Suggestions to Authors (STA) is used as the writing style guide for the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) technical reports and maps. The STA is widely distributed
in paper outside of the USGS as a basic scientific writing style guide for
scientists, students, and editors. The goal of STA is to help writers present
information as clearly as possible explaining punctuation rules, suggesting
phrasing, and offering examples of citations styles and outlining report organization,
table and graph design, and details of map design. The report is 289 pages
and is presented in digital format below in sections to reduce the file size.
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To download a document, select its title.
| Document Title |
Size |
| Title
page, foreword, and contents (Pages I-XXII) |
881 KB |
| Publications of the USGS (Pages 1-3) |
479 KB |
| The Survey publication process (Pages 4-11) |
951 KB |
| Duties, ethics,
and professional writing practices (Pages 12-18) |
801 KB |
| Form
and content of the report (Pages 19-26) |
1,533 KB |
| Planning
and management for Water-Resources Reports (Pages 27-35) |
2,369 KB |
| The Survey's publication
process summarized (Pages 36-41) |
3,099 KB |
| Stratigraphic
nomenclature and description (Pages 42-64) |
5,691 KB |
| Guidelines
for naming aquifers (Pages 65-82) |
3,933 KB |
| Geographic
names (Pages 83-90) |
804 KB |
| Chemical
terminology (Pages 91-92) |
165 KB |
| Mineralogic terminology
and descriptions (Pages 93-94) |
225 KB |
| Mineral
reserves, resources, resource potential, and certainty (Pages
95-97) |
644 KB |
| Petrologic
terminology (Pages 98-99) |
197 KB |
| Paleontologic
terminology (Pages 100-103) |
404 KB |
| Abbreviations,
signs, and symbols (Pages 104-116) |
1651 KB |
| Numbers (Pages
117-118) |
202 KB |
| Significant
figures (Pages 119-121) |
369 KB |
| The
metric system (Pages 122-123) |
349 KB |
| Suggestions
as to expression (Pages 124-155) |
3,549 KB |
| Choosing
the right word (Pages 156-183) |
1,670 KB |
| Preparing
maps and other illustrations (Pages 184-213) |
6,712 KB |
| Field
records and photographs (Pages 214-215) |
168 KB |
| Tables (Pages
216-222) |
946 KB |
| Photogrammetry
applied to earth science in the U.S. Geological Survey (Pages
223-225) |
301 KB |
| Guidelines
for reviewing technical reports (Pages 226-229) |
431 KB |
| Reviewing maps
and cross sections (Pages 230-233) |
359 KB |
| Preparing references
for survey reports (Pages 234-241) |
936 KB |
| Posters for scientific
meetings (Pages 242-245) |
582 KB |
| News releases (Pages
246-248) |
285 KB |
| Hazard warnings (Page
249) |
112 KB |
| Formatting Survey
manuscripts for review and editing (Pages 250-264) |
1,223 KB |
| Proofreading (Pages
265-269) |
491 KB |
| Exceptions to
the GPO style manual (Pages 270-271) |
198 KB |
| References (Pages
272-274) |
398 KB |
| Index (Pages
275-289) |
1,419 KB |
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey