Editing guidelines for UC Delivers

Headline

• Use sentence case. (Capitalize the first word and proper nouns. The rest of the headline is lower case.)
  
  
• Make the headline short enough so it will appear on one line. (Check with print preview.)
  
  
• Use active voice and an action verb in the headline.
  
  
• Confirm that the headline indicates how the project/program successfully addressed the issue.

The Issue
What has ANR done?
The Payoff

• Use FireFox for editing as it includes spell-check software. (Internet Explorer does not.)
  
  
• When editing, remember that UC Delivers is designed to provide a brief account of UC impact. It isn’t designed to credit every individual who was involved in the project. A long list of names, titles and affiliations in the text is difficult to read. Substitute something like “UC scientists and their collaborators . . .,” “UC scientists and USDA officials . . .,” “UC farm advisors worked with farmers to . . .”
  
  
• The UC Delivers target audience is comprised of people who are mostly unfamiliar with ag science jargon and are pressed for time. Substitute jargon for simple words whenever possible.

Style

Follow AP style and the UC ANR writing styleguide

Some examples:

• Write out “percent” rather than using %
  
  
• All UC ANR county-based Cooperative Extension advisors (including farm, 4-H and NFCS) are spelled with an “o;” all other advisers are with an “e."
  
  
• Agritourism is one word.
  
  
• Web (in reference to the World Wide Web) is always upper case; website is lower case.

Formatting

To add formatting, use html tags:

Makes the word or phrase bold.

Makes the word or phrase italic.

To link a website to a UC Delivers article:
http://ucanr.org
In this example, the term “http://ucanr.org” will be highlighted and hotlinked to the website. Linking the Web address allows hard-copy recipients to go to the site by typing the address. UC Delivers is a simple text editor. If you don’t add the code, it won’t link!

If you have a long Web address, use the URL squisher on the ANR Portal to create a short substitute. (This only works for ANR Web addresses. Otherwise, use tinyurl.com or another commercial squisher website.)

Payoff headline

• Use sentence case.
  
  
• Edit so the headline fits on one line.
  
  
• Confirm that the payoff headline clearly states how the project/program makes a difference to the people of California, i.e. indicates the project/program’s specific outcomes/impact.

Clientele testimonial

Testimonials are powerful, but they take up a lot of space. It’s especially important to confirm that the entire article fits on one page when testimonials are included. Use name and brief title. If name cannot be included for privacy reasons just use title to identify quote.

Use this format:

“The University of California’s ag research is extremely helpful.” – John Brown, Fresno County alfalfa grower

If testimonials are redundant, don’t hesitate to delete the least compelling ones in order to save space. If testimonials ramble, they also can be edited at the beginning or end or in the middle with ellipsis. (Three periods with a space in front and a space at end.)

Contact information

Confirm that only the author’s name, phone number, and e-mail address is listed. Do not include the author’s title, location/address; this is a recent change to save space.

Use this format:

Cynthia Barnett, (909) 387-2193, ccbarnett@ucdavis.edu

Picture caption:

Use sentence case. End with the period even if the caption is not a complete sentence.

After editing

• Save changes (but don’t send to author).
  
  
• Open the article’s preview page.
  
  
• Click “print preview” on your browser and check to see if everything fits on one page.
  
  
• If the story goes to two pages, go back to the editing panes and edit out less important information.
  
  
• Toggle back and forth to editing page and print preview until the whole thing fits on one page when printed.