Inside Careers Partners

General Author Guidelines

Use normal word spacing following punctuation (i.e. just one space NOT two).
Do not put additional spaces between words and punctuation, particularly when using brackets, exclamation marks and question marks. For example, (one!) is correct, while ( one ! ) is not.
Subheads should be introduced where appropriate but should be kept as short as possible (no more than five words).
Subheads should be indicated in a bold version of your body text font. If further levels of subhead are necessary – set them in italics.
Separate paragraphs with a line space, not an indent.

Titles of articles should be fully capitalised (except prepositions, conjunctions, etc.), i.e. The Role of the Profession/Careers in Publishing/The Future of Pensions/Key Skills and Minimum Requirements.
Only the first word of a subheading should be capitalised, unless the word is usually capitalised (e.g. The role of the Institute).
Use capitals for titles, university departments, course names and job titles, or proper names, e.g. the Law Society and Professor Jones, but the government, a chartered accountant, and a professor.
first class degree (no caps), second, first
honours degree (no capitalisation), but abbreviated Hons (capitalised)
grade should be lower case (grade A, not Grade A)
Names to be capitalised (Cambridge University) but lower case when saying ‘I went to university’.
Degree titles to be capitalised (i.e. BA Mathematics) but lower case when describing it as a general subject (i.e. ‘I went to university and studied mathematics’).
Italics should be used for the titles of books, newspapers etc.
Bold should be used for emphasis (not italics or capitals).
Reference to ‘this guide' (as in ‘you will find at the back of this guide’) - guide does not need to be capitalised.
Names of publications to be italicised e.g. the Inside Careers Guide to Marketing.

Acronyms should not have full stops (e.g. BBC, ITV) and plurals should not have apostrophes (1000s).
Ensure that the first time an acronym is introduced it is done so in brackets, following the spelt out version. Thereafter it can be abbreviated – so ‘The Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT)’. Following the first use it can simply be referred to as ATT.
Abbreviations should carry a full point, but contractions should not – so, Dr, Mr, Co., Inc.
Initials should not carry full stops (i.e. IC not I.C.).
Full stops to be included in i.e. and e.g.

All numbers in tables/data fields should be given as numerals (including company profile panels).
In text, numbers that fall at the beginning of sentences should be spelt out.
In text, numbers up to and including ten, that will not need to be compared to other numbers, should be spelt out – so ‘make a decision between the two types of work’, but ‘he worked for 2–3 weeks on the project’.
Otherwise numbers should be given as numerals.
Use metric measurements.
Separate range numbers with an en rule (1978–2004).
Times – 24 hour clock with a dot rather than a colon – 07.00; 13.45.
Use commas to separate numerals in numbers with four or more digits – 1,000; 10,000
No space between Ł sign and amount, e.g. starting salary: Ł24,000
Dates in text: 26 June 1978. Do not use date ordinals (st, nd, rd, th.)
Academic years/financial years in the form 2009/10
Twentieth century, not 20th century when noun. Twentieth-century when adjective.
No apostrophes when referring to decades – 1990s.
Telephone and fax numbers: Put spaces in the number as follows: 020 7565 7900 or if international, +44 (0) 20 7565 7900.
$ not US$
Spell out billion and million.

Use single ‘smart quotes’ for first quotation, and double quotes for a quotation within a quotation.
Bear in mind the difference between hyphens (-) and dashes (–).
Use spaced en dashes rather than em dashes.

In any list of places arrange them alphabetically (e.g. Bournemouth, Brighton, London, Putney, Staines, Tooting Bec).
Bulleted list:

Use English, not American spelling – specifically ‘-ise’ rather than ‘-ize’ e.g. organise, not organize.