For Contributors
The Libertas Council affirms human dignity by reforming systems to stop human traffickers and usher all into freedom. The Libertas Council community strives to conform to this Style Guide in print and electronic materials.
The Libertas Council uses Century Schoolbook, 12-point font. When Century Schoolbook is unavailable, use either Old Goudy Style or EB Garamond font. Written materials should be single-spaced in a Word.doc or Google Doc, and margins should be one-inch on all sides.
Headnotes serve as a strategic roadmap. Please include headnotes and subhead notes accordingly.
Enclose all quotations with quotation marks, and place commas or periods inside of the quotation mark. All other punctuation falls outside of the quotation marks unless the punctuation is part of the quoted text. Include the citation for reference purposes.
If a quotation is 50 words or more, indent on both sides, justified, and remove quotation marks. Include the citation for reference purposes.
The Libertas Council relies on authors for the accuracy of information. Authors must provide appropriate and consistent citations for facts and quotations through the use of hyperlinks for materials for online posting. Writers may use footnotes for some projects, as appropriate. If you are writing an amicus brief or for a legal audience on behalf of the Libertas Council, please provide legal citations in accordance with the Bluebook if not otherwise indicated.
Authors are responsible for obtaining all copyright permissions. The Libertas Council will not publish copyrighted materials without permission.
The Libertas Council’s audience includes thought leaders, students, researchers, policymakers, academics, lawyers, members of civil society organizations, and the general public. Avoid jargon, cliché, and industry-specific words that others will not easily understand. Present the ideas with clarity and precision.
The passive voice occurs whenever you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. In Washington, DC, it is common to say, “mistakes were made” to avoid taking responsibility. When it comes to combating human trafficking, the Libertas Council avoids using the passive voice to hide the trafficker’s actions. The Libertas Council avoids “people were trafficked,” or “victims were subjected to trafficking.” The active voice brings clarity, precision, and responsibility. Avoid the passive voice unless it is necessary to express an idea or simplify the reader’s experience.
Roy Peter Clark’s writing advice is “murder your darlings.” The big idea is not all of the darling passages you write should end up in the published version. Every good writer must edit out ideas, sentences, paragraphs, and even chapters that are not essential to driving the narrative or making the point. Do not keep something because you like it. Keep it because it works.
Other than universally known acronyms such as the FBI, EU, IRS, and KGB, the Libertas Council avoids acronyms—even when writing for an audience that knows and regularly uses industry-specific acronyms. Acronyms often exclude newcomers and become jargon.
When referring to the Libertas Council, use “Libertas Council,” “Libertas,” or “the Council.” The Libertas Council does not refer to itself as the “LC.” Do not capitalize “the” before Libertas Council unless it is at the start of a sentence.
When listing three or more things, the Libertas Council uses a comma before the conjunction “and.” This is a smart, wise, and meaningful way to write.
Please do not shorten words (for example, “apt” for “apartment,” “amt” for “amount,” etc.) and avoid the use of contractions (for example, “it’s,” “don’t,” “we’ve,” etc.).
Writers often overuse the word “that.” If you can delete it and a sentence reads the same, please do.
If it is not clear what your “it” or “that” is referring to in the sentence, bring the noun up again. Make the antecedent clear. Ensure the use of pronouns does not confuse the reader.
A buried verb (also known as a “nominalization” or “zombie noun”) happens when a writer converts a strong verb into a noun. This forces the writer to prop it up with weaker filler verbs (like make, conduct, give, provide, reach, undertake, have, and achieve).
Peter Rabbit works to combat human trafficking.
Peter Rabbit combats human trafficking.
The committee conducted an investigation of the complaint.
The committee investigated the complaint.
Are they all necessary? Is a more specific noun choice better? For example, is it a brimmed hat or a fedora?
Those are words that modify other words—for example, “very,” “super,” “basically,” etc. There is usually a stronger word available.
One per article is plenty—in fact, it may be too many. Use only for commands or true exclamations.
The word “percent” is usually used in nontechnical contexts, whereas the symbol % is more common in scientific and statistical articles. The Libertas Council spells out the word “percent.”
Spell out numbers 1-9, and use numerals for 10 and above. For example, there were eight participants and 10 spots available.
“Combating” has one “t,” not two. We are not involved in “combatting” human trafficking.