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(Go directly to TABLE OFCONTENTS) INTRODUCTIONMost of the Department's interaction with the public and Congress is through writing. Effective communication is an important tool that is often underutilized. The Executive Secretariat Style Guide is a tool to help in the preparation of effective, well-written materials.The Style Guide provides easily accessible information to assist you in pro viding correspondence, decision memoranda, briefing papers, and other useful information to the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and Under Secretary. It begins with a section focusing on writing standards including a discussion on why we need to improve our writing and some tools to help. In addition, the Style Guide includes examples of memoranda, correspondence, models of address, grammar guides, and other information. The information in this guide may differ in some instances with the Government Printing Office (GPO) Style Manual and the U.S. Government Correspondence Manual published by the General Services Administration, but these are the Secretary's preferences. We expect to update this document regularly with "new improved" guidance. In addition, we recognize that written material at the Department varies widely and frequently demands flexibility. The only inflexible rules are:
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