NWS Guide to Successful Correspondence Actions

Indent paragraphs in letters for Secretary’s signature
Memorandums to the Secretary are not indented
Five lines between Sincerely and signature line
Two spaces after every colon
Two spaces after the period at end of a sentence
The required standard font and size is Times New Roman 12
One-inch margin on right and left sides; and top and bottom of page
Do not reconcile right hand margin
Always use Under Secretary’s full title:
Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D.
Under Secretary of Commerce
for Oceans and Atmosphere (indent bottom line two spaces)
Secretary’s signature line is: Gary Locke (no title)
The DOC Executive Secretariat is: Tené A. Dolphin
U.S. is used as an adjective (e.g., U.S. Navy)
United States is used as a noun (e.g., the United States and Canada plan to)
Capitalize Nation when referring to our country (e.g., as the Nation goes forward)
Do not use the % sign – spell out percent
Punctuation marks (e.g., periods, commas, question marks) are inside a quotation mark
Periods go inside the quotation mark at the end of a sentence, e.g., “The NOAA Spending Plan.”
Periods go after the parenthesis at the end of a sentence: e.g., three sites, (MA, VA, and NJ).
Federal is capitalized when used as noun (e.g., the Federal Government)
Do not capitalize federal when using as an adjective (e.g., federal agencies, federal lands)
Do not use acronyms in the Subject line
Spell out name the first time used in body followed by acronym, then use acronym thereafter:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Spell out numbers ten and under (i.e., one, two, three) except references to time (i.e., 8 days, years)
Use the number when more than ten (e.g., 32, 51)
Representative, not Congressman, when referring to a member of the House of Representatives
Limit the use of the word “that” (e.g., requirements that pertain – use – requirements pertaining)
Write using the present tense
Limit “ly” words (e.g., instead of using additionally, use in addition)
The word “currently” is redundant (e.g., we expect; not, we “currently” expect)
Spell out the name of states in the inside address and in the body of a letter or memo
Do not use conjunctions (e.g., isn’t, can’t, won’t, didn’t, etc.)

Wrong font. Use Times New Roman, 12pt without emphasizing text (re: NWSM 1-801, Sections 4a & 5a)
Not using two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence (re: NWSM 1-801, Sections 4c & 5c)
Not setting up 1” margins (re: NWSM 1-801, Sections 4e & 5e)
Not numbering second pages(re: NWSM 1-801, Sections 4h & 5h)
Only one space between state and zip code; needs to be two re: NWSM 1-801, Section 4.2)
Using “,” rather than “:” after name greeting (re: NWSM 1-801, Section 4.3)
Not spelling out all first use of acronyms (re: NWSM 1-801, Section 9.2)
Inappropriate name and date word divisions (re: NWSM 1-801, Section 9.12)
Misspelled words (re: NWSM 1-801, Appendix A)

NWS Executive Correspondence Quick Reference Guide

NWS Executive Correspondence
Quick Reference Guide