NUREG-1379, Rev. 2

NRC Editorial 

Style Guide 

Office of Administration 
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(NUREG–0750).
NUREG-1379, Rev. 2 

NRC Editorial 

Style Guide 

Manuscript Completed: May 2009 

Date Published: May 2009 

Prepared by 

C. Hsu 

Office of Administration 

Abstract 

The “NRC Editorial Style Guide” provides writing and style guidance to all U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff members. It addresses the questions and issues 

most frequently fielded by NRC editors. This revision of the document emphasizes the 

importance of plain language and includes detailed guidance on using technology to 

write and edit more effectively. The goals of the “NRC Editorial Style Guide” are 

readability and consistency for all NRC publications. 

iii 

v 

Contents 

Abstract.........................................................................................................................................iii

Contents........................................................................................................................................ v

Preface.........................................................................................................................................vii

Acknowledgment.......................................................................................................................... ix

1 Abbreviations and Symbols...............................................................................................1

2 Acronyms and Initialisms ..................................................................................................3

3 Capitalization.....................................................................................................................5

4 Compound Terms and Unit Modifiers ...............................................................................9

5 Numbers..........................................................................................................................13

6 Punctuation .....................................................................................................................19

7 Plain Language ...............................................................................................................27

8 Word Usage ....................................................................................................................33

9 Footnotes and Credit Lines .............................................................................................37

10 References......................................................................................................................39

11 Federal Register Documents ..........................................................................................43

12 Technology and Writing ..................................................................................................47

13 Writing in New Media ......................................................................................................49

14 Helpful Web Reference Tools .........................................................................................51

Appendix Sample NUREG.........................................................................................................53

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................65

Index ........................................................................................................................................67

vii 

Preface 

Editorial style refers to the choices that writers and editors make to eliminate 

inconsistencies in their documents. These choices are sometimes difficult because 

language evolves. In updating this style guide, words related to new technologies posed 

a special challenge. Is it Email, E-mail, e-mail, or email? The U.S. Government Printing 

Office standard is e-mail, but this guidance clashes with a trend towards closing 

hyphenated words. The example shows that the authorities who compile style guides do 

not always agree. Moreover, each discipline has specific standards. 

The Office of Administration compiled the revised “NRC Editorial Style Guide” to 

promote the goals of readability and consistency for all NRC publications. To address 

frequent staff questions, we have introduced several new sections. Technology and 

Writing covers key word processing tools for writing, editing, and clearing hidden data 

from final documents. We have also provided a Helpful Web Reference Tools section to 

point writers towards resources like a glossary, a list of abbreviations, and NRC Web 

pages with document templates and more specific guidance. The URLs provided were 

functional at the time of printing. For the most part, this style guide derives its solutions 

from the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, with a few exceptions that we 

have noted. We also turned to The Chicago Manual of Style, and the MLA Handbook for 

Writers of Research Papers for guidance. 

Follow this style guide for most documents, but remember that the NRC is an 

interdisciplinary agency producing everything from legal rulings to public service 

announcements. The Office of the General Counsel has its own style guide. NRC press 

releases are written for the media, and most media outlets follow The Associated Press 

Stylebook. In addition, conferences and scholarly journals often have their own in-house 

styles that NRC staff members must follow. 

As an author, identify your intended audience and determine if that audience has a 

separate style standard. Most importantly, strive to communicate clearly and 

comprehensibly with your audience. Even if you are writing for a technical audience, the 

NRC serves the public and the public has a right to read and understand the agency’s 

documents. Please see tips in the new Plain Language section in this guide to make 

your writing more clear, direct, and powerful. 

For user convenience, we have tried to make this guide a compact, easy-to-use 

reference. Of course, a guide of this size cannot substitute for the scope of information 

in the GPO Style Manual, which sets the style rules for the Federal Government. Please 

refer to the GPO Style Manual for style information not covered by this guide. 

ix 

Acknowledgment 

We wish to acknowledge the contributions of the NRC staff members who participated 

in Revision 2 of NUREG–1379, “NRC Editorial Style Guide.” Michael Lesar’s leadership 

and management skills made this style guide possible. Malcolm Patterson gave 

valuable input on the needs of the agency’s technical staff. Georgette Price and 

Catherine Jaegers from the Office of the Executive Director for Operations provided 

their valuable time and institutional knowledge of traditional NRC practices. Gary Lauffer 

provided oversight as well as knowledge of U.S. Government Printing Office practices. 

Keith Azariah-Kribbs contributed with knowledge of major style guides and years of 

technical editing experience. Cindy Bladey answered difficult style questions. 

Linda Stevenson provided a rigorous manuscript review. We also acknowledge the 

NUREG-1379, Revision 1, working group members, listed below. Finally, we thank staff 

from the Office of Administration who published the “NRC Editorial Style Guide” in 

October 1989: J.F. Beeson, B.A. Calure, D. Gable, M.T. Lesar, M.F. Mejac, and 

R.F. Sanders. 

NUREG-1379, Revision 1 

Working Group 

ADM Caroline Hsu 

ADM Helen Chang 

EDO Ann Thomas 

EDO Mindy Landau 

FSME Catherine Poland 

FSME Patricia Tressler 

HR James Morris 

NRR Malcolm Patterson 

OIS Paula Garrity 

OPA Ivonne Couret 

SECY Sam Walker 

1 Abbreviations and Symbols 

Use abbreviations and symbols in technical text, reports, tables, brackets, footnotes, 

and references. Generally, avoid abbreviations and symbols in the conventional text 

(e.g., correspondence). Consult NUREG–0544, “NRC Collection of Abbreviations,” 

available at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0544/r4/ in the 

NRC Electronic Reading Room.

Chapters 9 and 10 of the GPO Style Manual (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual) 

present a comprehensive list of abbreviations, signs, and symbols and guidance for 

their use. Follow the guidance in these chapters and the rest of this section unless 

publication requirements for a particular document dictate otherwise. For example, to 

publish an article in a journal, you may need to follow the publisher’s in-house style. The 

NRC uses the metric system. If in certain cases you must use nonmetric units, please 

state the values in metric units first, followed by nonmetric units in parentheses. 

1. Use the same form of an abbreviation for both the singular and plural forms of a unit of 

measure. 

• 1 m 

• 3 m 

• 1 kg 

• 5 kg 

2. Omit internal and terminal punctuation unless its omission would cause confusion. 

• 1 in. (Period avoids confusion with the word “in”.) 

• 5 cm 

3. Use abbreviations for units of measure only if they are used with numbers. 

• 200 r/min (but—The test would determine the number of revolutions per minute.) 

4. State the term from which an abbreviation not commonly known is formed, followed by its 

abbreviation in parentheses. Subsequently, use the abbreviation instead of the term. 

Redefine abbreviations in every new chapter or major section. 

• iodine–131 metaiodobenzylquanidine (I–131 MIBG) 

• 60 indicated horsepower (ihp) 

• electromotive force (emf or EMF) 

1 
2 

5. Use periods in abbreviations for foreign phrases. (Et is Latin for “and”; therefore, it is not an 

abbreviation.) 

• et al. (for et alii, meaning “and others”) 

• e.g. (exempli gratia, meaning “for example”) 

• i.e. (id est, meaning “that is”) 

• et seq. (for et sequentes, meaning “and the following”) 

6. The abbreviations e.g. and i.e. (followed by a comma) should be used only inside 

parentheses; otherwise, write out the English equivalents. Do not italicize e.g. and i.e. 

• Today we received specific instructions for preparing the report (i.e., its due date, 

contents, and format).

• Today we received specific instructions for preparing the report, that is, its due date, 

contents, and format. 

7. Use the U.S. Postal Service two-letter State and Province abbreviations in any address or 

capitalized geographic term. 

• Prince George’s County, MD 

• Atlanta, GA

• but—deciduous forests of Wisconsin; black sand beaches in Hawaii 
2 Acronyms and Initialisms 

Although acronyms and initialisms are types of abbreviations, the guidance for their use 

differs from that for other types of abbreviations. An acronym is a pronounceable term 

formed from the initial letters of a compound expression (e.g., LOCA for loss-of-coolant 

accident). An initialism is a nonpronounceable term formed from the initial letters of a 

compound expression; the initial letters are pronounced as separate letters (e.g., NRC 

for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission). 

Most acronyms are capitalized except for certain well-known acronyms that are lower 

case by convention. For a list of commonly used NRC acronyms, see NUREG–0544, 

“NRC Collection of Abbreviations,” at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doccollections/nuregs/staff/sr0544/r4/ in the NRC Electronic Reading Room.

. 

1. Use an acronym or initialism if the term it represents will be used more than several 

times in a document. The first time a term is used, state the words from which the acronym 

is formed, followed by the acronym in parentheses. As a general rule, you can subsequently 

use the acronym instead of the term. In a lengthy document, restate the term followed by 

its acronym at the beginning of each chapter or major section. However, keep in mind 

that excess acronyms and abbreviations can make an otherwise well-written 

document difficult to understand. When writing for a lay audience, or even a technical 

audience that does not share your specialty, use acronyms carefully. You may sometimes 

need to redefine an acronym, offer a brief explanation of the acronym, or use a synonym 

instead. Always avoid stringing several acronyms together in a single sentence. Do not 

include acronyms in headings and titles. 

• The Resource Advisory Council (RAC) has reviewed this plan. The RAC advised the 

staff to revise three sections. 

• The Resource Advisory Council has reviewed this plan. The council advised the staff to 

revise three sections. 

2. Although an acronym or initialism is capitalized, do not capitalize the term it represents 

unless the term would ordinarily be capitalized. 

• Office of the General Counsel (OGC) 

• technical specification (TS) 

• crack opening displacement (COD) 

3. To form the plural for most acronyms and initialisms, add a lower case s without an 

apostrophe. 

• 12 NPPs 

• five RGs 

• 2.0 FTEs 

3 
4 

4. To form the possessive of an acronym or initialism, use an apostrophe plus s, just as you 

would for a normal word. 

• EDO’s report 

• IAEA’s May conference 

• RES’s funding (also—funding from RES; RES funding) 

• O3’s chemical instability (also—ozone’s chemical instability; the chemical instability of 

O3) 

5. To decide whether a or an should precede an acronym or initialism, pronounce the first 

syllable of the acronym. “A” should precede a consonant sound; “an” should precede a 

vowel sound. 

• an ACRS meeting (“ay” is a vowel sound) 

• an AEC report (“ay” is a vowel sound) 

• a FEMA decision (“fee” is a consonant sound) 

• an NRC office (“en” is a vowel sound) 

• a LOCA occurred (“low” is a consonant sound) 
3 Capitalization 

Capitalize the first word of a sentence, the pronoun I, and proper names. When in 

doubt, do not capitalize. For example, if a term could be either a proper name or a 

description (e.g., the department of engineering or nuclear power plant), using the lower 

case is correct. 

1. Capitalize titles of persons if they precede a personal name. Use lowercase if the title 

follows the name except for titles of great eminence, including heads of state, assistant 

heads of state, heads of governmental units, and royal rulers. Do not capitalize general 

references to titles. Likewise, capitalize specific names of organizations but not general 

references to them. 

• President George Washington (and also—the President) 

• King Bhumibol Adulyadej (and also—the King of Thailand; His Royal Highness) 

• Governors Richardson and Lingle (and also—The Governors will meet later.) 

• U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye (but—Daniel Inouye, senator; the senator) 

• The staff in Region IV (but—the regional office) 

• Judge Mia Jones (but—Mia Jones, the judge) 

For NRC titles, follow the above guidance, but you may capitalize titles of branch chief and 

above. This NRC practice differs significantly from GPO Style Manual Rule 3.35. Do not 

capitalize general references to most titles. 

• NRC Senior Health Physicist Ana Lee (but—two NRC health physicists) 

• Deputy Director Ryan Yamada (and also—Ryan Yamada, Deputy Director) 

• NRC Director of Human Resources, David Calvo (and also—David Calvo, Director of the 

Office of Human Resources) 

2. Capitalize Commission or Commissioners when referring to the collegial head of the NRC 

as a group and Chairman or Commissioner when referring to the Chairman or a member 

of the Commission individually. This NRC practice differs from GPO Style Manual Rule 3.35. 

• The Chairman requests a response by Friday and expects the Commission to discuss 

the issue Monday morning. 

5 
3. Capitalize a well-known short form of a specific proper name. 

• the Congress (U.S. Congress, but—congressional action, congressional staff) 

• the President (of any country) 

• the District (District of Columbia) 

• the Capitol (in the District) 

• the Agency (for U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, but— the agency for U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and all other 

organizations that do not have “Agency” in their official title) 

• the Office (U.S. Government Accountability Office, but—the office for all other offices, 

including NRC internal offices) 

4. Capitalize the following governmental organizations. 

• Federal

• Federal Government

• State (but—do not capitalize “local”)

• Nation as a synonym for United States as in “10 percent of the Nation’s energy supply” 

(but—“nation” for general references such as “a nation devoted to prosperity”) 

• Federal, State, and local responders 

• Tribal officials (Unlike GPO, the NRC capitalizes “Tribal” to signify a sovereign entity.) 

5. Capitalize a common noun followed by a letter or number that refers to a specific 

publication, class, figure, or table, except for page or paragraph. (This NRC practice differs 

from GPO Style Manual Rule 3.9.) 

• Category I 

• IAEA Category III sources 

• Appendix K 

• Chapter III 

• Class 1E 

• Table 4 

• Figure 8 

• Section 7 

• but—paragraph 4 on page 82 

6. Capitalize the first letter of the symbol for an isotope, chemical element, or compound. Do 

not capitalize the spelled-out name for the symbol. 

• Na sodium 

• NaCl sodium chloride 

• Co–60 cobalt–60 

6 
7. Capitalize a trade name. 

• Xerox 

• Halogen 

• Plexiglas 

• Vu–Graph 

• Zircaloy (but—zirconium) 

8. Capitalize the names of all computer codes, and capitalize the names of computer 

languages and software consistent with their trade names. If the code is an acronym, spell 

out the full name the first time it appears in a document. 

• Code: MESORAD, CPLUME 

• Language: Fortran, Oracle 

• Software: dBase, Lotus 1-2-3 

9. Capitalize a descriptive term that denotes a geographic region or feature used as a proper 

name. 

• the Midwest 

• the Continental Divide 

• the Deep South 

• Western Europe 

• Gulf States (but—gulf coast) 

10. Do not capitalize a term used as a geographic direction or a position that is not a proper 

name. 

• northerly, northern 

• north, south, east, west 

• eastern seaboard 

• west coast, east coast 

11. Capitalize months, but not seasons. 

• May, October

• spring, autumn

• spring 2007 (not—Spring 2007)

12. Capitalize the first word and all important words in titles of publications and legislation. 

• Secrets of the Past: Nuclear Energy Applications in Art

• The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1982

7 
8 

13. Do not capitalize articles, prepositions (except for “To” as part of an infinitive), and 

conjunctions unless they are the first word of a title or important to its meaning. 

• How To Write, Speak, and Think More Effectively 

• Creating Energy Sources for the Future 

• A Guidebook to Nuclear Reactors 

• “Handbook of Nuclear Safeguards Measurements Methods” 

14. Capitalize hyphenated words by the same rules you would use if the words were not 

hyphenated. 

• ex-President Clinton 

• Commissioner-elect Jones 

• high-level waste 

• “A Study of Proposed High-Level Waste Repositories” 

15. Do not capitalize the names of systems at nuclear facilities. 

• residual heat removal system 

• emergency core cooling system 

16. Do not capitalize document types, unless followed by a number or letter referring to a 

specific document. 

• regulatory guide (but—Regulatory Guide 1.18) 

• management directive (but—Management Directive 4.1, “Accounting Policies and 

Practices”) 

17. Do not capitalize a common noun followed by a letter or number identifying a component 

of a nuclear power plant. 

• train A 

• valve PRV–22 

18. Capitalize basic alphabet keys, all the named keys (e.g., Ctrl, Shift, Alt) and menu items

(e.g., File, Save, Print). 

• To run a spell check, go to Tools, then choose Spelling and Grammar. 

• A keyboard shortcut for copying text is Ctrl+C. 

19. Capitalize these technology-related words. For information on how to compound 

technology-related words, see Section 4. 

• Internet 

• Web page 

• Web site 

• Web 
4 Compound Terms and Unit Modifiers 

A compound term can appear in one of the three following forms: (1) open (e.g., 

nuclear power plant, mill tailings site), (2) closed (e.g., rulemaking, runoff), and 

(3) hyphenated (e.g., full-scale simulation, fitness-for-duty program). Although there are 

rules to compounding terms, there are also many exceptions. Modern English is moving 

towards a general trend of closing compounds, unless doing so causes confusion. For 

example, the modifier on-line or on line, is now online. 

Chapter 6 of the GPO Style Manual presents general rules for compounding words. To 

look up a specific word, go to Chapter 7 of the GPO Style Manual, “Compounding 

Examples,” where you will find 6,000 compound words in their correct open, closed, or 

hyphenated form. To find the GPO Style Manual online, go to 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual. 

Compound terms that modify nouns are called unit modifiers. Those that precede 

nouns are typically hyphenated. Those that follow the nouns they modify are typically 

not hyphenated. 

• an NRC-sponsored study (but—a study sponsored by the NRC) 

• an industry-sponsored study (but—a study sponsored by industry) 

• handled on a case-by-case basis (but—handled case by case) 

Use hyphens carefully with unit modifiers because their placement can cause 

misreadings. For example, depending on the usage of the words, each of the following 

phrases or sentences is correct. 

• a biological-waste management system 

• a biological waste-management system 

The following table provides detailed guidance on the use of hyphens with unit 

modifiers. 

1. Hyphenate unit modifiers used as adjectives and adverbs that precede a noun. Some 

types and examples follow: 

Type Example 

Modifier plus present participle far-reaching effects 

hard-working staff 

fear-producing accident 

thought-provoking analysis 

9 
Type Example 

Modifier plus past participle safety-related activities 

coal-fired plants 

performance-based incentives 

well-defined plan 

much-acclaimed study 

long-lived isotope 

Multiple-word modifier not-in-my-backyard attitude 

easy-to-read document 

loss-of-coolant accident 

boiling-water reactor 

pressurized-water reactor 

nozzle-to-pipe weld 

Suspended modifier (i.e., use of a unit 

common to a series of unit modifiers) 

industry- and agency-sponsored studies 

long- and short-term goals 

8-, 9-, and 10-hour days 

Unit modifiers in which one unit is 

capitalized 

PDR-available documents 

NRC-prepared report 

Unit modifiers that include numbers (see 

also Section 5) 

18-inch-diameter pipe 

six-person team 

two-shift operation 

A prefix before a proper noun, capitalized 

abbreviation, or number 

non-Federal 

anti-American 

pre-Jurassic 

pre-NRC regulatory agency 

post-2001 security measures 

A few adjective-noun unit modifiers high-level waste 

low-pressure injection 

light-water reactor 

nonlight-water reactor 

nonsafety-related component 

2. Do not hyphenate (leave open) unit modifiers ending in ly, as well as certain other modifiers. 

Some types and examples follow: 

Type Example 

Modifier ending in ly poorly managed plant 

effectively managed branch 

Unit modifiers both elements of which are 

capitalized 

an Appendix A criterion 

10 CFR Part 50 requirements 

10 
Type Example 

Foreign phrases used as unit modifiers ad hoc meeting 

ad hominem argument 

in vitro tissue culture 

in situ hybridization 

Three-word unit modifiers whose first two 

words are adverbs 

very well defined procedures 

unusually well maintained design basis 

Noun formed from a one-syllable verb and 

adverb 

makeup 

heatup 

cooldown 

startup 

shutdown 

followup 

3. Close up most prefixes, but be aware of many exceptions. Use a hyphen to avoid 

mispronunciation or confusion. Some types and examples follow: 

Type Example 

Prefixes multiplant 

prelicensing 

semiannual 

biweekly 

nondistinctive 

nonsafety 

overpressure 

Use a hyphen before a proper noun, capitalized 

abbreviation, or number. 

pre-Columbian artifacts 

pre-2001 security measures 

post-U.S.S.R. 

Use a hyphen with prefixes to avoid doubling a 

vowel or tripling a consonant, except after co, 

de, pre, and re. Also use a hyphen to avoid 

mispronunciation or ambiguity. 

anti-inflammatory 

gull-like 

coowner 

deenergize 

re-creation vs. recreation 

multi-ply vs. multiply 

pre-position vs. preposition 

co-op 

un-ionized vs. unionized 

11 
12 

4. Close most cases of wide and making used as a suffix. 

• agencywide (but—NRC-wide because it is a proper noun) 

• industrywide 

• worldwide 

• decisionmaking 

• rulemaking 

• policymaking 

• Governmentwide 

5. Usually, do not hyphenate chemical and physical terms except for chemical formulas. 

• boric acid solution

• carbon monoxide gas

• equivalent uranium content

• hydrogen ion activity

• ground water 

• Cr-Ni-Mo 

6. Follow these conventions for technology-related words. Be aware that conventions may 

change. For guidance on capitalizing technology-related words, see Section 3 of this guide, 

“Capitalization.” 

• Web page 

• Web site 

• Web-related issues (adjective form is still hyphenated) 

• Web broadcasting 

• Webcasting 

• e-mail 

• online 

• database 
5 Numbers 

1. Spell out the numbers one through nine.

• Four reactor licensees reported seven events. 

• The crew replaced four pipes, six valves, and nine gears in record time. 

• not—The crew replaced four (4) pipes, six (6) valves, and nine (9) gears in record time. 

2. Use numerals for a single number of 10 or more. 

• During August 1985, 21 plants submitted the required reports, but of these reports, two 

were late. 

• About 30 engineers attended the meeting. 

3. Spell out a number that begins a sentence, and spell out related numbers at the beginning 

of a sentence separated by no more than three words. Alternatively, revise the sentence to 

avoid beginning the sentence with a number. In these next examples, assume that the 

author has already defined Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 20, 

“Standards for Protection against Radiation.” 

• As required by 10 CFR Part 20, radiation protection plans for certain facilities. (but—do 

not begin a sentence with “10 CFR Part 20 requires...”) 

• Twenty families face possible evacuation. 

• Seventy or, perhaps, eighty square miles were affected by the aftershock. or —The 

aftershock affected approximately 70 or 80 square miles. (but—Eight acres of the 12 

square miles affected by the aftershock were within the site boundary.) 

4. When two or more related numbers appear in a sentence and one of them is 10 or more, 

use a numeral for each number. 

• The inspectors found fractured pipes in four plants: 6 in Fermi, 10 in Watts Bar, 2 in 

Monticello, and 4 in Susquehanna. 

• The NRC received comments from 13 utilities, 18 public interest groups, 3 unions, 

6 utility organizations, and 2 interested persons. 

5. Use numerals to express a unit of measurement, such as time or money. This usage does 

not affect other numerical expressions in a sentence. 

• 2 meters 

• 15 years 

• 3.5 percent 

• 6-cm-diameter pipe 

13 
• Three NRC travelers left the office at 3:30 p.m. for a 4-day trip to join an eight-person 

advisory committee on radiation safety. Each traveler had to travel approximately 

50 miles per day and each had a $600 travel advance. On this trip, a business day 

lasted about 101⁄2 hours—beginning at 8 a.m. and ending about 6:30 p.m.—with a 1-hour 

break for lunch. Of the 8 members of the committee, 4 supervised a staff of 11 or more 

health physicists. 

6. In tables and illustrations, use numerals with abbreviations, symbols, decimals, and 

with quantities that mix whole numbers and fractions. In text, do not use symbols. Write 

out the abbreviation on first appearance in text and thereafter use the abbreviation. 

Tables and Illustrations Text 

3 km 3 kilometers 

12 cm 12 centimeters 

3′–6′ * 3 feet to 6 feet 

12′′ ** 12 inches 

8′′ x 12′′ 8 inches by 12 inches** 

1,500 psi 1,500 pounds per square inch 

33% 33 percent 

3 kg 3 kilograms 

1.8 g 1.8 grams 

11⁄2 r/min 11⁄2 revolutions per minute 

100 °C 100 degrees Celsius*** 

* Note that the symbol ′ is prime (Unicode character 2032), not the apostrophe. 

** Note that the symbol ′′ is double prime (Unicode character 2033), not the closing 

double quotation mark. 

*** Note that the symbol ° is the degree (Unicode character 00B0), not the ring above 

diacritic. 

7. Spell out indefinite numerical expressions—“about,” “nearly,” “around,” and 

“approximately” are not considered indefinite (see the example in Item 5 of this section). 

• the early seventies (but—nearly the 1970s) 

• midforties (but—around 1945) 

• seemingly a hundred and one reasons (but—he cited about 10 reasons) 

14 
8. An ordinal number expresses degree or sequence. Apply the general rules for numbers in 

this section to ordinal numbers. 

• The accident rate for the fourth quarter suggested that the training had been effective. 

• Surprisingly, the 19th and 20th years of plant operation produced the highest income. 

• The Federal Register notice was published on the 27th of March (not—March 27th). 

9. When two numbers appear in sequence, use a numeral for one and spell out the other. 

• The inspector examined twelve 12-inch-diameter pipes. 

• The fold-out page consisted of eleven 2-inch columns of numerals. 

10. Use numerals in all mathematical expressions. 

• multiplied by 4

• a factor of 9

11. Spell out a fraction standing alone, a fraction followed by “of a” or “of an,” and a fraction 

approximation. 

• three-fourths of a mile 

• seven-eighths of an inch 

• The water on three-fourths of the site was contaminated. 

• The team leader has reviewed nearly three-fourths of the inspection report. 

12. For a spelled-out fraction, use a hyphen between the numerator and denominator. 

However, omit the hyphen between the numerator and denominator when a hyphen already 

appears in either or both. 

• three-fifths 

• six thirty-fifths 

• twenty-one thirty-fifths 

• twenty-three thirtieths 

• two one-thousandths 

13. Use numerals for a fraction in a unit modifier. 

• 1⁄2-inch width

• 3⁄4-mile radius

14. Use numerals when combining whole numbers and fractions. 

• 21⁄2 times as large

• 11⁄2 inches wide

15. Use numerals for all decimals.

• 0.5 mL

• 1.8 meters

15 
16. Use a decimal point only for monetary amounts that include cents, but omit for even dollar 

amounts. 

• $150.10 

• $150 

17. For quantities of less than one, use a zero before the decimal point unless the quantity 

could never reach one, such as the caliber of a gun. Use zero after a decimal point if the 

zero is followed by other nonzero numbers or if it is a significant number; that is, the zero is 

holding a place. Do not use a decimal place followed by a zero after a whole number (unless 

required for precision). 

• 0.5 part (but—.44 caliber) 

• 5.04 

• 5.003 (but—5) 

• 45 (not—45.0) 

18. Use subscripts to indicate the base for a number system and the number of atoms of an 

element in a molecule. 

• 258

• H2

19. Use superscripts for exponents and to indicate the mass number of an isotope (see also 

Section 3, Item 6, of this guide). 

• 25

• 235U (but—uranium-235) 

20. Generally, do not use the calculator or computer printout abbreviation for an exponent in 

text or tables (i.e., use the superscript). Use of computer printout abbreviations is 

acceptable for computer codes. If you must use the computer printout abbreviation, please 

apply it throughout the document. Do not switch between the computer printout abbreviation 

and superscripts. 

• 83

 (not— 8**3) 

• 8x103

 (not— 8E3) 

• 8x10-3 (not —8E-3) 

16 
17 

21. Use commas every three places starting at the right to separate numbers over three 

digits. 

• There were 5,000 comments on the proposed rule. 

• There were 50,000 responses to the questionnaire. 

• There were 3,000 responses to the first questionnaire and 15,000 to the second. 

• 

Table 

5,000 

50,000 

1,000,000 

22. To aid comprehension, spell out million or billion (but not always in tables and figures). 

• $12 million 

• $1.25 billion 

• $5 million to $10 million 

• 4.2 billion years 

• population of 2.8 million 

23. Use the percent symbol in tables, graphs, and figures. Otherwise, spell out percent in the 

text. 

• The office had expended 80 percent of its budget by midyear. 

• Of the 103 reactors, 75 percent had replaced at least one steam generator after 

10 years. 

24. When writing about a range of numbers, give the full digits. Use an en dash to separate 

numbers in a range. 

• ages 25–28 (not—ages 25–8) 

• pages 1260–1268 (not—pages 1260–68, and not— pages 1260–8) 

• days 104–107 (not—days 104–7, and not— days 104–07) 

• from years 2006–2007 (not—from years 2006–07, and not— from years 2006–7) 

• January 2–9, 11, and 13–15 and March 5–9, 26, and 30, 2007 

 

6 Punctuation 

1. Use a comma after each member of a series of three or more words, letters, numerals, 

phrases, or clauses. 

• footnotes, references, and bibliographies 

• between A, B, or C 

• neither in 1999, 2001, nor 2007 

• in the morning, in the afternoon, but not in the evening 

• The section leader wrote the proposal, the branch chief reviewed it, and the division 

director signed it. 

Change the usual commas in a series to semicolons if multiple commas occur within the 

elements of the series. 

• After assessing a situation, the NRC may order a licensee to continue, curtail, or expand 

operations; ensure compliance with security and safeguards programs; and maintain 

associated notes, documents, and records of these emergency actions. 

2. Use a comma after an introductory phrase of five or more words; use of a comma after a 

shorter introductory phrase is optional. 

• After realizing that they could not adhere to the day’s agenda, they rescheduled three 

topics for discussion. 

• Next Tuesday the proposals should arrive. (or—Next Tuesday, the proposals should 

arrive.) 

3. Use a comma after an introductory adverbial clause. 

• After struggling with the problem, he decided to consult experts. 

• Before moving onto my next location, I would like to meet with you. 

4. Place a comma before a direct quotation of a few words. 

• He said, “The tube has been welded.”

• “But,” the welder said, “it is only a temporary measure.”

5. Use a comma before and after an explanatory equivalent of another word or phrase. 

• Nishi Mackin, president of TRCO, met with the Chairman. 

• The American National Standards Institute has published a more recent standard, 

“Scientific and Technical Reports: Organization, Preparation, and Production,” 

ANSI Z39.18–1987. 

19 
6. Use a comma before and after the year when written in the order of month, day, and year. 

• The March 27, 1988, memorandum responded to the questions. (or revise to read—The 

memorandum, dated March 27, 1988, responded to the questions. 

• On March 27, 1988, he attended the conference. 

Do not use a comma in a two-element date or a three-element date written in the order of 

day, month, and year. 

• March 27 

• March 1988 (not—March, 1988) 

• 27 March 1988 (military usage) 

7. Use a comma before and after the State or country when citing the city and State or city 

and country in the text. 

• The meeting is in Chicago, Illinois, on April 4, 2008, at 3 p.m. 

• A conference in Paris, France, would cost more than one in Paris, Texas. 

Do not use a comma between the State and the ZIP Code in an address. 

• Bethesda, MD 20014 

8. Use a comma before and after Jr., Sr., Inc., and Ltd. (Some individuals or companies 

choose to omit the comma, and the NRC can follow their style at its discretion.) 

• The staff will meet with Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc., on September 5, 1988. 

• We know that Time Inc. produced the book. 

• Ganesh Gritz, Jr., chaired the meeting. 

9. Omit the comma before and after II, III, IV, etc. in a name and between the State and the zip 

code. 

• Henry VIII 

• John Francis Kipp III 

• Rockville, MD 20850 

10. Use a comma between qualifying words if the word and could replace the comma. 

• An old, degraded generator tube (but—an old generator tube) 

11. Use a comma before the conjunction in a compound sentence. 

• The agency received the application in October 2007, but staff did not approve the terms 

until January 2009. 

• I plan to arrive at the site on Tuesday, and I am scheduled to begin the inspection on 

Wednesday. 

20 
12. Use a comma to set off nonrestrictive words, phrases, or clauses that could be omitted 

without changing the meaning of the sentence. 

• The final rule, which was published on December 13, became effective on January 12. 

• Members of the public, including those from the eastern districts, attended the hearing. 

13. Use a comma after “however” at the beginning of a sentence, unless “however” is used 

conditionally. 

• However, he continued to smoke. 

• However, I would still like to discuss the topic. 

• However much he spoke, he never seemed to get to the point. 

14. Use a semicolon to separate closely related or contrasting statements. Use one space after 

a semicolon. 

• He agrees; I do not. 

15. Use a semicolon before an adverb (e.g., then, however, thus, hence, indeed, accordingly, 

besides, and therefore) joining independent clauses. 

• I attended the meeting; however, I had to leave before it ended. 

• He had doubts about the public hearing; indeed, it was pure chaos. 

16. Use a period at the end of a sentence. Add two spaces between sentences in all NRC 

correspondence. For any other document, follow the style guidance provided by the office 

for which it is prepared. Use a period after items in a list if each item is a complete sentence. 

• She must return on Friday. The following is her itinerary: 

1. Monday, she flies to New York. 

2. Tuesday, she chairs the conference. 

3. Wednesday, she conducts a hearing. 

4. Thursday, she addresses the council. 

17. Use a colon after a complete clause to introduce a list, whether or not the list is within a 

sentence. For all NRC correspondence, when using a colon within a sentence, follow it with 

two spaces. For any other document, apply the style guidance provided by the office for 

which it is prepared. 

• Greg Emes was responsible for the following: 

1. basic research 

2. confirmatory research 

3. written results 

• The judges consider three factors: taste, texture, and aesthetic appeal. 

21 
18. Use a colon after a formal salutation. Please consult Management Directive 3.57, 

“Correspondence,” for more guidance on letters and salutations. 

• Dear Mr. Chairman: 

• Dear Mrs. Leboulle: 

• Dear Senator McCain: 

19. Use a colon before a lengthy quotation. Indent a quotation of five or more lines on the 

right and left and omit the quotation marks. The indentation of the material indicates that it is 

a verbatim quotation. 

• The excerpt from Bulletin 4145–220 follows: 

The purpose of the program is to 

provide income protection to 

employees affected by a medical 

emergency through the voluntary 

donation of annual leave by other 

employees. 

20. Use an em dash to mark an abrupt change in thought. (In Microsoft Word, the keyboard 

shortcut for em dash is Ctrl+Alt+Minus Sign. Using the toolbar, insert an em dash by clicking 

on Insert, choosing Symbol, clicking on the Special Characters tab, and finally choosing the 

em dash.) 

• Provide several publications—in addition to your resume—to highlight your 

qualifications. 

21. Use em dashes to replace commas around an interrupting element with heavy internal 

punctuation. 

• The group—engineers, managers, and administrators—toured the facility. 

22. Use an en dash to indicate ranges of number, letters, or periods of time. (In Microsoft 

Word, the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Minus Sign. Using the toolbar, insert an em dash by 

clicking on Insert, choosing Symbol, clicking on the Special Characters tab, and finally 

choosing the em dash.) 

• For several years (2003–2006), the company has downsized their staff. 

• The planned September–December trip never happened. 

• From January 21–March 5, 2008, the licensee closed the plant for substantial repairs. 

22 
23. Use parentheses to show explanatory information. Punctuate a sentence with 

parentheses the same as a sentence without parentheses. Do not precede an opening 

parenthesis with a comma. 

• The inspector visited three of the four regions (I, III, and IV). 

• Before leaving the site (late Friday afternoon), he submitted his report. 

• The high-level waste regulation (10 CFR Part 60) establishes the requirements for site 

characterization of a geologic repository. (The U.S. Department of Energy will be the 

only applicant to use the part.) 

24. Use brackets within parentheses or parentheses within parentheses to nest 

information. Also use brackets to indicate words you have inserted into a direct quotation. 

• Please review the applicable international standard (Nuclear Power Standard 6.5 

[NP-STD-6.5]). 

• “Some time last night [the] idea came to me,” said Mr. Pai. 

• He has not reached the annual whole-body limit for workers (50 millisieverts (mSv)). 

25. Place the period or comma inside a quotation mark.

• He said, “The project is due today.” 

• He said, “The project is due today,” as he rushed to his office. 

• The center is offering three courses today: “MS Outlook,” “Reactor Core Concepts,” and 

“Web Design 3.” 

26. Place a question mark, colon, or semicolon outside the closing quotation mark (unless 

it is part of the quoted material). 

• We hired the most qualified environmental policy analyst from the “Presidential 

Management Fellows Program”; we did not realize he lacked motivation. 

• He said, “The project is due today”; he rushed to his office. 

• Have you seen my copy of NUREG–1379, “NRC Editorial Style Guide”? 

• but—I recommend you read the article “Nuclear Energy: A Way to A Greener Future?” 

27. Place other punctuation marks inside the closing quotation mark only if they are part of the 

matter quoted. 

• Did you mark the package “Fragile”? 

• She asked, “Do you have sufficient funds to cover the travel?” 

28. Use quotation marks to emphasize special technical or industry-specific language, letters, 

names, words, or titles. 

• The flat strips were “pigtailed” to create tubes. 

• Faced with plan “A” and plan “B,” we chose plan “B.” 

• She frequently cites Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 8, “Interpretations.” 

23 
29. The slash is ambiguous and means “and,” “or,” or both. Use slashes in tables and 

graphs for brevity, otherwise avoid using slashes whenever possible, especially if you 

really mean either “and” or “or.” Avoid writing and/or. 

• Notify your supervisor if you will be late or absent. (not—Notify your supervisor if you will 

be late and/or absent. not—Notify your supervisor if you will be late/absent.) 

• The center serves clients who are elderly or disabled, or both. (not—The center serves 

clients who are elderly/disabled.) 

30. Use a slash to join multiple-word unit modifiers. 

• A joint U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission/U.S. Department of Energy initiative (but—

a joint NRC–DOE initiative) 

31. Use a slash to indicate “per.” 

• 60 km/h 

• 11 pills/day 

32. Avoid breaking a URL (uniform resource locator) over two lines. If necessary, the break 

should be between elements after a colon, slash, or double slash, but before a period. Do 

not use a hyphen to break a URL. A URL that contains a hyphen should never break at the 

hyphen. 

• The best option is to keep the URL, such as http://www.internal.nrc.gov/, on one line. 

• However, if you must break the URL, break along a colon, slash, or double slash http://

www.internal.nrc.gov/ as we have done on this line. 

• If you must break the URL near a period, break it before the period http://www.internal

.nrc.gov/ as we have done on this line. 

33. Use italics for foreign words and phrases that are not well known to English speakers. 

Do not italicize commonly used foreign words, including scholarly Latin. Do not italicize 

foreign proper nouns. 

• Belgique c’est chic was his personal motto. 

• An earthquake hit the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture. 

• She did not seem sorry about eating all the foie gras. 

• Schadenfreude means taking joy in the misfortune of others. 

• ibid., et al. 

24 
25 

34. Use an apostrophe before an “s” to indicate possession. 

• Cameron’s policy 

• Phyllis’s plant (also—her plant) 

• U.S. Congress’s history (also—the history of the U.S. Congress) 

• Dr. Seuss’s hat (also—the hat of Dr. Seuss) 

35. Use lists to organize text. If the list is set in the body of the text, completely enclose numbers 

or letters in parentheses. Use numbers for sequential list items or list items you will refer to 

later. Use bullets for random list items. For short lists, run the list into the text (unless you 

are writing codified text). 

He had three resolutions: (1) to learn French, (2) to pass the French proficiency exam, and 

(3) to find a job in Brussels, Belgium. 

36. For longer lists, set the list vertically. You may leave incomplete sentences unpunctuated. 

Always use parallel sentence construction for lists. 

The working group is making progress in the following primary goals: 

• searching for a director with government experience 

• reorganizing top management into three primary areas 

• bidding out contracts on printing 

• redrafting the mission statement for emphasis on public accountability 

37. Unless you are writing a legal document or following a specific convention, avoid 

punctuating lists as a running sentence with commas or semicolons. However, if you 

must use a running sentence list, note the first word of each list item is not capitalized. 

The working group is making progress in its primary goals of— 

• searching for a director with government experience; 

• reorganizing top management into three primary areas; 

• bidding out contracts on printing; and 

• redrafting the mission statement to emphasize public accountability.

38. If one list item is a full sentence with a period, then all list items should be full 

sentences with periods.

The working group is making progress in the following activities: 

• It is searching for a director with government experience. 

• It is reorganizing top management into three primary areas. 

• It is bidding out contracts on printing. 

• It is redrafting the mission statement to emphasize public accountability. 

7 Plain Language 

The Plain Language Initiative was one of several conceived by the National Partnership 

for Reinventing Government. The goal of the partnership was to create a Government 

that “works better, costs less, and gets results.” For more indepth guidance on using 

plain language, visit the NRC Plain Language Writing Techniques Web page at 

http://www.internal.nrc.gov/ADM/DAS/cag/notices/notdocs/writingtech.html. 

Remember that simple language is easier to read and is often more accurate. Give the 

correct level of detail that your audience needs. Do not inundate a layperson reader with 

technical details. For documents meant for public comment, aim for a grade 9 to 12 

reading level. To check reading level in Microsoft Word, use the readability statistics 

function in Spelling and Grammar. (See Section 12, “Technology and Writing,” for 

instructions.) 

1 Principles of Plain Language 

• Use reader-oriented writing. Write for your customers, not for other Government 

employees. 

• Use natural expression. When possible, write as you would speak. Write with commonly 

used words. 

• Make your document visually appealing. Present your text in a way that highlights the 

main points. 

2 Tactics for Clearly Communicating Your Message 

• State the purpose of your document. 

• Explain how you have organized it and how to use it. 

• Insert descriptive headings to help the reader find information. 

• Summarize complicated topics before you give the details. 

• Begin with matters of most interest to your reader. 

• Answer general questions first. 

• Describe processes step by step. 

• Omit information the reader does not need to know. 

3 Rules for Writing in Plain Language 

1. Use the active voice. 

The active voice tells who is supposed to do what. It is explicit and direct, assigning a clear 

agent to an action. 

• Active—The licensee installed a new steam generator. 

• Passive—A new steam generator was installed. 

• Active—The staff held a conference call with the BWR Owners Group. 

27 
• Passive—A conference call was held with the BWR Owners Group. 

Use the passive voice only when the object of an action is more important than the agent. 

• Acceptable Passive—Taking photographs is forbidden in this secure area. 

• Active—Malcolm A. McDuffy, Chief, Division of Security, forbids the taking of 

photographs in this secure area. 

2. Write in short sentences and short paragraphs. 

Express only one idea in each sentence. Short sentences are better for conveying complex 

information. They break the information up into smaller, easy-to-process units. If your 

sentence is more than three lines long, try to break it into two or more separate 

sentences. The more technical the topic, the shorter the sentences should be to aid in 

reader comprehension. 

Short paragraphs break up material into easily understood segments and are visually more 

appealing. They also allow you to insert more informative headings in your material. 

• Long: Associated with amending 10 CFR 50.44, a conference call was held with the 

BWR Owners Group (BWROG) with the purpose of exploring possible coordination 

between the staff’s activities and related efforts currently being pursued by the BWROG. 

• Short: The NRC staff and the BWR Owners Group held a conference call to discuss 

coordinating their activities in amending 10 CFR 50.44. 

3. Use as few words as possible. Simple language is often more accurate. 

Instead of Use 

a majority of most 

in a timely manner promptly 

a number of some 

no later than by 

at this point in time now 

Instead of Use a single-word verb 

arrive at a solution solve 

be cognizant of know 

held a meeting met 

hold a discussion discuss 

make a determination determine 

perform an analysis analyze 

28 
Instead of Use a single-word verb 

adversely impact impair, damage, compromise, decrease, 

increase 

4. Use plain words. 

Instead of Use 

a and/or b a or b or both 

assist help 

conduct do, carry out 

feasible workable, doable 

finalize complete, finish 

identify find, note 

impact affect, change 

indicate say, state 

methodology methods 

numerous many 

perform do, study, analyze 

preclude prevent 

prior to before 

provide give, supply 

regarding about, on 

request ask 

subsequent to after 

utilize use 

29 
5. Avoid legalisms. Even if you are writing a legal document, use simple everyday words. 

Avoid the following vague legalistic terms: 

• aforementioned 

• hereby 

• herein 

• hereinafter 

• therein 

Instead of Use 

abeyance postpone action 

afford an opportunity allow, permit 

finalize end, conclude 

fullest possible extent completely 

implement carry out 

promulgate issue 

pursuant to under 

terminate end 

verification verify 

6. Avoid confusion by observing the following. 

• Avoid excess abbreviations. To reduce acronyms, use a key word from the term 

instead of the acronym. Use key words to avoid multiple abbreviations in one sentence. 

− The Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses submitted its initial draft report 

on time. The center agreed to submit the final report on December 10, 2000. 

− Not—RES agreed with NRO that the NRC should streamline the COL process. (use 

instead—Research agreed with NRO that the agency should streamline the 

combined license process.) 

• Use consistent terms throughout the document. 

− If you start with Reactor Oversight Process, do not switch to reactor oversight 

program. 

− If you begin by calling it an assessment, do not switch to evaluation, analysis, or 

study. 

30 
31 

• Unbundle strings of five or more nouns. 

− Write— procedures to protect the quality of surface water (not— surface water 

quality protection procedures). 

− Write— the threshold value at which the primary coolant must be sampled (not— 

primary coolant sampling requirement threshold value). 

• Make sure pronouns have clear antecedents. In the following example, “it” could refer 

to safety margin, measure, or design. 

− Clear—Safety margin is a measure of the conservatism employed in a design to 

ensure that the design will work. 

− Vague—Safety margin is a measure of the conservatism employed in a design to 

ensure that it will work. 

• Avoid technical terms that only a specialist would understand unless you are 

writing for a purely technical audience. If you must use the technical term, add a few 

words to explain the meaning. 

− Technical—The printing specialist is reviewing the bluelines. 

− Plain Language—The printing specialist is reviewing a proof of the publication that is 

printed in blue ink. 

− Plain Language with Explication—The printing specialist is reviewing a proof of the 

publication known as “the bluelines” because it is printed in blue ink. 

7. Use the pronouns I, we, and you to speak directly to the reader. Especially in 

correspondence, this establishes an informal tone. More formal third-person usage is often 

used in formal writing, such as in technical reports. 

• I am responding to your letter of April 2, 2000, about the use of potassium iodide to 

reduce the uptake of radioiodine in the event of a nuclear accident. 

• Avoid using the royal “we.” 

8. Use bullets, lists, tables, and graphics for visual variety. Shorter lines and more white space 

on a page give the reader’s eye a rest from dense blocks of text. A list is easier to read than 

running text. Use numerical lists if the items have an order of importance or if your 

introduction to the list identifies a specific number of items, as in this example. 

• The management of mining and milling residues, such as tailings and waste rock, is also 

outside the scope of this publication. However, the publication covers the 

decommissioning of facilities and equipment for surface industrial extraction associated 

with mining and milling. Fuel cycle facilities pose the following four types of potential 

hazards: 

(1) criticality 

(2) chemical hazards 

(3) radiological hazards 

(4) fires and explosions 

8 Word Usage 

The following pairs of words are frequently misused or confused. 

accept/except 

To accept is to receive, agree to, or consider proper, right, or true. As a verb, to except 

means leave out or exclude; as a preposition, it means excluding. 

• You must accept the responsibility that goes with the appointment. 

• We agreed on everything except the schedule. 

adapt/adopt 

To adapt is to adjust or make suitable. To adopt is to accept or make one’s own. 

• He will adapt to the motion of the sea in a few days. 

• I will adopt your agenda for the meeting. 

advice/advise 

Advice is a noun and advise is a verb. 

• My advice is to sign the contract immediately. 

• I advise you to sign the contract immediately. 

affect/effect 

Effect is often misused for the verb affect, which means to have an effect on or to 

influence. To effect is to bring about. 

• The decisions of the public utility commission affect all State utilities. 

• These policy changes had a good effect on staff morale. 

alternate/alternative 

An alternate is a substitute, an alternative is a choice between two or more possibilities. 

As an adjective, alternate means “by turns” or “every other.” 

• He appointed Arthur as the alternate. 

• The inspector had no alternative to shutting down the plant. 

among/between 

Use between for two persons or things; use among for three or more. 

• This discussion is between you and me. 

• The three technicians discussed the test results among themselves. 

33 
assure/ensure 

To assure is to set a person’s mind to rest and is used to address people. To ensure is 

to make certain. 

• I assure you that the documents will arrive on schedule! 

• Adhering to this maintenance schedule will ensure proper operation of the system. 

beside/besides 

Beside is a preposition and besides is an adverb. 

• Place the telephone beside the bookcase. 

• Besides, he knew when the meeting was to convene. 

compose/comprise 

Comprise means to include or contain. Do not use the construction “comprised of”; use 

“composed of.” The whole comprises the parts. 

• The committee comprises 12 members and three subcommittees. 

• Each panel is composed of six experts in health physics. 

due to/because of 

Because of is an adverbial prepositional phrase; due to is an adjectival prepositional 

phrase. Only use due to to modify a noun or after a form of the verb to be. 

• The delay was due to an automobile accident. 

• Because of the delay, the schedule was changed. 

farther/further 

Use farther for geographical distance and further in more abstract senses. 

• He moved 2 kilometers (km) farther down the road. His first office was only 1 km away. 

• She must study further to achieve mastery of the subject. 

fewer/less 

Use fewer for countable quantities; use less for qualities or quantities that cannot be 

counted individually. Also use less for time and money. 

• Fewer people attend the meeting each year. 

• Less activity than predicted was visible around Jupiter’s moon. 

34 
35 

practical/practicable 

According to Webster’s II New College Dictionary, “Practicable refers to something that 

can be put into effect. Practical refers to something that is also sensible and 

worthwhile.” 

• While it may be practicable to give every employee a car and cell phone, it is neither 

cost efficient nor practical. 

• After a review of the plans, the staff believes the expedited schedule for construction is 

ambitious but still practicable. 

principal/principle 

As an adjective, principal means “first” (in importance or degree). A principle is a basic 

truth, rule, or standard. 

• The principal speaker was the Director of NRR. 

• We follow the NRC Principles of Good Regulation. 

prior to/before 

Prior is an adjective. Do not use “prior to” as a preposition. Use “before.” 

• The agreement signed today replaces the prior agreement. 

• The report arrived before the letter. 

shall/will/must/may/may not/should 

In regulations, “shall” and “will” indicate a requirement, “may” an option, and “may not” a 

prohibition. “Shall” and “will” are used for persons or organizations; “must” for inanimate 

objects. In guidance such as regulatory guides, “should” is often used for 

recommendations. 

• The licensee shall check the operation of reusable collection systems each month. 

• The program plan must describe the licensee’s procedures. 

• The licensee may submit the report by electronic mail. 

• A licensee may not administer that dose to humans. 

• The licensee should carry out these drills before the actual test. 

that/which 

Do not use the relative pronoun “that” to begin a nonrestrictive clause (a clause that can 

be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence). Many writers reserve 

“which” (preceded by a comma) for nonrestrictive clauses. 

• Training on a simulator ensures a degree of competence that cannot be learned 

otherwise. 

• She walked to the warehouse, which is a mile away, to pick up the reports. 

9 Footnotes and Credit Lines 

Use footnotes to supply explanatory material or information that would interrupt the flow 

of ideas in the text and when too few footnotes exist to warrant listing them as an 

appendix to the text. Use footnotes to a table or figure to clarify or elaborate on the data 

in the table or figure. 

1. Place a footnote on the same page or under the same column as its reference. 

• The Advisory Committee on the Medical Use of Isotopes (ACMUI) gives expert opinion 

on the medical use of radioisotopes to staff at the NRC.1

 

_________________________ 

1 The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended in 1974, limits the NRC’s regulation of 

radioactive materials to reactor-produced isotopes. 

2. Place a footnote reference (i.e., a superscript number, symbol, or letter) applicable only to 

information in parentheses or brackets inside the closing parenthesis or bracket. 

• The position closed April 4, 2009, without a suitable applicant chosen (Six engineers 

applied.*) 

3. Place a footnote reference outside all punctuation except the dash. 

• The trip from the site to the airport **—about 60 miles—was slow and tiring. 

4. Separate a footnote reference from the word preceding it by a thin space unless it is 

preceded by a punctuation mark (e.g., a period, comma, quotation mark). 

• The NRC * regulates this nuclear waste, and its container bears a classification label. 

5. Separate footnote references occurring together by a comma and a thin space. 

• This topic was discussed in the previous three meetings. 1, 2, 3

6. Place footnotes to a table or figure, which are handled independently from footnotes to 

text, immediately under the table or figure. 

7. Use a symbol or letter rather than a number for a footnote reference if a number could be 

confused with the content of the table. 

37 
38 

8. In a table, place a footnote reference to the right of a column of text or symbols and to the 

left of a column of figures. 

9. Place a credit or source line for a table or figure, which identifies where the data were 

obtained, directly under and flush left with the last footnote. For a figure or table without 

footnotes, place the source line directly under and flush left with the title. 

• Figure 4.3. Chernobyl data evaluation of power vs. time during core destruction phase 

(Sheron, 1986) 

Source: Soviet analysis provided in Figure 4 of U.S.S.R, 1986 
10 References 

1 Purpose 

A reference gives credit to an author for the information used in a document and directs 

the reader to the source of the information. NRC authors must provide sufficient 

information in each reference citation to enable the reader to obtain the referenced 

document from a location accessible to the public. 

2 Availability 

Include sources that are publicly available in a list of references. Do not include, for 

example, private communications, predecisional documents, technical notes, minutes of 

a meeting, or other sources that are not available in the NRC’s Public Document Room. 

Avoid using a classified or proprietary document as a reference unless it is the only 

source of information cited. If you must use such a document as a reference, state the 

following, as appropriate, after its citation in the list of references: 

Classified report. Not publicly available. 

or 

Proprietary information. Not publicly available. 

The author of a document is responsible for ensuring that each reference is accurate 

and that each document referenced is publicly available, unless otherwise indicated. 

The NRC publishes an availability notice on the inside front cover of its reports (see 

Section 1 of the appendix to this guide). This notice directs the reader to sources for 

obtaining publicly available NRC documents and most codes and standards referenced 

in NRC reports. Therefore, the NRC does not include NRC documents as references 

but does include references to codes and standards as a separate category in a 

reference list for these reports. 

The availability statements presented in Section 1 of the appendix to this guide cover 

appropriate sources for most references that would be included in NRC documents 

other than NUREG-series reports. Often these statements would be used as a footnote 

to a reference that is fully identified in the text. 

3 Placement 

• For most documents, place the list of references in a separate section immediately after 

the text. 

• If there are too few references to warrant a list, include the references as footnotes or 

place them in parentheses directly in the text. 

39 
4 Legal Citations 

Statutory material and court decisions are usually cited in the text or footnotes to a 

document rather than in a list of references. (However, see the examples of legal 

citations included in the sample lists of references in Sections 2 and 3 of the appendix 

to this guide.) For detailed guidance on citing legal materials, consult The Bluebook: A 

Uniform System of Citation, which is available from the NRC Law Library and most 

public libraries. 

5 Listing and Identifying References 

• Most references include the following information. Order the information appropriate to 

each reference as follows, and separate the components by commas: 

− Author—List the authoring individual, agency, corporation, or association. 

− Title—Italicize the title of a book and enclose the title of a journal article or the 

chapter of a book in quotation marks. Place the title of a journal article before the 

italicized name of a journal. Enclose the title of a technical report, a regulatory guide, 

and an industry code or standard in quotation marks. 

− Publisher and location 

− Volume 

− Page number 

− Date 

5.1 Listing by Category of Document 

For a NUREG–series report that has an availability notice on the inside front cover, 

identify the references in the text parenthetically or directly as part of a sentence, and 

list the references by category, alphabetically, and, as appropriate, sequentially by 

number. Identify NRC documents in the text, but do not include them in the list of 

references. Do not include the publisher and location for documents covered by the 

availability notice. (See Section 2 of the appendix to this guide for examples of how to 

list and identify references in these reports.) 

Listing references 

• Categorize the references by name of author or type of document (e.g., correspondence, 

codes and standards), but do not include NRC documents in the list of references. 

• Under the category for industry codes and standards, alphabetize the subcategories 

(e.g., ANS, IEEE) and then list the individual references sequentially by code or standard 

number. Place this category last in the list of references. 

• For the first document listed in each category, give all the components of information for 

a reference except the publisher and location for documents covered by the availability 

notice, and for each subsequent document, give only its alphanumeric designator, title, 

and date, in that order. 

• List the references alphabetically or, as appropriate, sequentially by number. 

40 
• List a single author or the first author, if more than one, by last name, first initial, middle 

initial, if available. List subsequent authors by first initial, middle initial, last name. For 

more than three authors, follow the first author by et al. 

Identifying references in the text 

• Identify a reference in the text so that it is easy to find—in parentheses by an 

alphanumeric designator or some other descriptive information, or directly in a sentence: 

− (NUREG–0800) 

− (NRC Bulletin 89–11) 

− (ADAMS Accession No. ML080180332) but—define Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System (ADAMS) for the first reference. 

− (5 U.S.C. 553, 555) 

 Good cause exists under 5 U.S.C. 553(d) to dispense with the usual 30-day 

delay in the effective date of the final rule. 

 This final rule does not contain information collection requirements and, 

therefore, is not subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 

et seq.). 

− (Smith, 1987) 

− The evaluation (Smith and Jones, 1987) showed that.... 

− The report by Smith and Jones (1987).... 

− Smith and Jones (1987) reported.... 

• Identify a reference in the text in the same way in which it appears in the list of 

references. For example, (Smith, 1987) should appear in the list of references under 

Smith’s name rather than under the number of Smith’s report. 

• Identify multiple documents written by one author first by date, and then alphabetically 

by lowercase letter: (Smith, 1987), (Smith, 1988a), (Smith, 1988b). 

• Cite a particular page, chapter, figure, table, or equation in the text rather than in the list 

of references, if possible. 

5.2 Listing Sequentially by Number 

For a document in which the references are numbered, give all the components of 

information for each reference (see Item 5 of this section), and list the references in the 

same order that they appear in the text. Identify the references in the text parenthetically 

by number. Note that the sample numbered references in Section 3 of the appendix to 

this guide include NRC documents and, therefore, are not representative of a 

references list that would be included in an NRC NUREG-series report. 

The NRC discourages the use of numbered references in long documents. NRC 

documents often must be prepared and published in short turnaround time to coincide 

with licensing actions and are often changed as a result of multiple regulatory reviews. 

These conditions can result in last-minute renumbering of references. This guidance 

does not apply to correspondence. 

41 
42 

Listing references 

• List the references in the same order that the information referenced appears in the text 

(i.e., sequentially by number). 

• Order the components of information appropriate to the references. 

• List all authors by first initial, middle initial if available, and last name. 

Identifying references in the text 

• Avoid numbered references for long documents. A long document may have hundreds 

of references and any change in the text could require extensive renumbering of the 

references. In a long document, use a more stable method of referencing such as 

(Author, Year). For short documents, numbered references may be acceptable. When 

writing for an outside publisher or conference that uses numbered references, identify a 

reference parenthetically in the text, using Arabic numerals. You may also abbreviate the 

word “reference”: (Ref. 1) or (Refs. 3–8). This guidance does not pertain to 

correspondence. See Management Directive 3.57, “Correspondence Management,” for 

guidance on identifying references in correspondence. 

6 Cross-References 

• To cross-reference, direct the reader to another section of the same document by using 

an in-text citation such as (see Appendix B), (see Table 3), or (see Section 9.2 of this 

guide). However, avoid vague, nonspecific cross-references such as (see passages on 

high-level waste in this document). 

• Cite the cross-reference in the same form as the entry cross-referenced. For example, if 

“Section 3” is cross-referenced, write (see Section 3), not— (see Section III). 
11 Federal Register Documents 

The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) requires that rulemakings, petitions for 

rulemakings, and general notices submitted for publication in the Federal Register

comply with its format requirements. The following basic style guidance is consistent 

with these OFR requirements. For additional specific procedural guidance, consult 

NUREG/BR–0053, Revision 6, “United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

Regulations Handbook.” 

1. Capitalize only the first word of a section heading, unless the components of the section 

heading are separated by a colon. Place a period at the end of the section heading. 

• § 4.62 Right to counsel. 

• § 53.13 Contents of a request: Alternatives. 

2. Capitalize the first word of each item in a list that follows a colon or a dash (use a colon 

following a complete statement and a dash following a phrase). Use a semicolon after 

each item in a list and a conjunction after the next-to-last item in the list unless each item in 

the list is a complete sentence. 

• § 53.12 Contents of a request. 

A request for a Commission determination under this part must include the following 

general information: 

(a) Name and address...is sought; 

(b) The civilian nuclear...is being made; and 

(c) Explanation of why...is needed. 

• § 55.57 Renewal of a license. 

(a) applicant for renewal of a license 

shall— 

(1) Complete and sign Form 38. 

(2) File an original form and two copies as 

specified in § 55.5(b). 

3. Capitalize the first word of terms to be defined in a Definitions section. Enclose the terms 

to be defined in quotation marks, and list the terms, without designation, in alphabetical 

order. 

• “Buffer zone” means.... 

• “Active maintenance” means.... 

• “Commission” means.... 

43 
4. Capitalize the first word of a table or figure and all proper nouns in the title of a table or 

figure. Also capitalize the first word of a column heading. 

• Figure 1. Criteria for free-drop test 

• Table 3. Estimates of truck accidents in Virginia 

• Package weight

Fragility

Free-drop distance 

5. Use the following format when referring to a title or portion of a title of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (see also Section 5, Item 3, of this guide). 

• Title—Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations

• Chapter—10 CFR Chapter 1 

• Part—10 CFR Part 50 

• Section—10 CFR 50.16 

• Appendix—10 CFR Part 50, Appendix R, or Appendix R to 10 CFR Part 50 

6. Use the following conventions for documents to be published in the Federal Register: 

FR Federal Register

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

U.S.C. United States Code

Pub. L. Public Law 

Stat. U.S. Statutes at Large

E.O. Executive Order 

Proc. Proclamation 

sec. Section of a statute. 

§ 2.8 Section of a regulation (except use the word rather than the symbol to 

begin a sentence). Place a space between the symbol and figure. 

DC District of Columbia, unless part of a mailing address requiring a ZIP 

Code, then use DC. 

NW. Section within DC or other cities 

44 
45 

7. To indicate a requirement in a rule, use shall with a person or organization and must with 

an inanimate subject. To indicate a prohibition, use may not. This usage of these words is 

applicable to NRC management directives. 

• The licensee shall record the data in a log. 

• The data must include the date and purpose of the visit and the visitor’s name and 

affiliation. 

• The visitor may not enter any vital area. 

8. When submitting documents to be published in the Federal Register, the Office of the 

Federal Register prints these words in their own format, regardless of how they are 

submitted. When referring to the Federal Register in other documents, it is appropriate to 

italicize Federal Register because it is in the title of a publication. 

9. When citing a part of the Federal Register in text, use the following format: 54 FR 33168; 

August 11, 1989. 

• The basis for the NRC's occupational chemical toxicity limits for uranium is given in an 

amendment to 10 CFR Part 20 (39 FR 13671; April 16, 1974) and is based on the 

threshold limit value. 

• On August 28, 2007 (72 FR 49352), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 

published a final rule revising the provision. 

12 Technology and Writing 

Although writers may still brainstorm with pen and paper, all agency documents are now 

completed using a computer word processing program. Word processing programs are 

constantly improving, offering authors powerful new tools for writing, editing, and 

collaborative work. In this section, we present tips for getting the most out of writing and 

editing on a computer as well as ways to ensure that your final document is free of 

editing marks, comments, and other private information. 

We are offering general guidance for word processing. Because technology changes, 

we are not offering step-by-step guidance. Please use the Help menu on your word 

processing toolbar to search for more detailed instructions. 

1 Start Writing 

• Before you begin work on a document, make sure you have the proper template. 

Certain regulatory documents have specific styles that dictate different font sizes, bullet 

styles, and margins. Also, make sure that your computer word processing program is set 

to follow basic NRC font type, font size, and margins. 

• As you write, you may want to highlight areas for review by using the Highlight function. 

If you would like to make notes about the area, use the Comment function to flag it with 

a comment bubble. You can make notes in the comment bubble. Right click on a 

comment to delete comment bubbles individually or use the Delete All Comments in 

Document function. 

• To ensure you do not lift outside styles and formatting, use Paste Special and then 

choose Unformatted Text (instead of Paste). If you need to lift sections of text from 

another document for direct quotation in your own document, select the desired text in 

the source document, then Copy (Ctrl+C). Go back to your document, place your cursor 

where you want the text and use Paste Special (not regular Paste or Ctrl+V), and 

choose Unformatted Text to put down the text without introducing foreign styles. 

• When writing a list, use automated formatting to generate automatic bullets, 

numbers, letters, Roman numerals, or outlines. 

• Use nonbreaking spaces (Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar) to control line breaks in dates and 

between a word and related number. For example if you cite “Table 3.1,” use a 

nonbreaking space to ensure that “Table” and “3.1” do not become separated on two 

lines. 

• Use nonbreaking hyphens (Ctrl+Shift+Hyphen) within all document numbers. 

47 
48 

2 Edit Efficiently 

• When editing a document, turning on Track Changes allows you and the author to see 

each change. Insertions and deletions are clearly shown through redlines, strikeouts, 

underlines, and comment bubbles. 

• Authors can right click to accept or reject changes one by one. Authors can also accept 

or reject all changes in the document at once. 

• Use the Compare and Merge Documents function to show all differences between the 

edited document and the original document. 

3 Clean Your Final Document 

• Do not let editing changes hide in your final document. The Display for Review function 

will appear to accept all editing changes if you choose Final (instead of Final Showing 

Markup). However, anyone will be able to see the original document or the document 

with editing marks by switching the display back to Original or Final Showing Markup. 

• To clear editing, follow the earlier directions for accepting or rejecting all changes in the 

document. Do not choose Final in the Display for Review function and then consider 

the document “cleaned.” 

• Use the Remove Hidden Data function from the File menu. After data are removed, 

resave the cleaned document as your final copy. 

4 Check the Grade Level of Your Writing 

• If you are writing a document for a nontechnical audience (such as a document for public 

comment), aim for grade 9 to 12 writing. Microsoft Word can automatically check the 

reading level of your document with a formula that uses the average number of syllables 

per word and the average number of words per sentence. 

• Go to Tools and click Options. Then choose the Spelling and Grammar tab. Check 

the Check grammar with spelling box. Check the Show readability statistics box. 

Click OK. 

• Run a normal spell check. At the end, you will see a measurement of your document’s 

readability. 

 
13 Writing in New Media 

Much of the communication that once occurred over the phone or on paper is now 

happening through e-mail or the Web. The basic guidance for writing in new media is 

the same as for any good writing: write simply and use the principles of plain language. 

However, each medium also benefits from a few specific guidelines. 

Writing E-Mails 

Follow these six suggestions to help avoid misunderstandings over e-mail. 

1. Cover one topic in each e-mail. Instead of saving up all questions and concerns for one 

long e-mail, keep e-mails short and address only one, or at most two, topics in an e-mail. 

2. Control the recipients. CC only those with a legitimate need to know. 

3. Use an accurate subject line. Keep your subject line descriptive and short. 

4. Keep the tone professional. In person or on the phone, you can modulate your message 

with a cheerful voice or a smile. E-mail offers only words. What you may think is direct, the 

reader might find blunt or even rude. Words like “please” and “thank you” help control tone. 

5. Do not use all capital letters. Many readers interpret this as being yelled at. 

6. Be careful what you write. Although you may think you have deleted an e-mail, an e-mail 

never disappears. It will continue to exist and may be searched for and found. 

Writing for the Web 

The Web is an essential medium for communicating with the NRC’s internal and 

external stakeholders. Use the following general tips for writing for the Web. For more 

detailed information on developing Web content for the NRC’s external Web site, see 

http://www.internal.nrc.gov/web-standards. 

1. Answer the user question, “Why should I read this page?” Begin your Web page or site 

with a short introduction that states what topics the site covers and why. 

2. Write at a ninth-grade reading level. The NRC public Web site must serve the needs of a 

diverse audience. Use plain, conversational language. To determine the grade level of your 

writing, see Section 12, “Technology and Writing,” in this guide. 

49 
50 

3. Organize information. 

• Do not overload users with information. 

• Start new pages or topics with a brief introduction to provide context. Remember that 

users may not proceed through your Web pages from beginning to end but may skim 

only certain pages or may arrive at any page through a search. 

• Structure each page for quick scanning using clear headings. Use short sentences (no 

more than 20 words) and small paragraphs (no more than 6 sentences). About 

80 percent of users scan any new page. Only 16 percent read each word. Readers can 

easily miss information when a page contains dense text. 

• Avoid large blocks of text. 

4. Provide links. Guide users to supportive information such as a glossary, a frequently asked 

questions (FAQ) section, outside sources, and additional information. 

5. Communicate effectively. 

• Compose sentences in active rather than passive voice. 

• Write instructions in positive rather than negative statements. For example, “Write in 

short sentences,” is better than, “Do not write in overly long sentences.” 

• Use the principles of plain language. See Section 7, “Plain Language,” in this guide. 

• Use acronyms or abbreviations sparingly. Define an acronym on first mention, but 

remember that users may easily miss the definition if they scroll past it or enter the page 

below the definition. Show complete words rather than abbreviations whenever possible. 

Only use abbreviations when they are significantly shorter than the original term and 

easily understood by the typical user. 

• Do not use words or phrases that a typical user may not understand. For example, some 

users may have trouble understanding “radon screening.” Changing the text to “testing 

for radon” will substantially improve users’ understanding. To go a step further, “testing 

for radon, a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas present in many homes,” is even easier 

to understand. Adding a glossary may be helpful but is not an excuse to pepper the text 

with complex terms. 

6. Be current and credible. 

• Provide articles containing citations and references. 

• Show the credentials of an author whose work you have quoted or summarized. 

• Ensure the site is as up-to-date as possible. Put the last revised date on the site.
14 Helpful Web Reference Tools 

Glossary of Nuclear Terms 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary.html

NRC Collection of Abbreviations 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0544/r4/

U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual

NRC Plain Language Writing Techniques 

http://www.internal.nrc.gov/ADM/DAS/cag/notices/notdocs/writingtech.html

Correspondence Management (Management Directive (MD) 3.57) 

(Scroll down to MD 3.57 for guidance on writing letters for the NRC) 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/management-directives/volumes/vol-3.html

NRC Regulations Handbook 

(Guidance on rulemaking, including writing techniques and sample documents) 

http://www.internal.nrc.gov/ADM/DAS/cag/RM01/handbook/index.html

Office of the Federal Register Document Drafting Handbook 

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/write/handbook/

The NRC Rulemaker: Web Assistance for Rulemaking Staff 

(The Drafting Tools section includes sample documents, templates, and writing 

guidance.) 

http://www.internal.nrc.gov/ADM/DAS/cag/RM01/draft.html

Information Digest 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1350/

*URLs were functional at time of printing. Please note that URLs may change. 

51 

53 

Appendix 

Sample NUREG 

55 

Contents 

1 Availability ................................................................................................................................57

1.1 Notice from a NUREG-Series Report........................................................................57

1.2 Statements ................................................................................................................58

2 Categorical References ...........................................................................................................58

2.1 Sample List ...............................................................................................................58

2.2 Sample In-text Identification......................................................................................61

3 Sample List ..............................................................................................................................61

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................65

NRC Guidance ................................................................................................................65

Other Guidance...............................................................................................................65

1 Availability 

Availability notices inform the public on accessing NRC materials. 

1.1 Notice from a NUREG-Series Report 

This is a notice of availability for a NUREG-series report. 

57 
1.2 Statements 

• Available from most public libraries. 

• Available from most technical libraries. 

• Unclassified NRC correspondence and Commission papers with SECY designators are 

available for inspection or copying for a fee in the NRC Public Document Room, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, MD 20852. 

• A free single copy of draft (document) is available to the extent of supply by writing to the 

Distribution and Services Unit, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 

20555. A copy is available for inspection or copying for a fee in the NRC Public 

Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, MD 

20852. 

• A copy of (document) is available for inspection or copying for a fee in the NRC Public 

Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, MD 

20852. Copies may be purchased from the U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 

37082, Washington, DC 20013-7082 or the National Technical Information Service, 

U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. 

2 Categorical References 

Please follow NRC style in your references. However, be aware that scholarly journals, 

publishing houses, and conferences may have their own reference styles. Above all, be 

consistent in your references. 

2.1 Sample List 

Books, articles, and other documents that represent an individual’s work should be cited 

with the individual’s name. Documents with no author, such as an unbylined newspaper 

article, should begin with the article title. 

1. Statute 

(See Section 10, 

“References,” for 

citing in text.) 

Administrative Procedure Act, § 6,5 U.S.C. § 555 (1982) 

22 U.S.C. § 2567 (Supp. 1, 1983). 

2. Journal article Alvarez, E., “Quantum Gravity: An Introduction to Some 

Recent Results,” Reviews of Modern Physics, 61:561–604. 

3. Book, one author Cameron, I.R., Nuclear Fission Reactors, Plenum Publishing 

Co., New York, NY, 1982. 

4. Book, more than 

three authors 

Bonney, T.B., et al., Industrial Noise Manual, American 

Industrial Hygiene Association, Akron, OH, 1975. 

58 
5. Conference 

proceedings article 

Coutant, C.C., “Striped Bass and the Management of 

Cooling Lakes” (S.S. Lee and S. Sengupta, eds.), 

Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Waste-Heat 

Management and Utilization, 11–13 May 1981, Hemisphere 

Publishing Co., Washington, DC, 1982. 

6. Newspaper article, 

news service 

“GSU Gets Second Chance to Put River Bend Cost in Rates” 

(Associated Press), State Times, Baton Rouge, LA, p. B5, 

September 21, 1989. 

7. Correspondence James, Dale E., Entergy Arkansas Inc., letter to 

Ellis Merschoff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

December 10, 1999, Agencywide Document Access and 

Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. 

ML003670601. 

8. Newspaper article, 

one author 

Lippman, T.W., “Nuclear Exchange Brewing at NRC: 

Becquerel, Gray and Sievert May Obliterate Curie, Rad and 

Rem,” The Washington Post, Washington, DC, p. A15, 

July 19, 1989. 

9. Book, compiled by 

editors 

Sullivan, T.F.P., and M.L. Heavner, eds., Energy Reference 

Handbook, Government Institutes, Inc., Rockville, MD, 1981. 

10. Technical report, 

corporate author 

Teknekron Research, Inc., “Utility Management and 

Technical Resources,” Executive Summary and Vols. 1–3, 

McLean, VA, May 1980. 

11. Court decision Three Mile Island Alert, Inc., v. NRC, 771 F. 2nd 720, 740 

(DC Cir., 1985).

12. Bill U.S. Congress, House Committees on Energy and 

Commerce and Interior and Insular Affairs, “State Nuclear 

Safety Participation Act of 1987,” 100th Cong., 1st sess., 

H.R. 499, January 7, 1987. 

13. Book, two authors Waltar, A.E., and A.B. Reynolds, Fast Breeder Reactors, 

Pergamon Press, New York, NY, 1981. 

14. Public Law, Statutes 

at Large 

West Valley Demonstration Project Act, Pub. L. No. 96–368, 

94 Stat. 1347 (1980). 

59 
Industry Codes and Standards 

ANSI Standard American National Standards Institute, ANSI N45.2.9–1974, 

“American National Standard Requirements for Collection, 

Storage and Maintenance of Quality Assurance Records for 

Nuclear Power Plants,” New York, NY. 

ANS Standards American National Standards Institute/American Nuclear 

Society, ANSI/ANS 3.1–1978, “Selection and Training of 

Nuclear Power Plant Personnel,” ANS, LaGrange Park, IL. 

— — — ANSI/ANS 3.5–1981, “Nuclear Power Plant Simulators 

for Use in Operator Training,” ANS, LaGrange Park, IL. 

— — — ANSI/ANS 6.4–1977, “American National Standard 

Guidelines on the Nuclear Analysis and Design of Concrete 

Radiation Shielding for Nuclear Power Plants,” ANS, LaGrange 

Park, IL. 

ASME Standard American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Boiler and 

Pressure Vessel Code, 1986 edition, Section III, Subsection 

NCA, “General Requirements for Division 1 and Division 2,” 

1988 addenda, New York, NY. 

IEEE Standards Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE 

Standard 279–1971, “Criteria for Protection Systems for 

Nuclear Power Generating Stations,” Piscataway, NJ. 

— — — IEEE Standard 323–1974, “IEEE Standard for 

Qualifying Class 1E Equipment for Nuclear Power 

Generating Stations,” Piscataway, NJ. 

— — — IEEE Standard 382–1972, “IEEE Trial-Use Guide 

for Type Test of Class I Electrical Valve Operators for 

Nuclear Power Generation Stations,” Piscataway, NJ. 

60 
2.2 Sample In-Text Identification 

Cite sources in text by using parentheses and identifying information such as the 

author’s last name and year of publication or regulation name. Generally, do not use 

numbered references for longer NRC documents. Conferences and scholarly journals 

may have their own standards. This guidance does not apply to correspondence. 

• In parenthesis: He presented this theory in his book on nuclear fission reactors 

(Cameron, 1982). 

• In a sentence: The effects of mechanical aging have been considered in the design 

process and the specific qualification test program, using the guidance of NUREG–0588, 

IEEE Standard 323–1974, IEEE Standard 382–1972, and various operability test 

procedures. 

• He presented this theory in his book on nuclear fission reactors (Ref. 1). 

• Many documents have been published that are related to the accident (Refs. 8 and 11). 

• Reference 3 discusses the effects of noise on plant personnel. 

3 Sample List 

Below is a sample list of citations that should provide a template for most of your 

references. Books, articles, and other documents that represent an individual’s work 

should be cited with the individual’s name. Documents like NUREGs and Commission 

papers are considered the work of the agency and thus “U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission should begin those citations.” 

1. Book, one author Cameron, I.R., Nuclear Fission Reactors, Plenum 

Publishing Co., New York, NY,1982. 

2. Book, two authors Waltar, A.E. and A.B. Reynolds, Fast Breeder Reactors, 

Pergamon Press, New York, NY,1981. 

3. Book, more than three 

authors 

Bonney T.B., et al., Industrial Noise Manual, American 

Industrial Hygiene Association, Akron, OH, 1975. 

4. Book, compiled by editors Sullivan, T.F.P. and M.L. Heavner, eds., Energy 

Reference Handbook, Government Institutes, Inc., 

Rockville, MD, 1981. 

5. Journal article Alvarez, F., “Quantum Gravity: An Introduction to Some 

Recent Results,” Reviews of Modern Physics, 

61:561–604. 

6. Newspaper article, one 

author 

Lippman, T.W., “Nuclear Exchange Brewing at NRC: 

Becquerel, Gray and Sievert May Obliterate Curie, Rad 

and Rem,” The Washington Post, Washington, DC, 

p. A15, July 19, 1989. 

61 
7. Newspaper article, news 

service 

“GSU Gets Second Chance To Put River Bend Cost in 

Rates” (Associated Press), State Times, Baton Rouge, 

LA, p. B5, September 21, 1989. 

8. NUREG–series staff report U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Report to 

Congress on Abnormal Occurrences, Fiscal Year 2006,” 

NUREG–0090, Vol. 29, April 2007, Agencywide 

Document Access and Management System (ADAMS) 

Accession No. ML071080195. 

9. NUREG–series contractor 

report 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Tornado 

Climatology of the Contiguous United States,” 

NUREG/CR–4461, Rev. 2, February 2007, ADAMS 

Accession No. ML070810400. 

10. NUREG–series draft report U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement for an Early Site 

Permit (ESP) at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant 

Site—Main Report” (Draft Report for Comment), 

NUREG–1872, September 20, 2007, ADAMS 

Accession No. ML072410045. 

11. Draft regulatory guide* U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Application and 

Testing of Safety-Related Diesel Generators in Nuclear 

Power Plants,” Division 1, Proposed Revision 4 to 

Regulatory Guide 1.9, March 2007, ADAMS Accession 

No. ML062650307. 

12. Final regulatory guide* U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Reactor Coolant 

Pump Flywheel Integrity,” Regulatory Guide 1.14, 

ADAMS Accession No. ML003739936. 

13. Commission Paper U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “2007 Annual 

Report on Commission Adjudication,” Commission 

Paper SECY–08–0009, January 17, 2008, ADAMS 

Accession No. ML080180332. 

14. Correspondence James, Dale E., Entergy Arkansas Inc., letter to 

Ellis Merschoff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

December 10, 1999, ADAMS Accession 

No. ML003670601. 

*Generally, do not give dates and revisions for regulatory guides because they are periodically revised. However, 

give the alpha-numeric task designator for a draft guide or the number of a proposed revision to avoid confusion 

among multiple proposed revisions. 

62 
15. Federal regulation U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, “Domestic Licensing 

of Production and Utilization Facilities,” Part 50, 

Chapter I, Title 10, “Energy.” 

16. Federal Register notice 

(See Section 11, “Federal

Register Documents,” for 

in-text citation.) 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Rules of 

Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings & 

Procedural Changes in the Hearing Process 

(10 CFR Part 2),” Federal Register, Vol. 54, No. 154, 

August 11, 1989, pp. 33168–33182. 

17. Applicant and licensee 

document 

Ebasco Services Incorporated, “Generic Issues 

Report—Evaluation and Resolution of Generic 

Technical Issues for Conduits and Conduit Supports,” 

Rev. 2, Dockets 50–445/446, March 30, 1987. 

18. National standard American Nuclear Society, “Selection and Training of 

Nuclear Power Plan Personnel,” ANSI/ANS 3.1–1978, 

LaGrange Park, IL. 

19. National code American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Boiler and 

Pressure Vessel Code, 1986 edition, Section III, 

Subsection NCA, “General Requirements for Division 1 

and Division 2,” 1988 addenda, New York, NY. 

20. Technical report Teknekron Research, Inc., “Utility Management and 

Technical Resources,” Executive Summary and 

Vols. 1–3, McLean, VA, May 1980. 

21. Conference proceedings 

article 

C.C. Coutant, “Striped Bass and the Management of 

Cooling Lakes” (S.S. Lee and S. Sengupta, ed.), 

Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Waste-Heat 

Management and Utilization, 11–13 May 1981, 

Hemisphere Publishing Co., Washington, DC, 1982. 

22. Bill U.S. Congress, House Committees on Energy and 

Commerce and Interior and Insular Affairs, “State 

Nuclear Safety Participation Act of 1987,” 100th Cong., 

1st sess., H.R. 499, January 7, 1987. 

23. Public Law, Statutes at Large West Valley Demonstration Project Act, Pub. L. 

No. 96-368, 94 Stat. 1347 (1980). 

 

24. Statute Administrative Procedure Act, § 6, 5 U.S.C § 555 (1982) 

22 U.S.C. § 2567 (Supp. 1, 1983). 

25. Court decision Three Mile Island Alert, Inc., v. NRC, 771 F. 2nd 720, 

740 (D.C. Cir., 1985). 

63 
64 
Bibliography 

NRC Guidance 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “NRC Collection of Abbreviations,” 

NUREG-0544, Rev. 4, July 1998. 

— — — “Glossary of Terms,” NUREG–0770, June 1981. 

— — — “Preparing NUREG-Series Publications,” NUREG–0650, Rev. 2, January 1999. 

— — — “United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulations Handbook,” 

NUREG/BR–0053, Rev. 6, September 2005. 

Other Guidance 

American Chemical Society, “Handbook for Authors,” Washington, DC, 1978. 

American National Standards Institute, “Scientific and Technical Reports—Organization, 

Preparation, and Production,” ANSI 239.18–1987, New York, NY. 

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Sixth Edition, Modern 

Language Association of America, New York, NY, May 2003. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register, 

Document Drafting Handbook, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, April 

1986. 

The Associated Press Stylebook, 42nd Edition, Basic Books, New York, NY, 2007.

The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL 

and London, 2003. 

U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, DC, 2008. 

Words Into Type, Third Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1974. 

65 

Index 

A 

Abbreviations ...............vii, 1, 2, 3, 14, 16, 30, 50 

acronyms and initialisms................................3 

foreign phrases ..............................................2 

plural forms.....................................................1 

punctuation of...............................1, 22, 23, 37 

singular forms.................................................1 

units of measure.............................................1 

Acronyms and initialisms....................................3 

usage of....................................................9, 45 

Addresses ......................vii, 2, 20, 34, 43, 44, 49 

Adjectives...........................................................9 

Adverbs ........................................................9, 11 

ANS......................................................40, 60, 63 

ANSI...............................................19, 60, 63, 65 

Articles..............................................8, 50, 58, 61 

ASME ...............................................................60 

Author.........vii, 13, 39, 40, 41, 48, 50, 58, 59, 61 

Availability notice........................................39, 40 

Availability statements......................................39 

B 

Bill, legislative...................................................40 

Book (sample ref.)................................20, 40, 61 

C 

Capitalization......................................................5 

articles..........................................8, 50, 58, 61 

chemical ...................................4, 6, 12, 31, 45 

compound.................................3, 6, 8, 9, 20 

element.....................................6, 16, 20, 22 

isotope............................................6, 10, 16 

common noun ............................................6, 8 

computer ............................................7, 16, 47 

codes........................................7, 16, 39, 40 

languages...................................................7 

software......................................................7 

conjunctions ...................................................8 

geographic......................................................7 

direction......................................................7 

feature ........................................................7 

position...........................................7, 11, 37 

region .........................................................7 

government ............................................25, 27 

Federal .vii, 6, 10, 13, 15, 23, 43, 44, 45, 63 

local............................................................6 

State.......... 1, 2, 3, 6, 20, 27, 33, 59, 62, 63 

hyphenated words.................................... vii, 8 

infinitives.........................................................8 

months ...........................................................7 

prepositions....................................................8 

proper name...........................................5, 6, 7 

seasons..........................................................7 

technology-related words.........................8, 12 

Internet.......................................................8 

Web.................. vii, 8, 12, 23, 27, 49, 50, 51 

titles..................................................3, 5, 7, 23 

Chairman .......................................5, 19, 22 

Commission ..3, 5, 6, 24, 43, 45, 58, 59, 61, 

62, 63, 65 

Commissioner........................................5, 8 

job ............................................................25 

legislations .................................................7 

organizations..............................5, 6, 13, 35 

persons ....................................5, 13, 33, 35 

publications.....................................vii, 7, 22 

trade name.....................................................7 

Chairman ...............................................5, 19, 22 

Chemical terms 

compound ....................................3, 6, 8, 9, 20 

element ........................................6, 16, 20, 22 

isotope ...............................................6, 10, 16 

Classified .........................................................39 

Codes and Standards ................................39, 40 

Colons......................................21, 22, 23, 24, 43 

Commas...................................17, 19, 22, 25, 40 

Commission ....3, 5, 6, 24, 43, 45, 58, 59, 61, 62, 

63, 65 

Commission Papers.........................................58 

Commissioner................................................5, 8 

Common noun ...............................................6, 8 

Compound term .................................................9 

chemical and physical..................................12 

foreign phrases ..............................................2 

prefixes ........................................................11 

suffixes

making ...............................................12, 25 

wide....................................................12, 15 

technology-related ...................................8, 12 

e-mail ........................................... vii, 12, 49 

online ...................................................9, 12 

Web page..................... vii, 8, 12, 27, 49, 50 

Web site .........................................8, 12, 49 

Computer ...............................................7, 16, 47 

codes ...........................................7, 16, 39, 40 

languages ......................................................7 

software .........................................................7 

Conference proceedings article (sample ref.).59, 

63 

67 
Conjunctions ......................................................8 

Correspondence (sample ref.) .......22, 51, 59, 62 

Court decision (sample ref.).......................59, 63 

D 

Dashes 

em dash........................................................22 

en dash...................................................17, 22 

Dates..........................................................47, 62 

day, month, and year ...................................20 

month, day, and year ...................................20 

Decimals.....................................................14, 15 

decimal point with.........................................16 

zero after ......................................................16 

zero before ...................................................16 

Denominator.....................................................15 

E 

e.g., ....................................... 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 37, 40 

Em dash ...........................................................22 

En dash ......................................................17, 22 

Exponent ..........................................................16 

F 

Federal .........vii, 6, 10, 13, 15, 23, 43, 44, 45, 63 

Federal Register...................... 15, 43, 44, 45, 63 

Federal Register notice..............................15, 63 

Federal Regulations .........................................63 

Figures .......................................................17, 38 

Footnotes ............................ 1, 19, 37, 38, 39, 40 

columns........................................................15 

parentheses with ..........................................23 

placement of...................................................9 

punctuation...................................1, 22, 23, 37 

references for ...............................................61 

Foreign phrases .................................................2 

English equivalent for.....................................2 

parentheses with ..........................................23 

Fractions.....................................................14, 15 

denominator .................................................15 

hyphenated..................................... vii, 8, 9, 12 

numerator.....................................................15 

G 

General notices ................................................43 

Geographic.........................................................7 

direction..........................................................7 

feature ............................................................7 

position...............................................7, 11, 37 

region .............................................................7 

Governmental organizations ..............................6 

GPO Style Manual ........................... vii, 1, 5, 6, 9 

H 

Hyphenated terms.............................. vii, 8, 9, 12 

I 

i.e., ...................................................2, 10, 16, 37 

IEEE.....................................................40, 60, 61 

Inc., ....................................20, 59, 61, 62, 63, 65 

Indefinite numerical expressions .....................14 

Infinitives ............................................................8 

International System of Units.............................1 

Isotope ...................................................6, 10, 16 

J 

Journal article...................................................40 

L 

Legal Citations .................................................40 

Legalisms.........................................................30 

Legislation..........................................................7 

Licensee document (sample ref.) ....................63 

Lists................................................25, 31, 40, 47 

numbering ...1, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 22, 28, 

31, 37, 40, 41, 42, 47, 48, 62 

rulemakings..................................................43 

M 

Management Directives .........................8, 22, 51 

Mathematical expressions ...............................15 

May not ................................................35, 45, 50 

Million or billion ................................................17 

Money ..............................................................13 

Months ...............................................................7 

Must ..... vii, 16, 24, 31, 33, 35, 39, 41, 43, 45, 49 

N 

National codes .................................................63 

National standard (sample ref.) .......................63 

National Technical Information Service ...........58 

Newspaper article (sample ref.)...........59, 61, 62 

Nonbreaking hyphen........................................47 

Nonbreaking space..........................................47 

NRC Management Directives ..........................45 

NRC Public Document Room ..........................58 

Numbers ..................1, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 25, 47 

decimals.................................................14, 15 

exponent ......................................................16 

fractions .................................................14, 15 

denominator.............................................15 

hyphenated ................................ vii, 8, 9, 12 

numerator.................................................15 

whole number with.......................14, 15, 16 

hyphenated .................................... vii, 8, 9, 12 

68 
mathematical expressions............................15 

million or billion.............................................17 

money...........................................................13 

one through nine ..........................................13 

ordinal...........................................................15 

related ............vii, 8, 10, 12, 13, 21, 28, 47, 61 

sequential.....................................................25 

superscript..............................................16, 37 

time...........vii, 7, 13, 22, 23, 28, 30, 38, 41, 51 

whole............................... 6, 14, 15, 16, 23, 34 

Numerator ........................................................15 

NUREG–series report (sample ref.)....39, 40, 41, 

55, 57, 62 

O 

Office of the Federal Register ........43, 45, 51, 65 

P 

Parentheses .......... 1, 2, 3, 23, 25, 37, 39, 41, 61 

Percent symbol ................................................17 

Period................................ 21, 23, 24, 25, 37, 43 

Petitions for rulemakings..................................43 

Plain language .....................................27, 49, 50 

Prepositions .......................................................8 

Proper name ..............................................5, 6, 7 

Proprietary information.....................................39 

Public Law (sample ref.).......................44, 59, 63 

Publications............................................ vii, 7, 22 

Publisher and location......................................40 

Punctuation ......................................1, 22, 23, 37 

abbreviations............vii, 1, 2, 3, 14, 16, 30, 50 

apostrophe .....................................3, 4, 14, 25 

brackets..............................................1, 23, 37 

colons.................................. 21, 22, 23, 24, 43 

commas............................... 17, 19, 22, 25, 40 

Inc., with .................... 20, 59, 61, 62, 63, 65 

semicolon, instead of ...................21, 23, 43 

dashes 

em dash....................................................22 

en dash...............................................17, 22 

hyphen........................................10, 11, 15, 24 

nonbreaking hyphen.................................47 

italics ............................................................24 

parentheses....... 1, 2, 3, 23, 25, 37, 39, 41, 61 

semicolons .............................................19, 25 

slash.............................................................24 

Q 

Quotations............. 14, 19, 22, 23, 37, 40, 43, 47 

R 

References....1, 5, 19, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 50, 58, 

61 

availability ........................................39, 40, 57 

legal ........................................... vii, 25, 30, 40 

listing............................................................37 

numbered.........................................41, 42, 61 

placement ......................................................9 

Regulations, Federal........................................63 

Regulatory guide..............................8, 35, 40, 62 

Rulemakings ....................................................43 

S 

Seasons.............................................................7 

SECY designators, See (Commission Papers)58 

Semicolons ..........................................21, 23, 43 

Series, comma with....................................10, 19 

Shall .....................................................35, 43, 45 

Signs ..................................................................1 

Software.............................................................7 

Source line.......................................................38 

State...................1, 2, 3, 6, 20, 27, 33, 59, 62, 63 

Statutes at large (sample ref.) ...................44, 59 

Subscripts ........................................................16 

Superscripts.....................................................16 

Symbols .................................................1, 14, 38 

T 

Tables ..................................1, 14, 16, 17, 24, 31 

Technical reports .............................................31 

author..... vii, 13, 39, 40, 41, 48, 50, 58, 59, 61 

contractor .....................................................62 

staff ...vii, ix, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 14, 20, 22, 27, 28, 

33, 35, 37, 51, 62 

Ten or more .....................................................13 

Time ............. vii, 7, 13, 22, 23, 28, 30, 38, 41, 51 

Titles ....................................................3, 5, 7, 23 

CFR..........................10, 13, 23, 28, 44, 45, 63 

job ................................................................25 

legislation.......................................................7 

organization .................................................45 

persons ........................................5, 13, 33, 35 

publications.........................................vii, 7, 22 

Trade name........................................................7 

types ....................................3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 31 

U 

U.S. Government Printing Office ... vii, 51, 58, 65 

Unit modifiers...................................9, 10, 11, 24 

adjectives .......................................................9 

adverbs ....................................................9, 11 

capitalized ..........................................3, 10, 11 

69 
70 

examples............................... 9, 10, 11, 13, 40 

numbers in....................................................15 

Units of measure................................................1 

W 

Whole numbers ..........................................14, 15 

Word usage......................................................33 

Writing... vii, 3, 17, 24, 25, 27, 30, 31, 42, 47, 48, 

49, 51, 58 

e-mails .........................................................49 

for the Web ..................................................49 

grade level ...................................................49 

plain language..................................27, 49, 50 

technology..........................................8, 12, 47 

word usage ..................................................33 
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA SHEET

(See instructions on the reverse)

NRC FORM 335

(9-2004)

NRCMD 3.7

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 1. REPORT NUMBER

 (Assigned by NRC, Add Vol., Supp., Rev.,

 and Addendum Numbers, if any.)

NUREG-1379, Rev. 2

3. DATE REPORT PUBLISHED

MONTH

May

YEAR

2009

4. FIN OR GRANT NUMBER

2. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

NRC Editorial Style Guide

5. AUTHOR(S)

Caroline Hsu

6. TYPE OF REPORT

7. PERIOD COVERED (Inclusive Dates)

8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION - NAME AND ADDRESS (If NRC, provide Division, Office or Region, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and mailing address; if contractor,

Division of Administrative Services

9. SPONSORING ORGANIZATION - NAME AND ADDRESS (If NRC, type "Same as above"; if contractor, provide NRC Division, Office or Region, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Division of Administrative Services

provide name and mailing address.)

and mailing address.)

10. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

11. ABSTRACT (200 words or less)

The "NRC Editorial Style Guide" provides writing and style guidance to all NRC staff members. It addresses the questions and

issues most frequently fielded by NRC editors. This revision of the document emphasizes the importance of plain language and

includes detailed guidance on using technology to write and edit more effectively. The goals of the "NRC Editorial Style Guide"

are readability and consistency for all NRC publications.

12. KEY WORDS/DESCRIPTORS (List words or phrases that will assist researchers in locating the report.)

NRC Editorial Style Guide 

Writing 

Plain Language 

Grammar 

Citations 

Word Usage 

Punctuation

NRC publications

NRC reports

NRC editorial style

14. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

13. AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

unlimited

(This Page)

unclassified

(This Report)

unclassified

15. NUMBER OF PAGES

16. PRICE

NRC FORM 335 (9-2004) PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

Office of Administration

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Washington, DC 20555-0001

Office of Administration

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Washington, DC 20555-0001