Elements of a formal document

The front cover should typically include the title, subtitle (if there is one), publication date, and logo.

See PATH Central > Brand Resources for PATH templates that include the correct placement of the logo, as described in the Visual Identity Guidelines (freelancers, see the Proofreading Resources file in Box).

Publications produced in collaboration with another organization(s) may require use of their logo(s). Be sure a representative of each organization has approved use of their logo and the most current version is being used.

Only the most formal documents at PATH have an inside front cover. If included, it can host the following elements.

Contact information

Readers appreciate knowing where to direct questions or requests for copies. Relevant information may include the contact person’s name, title, organization, address, email address, and phone number.

Copyright notice

Notice of copyright is not required by law; however, it can be useful on public-facing materials. If you choose to provide copyright information on a PATH publication, use the following, updating the year as needed:

© 2024 PATH. All rights reserved.

In lieu of the copyright symbol (©), the following format is acceptable:

• Copyright 2024 PATH. All rights reserved.

When staff would like to encourage use of the materials:

• © 2024 PATH. All rights reserved. The material in this document may be freely used for educational or noncommercial purposes, provided that the material is accompanied by an acknowledgment line.

Staff may revise the last sentence as needed to reflect the nature of their project.

When the legal rights to a document are retained by or shared with another organization, the standard copyright notice will need adjustment. Teams that are producing publications on behalf of another organization or in collaboration with an alliance should work with PATH’s External Affairs division and a representative from Legal Affairs to determine the most appropriate copyright notice.

For use of copyrighted material not owned by PATH, see Trademarks and copyright / Use of non-PATH copyrighted material.

Suggested citation

It is helpful to include a suggested citation, preceded by Suggested citation. Here are examples:

• Suggested citation: Drake JK. Developing a Total Market Plan for Family Planning in Vietnam. PATH; 2011.
• Suggested citation: PATH. Market Demand for Qualitative Point-of-Care Glucose-6-Phosphate-Dehydrogenase Deficiency Tests. PATH; 2021.

Note that author(s) at PATH may be either PATH or individual(s) at PATH, while the publisher of PATH publications is PATH. In general, PATH is listed as the author for documents produced by a team rather than by a single individual. The question of authorship should be discussed as soon as possible after a document’s inception.

Disclaimers

Funders sometimes require that a specific disclaimer be included in PATH publications. Donors such as the US Agency for International Development or the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation may require a disclaimer that the document does not necessarily reflect the views of the donor. Please consult with your project administrator about this requirement.

If included, a title page should list the full title and subtitle, the name(s) of the authoring institution(s) or individual authors, the publication date, and the PATH logo or the logos of the authoring institutions.

When PATH or a partner organization is listed as the author, individual writers may be recognized in the acknowledgments section.

Lengthy documents should have a table of contents. The table can simply be labeled Contents rather than Table of contents. Shorter documents generally do not need one. Reference documents are an exception—even a short guide to a particular subject can benefit from a table of contents to help readers quickly find the information they need.

Especially when authors create the table of contents manually, editors and proofreaders need to verify that the page numbers listed are correct and ensure that the wording of chapter and section titles and other entries matches the wording of those items in the body of the document.

The table of contents should appear in the document before any of the items listed in the table of contents.

An acknowledgments section is often used to thank collaborators, acknowledge funders, and recognize the contributions of others involved in the project or in the writing or production of the document. It is important to ensure that all funders and collaborators are fully acknowledged and that their names, degrees, and affiliations are correct. Those listed should be contacted in advance to verify that they have no objections to being included.

For long documents with many abbreviations, a list of abbreviations is helpful to readers. The list can be labeled Abbreviations rather than List of abbreviations. Editors and proofreaders should recommend adding a list of abbreviations to long documents if one does not already exist. If a list already exists, editors and proofreaders should check it against the abbreviations used in the text.

Abbreviations in a list should be singular, whenever possible. The list should be sorted alphabetically by the abbreviations, not the full terms, which should be capitalized as they would in midsentence:

FCDO Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

HCW health care worker

NGO nongovernmental organization

WHO World Health Organization

In this style guide, abbreviations is used as an umbrella term that includes acronyms, initialisms, and true abbreviations.

See also Abbreviations.

If used, a foreword or preface should be named correctly. According to The Chicago Manual of Style:

• A foreword is usually a statement about the work by someone other than the author, sometimes an eminent person whose name may be carried on the title page.
• A preface is the author’s own statement about the work and typically includes reasons for undertaking the work, method of research, and acknowledgments.

An executive summary is appropriate for a long or complex report. It is usually no longer than two pages. An executive summary is not an introduction; it is a summary of the entire document.

The body text should include an introduction and main content. The introduction, if used, includes background information that is essential to the text and should be read before the rest of the material.

See also Formatting PATH documents / Body text for more information.

Graphic elements include figures (e.g., charts, graphs, maps, and timelines), tables, and photographs. These are the first things that catch a reader’s eye, and some readers will not spend time on anything else. It is important that these elements be self-explanatory, complete, and easy to understand, even for those who read nothing else. Editors and proofreaders should check to ensure that these elements will reproduce reasonably well (are not blurry or stretched), that the team has secured permission to use all images, and that appropriate credits have been included.

See also Formatting PATH documents / Figures and tables and Photo credits.

See Citing references in text and How to format reference lists.

Appendixes may include figures, tables, or data too specific or lengthy to include in the body text. In contrast, annexes are usually standalone, previously published documents. For this reason, appendixes, as opposed to annexes, should ideally be formatted in the same style as the document. To set appendixes or annexes apart, identify them with letters (e.g., Appendix A, Annex A). If there is only one appendix or annex, there is no need to identify it with a letter; simply call it Appendix or Annex.