Editorial Style Guide

A Texas A&M news story can be distributed one of two ways:

• Post:
  A "post" is a news story that is published on a university website. The main university news site is Texas A&M Today. Colleges, schools and other units also carry news stories on their sites. Texas A&M social media channels often link to university news stories, furthering their reach. Posted stories are also used in Texas A&M Today's weekly newsletter — subscribe to the newsletter here.
• Press release:
  A news story becomes a "press release" when it is distributed through Cision Public Relations software directly to media outlets via email. In addition to sharing important information with media, press releases are sent in hopes that media will do their own stories on the research and endeavors detailed in our press releases.

Not all posted news stories are sent as press releases. Texas A&M Today editors judge the newsworthiness of posted stories to determine whether or not they qualify. Editors look to release stories that are of broad interest to reporters and the general public.

Examples of content with broad appeal

• Major administrative hires/changes
• Major research progress, findings or results
• Research grant announcements over $100,000 and donations over $1M
• University-wide, national and international awards
• Interesting profiles on remarkable students and faculty
• Coverage of major events
• Research-based news analysis
• Major anniversaries and milestones
• Retirements or deaths of notable campus members

Examples of content without broad appeal

• Department head and faculty hires
• College/school-, division- and department-level awards
• Book release announcements
• Unit-level events and announcements

News stories in some university publications and websites — including Texas A&M Today — require a subhead to appear below the headline.

Things To Do

• Use this sentence to expand on the headline, giving additional information to encourage the reader to continue.
• The subhead should be a complete sentence, beginning with a capital letter, capitalizing only proper nouns and ending with a period.
• Aim for 60-120 characters.
• A subhead may be one sentence, or two short sentences.
• Help readers scan text by using additional subheads within a story. Subheads also help people who are using screen readers. Read more about Accessibility.
• Most stories over 300 words need subheadings for SEO. Text between subheadings should be around 300-400 words.
• These subheads should use just a few words to indicate what that section of the article is about; they do not require a period.
• Keep them between two to five words.
• Capitalize each word, per Texas A&M House Style.

Examples:

(Headline) Texas A&M AgriLife Debuts Automated Precision Phenotyping Greenhouse
(Main subhead) Described as the "future of agricultural research," the facility features robotics and sensor technology.
(Additional subheads)
Research Initiative Funding
Milestone For Texas A&M AgriLife

(Headline) How To Vote In The Midterm Elections
(Main Subhead) Texas A&M and Brazos County have teamed to bus people from campus to the nearest voting location at College Station City Hall.
(Additional subheads)
Am I Eligible to Vote?
When Can I Vote?
Where Can I Vote?
Can I Vote By Mail?

Things To Avoid

• Long subheads
  Main subheads that are too long can skew the appearance of a webpage featuring multiple stories. Long subheads within the body of a story defeat their purpose, which is giving readers the ability to quickly scan a story.
• Unfamiliar acronyms
  Same as headlines, subheads with unfamiliar acronyms are not SEO-friendly and may be confusing to readers.

Learn more about writing subheads.

Because many people only read the first few paragraphs of a news story, journalists use a method of organizing information called the "inverted pyramid."

If you picture a pyramid upside-down, the widest part is on top and it progressively narrows. This is how information should be presented in news stories: the most important and/or interesting information is at the top of the article, presented in descending order of importance, narrowing to the least important information at the end.

The first paragraph of a news story is called the lead (sometimes spelled "lede"). The ideal lead is one sentence long, but some may be two or three shorter sentences, depending on the story.

Things To Do

• Think about the "who, what, where, when, why and how"
  Include as many of these as possible in the lead. If including all of them in the first paragraph is too cumbersome, include the rest in the second paragraph.
• Lead with the most timely, interesting and/or important information
  Like headlines, the most effective leads pull readers in and make them want to learn more. Lead with the most interesting or "need to know" parts of your story.
• Include a nut graph
  Consider writing a "nut graph," so-called because it contains the "kernel" or central idea of a story. It's a way to transition from the lead into the rest of the story by letting the reader know what to expect if they continue reading. Learn more about writing a nut graph.
• Write for the layperson
  In general, Texas A&M news stories should be written so they can be read easily by people who are not experts on the topic. The writer should not assume readers will understand complex ideas or subject matter terminology with no explanation. Writers work in tandem with faculty to break down complex research.
• Use words sparingly
  Brevity is a skill. Don't use a dozen words when you can say the same thing with fewer. Readers often want to learn information quickly; help them by communicating your message efficiently.
• Use hyperlinks
  Long URLs are not only visually unappealing, they result in poor user experience for people who use screen readers. Instead, hyperlink two to five words that describe where the readers are going when they click.

Example
Read more about student success from the Department of Atmospheric Sciences.

Read more about student success in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at atmo.tamu.edu.

Things To Avoid

• Burying the lead
  A reader shouldn't have to wade through several paragraphs to get to the focus of the story. Give them the most important information at the top, then provide background information and less important details in subsequent paragraphs.
• Jargon
  "Jargon" is technical terminology used by specific groups of people (medical practitioners, engineers, scientists, etc.). Jargon is language not easily understood or recognized by the general public. It is the writer's job to translate jargon into lay terms when writing for general audiences. Writers are encouraged to hyperlink to published studies in academic journals so readers can further explore complex topics.
• Long titles and unit names
  At Texas A&M, people's titles and the names of colleges, schools, institutes and centers can be quite long. If so, leave them out of the lead and work them into other sentences later on in the story.
• Listing collaborators
  Newsworthy endeavors at Texas A&M can involve multiple people, campus units, other universities and external organizations. It may be tempting to give everyone credit early in the article. But long lists of collaborators make for cumbersome reading before the user has learned what they want to know. It is important to credit people and institutions, but do so later in the story, even in one paragraph at the very end.
• Linking to poorly designed and/or unreliable websites
  When using hyperlinks in stories, be sure you're linking to sites that meet the university's standards. Don't link off to sites that aren't well-designed, accessible and factual. Stick to sites with .edu and .gov domains whenever possible.

Learn more about inverted pyramid writing.

Note: Not all stories lend themselves to the inverted pyramid style; for example, feature stories may open with background information or an anecdote before building to the story's focus.

These key audiences have been identified for Texas A&M news stories:

• Current students, faculty and staff
• Former students
• Media
• Donors and other stakeholders
• Legislators
• Funding agencies
• General public

Before deciding to write a news story, think about who your audience is and what interests them. Stories that are of narrow interest may be suitable for a unit's website/social media only. Stories of interest to the broader university community may fit well on Texas A&M Today and university-level social media. And stories of interest to wider, external audiences (media, legislators, the general public) may be suitable for press release distribution.

Read more about Post vs. Press Release.

A boilerplate is a blurb at the end of a press release that contains facts and information about the university and/or collaborating organizations. While not a requirement, boilerplates can be included to provide key facts to reporters and other readers.

Press releases distributed by Central MarComm contain the university boilerplate. Additional boilerplates in press releases may be used upon review by Texas A&M Today editors. Unit boilerplates may be used at the discretion of college/school/division communicators; just make sure they are kept current.

Example
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.

• Submit in a Word or Google document
• Include images, captions and photo credits
• Include a headline, main subhead and byline
• Capitalize every word in the headline; the main subhead is a complete sentence with a period.
• Include the dateline — BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Jan. 1, 2022
• End with a media contact — Media contact: Greg Kringle, 979-555-5555, gkringle@tamu.edu

• Headers and footers
• Draft marks
• Parentheses in phone numbers
• PDFs

• Keep subject lines brief.
  Aim for no more than nine words/60 characters.
• Write a descriptive subject line.
  The subject line should be descriptive enough to inform the reader what the email is about and why it matters to them.
• Keep the body of the email brief and to the point.
  Campus members can receive many emails each day, so allow them to be able to read your email quickly and efficiently. Use words sparingly, and use bullet points and headers to facilitate quick reading.
• Send to the right audience.
  University bulk email services allow targeted distribution. For example, you can send an email only to students on the College Station campus, or only to faculty at all campuses, and so on.
• Use "please" sparingly.
  Emails often overuse the word "please" as in "please contact Mary Smith for more information" or "please join us." While it is polite, using it too many times simply adds more words. One use in an email is plenty and it should be used for the main call to action.

• Images of text
  Text within images may not be accessible for people with visual impairments. Read more about Accessibility.
• PDFs
  Avoid emailing or linking to PDFs for several reasons: poor mobile user experience; multiple steps required to read; the sender can't track reader engagement; and PDFs can't be updated once they are downloaded.
• Long URLs
  As with news stories, long URLs in emails are not ideal. Use hyperlinks instead.
• Bulk emails for small audiences
  A communication via bulk email should be relevant to a wide swath of the university community. If it's not, consider using interdepartmental or direct email.

Use Aggie Map to find the correct names for campus buildings.

AP Style calls for periods after each bullet point, but Texas A&M House Style allows either periods or no periods — just pick one and be consistent.

Use exclamation points sparingly

Don't try to create excitement by using a lot of exclamation points. AP Style calls for their use to express a high degree of surprise, incredulity or other strong emotion. Use a comma after mild interjections and end mildly exclamatory sentences with a period.