A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Introduction

This booklet is a guide for Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) statisticians, researchers, project officers, writers, editors, contractors, and others who prepare manuscripts for the public. It sets basic style standards for OERI writing. It also offers the rudimentary procedures for putting a manuscript together and submitting it to Media and Information Services (MIS).

Sources of Standards

This guide is not an attempt to replace any other style manual or to answer every question. Instead, it addresses the common style problems OERI authors face in their writing. Many of these problems are unique to OERI. The MIS editorial staff, based in the Publications Division, compiled this booklet from the following sources:

* Government Printing Office Style Manual

* The Chicago Manual of Style

* NCES Guidelines for Tabular Presentation (a distillation of the Government Printing Office (GPO) and Bureau of the Census standards)

* Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Education

* Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars

* Written directives, most from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

To a lesser extent, we also consulted the American Psychological Association manual, material on statistical presentation, and several usage guides. The staff's aim is to help authors produce lucid, consistent, accurate reports. In this effort, we attempt to respect individual style.

NOTE: The style standards presented here do not apply to OERI correspondence. The Office of the Assistant Secretary can supply you with correspondence standards.

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[ Acknowledgments ]

[ How To Use This Guide ]