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SOP: Written Outputs

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Barkwhip edited this page Mar 20, 2022 · 2 revisions
  1. What are the different types of outputs that CIS usually produces:
  • Blogs
  • Case studies/Reports
  • Event Reports
  • Policy Briefs
  • Concept Notes
  • Newspaper articles/Op-eds
  • Journal articles
  • Mapping/quantitative research
  • Other types of outputs

Each output may have their own individual formatting styles. Templates for two of them are provided below. As CIS comes up with templates for the other types of outputs, they will be mentioned here as well.

Please be conscious of what readers/publishers of each type of output may expect from the format of that output. It will be good if a uniform format is maintained for each type of output which makes it easier to follow.

  1. Drafting:

    1. Writing: As CIS has different people working on a document, the document should be drafted on Google docs and a link should be shared with every person who is working on it and reviewing the document.

    2. Naming: The document must be named in such a way that the output can be as easily identifiable as possible. Hence Google doc should be named as follows (Type of Output) (Short title of document) (date last worked on). Eg. a case study on AI in Governance can be named as ‘Case study - AI in Governance - date last worked on’. Please note the importance of mentioning an appropriate title, as well as the date: as we have several documents floating around, and in the future, whenever we need to pull up the most up-to-date, having the date in the title is the easiest way of identifying the relevant document.

    3. Template: There are currently two templates available for use: The template for Reports/ Policy Briefs and Concept Notes are hyperlinked here. As more are institutionally designed, they will be added in the template folder.

      The other best practices as well as the templates can be found in this folder- Templates

    4. Template Guide

      1. Please make a copy of the existing template to use it
      2. Insert contents in the sample text
      3. To place existing text into the template, copy the text and paste it into the template (headings or body text) using Ctrl + Shift + V (for Windows users), or Command + Shift + V (for Mac Users), so that the formatting is retained.
      4. Colouring: Currently CIS has a code that is followed for different projects, such as privacy, cybersecurity and AI. In the templates, the blue colour has been used as placeholder colour on the cover page and headings, which can be replaced based on the project. The colours can be selected from Google docs 'text colour' palette in the top menu. Following is the code:
        • Privacy - dark purple 1
        • Cybersecurity - dark orange 1
        • AI - dark cyan 1 (currently used)

    5. Typesetting: CIS uses Fira Sans and its variations as the standard typeface.

      1. Body text - Fira Sans 11 Regular, Line spacing is Single, Para is Before 0 after 10
      2. Headings - There are three levels of Headings; Heading 1 - Font 24 Fira Sans Bold, Line spacing - Single spacing, Para spacing - 20 points before and 10 points after the para
      3. Heading 2 - 18 Fira Sans Bold, Para spacing - 15 points before and 8 points after the para
      4. Heading 3 - 12 Fira Sans Medium, Line spacing - 1.15, Para spacing - 10 points before and 3 points after the para This might not be as difficult to maintain if you follow the template

    6. Footnoting: Every reference needs to be cited and there needs to be a corresponding footnote.

      1. Font: Fira Sans 9
      2. Para space - Single line spacing
      3. Citation: CIS uses the APA style of footnoting. For more information on this style please go through this link.
      4. Zotero - CIS could use Zotero for automating citation and save references. A guide to using Zotero is here and here.
      5. Hyperlinking - In cases such as mapping in the Excel sheet the source/website of the entity must be hyperlinked. In footnotes, hyperlinks are 9 point, thematic colour, Fira Sans Semibold.

    7. Downloading: The files can be saved in the following format: (yy/mm/dd ) (short title of document) (version) (initials of person working on it). See Eg. While saving this document I will save it as ‘180424 Document Best Practice V1 SM’. This makes it easier to find the file and it is saved in the offline folder in chronological order.

    8. Sending - Internal: While sending an output for review, the mail should have both the link to the document as well as a word file attached for reference. Care should be taken to see that the word file follows the above naming convention, i.e. Date (yy/mm/dd format) (short title of document) (version) (initials of person working on it).

  2. Reviewing: Editing should be done in suggest mode on Google docs and changes should be tracked on Word.
  3. Uploading on CIS website: Out of these Blogs and Newspaper articles/Op-eds are outputs that can be uploaded directly onto the website. The rest of the outputs are required to be made into a pdf/ formatted and then uploaded. See Best Practice for Plone
  4. Sharing with others: Refer to email best practices
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