CalRecycle Contractor Publications Guide

 

This guide helps to create consistent standards and procedures for contractors hired by CalRecycle. The goal is to write reports and other publications clearly and concisely for the people of California.

Accessibility Requirements

CalRecycle’s electronic and print content must conform to Section 508 accessibility requirements. Contractors must create and format documents for accessibility.
CalRecycle will check documents prepared by contractors and return them for remediation if they are not fully accessible.

For more information on accessibility, download the Guidelines for Contractors Regarding Accessibility.

CalRecycle will publish an accessibility compliance certificate on its website confirming compliance with AB 434 and Section 508 requirements.

Clarity and Content–Plain Writing

According to state law, contractors should write clearly and concisely, free of jargon and bureaucratic language.

Section 6219 of the California Government Code states that “Each department, commission, office, or other administrative agency of state government shall write each document that it produces in plain, straightforward language, avoiding technical terms as much as possible, and using a coherent and easily readable style.”

Formatting

After writing the text, contractors will format these documents according to the CalRecycle template.

  • Adhere strictly to the template design.
    • Do not change point sizes, type styles, or other formatting attributes in headings or body text.

    Contractor Report Template
    (Word, updated October 2019)

Style

Most contractors hired by CalRecycle will write reports on a specialized topic.

Some particular style conventions or rules that CalRecycle uses are:

  • Only capitalize “state” in full references to California State government.
    • For example: State of California
    • Lowercase “state” when standalone or referring to California as a land mass.
      • For example: “All the jurisdictions in the state will file electronic annual reports…”
  • “Legislature” is always capitalized when referring to the California State Legislature.
  • Minimize the use of capital letters. Save them for proper names only.
  • Minimize the use of acronyms in the report.
  • Using the figure % for percent. 
  • Spell out “and” in place of the ampersand (&).
  • Capitalize the first word of each bulleted or numbered item in a list.
  • In paragraph and sentence length:
    • Keep sentences to 1-2 ideas per sentence. 
    • Avoid redundancies. 

Executive Summary

Each report must include an executive summary that succinctly summarizes the findings and recommendations in plain language so that those with nontechnical backgrounds can understand them.

  • Length. An executive summary must be short but still capture key points and recommendations. 
  • What to Include. All executive summaries should present the report’s findings and recommendations (if included). 
  • How to Proceed. Consider what you would tell the reader if you had five minutes to present them with the report findings. 
  • General Structure. The nature of the material will determine this. Some reports are best summarized with a few descriptive paragraphs with a brief description of the “problem,” followed by ways of addressing it and ending with concrete recommendations. The important thing is to find a way of presenting the most pertinent information in the briefest form. 
  • What You Shouldn’t Do. Don’t over-explain by telling who asked for the report, what mandate it is meeting, who worked on it, background on the subject matter, etc. This material will be covered elsewhere throughout the report. 

Source Citations

  • Endnotes provide the specific place in a document from which material is taken. 
  • Bibliographies list sources consulted and possibly other resource material not consulted. 
  • Footnotes are reserved for supplemental information and are not used for citations.

The credibility of your work depends on complete and accurate citations:

  • Author (first name or initial placed first for endnotes, last name first for bibliographies).
  • Title of article in quotation marks.
  • Title of complete work in italics.
  • Volume and issue number (include page range for bibliography).
  • Place of publication.
  • Publisher.
  • Date of publication.
  • Specific page number(s) for end notes.

For Web sources, include:

  • Author.
  • Document title or name of the web page
  • Title of complete work
  • Date of posting
  • Website address
  • The date you accessed the source (in parentheses)

For end notes:

  • Place the note number next to the appropriate paragraph in the text and create a corresponding endnote with the information specified above.

Example of bibliography source citations:

Brooks, Bill and Jerry Powell, “How the Waste Paper Export Market Operates,” Resource Recycling, January 1990, pp. 16–19, 67–68.

Zelnick, Nate, “Wireless Net Access Gets Renewed Push,” Internet World, Nov. 16, 1998, www.iw.com/print/current/news/19981116-wireless.html (Feb. 26, 1999). [Date in parentheses refers to date accessed. Note: For online sources, create a link to the listing. Also, this article is no longer posted at the URL given, but the listing is provided as an example.]

Example of endnote source citations:

  1. Deborah Tannen, For the Sake of Argument, Random House, New York, 1998, pp. 61–62.
  2. Ibid., p. 94.
  3. Allie Goudy Allie_Goudy@ccmail.wiu.edu, “Continuing Education and Paraprofessionals,” Nov. 3, 1998, office communication (April 23, 1999). [Date in parentheses refers to date of access.]

 

Do not use alternative styles that may be more appropriate for scientific journals or other specialized audiences. Some people without scholarly backgrounds will probably be reading your document and may need to look up sources quickly.

Legal Citations

Correct citation of legislation is also important.

  • For bills enacted into law:
    • The chapter number
    • Statute year
    • Bill author and
    • Bill Number
    • Example: Chapter 764, Statutes of 1999 (Strom-Martin, AB 75) or
    • The California Integrated Waste Management Act (AB 939, Sher, Chapter 1095, Statutes of 1989).
  • Refer to specific parts of the law by statute:
    • Public Resources Code (PRC) section 42500
      • Do not capitalize “section” unless capitalized in a source you are quoting.
  • For bills that have not been enacted into law, follow these examples:
    • AB 84 (Woods) – if introduced during the current legislative session.
    • AB 84 (Woods, 1995-96 Legislative Session) – if introduced during a previous legislative session but not enacted into law.

Copyright Permissions

Permission is required to reproduce any source material the author uses from external sources. These could include:

  • Substantial portions of text.
  • Graphics.
  • Photographs.
  • Videos from either printed or web sources.

Contractors must obtain permission from the copyright holders of this material and submit the original copy of the permission award to the contract manager before editing begins.

No permission is needed if the contractor conducts original research and creates the material since the contract usually assigns copyright to CalRecycle.

To obtain permission to reproduce something in a CalRecycle document:

  • Send or e-mail a request to the owner of the copyrighted material.
  • State that you are requesting permission on behalf of the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and include the title of the document in which you plan to use the material.
  • Give the Office of Public Affairs the mailing address and other contact information.

    Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
    Office of Public Affairs, MS 22-B
    P.O. Box 4025
    Sacramento, CA 95812-4025
    Phone: 341-6300
    E-mail: opa@calrecycle.ca.gov.

  • Indicate whether you plan to alter the material or use it as is.

Note: CalRecycle holds the copyright to all its publications and provides information on the use of CalRecycle materials. Contact the Office of Public Affairs for more information on copyright regulations.

Related Links

 

What If I Can’t Find What I Need?

If you can’t find something, contact the Office of Public Affairs for assistance.

Contractor FAQs

For more information contact: Contracts Staff, contracts@calrecycle.ca.gov