Formatting and Content

Format captions for images and graphics in full sentences with periods at the end of each sentence. For the sake of brevity, it is appropriate to use a sentence fragment as a caption, but you should only do so if you plan on writing one line.

Besides the allowance for sentence fragments in single-line captions, ensure captions follow the guidelines set out in Grammar and Mechanics.

Though your captions should be brief, they should also be descriptive enough that users with screen readers can understand them without seeing the image or graphic. See Accessibility in audio-visual content for more details.

If you are embedding an image within web content, center-align the attribution with the image. Ensure you also attribute visual content to the original creator(s) properly, following the guidelines set out in Proper attributions for media.

When you include media from external sources, such as stock images and videos, in your content, be sure to credit the original creators.

Note that if a creator requests a specific attribution that does not align with the guidelines below (e.g. including a link to their website rather than mentioning them in a social media post), you may follow their style instead to respect their wishes. Otherwise, follow the guidelines below.

For social media content, use pairs of square brackets to denote citations. At the bottom of the post, include a section titled Citations and list the square brackets in an ordered list with hyperlinks to sources. Do not include a hyperlink in the number between brackets.

Separate the Citations: title from the citations themselves with a blank line, like so:

Each listed citation in the Citations: section must correspond to an inline citation in the text. Ensure that the inline citation (e.g. [1]) is preceded by some context, such as a claim supported by the cited source. Do not begin a sentence with an inline citation.

Write the square brackets before any punctuation in a sentence to make it clear what information is being cited.

If you include information corroborated by multiple sources, list the citations in their own individual square bracket pairs, without commas separating the bracket pairs. List out the individual citations in their order of appearance in the citations list (the section with the Citations: header, as above) at the bottom of your post. Refer to the table below to learn how to properly cite multiple sources.

Include the citations list below the list of attributions if you have both. For information on attributing media to the original creators, see Proper attributions for media.

For web content, use hyperlinks to cite online sources, such as a news article in a blog post. See Descriptive writing for more details on how to properly format hyperlinks.

Use title case, where the most important words in the sentence are capitalized, when referring to:

Use title case for major works, and italicize the title if the platform for which you are writing content supports rich text. Otherwise, just use title case. Regardless of the platform, use sentence case and quotation marks for shorter works.

For more information on italics, see Italicized text.

Capitalize the word after a slash or hyphen if it is the last word in a sentence or if you would capitalize it without the slash or hyphen, respectively.

Always capitalize the first word of a sentence, including definite articles (the) and indefinite articles (a, an).

Capitalize the first word following a colon if part of a title.

For more information on colons, see Colons.

Don’t capitalize coordinating conjunctions or prepositions unless they are the first or last word in a sentence.

For more information on conjunctions and prepositions, see Conjunctions and Prepositions.

Use title case for microcopy (e.g. error messages, notifications, button text).

Use title case for the following terms related to racial and ethnic identity.

Conversely, lowercase the terms multiracial and white unless you are using them to begin a sentence. See See Anti-racist language for more information on ensuring your content is anti-racist.

Use sentence case—where only the first word in the sentence is capitalized—in headings and subheadings, case studies, or articles. Proper nouns, including brand, product, and service names, are always capitalized.

Capitalize the first word after a colon if the heading or subheading includes a colon.

Use ordered lists when the order of the items is important. Delineate each item with a number and a period.

Use an unordered list when the order of the items does not matter.

Use regular, black circles (•) for bullet points when available. If you are working with a platform that does not support rich text, such as many social media platforms, use a single hyphen (-) to delineate each item in an unordered list. To learn more about hyphens, see Hyphens.

Avoid using fleurons, dingbats, or emojis for unordered lists, as they impact accessibility and may fail to render properly on some browsers. For more information on emojis, see Emojis.

Use bold text for UI component labels to make them stand out from the rest of the body text. To learn more about UI documentation, see Documenting UI interactions for more information.

Another place you may use bold text is in the dialogue tags of audio transcripts. See Captions and transcripts for more information on transcribing audio.

Do not use bold text in place of headings, as this may prevent screen readers from parsing them properly. For more information, see Structuring content for accessibility.

If the platform you are using does not support rich text, simply write the names of major works in title case. For more information on formatting titles, see Title case.

If an acronym represents a singular noun, add a lowercase s to the end to make it plural. Do not add an apostrophe before the s.

When using an indefinite article with an acronym, whether you use a or an depends on how the acronym is pronounced in Standard American English. If the acronym starts with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u), use an. If the acronym starts with a consonant sound, use a.

When writing about a person who uses an honorific tied to a certain academic or professional status, such as Dr., Gov., and Sen., use the honorific consistently throughout your piece. Place a period after the honorific.

When introducing the person, use their full name with the honorific. Then, use the honorific with just their surname.

If multiple people in your content share the same surname (regardless of their titles), use their full names consistently throughout to avoid confusion. When applicable, only use their academic or professional honorific when introducing them.

In the example above, all the quoted individuals share the same surname, and two of them share the same professional honorific. You would refer to all these individuals by their full names, with proper titles, upon introducing them. Then, use their full names going forward.

You do not need to use courtesy honorifics such as Mr., Ms., and Mx., which are not associated with a certain academic or professional status.

Learn about how to properly denote academic degrees and generational lineage from the guidelines below.