ADF&G Writer's Guide

Writer's Guide book

In March 1992, Commissioner Carl Rosier adopted as policy the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Writing Standards to provide consistent word usage for department publications.

Now in its third edition, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Writer’s Guide (PDF 1,833 kB) provides direction for department authors as well as a reference for those seeking better understanding of the department’s work.

Divisions may make their own policies and procedures for publications and may provide specific guidelines or templates for those processes. Department authors should consult their publications specialists for further guidelines.

Department Copyright

All department works are copyrighted by the department, per Standard Operating Procedure III-401, which is also summarized on the web page footer below.

Media Guidelines, Production of Films

When writing for video or audio production, department authors should consult relevant Standard Operating Procedures and other department policy, including review procedures. Contact the department communications director for more information.

ADF&G Writer's Guide

Alaska Department of Fish and Game Writer’s Guide full PDF file download (PDF 1,833 kB)

Page Section
v Foreword, Acknowledgments, Introduction (PDF 201 kB)
3 Section 1: Publication Guidelines and Printing Procedures (PDF 289 kB)
3 1.1 General Correspondence
3 1.2 ADF&G Publications: Types and Standards
4 1.3 Use of Images in Publications
4   a. First Amendment and the Right to Privacy
5   b. Publishing identifiable subjects and obtaing model releases
5   c. Writing captions
5   d. Photo illustrations
6   e. Use of official department portraits
7 1.4 Publication Procedures Required by Law
7   a. Printing requirements
7   b. Procurement requirements
8   c. Production of publications
8   d. Cost blocks
9   e. International Standard Book Number
10   f. Office of Equal Opportunity statement
10   g. Provide a copy to Public Communication Section
10 1.5 Cataloging, Distruction, and Archiving Requirements
11   a. Informational and educational publications
11   b. Scientific and technical publications
11   c. Information Services
13 Section 2: Conflict of Interest and Copyright (PDF 148 kB)
13 2.1 Ethics, Disclosure, and Informed Consent
13   a. Use of commercial product or vendor name
13   b. Scientific journal articles and professional papers
14 2.2 Copyright
14   a. ADF&G copyright information
14   b. ADF&G copyright notice
16 Section 3: Acronyms (PDF 217 kB)
17 3.1 Pluralizing Acronyms
17 3.2 Agencies, Organizations, Associations, and Commissions
17   a. ADF&G divisions and sections
18   b. State of Alaska
18   c. U.S./Federal
19   d. Other agencies, organizations, associations, and commisions
21 3.3 Alaska Caribou Herds
22 3.4 Miscellaneous Abbreviations and Acronyms
25 Section 4: Compound Words (PDF 326 kB)
25 4.1 General and Technical Compound Words
37 4.2 Fishing Gear
38 4.3 Hyphenating Nouns and Adjectives
38   a. Compound adjectives
39   b. Established compound nouns
39   c. Meaning-dependent
40   d. Phrasal adjectives
40   e. Complex phrases without hyphens
41 Section 5: Capitalization Help (PDF 211 kB)
47 Section 6: Watch-Out Words (PDF 342 kB)
68 Section 7: Plurals (PDF 205 kB)
68 7.1 Animals, Fishes, and Related Terms
70 7.2 General Terms
71 7.3 Apostrophes
72 Section 8: Numbers (PDF 252 kB)
72 8.1 General Style
72   a. Cardinal Numbers
73   b. Ordinal Numbers
73 8.2 Modern Scientific Style
73   a. Cardinal Numbers
75   b. Ordinal Numbers
75 8.3 Dates
76 8.4 Time of Day
76   a. General style
76   b. Modern scientific style
77 8.5 Fractions, Percentages, and Decimals
77   a. Fractions
77   b. Percentages and decimals
78 8.6 Ranges
78   a. Fractions
78   b. Modern scientifc style
79 8.7 Units of Measure, Mathematical Symbols, and Variables
80 8.8 Latitude and Longitude
81 8.9 Measurements
81   a. Symbols
82 8.10 Pacific Salmon Ages
83 Section 9: Species Names and Related Rules (PDF 371 kB)
83 9.1 Scientific Names
83   a. First introduction
84   b. Multiple or unidentified species
84 9.2 Common Names
85 9.3 Family and Order Names
85 9.4 Shellfishes of Alaska
87 9.5 Finfishes of Alaska
89 9.6 Anemones of Alaska
90 9.7 Birds of Alaska
102 9.8 Mammals of Alaska
106 9.9 Amphibians and Reptitles of Alaska
107 Section 10: Punctuation Format and Abbreviations (PDF 236 kB)
116 Section 11: Grammar (PDF 201 kB)
119 Appendix A: Units of Measure, Scientific Abbreviations,
Symbols, Conversions, Variables, and Equations
(PDF 247 kB)
125 Appendix B: Standard References (PDF 165 kB)
131 Appendix C: Reference Formatting (PDF 228 kB)
140 Appendix D: Reference Cited (PDF 83 kB)
143 Index (PDF 623 kB)

This table of contents listing is also available as part of the Introduction (PDF 201 kB) file.

Staff wishing to suggest additions or make corrections to the material in this ADF&G Writer's Guide can do so by contacting ADF&G Writer's Guide Submissions.


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