La Leche League Alliance for Breastfeeding Education (LLL Alliance) Stylesheet
Revised August 2013
Please use in conjunction with the LLLI Publications Style Guide (updated 2013), existing departmental style
guidelines, and the 2003 edition of Leader’s Handbook. LLL Alliance uses The Gregg Reference Manual for
grammar and style matters not covered by LLL resources, including proofreader’s marks.
Acceptable Abbreviations in Print and Online Materials
Use abbreviations only when necessary. Spell out terms on first use and put abbreviations in parentheses: The
Area Publications Coordinator (APC) is accepting submissions for the next issue of the Area Leaders’ Letter (ALL). Do
not begin sentences with abbreviations. The following department alignment reflects the structure of the
majority of Areas connected to the LLL Alliance Area Network.
AD
LDA
ALDA
ACL
LDC
DC
AS
DA
ADA
Alliance Director
Leader Department (LDept.)
Leader Department Administrator
Associate Leader Department Administrator
Area Coordinator of Leaders
Leader Department Coordinator
District Coordinator
Area Secretary
District Advisor
Area Database Administrator
Leader Accreditation Department (LAD)
ALA
RALA
Administrator of Leader Accreditation
Regional Administrator of Leader Accreditation
CLA
Coordinator of Leader Accreditation
ACLA
Associate Coordinator of Leader Accreditation
LAW
BRG
Leader Accreditation Workshop
Breastfeeding Resource Guide
Continuing Education Department (CED)
Finance Department (FD)
FDA
AFDA
ANDA
AFC
AWC
Finance Department Administrator
Associate Finance Department Administrator
Area Network Database Administrator
Area Finance Coordinator
Area World Breastfeeding Week Coordinator
Professional Liaison Department (PLD)
PLDA
APLDA
PLRA
PLRL
PABCF
APL
AAPL
MQF
Professional Liaison Department Administrator
Associate Professional Liaison Department
Administrator
Professional Liaison Resource Associate
Professional Liaison Resource Librarian
Professional Advisory Board Communications
Facilitator
Area Professional Liaison
Associate Area Professional Liaison
Medical Questionnaire Form
Publications Department (Pubs)
CEA
Continuing Education Administrator
PDA
APDA
ACEA
Associate Continuing Education Administrator
ALE
Publications Department Administrator
Associate Publications Department
Administrator
Alliance Link Editor
SC
Seminar Coordinator
OSA
Online Support Administrator
CECA
APC
Area Publications Coordinator
ACC
AACC
CERP
CEU
CPG
HPS
HPSC
LDS
Continuing Education Credentialing
Administrator
Area Conference Coordinator
Associate Area Conference Coordinator
Continuing Education Recognition Point
Continuing Education Unit
Conference Planning Guide
Health Care Provider Seminar
Health Care Provider Seminar Coordinator
Leader Development Seminar
ALL
ALLE
LE
AOC
AMC
Area Leaders’ Letter
Area Leaders’ Letter Editor
Area Leaders’ Letter Layout Editor
Area Online Coordinator
Area Mailing Coordinator
CSDA
ACSDA
Communication Skills Department Administrator
Associate Communication Skills Department
Administrator
LEW
Leader Enrichment Workshop
CSE
CSI
CSIC
CSIT
Communication Skills Enrichment
Communication Skills Instructor
Communication Skills Instructor Coordinator
Communication Skills Instructor Trainer
 Denotes LLL Alliance Staff Position
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Communications Skills Department (CSD)
©LLL Alliance August 2013
LLL
Alliance
AN
BOD
CBI
La Leche League Alliance for Breastfeeding
Education
Area Network
Board of Directors
Center for Breastfeeding Information
CN
EAN
HAC
IAN
IBCLC
Community Network
European Area Network
Health Advisory Council
International Area Network
International Board Certified Lactation
Consultant
International Board of Lactation Consultant
Examiners
IBCLE
LAC
Legal Advisory Council
LL
LLL
LLL
USA
LLLI
MAC
NGA
NGO
PAB
Listed Leader
La Leche League
La Leche League United States of America
USW
United States West
La Leche League International
Management Advisory Council
No Group Affiliation
Non-Governmental Agency
Professional Advisory Board
Technology Guidelines
E-mail addresses: Enclose e-mail addresses in brackets. <[email protected]>
Uniform Resource Locations (URLs): URLs (or Web site addresses) do not contain internal spaces.
Punctuation marks within URLs should never be dropped. To avoid breaking a URL across two lines of
text, consider dropping http://, setting off the URL on its own line and slightly reducing its size.
Underline a URL. (Note: differs from LLLI Publications Style Guide)
Commonly Misspelled Words
Breastfeeding, breast pump, camaraderie, cesarean, fundraising, health care,liaison, rapport
Commonly Misused Words
Who and whom refer to people. Which and that refer to objects, animals, places, and groups of people as an
entity.
Capitalization and Style Guidelines
Capitalize
Lower Case
Community Network
application
Conference (when used as a proper noun, i.e.:
conference when used as a common noun, i.e.:
The Area Conference
Are you registered for the conference?
The 30th Annual Breastfeeding and Parenting
e-mail
Conference
lactation consultant
Founder, co-Founder
leadership
Group, Group Treasurer, Group Librarian
member, membership
Internet (preceded by the unless used as a modifier
online
such as: an Internet Service Provider
personal history
Leader, co-Leader
*Per The Gregg Reference Manual, capitalize “Web”
Team (referring to Area Team members)
referring to the proper noun World Wide Web. Also,
TEAM (referring to an event specific to Team
Gregg recommends “Web site” rather than one word
members)
lower case “website.” This differs from the current
Web site, Web page, Web address *
LLLI recommendation.
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Preferred Terminology for Published Materials
Preferred Term
Area Conference
ACf
Avoid
Leader Enrichment Workshop
Preferred Term
The Breastfeeding Answer Book
Employed mother
human milk
BAB
Working mother
breast milk
LLL Alliance
LLL philosophy
Leader Accreditation Department
representative or LAD Rep
“A/CLA”
Professional Liaison Department
representative or PLD Rep
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
Or The Womanly Art
Avoid
Leader Day
Alliance or ABE
LLLI philosophy
“A/APL”
WAB
Leader Applicant
LA
In reference to Leader Applicants, use: Inspire, encourage, interest, attract, invite, assist, work with,
and help.
Avoid using: nurture, train, groom, my Applicant, and I have an Applicant.
Use: The Group, the Area, a Leader, or a co-Leader.
Avoid using personal pronouns when describing LLL entities, such as my Group, my Area, your coLeader, and your Area.
For trademark purposes, use, for example, “the mission of LLLI” rather than LLLI’s mission.
Avoid using the organization’s name in possessive form (LLLI’s, LLL’s, La Leche League’s).
Avoid overusing exclamation points. Use them with complete thoughts or single words that express
strong feelings.
In a body of work, spell out numbers one through ten.* See Gregg Reference Manual for exceptions such
as measurements.
Spell out the word “percent” in a sentence. Use the % symbol in tables, on forms, and in
statistical/technical material.
Typographical Guidelines
Hyphen - Hyphens indicate compound adjectives and word breaks across lines of text. Example: ground-breaking.
En dash – En dashes are used for numbers in a range and some compound adjectives. An en dash is the width of a capital
N. Use no spaces before or after the en dash. Example: 12–14-year-olds.
Em dash – Em dashes are used to mark an unexpected turn or a sudden change in thought. An em dash is the width of a
capital M. Use no spaces before or after the em dash. Example: She is a vital member of the Group—have you submitted a
Leader recommendation?
En dashes and em dashes can be added to text by using Insert Symbol on the keyboard or toolbar.
Use curved apostrophes (‘) and quotation marks (“). Straight versions (') and (") indicate feet and inches.
Use italics for emphasis and for titles of published works. Underline was preferred before italicizing was available.
Use one space rather than two after punctuation marks.
Use the serial comma: apples, oranges, and pears not apples, oranges and pears.
Bulleted Lists: Capitalize the first word of each list element. Do not end list elements with commas or semicolons or use
“and” at the end of the next to last element. End all elements in a list similarly: with a period or with no punctuation. Use
parallel expression for listed items. For example, if an element is a complete thought or is a verb ending in ing, all listed
elements should be complete thoughts or all verbs should end in ing.
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