Formatting Rules to Live By

Examples from "Where to Find a Cat to Adopt"

Good:

Rescue organizations are volunteer-driven groups are springing up in abundance all over the U.S., Canada, and in other countries too. Some groups are fortunate enough to have their own "shelter"; most depend on volunteer foster homes to care for the cats until a permanent home can be found.

The foster homes groups sometimes have regular "adoption days" where people can match up to a pet. Petsmart is the industry leader among pet stores in that they do not sell cats and dogs; they do open up their stores regularly for rescue organizations "adoption days".

Bad:

Rescue organizations are volunteer-driven groups are springing up in abundance all over the U.S., Canada, and in other countries too. Some groups are fortunate enough to have their own "shelter"; most depend on volunteer foster homes to care for the cats until a permanent home can be found. The foster homes groups sometimes have regular "adoption days" where people can match up to a pet. Petsmart is the industry leader among pet stores in that they do not sell cats and dogs; they do open up their stores regularly for rescue organizations "adoption days".

Index: Formatting Rules to Live By

1. Use the Right Type of List for the Information
2. Skip lines between list items that wrap onto more than one line
3. Use Callouts and Bold Them
4. Bold Callouts at the Beginning of Longer Bullet Points
5. Use Subheads for Sections of a Document
6. Don't Overbold
7. Keep paragraphs to 2-4 sentences tops
8. First paragraph sentence should contain the main idea; the rest add detail
9. Indent long quotes (use block quote or shading)
10. Link, but don't overlink