This style guide is evergreen. You can always access the most updated version on the shared drive here: S:\Communications\Styleguides, forms and templates\Style guide and glossary.
The style guide clarifies Policy Horizons’ particular style concerns, and helps you write in a consistent, engaging, and user-centric manner while avoiding common mistakes.
We, the Communications Team, rely on the same style authorities as the Government of Canada, namely: The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, The Canadian Style Guide, and The Chicago Manual of Style.
This guide also reflects specific guidelines from ESDC’s style guide as well as Government of Canada’s published writing standards to ensure consistency.
Write out our organizational name in full as Policy Horizons Canada (Policy Horizons) the first time we refer to it in a document. Shorten all subsequent mentions to Policy Horizons.
The organization’s official acronym is PHC (Policy Horizons Canada). There should be no references to the “Policy Research Secretariat” or “Policy Research Initiative” except as a historical term.
Termium is the best source for translations of key terms and organization names, particularly those used by the federal government. Developed by the Translation Bureau, Termium is the most extensive source of equivalents of its kind in Canada.
Use the Federal Identity Program names for government departments, offices, projects, etc. rather than the legal names:
A glossary of words and terms commonly used at Horizons and in the foresight field is located here. This glossary is updated on an ongoing basis.
Capitalize formal position titles when they follow or precede a name, or when they act as a substitute for that person’s name.
Use sentence case for page titles, headings, subheadings, table captions, and table headers. Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns.
“Police” and “people” are the only two singular collective nouns that consistently use a plural verb.
To pluralize most acronyms, simply add an “s”.
In general writing, you can use the abbreviations NE, NW, SE, and SW to denote town and city division, but you should always spell out the words north, south, east, and west.
Use the traditional abbreviations for provinces. However, use the Canada Post abbreviations in correspondence.
Lower-case abbreviations |
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Initials in people’s names |
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At the end of abbreviations for single words |
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University degrees and professional designations |
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For more information on hyphenation, consult the Canadian Style Guide.
Use between two independent clauses that are too closely related to be separated by a period, or to separate elements in a complex series.
Point-form lists make it easier for the reader to understand how the elements are related. Grammar and syntax determine the internal capitalization and punctuation of the initial letters of items in lists. It is more important for lists to be logically understandable and syntactically consistent than to look alike.
Note that there is no period at the end of the list.
Use the serial (or Oxford) comma. Place a comma before the “and” in a list of more than two items:
Separate sentences by one space.
Spell out single-digit numbers. Use figures for numbers 10 or higher. Never begin a sentence with a figure.
As a rule, write out percentages. You should use the % sign in these circumstances:
Acceptable formats:
In English, write out times in 12-hour format, with a.m. or p.m. after the hours and minutes:
In French, write out times in 24-hour format, with an “h” and spaces between the hours and the minutes:
All Policy Horizons correspondence uses the “Arial” font (12pt). You can find letter templates (depending on the audience) on the shared Policy Horizons drive.
Our goal is consistency, both with our overall works, and with Government of Canada websites and resources. The recommended spelling authority is a reliable Canadian dictionary, such as the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. When in doubt, please verify. Use the following spellings:
A
ad hoc (no italic)
aging
analyze
B
benefited, benefiting (one “t”)
break-up
C
centre
cooperate, cooperation
coordinate, coordination
counsellor (someone who advises or counsels)
councillor (someone who belongs to a council)
customs union (with an s)
D
defence
E
F
focusing, focussed
fora (plural of forum)
freshwater (one word)
G
geopolitical
H
healthcare
I
interdepartmental
interdisciplinary
-ize, -ization, -izing
L
labour
licence (noun) license (verb)
life course
M
macroeconomic
MetaScan
N
non-governmental
O
online
P
percent
policy maker
policy making (noun), policy-making (adjective)
practice (noun), practise (verb)
program
R
roundtable
S
sense-making
smart glasses
socioeconomic
subnational
U
under way
W
website
wellbeing
Always verify and use the official spelling of organizations, individuals, books, articles, etc. For instance:
In Canada, most municipalities have only one official name. For instance, Montréal and Québec City keep their accents in English. However, the province of Quebec has no accent in English.
81 Canadian place names have official names in both French and English. For a full list, refer to The Canadian Style.
For definitions of terms commonly used by Policy Horizons, refer to the Policy Horizons glossary.
Use endnotes. Do not use footnotes.
Please follow the Chicago Manual of Style for our referencing.
White, Nancy. 2004. Web site Design. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. p. 13.
Nancy White, Web site Design (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2004), 13.
White, Web site Design, 13.
Vu, Élisabeth, et al. 2010. Translation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Judge, Robert. 2004. “Risky Business,” in Michael Bates (ed.), Policy Making in the New Millennium. Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada. pp.128-167.
Robert Judge, “Risky Business,” in Policy Making in the New Millennium, ed. Michael Bates (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada), 128-167.
Sykes, Stuart. 2006. “Towards a Definition of Social Cohesion,” Canadian Public Policy. March. No. 24: 23-24.
Stuart Sykes, “Towards a Definition of Social Cohesion,” Canadian Public Policy March, no. 24 (2006): 23-24.
Desgagné, Jean-Guy. 2004. “G8 Summit Moved to Ottawa to Coincide with National Policy Research Conference.” The Ottawa Citizen. June 8.
Jean-Guy Desgagné, “G8 Summit Moved to Ottawa to Coincide with National Policy Research Conference,” Ottawa Citizen, June 8, 2004.
Gascon, Louis-Philippe. 2006. “All You Ever Wanted to Know about the HRSDC Intranet but Were Afraid to Ask,” John L. Manion Lecture, Canadian Centre for Management Development, Ottawa, February 18.
Louis-Philippe, Gascon, “All You Ever Wanted to Know about the HRSDC Intranet but Were Afraid to Ask” (lecture, Canadian Centre for Management Development, Ottawa, ON, February 18, 2006).
Voyer, Jean-Pierre. 2005. Personal interview, December 7.
Jean-Pierre Voyer (title, department, organization) in conversation with the author, December 7, 2005.
Acts, regulations and legal notices are published in federal and provincial government gazettes:
The Canada Gazette, Part II. Vol. 125, No. 1 (2 January 1991)- Vol.125, No.17 (14 August 1991).
The Canada Gazette. Part II. Vol. 125, No. 1 (2 January 1991)–Vol. 125, No. 17 (14 August 1991).
“WD2000: Visual Basic Macro to Assign Clipboard Text to a String Variable”, revision 1.3, Microsoft Help and Support, last modified November 23, 2019, http://support.microsoft.com/kb212730.
“Privacy Policy,” Privacy & Terms, Google, last modified September 20, 2019, https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.
“About Us”, Policy Horizons Canada, accessed September 18, 2019, https://horizons.gc.ca/en/about-us/.
McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy Safety Facts”, McDonald’s Corporation, accessed July 19, 2008, http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html.
CivicPlus Content Management System. n.d. City of Ithaca, New York (website). Accessed April 6, 2016. http://www.cityofithaca.org/.
Melissa Beck, “Discovery and Insight: Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges”, The Bookbinder’s Daughter (blog), February 4, 2020, https://thebookbindersdaughter.com/.
Citations of content shared through social media can usually be limited to the text (as in the “Text” example below). Add a more formal citation in “Notes” if desired.
Text
Barack Obama expressed concern about extreme weather events in Australia. “The catastrophic fires in Australia are the latest example of the very real and very urgent consequences of climate change,” (@BarackObama, January 9, 2020).
Notes
Barack Obama (@BarackObama), “The catastrophic fires in Australia are the latest example of the very real and very urgent consequences of climate change,” Twitter, January 9, 2020, https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1215377738858663937
Justin Trudeau (@justinpjtrudeau), “Great to have the team back in Ottawa – here’s to another year of hope and hard work!”, Instagram photo, January 22, 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/B7pbkgGANeJ/.
Bob Dylan, “’Blood on the Tracks’ was released on this day 45 years ago. Shop the Anniversary Collection”, Facebook, January 20, 2020, http://bit.ly/38gazXi.
When writing weak signals or other content, please use proper attribution for source material. Please use quotation marks when directly quoting from a source, and attribute it to its owner. This will ensure that our material looks professional not only in its content, but in that it respects other people’s work. |
A good blog is informative, friendly, and opinionated. It should tell the reader something concrete. The guidelines above (Writing for a general audience) apply to blogs, in addition to the following guidelines:
The most important guideline to follow is consistency. Be consistent in the writing styles you choose to implement in your writing to create a coherently written piece. Remember to write for your audience.