PRESS KIT -- A BRIEF FORMAT GUIDE                                                    (HOME)

ENGL 410-001 Technical and Report Writing Spring 2007
George Mason University
Scott Berg, Instructor

Your press kit will consist of five separate documents:

1. Press Release (one full page)

2. Organization Backgrounder (or Company Backgrounder) (two full pages)

3. Field Backgrounder (or Industry Backgrounder) (two full pages)

4. Leadership Biographies (one full page containing two bios)

5. White Paper (at least three full pages)

Items #1-4 should be formatted in business block style.

Item #1 should include contact information at the top of the first page. Item #2 may (but doesn't have to) include contact information at the end. No other items should include contact information outside of headers and/or footers.

Items #2, 3, and 4 should include a small header (NOT heading) with the organization name, address, and phone number. Web and e-mail addresses may be included here or in a footer. The first heading(s) on each of these documents should make clear what the document is so that it can stand alone.

Item #5 should include a cover page (not part of the three-page requirement) containing the names of the organization, the article, and the author. Item #5 should be formatted in two columns and should not be written in business block style (though it should still be single-spaced). This item should include your name as the author's name, with a brief italicized description of your hypothetical position in or relationship to the organization at the beginning or end.

For items #3 and #5, all sources should be indicated in a short paragraph at the end. Use 10- or 11-point font and italics for this paragraph, rather than the usual 12-point font.

Handing in the press kit

Put all of these documents (separately stapled) in order and place in the right side of a basic two-pocket folder. (It's not necessary to write anything on the outside of the folder.) Place your drafts of items #1, 2, and 5 (in most cases those with my written notes and comments) on the left side of the folder.

The press kit will be returned as soon as possible with a provisional grade. That grade will stand if the press kit is not revised by the final day of the semester; if the press kit is revised, a new grade will be assigned (equal to or higher than the original grade) and entirely replace the original grade.  A new grade will only be given once, but I will look at revisions in progress and offer comment, if significant work has been done.