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Communications Reference Guide

Chapter 1—Introduction

This Communications Reference Guide (CRG) provides you with tools, techniques, and timelines to effectively plan, schedule, and produce your print or electronic publications, marketing and outreach materials, and events. The CRG contains publication formatting requirements, editorial style preferences, printing/publishing policies and procedures, and examples. It also links you with communications and marketing resources in the Office of Corporate Research, Technology, and Innovation Management Communications and Outreach Team (HRTM), and alerts you to areas where expert guidance will make the publication process smoother, more efficient, more effective, and in compliance with Federal regulations. The CRG is available online on the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) Web site at www.tfhrc.gov.

This CRG touches on the required editorial and formatting rules from the FHWA Publications and Printing Handbook⁽¹⁾and the most recent versions of the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual (GPO Style Manual),⁽²⁾ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,⁽³⁾ and The Chicago Manual of Style⁽⁴⁾ by the University of Chicago Press—which are cited in current contracts as required style reference books—and it also contains details that are specific to RD&T products.

This guide is for Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) staff members and contractors who produce research, development, and technology (RD&T) reports, fact sheets, technical flyers (TechBriefs, Product Briefs, and Application Notes), brochures, booklets, Web pages, articles, other publications, events, and marketing outreach.

The CRG is not meant to take the place of consulting with HRTM staff, nor will this guide make you an expert. The purpose is to provide you with the information basics you need to comply with the policies and procedures you must follow for meeting legislative mandates and communication product requirements, and to get your message across to your primary audience. Read the CRG in its entirety before beginning to write and format a publication.