avoid using in resource titles.

Note:

  • The official acronym for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is HHS.
  • Head Start is never abbreviated; it is a registered trademark of HHS.
  • Early Head Start (EHS) is a registered trademark of HHS.
  •  Use "Head Start" only as an adjective, not as a noun which violates copyright — e.g., Head Start programs
  • "Head Start" is the umbrella term for all Head Start Preschool, Early Head Start, MSHS, and AIAN programs.

Correct: Head Start Preschool and Early Head Start programs

Incorrect: Head Start and EHS programs

Capitalization

  • Capitalize formal titles when they are used immediately before one or more names (e.g., Director Khari M. Garvin; Secretary Xavier Becerra).
  • Do not capitalize a position title that is not associated with a particular person (e.g., all program directors).
  • Capitalize and abbreviate the following titles: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., and Sen.
  • Spell out all other formal titles.
  • Do not capitalize words such as federal, government, federal government, state, state government, and federal agencies; capitalize "federal" only when it is part of a name (e.g., the Federal Reserve).
  • Capitalize the first word after a colon if it is a proper noun or when it introduces a complete sentence.
  • Do not capitalize the word after a hyphen.
  • For titles of webpages and resources, not capitalize prepositions and conjunctions of four letters or fewer.

Commas

Use the serial, or Oxford, comma:

  • Place a comma before "and" in a series.
    • Example: Mind your Ps, Qs, and Ts.

Dashes

Em Dash

With a space on either side, use em dashes to:

  • Represent a sudden change in thought or tone.
  • Replace colons and sets of parentheses.
  • Attribute a quote to an author, especially in a text block.

Example:
More than ever, it’s important for us to talk about the Head Start mission — to prepare the children who need us most for success in school and in life, to raise up whole families, and to give children a real head start.

En Dash

Use to indicate numerical ranges, like dates, or times, or pages.

Example:
The consultations will be held Feb. 19–23, 2024.

Dates

  • Always use Arabic figures, without st, nd, rd, or th.
  • Don’t abbreviate the months of March, April, May, June, or July at any time.
  • Do not separate month and year with a comma, but use a comma with month, day, and year.

Examples:
January 1972 was a cold month.
Jan. 2 was the coldest day of the month.
Feb. 14, 1987, was the target date.

Hyphens

  • Generally required for:
    • Prefixes (e.g., self-, all-, ex-, half-, well-)
    • Suffixes (e.g., -free, -based, -wide)
      • Lowercase, including in titles
  • No spaces around it.
  • Do not capitalize the word after a hyphen.
  • Avoid ambiguity with compound modifiers (e.g., center-based, home-based, Spanish-speaking).
  • Shorten compound modifiers or noun phrases that share a common word (e.g., 5- and 6-year-olds).
  • Break duplicated vowels and tripled consonants (e.g., anti-intellectual, shell-like).
    • Exception: double-e combinations (e.g., preempted, reelected)

Italics and Underlining

  • Do not use underlining in text or in titles. It can be confused with online linking.
  • Use italics only for titles of books or publications.
    • For titles of articles, use quotation marks.
    • For ECLKC page titles, use plain text.
    • Do not use italics in video captions and transcripts.

Numbers

  • Use figures in titles (e.g., 9 Stages of the Employee Experience).
  • Spell out all numbers under 10. Use figures for all numbers 10 and above.
  • Use a figure-word combination for millions, billions, and trillions (e.g., 1 million people).
  • Use figures for all:
    • Ages
    • Dimensions
    • Fractions
    • Percentages
    • Miles
    • Sums of money
    • Page numbers
    • Times of day
    • Temperatures (32 F or 32 degrees Fahrenheit)

Source Files

When submitting content to HSICC for editorial review, source files must be included. A source file is a clean Microsoft Word document, not exported or copied and pasted from other files or programs like Adobe and InDesign.

Use the Styles function in Word (under Home tab) to differentiate between titles, sections, and subsections for clarity. Standard text boxes and images may be included for mockup purposes.

States

Spell out state names when standing alone. Use the two-letter Post Office abbreviation with a city. But eight states are never abbreviated: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah.

Symbols

  • Do not use symbols in titles, including the ampersand (&) and trademark (®) symbols.
  • Include ® and similar symbols only on first use in general content.
  • Do not use & unless it is part of a formal organization name (e.g., Procter & Gamble)

Telephone Numbers

  • Use hyphens (e.g., 202-123-4567)
  • Do not use a "1" with "800" numbers. Use (toll-free) before the number.
    • Example: (toll-free) 800-411-2496
  • For extensions, separate the main number from the extension with a comma (e.g., 202-123-4567, ext. 8).

Times of Day

  • Use figures, but spell out noon and midnight.
  • Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use "00."
  • Always give times in Eastern Time (ET).

Example:
1 p.m.
3:30 a.m.
noon, never 12:00 or 12 o’clock

Titles, Headings, and Descriptive Text

Descriptive text like titles, summaries, and tag definitions are key to making sure content is accessible and clear to users. Refer to the Descriptive Text and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) chapter for guidance.

Read more:

,  Web Standards