Communications
Editorial Style Guide
2023
Style guide
This style guide is for general use in AIATSIS publications and online content.
It brings together relevant material from th
e Aboriginal Studies Press style guide for
authors and editors and th
e Australian Government Style Manual. Please bookmark these
resources for regular access.
In general, the advice here fol ows the guidance provided by the
Style Manual with the
exception of numbers. As detailed in the relevant section below, in passages of text
AIATSIS uses words for the numbers one to nine, and then digits. In tables, however, use
digits for numbers throughout.
AIATSIS does not use commas in numbers from 1000 to 9999 in standard text.
Language
It is preferable to use the term ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ or ‘First
Nations people/peoples/Australians’ (according to context) rather than ‘Indigenous’. If
using the term ‘Indigenous’ or ‘Aboriginal’ ensure that it is only ever used as an adjective,
not a noun (for example 'an Indigenous person' or 'an Aboriginal woman').
‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ and ‘First Nations peoples’ can be used to
encompass both Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people, though not for one
or the other when it is known which group is being spoken about. When used to refer to
the peoples of Australia, ‘Aboriginal’, ‘Torres Strait Islander’ and ‘Indigenous’ should be
capitalised, as would be the name of any other group of people. Use a capital ‘I’ for
Indigenous when talking about Indigenous Australians but not for other indigenous
peoples. Do
not use the acronym ATSI or TSI.
Avoid the use of words such as ‘myth’, ‘folklore’ and ‘legend’. Dreaming stories or
Creation stories (some people like to capitalise ‘stories’ in this instance) better impart the
significance of the information. As well as providing Creation stories, the Dreaming
provides Aboriginal people with the laws to live by, whereas words like ‘myths’ or ‘lore’
imply that the information is insignificant or untrue.
You might choose to capitalise ‘Elder’ when speaking about an individual to
appropriately acknowledge their standing and their knowledge within their community,
but use ‘elders’ when speaking more generical y. The same goes for ‘traditional owner’.
Avoid double negatives (for example ‘not unconvinced’) and keep an eye out for
tautology (choose ‘reversing’ not ‘reversing backwards’).
Use ‘more than’ rather than ‘over’ when referring to quantities – for example ‘more than a
mil ion items’ rather than ‘over a mil ion items’. When referring to the past, use ‘for the
past three years’ rather than ‘for the
last three years’.
Communications Editorial Style Guide
| 1
link to page 6
Spel ing
Use the Macquarie dictionary for spelling decisions. Some general rules are:
• Use ‘-ise’ not ‘-ize’ endings, as in ‘capitalise’ not ‘capitalize’.
• Use ‘-our’ not ‘-or’ endings, as in ‘colour’ not ‘color’.
• Use ‘-re’ not ‘-er’ endings, as in ‘centre’ not ‘center’.
• Use ‘practice’ for the noun and ‘practise’ for the verb.
Also s
ee commonly used words (below).
Punctuation and styles
Capitalisation
Use minimal capitalisation including in headings. That is, initial capital and then lower
case – for example ‘This is a heading’. Also use minimal capitalisation for the titles of
books and reports but maximal capitalisation for the names of newspapers and journals.
Proper nouns and proper names (the names of specific people, places and organisations)
should also have an initial capital. Use lower case when part of an organisational title is
repeated generical y – for example ‘Canberra University’ and then ‘the university’; ‘the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies’ and then the
‘institute’.
Use lower case for ‘the’ in reference to the titles of newspapers, journals, institutions, and
other bodies, unless ‘the’ forms part of the formal name of the entity. For example: the
Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The University of Melbourne, the University of
Canberra.
Numbers
Numbers one to nine are general y written in words but as figures in mathematical,
technical, statistical and table contents.
However, if a number is used to begin a sentence it is always spelt out.
Ordinal numbers fol ow the same rule – for example ‘first’, ‘ninth’. When referring to a
century, again fol ow the general rule of ‘third century’, ‘twenty-first century’, and so on
unless constrained by space.
Express percentages in words, for example '13 per cent'. Do not use the % sign except in
tables. Use hyphens to express fractions in words; for example 'one-sixth', 'three-
quarters'.
Ful stops
Use ful stops in shortened forms (such as e.g. and i.e.) and with abbreviations (such as
cont., etc.). However, also note that shortened forms should only appear in tables, charts
and il ustrations where space is limited.
Don’t use with contractions (Dr) or acronyms or initialisms (AIATSIS).
Don’t use after people’s initials (JM Brown) or in organisations’ names.
Communications Editorial Style Guide
| 2
Semicolons
Semicolons are used:
• To separate clauses when a stronger break than a comma is required but the
parts are too closely related to be broken into separate sentences.
The photographers in regional Australia work in a different space and light;
they do things differently there.
• In paral el clauses with no connecting conjunction (‘and’, ‘but’).
Having design ideas is easy; being a designer is difficult.
• To avoid misreading phrases or clauses already containing commas.
The practice of writing is a skil , not an art; a vocation, not a trade.
• To separate items in a series.
The results were surprising: adult males, 35 per cent; adult females, 52 per
cent; and children, 13 per cent.
Bul eted lists
Each item in the list should have a consistent style of phrasing and start with the same
part of speech (such as a noun or a verb). Numbered lists should only be used when the
sequence or count of items are important.
Keep punctuation to a minimum. If al the dot points are ful sentences each should start
with a capital letter. If each dot point consists of, or begins with, a sentence fragment, no
initial capital is used. Note that al items in a list should either be fragments or complete
sentences, not a mixture of both.
Examples of bulleted lists
The committee came to two important decisions:
• Research should be funded in the two priority areas.
• Al research funding must demonstrate Indigenous leadership.
Funding is available for the fol owing areas:
• cultural resurgence and prosperity
• governance and prosperity.
Quotation marks
Use single quotation marks for quoted text and double quotation marks only for a quote
within a quote. If the whole sentence is a quotation, place the closing quote mark outside
the ful stop.
Communications Editorial Style Guide
| 3
Apostrophes
Don’t use with plural acronyms – for example 'CDs' not 'CD’s'.
Don’t confuse the contraction of ‘it is’ (it’s) with the possessive pronoun (its). For example
‘It’s hot today’ (contraction) and ‘The dog shook its head’ (pronoun).
Hyphens
Use hyphens when two or more words form an adjective – for example 'a first-class
experience'.
Italics
In general, do not italicise Australian Indigenous words.
Quotes can either be in italics or included in quotation marks but not both.
Commonly used Latin and French phrases such as terra nul ius, sui generis, inter alia, vis-
à-vis and prima facie should be in roman, not italics.
Published works, and ful names of legislation and legal cases should be in italics. For
example
Mabo and others v. Queensland (No. 2) and
Racial Discrimination Act 1975.
Other matters
For issues not covered by the notes above, please refer to the Australian Government's
Style Manual, which is now online. Please bookmark these pages on the site:
•
https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/ •
https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/accessible-and-inclusive-content/inclusive-
language/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples
Communications Editorial Style Guide
| 4
Commonly-used words
cooperation
co-worker
1967 Referendum, the
cross-cultural
A
Crown and Crown land
Aboriginal
D
Aboriginal land councils, but Northern
daytime
Land Council, Central Land Council etc.
day-to-day
Aborigines Protection Board (also the
Dreaming, the
Board)
acknowledgment
E
adviser
Ebook ecommerce
affectionately (not
e.g. (not eg)
affectional y)
elders (or Elder if referring to an
am (not a.m.)
individual)
among (not amongst)
audiovisual
F
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and
Federal Court / Federal Court of
Torres Strait Islander Studies (in the first
Australia / the court (when used both
instance and AIATSIS or the institute
generical y and specifically)
thereafter)
Federation
B
First World War, rather than World War
I (do not abbreviate to WWI)
Bringing them home: report of the
firsthand
national inquiry into the separation of
Freedom Ride
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
front line (n)/front-line (adj.)
children from their families (or the
Bringing them home report)
G
C
granddaughter
great-granddaughter
CDRom
great-grandmother
Capitalise, not capitalize (and the same
for other words ending in ise/ize)
I
Central Australia
centre (not center, and the same for
i.e. (not ie)
other words ending in re/er)
Indigenous when referring to Aboriginal
coexist
and Torres Strait Islander people but
Col ection, the
indigenous when used for the original
Commonwealth of Australia, but
inhabitants of other countries
Commonwealth government
inquiry
Constitution (Australian), the
intercultural
(but constitutional)
Communications Editorial Style Guide
| 5
K
Prime Minister, the (when referring to
the current prime minister; lower case
kilometres (spell out in main text)
when referring to former prime
Koori (NSW) and Koorie (Victoria)
ministers)
L
R
Land Council
Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (in the
licence (noun), license (verb), licensed
first instance and the Act thereafter)
(adjective)
M
S
Mabo and others v. Queensland (No. 2)
saltwater
(or the Mabo case)
Second World War, rather than
World War II (do not abbreviate to
N
WWI )
National Apology, the (or the Apology)
secret–sacred (use en dash not
National Aborigines and Islanders Day
hyphen)
Observance Committee (or NAIDOC)
self-management
native title
settler colonial/settler colonialism
National Native Title Tribunal
short-lived
night-time
skilful
non-Indigenous
sociocultural (one word)
no one
socioeconomic songlines
north-east New South Wales
song titles: use italics, not quotation
Northern Australia
marks
NSW in official titles but New South
south-eastern
Wales when referring to the state/place;
south-west, but South West (of Western
also, New South Wales Government
Australia) state (both for state and
(formal title) but the state government
territory and for the body politic when
when used generical y
used in its generic form)
stockwork/ers
O
Stolen Generations
ongoing
T
P
terra nul ius (roman)
people, not persons
Thursday Island, or T.I.
per cent, not percent
Top End
pm, not p.m. (when referring to the
traditional owners
afternoon or evening)
W
postcolonial (one word)
postgraduate
Wave Hil walk-off (or the Gurindji
postwar
strike)
practice (n), practise (v)
Communications Editorial Style Guide
| 6
website
while, not
Western
whilst
Worldview
Y
Years, not years’ when used in the
possessive (for example ’45 years
experience')
Communications Editorial Style Guide
| 7
