# Writing guide: publications

How to write the web entry for a report, guide, policy, statement or other document on PreventionWeb and undrr.org, including how to summarize the document itself.

> **About this guidance:** this guide summarizes guidance maintained elsewhere, for reference. If it conflicts with the UNDRR Publications SOP or UNDRR Communications team guidance, those win; if you can't consult them, apply this guide and flag the point. [Sources](README.md#sources). Found a problem? Report it in the [Mangrove issue queue](https://github.com/PreventionWeb/undrr-mangrove/issues).

- **Applies to:** the Publication content type on the UNDRR Drupal platform, and any summary of a document for these sites
- **Mechanics:** spelling, capitalization, numbers, dates, abbreviations, UNDRR terminology and inclusive language follow the [Mangrove editorial manual](https://mangrove.undrr.org/llms-editorial-manual.txt) ([rendered version](https://mangrove.undrr.org/?path=/docs/contributing-editorial-manual--docs)). This guide doesn't repeat those rules.
- **Source:** the summary structure in this guide is the UNDRR Communications team's guidance on abstract writing for documents and publications. Where the December 2025 baseline or earlier drafts of this guide disagree with it, the Communications guidance wins.
- **Last reviewed:** 29 September 2026

## What a good summary does

A good disaster risk reduction (DRR) summary is an objective outline of the whole document. It answers **what, why, how, for whom, when and where**, with the key DRR information at the top.

It is not an advertisement for the document. Earlier drafts of this guide asked for a promotional hook to motivate downloads; that advice is withdrawn. Readers, subscribers to the PreventionWeb email alert and AI tools that reuse the summary all need an accurate account of what the document says, in neutral language.

### The first sentence travels on its own

The first sentence of every summary is promoted in the daily PreventionWeb email alert to subscribers, without the rest of the text. Write it so it stands alone:

- Lead with **what** the document is, **why** it matters and **how** it approaches the subject.
- Don't open with **when**, **where** or who organized it: launch dates, event names, venues and organizer lists belong later.
- Don't open with a long run of context, or a subordinate clause such as "Recognizing the value of...", before the subject appears.

Use: "This publication offers practical recommendations for governments to strengthen disaster risk reduction within national biodiversity strategies and action plans."

Avoid: "To achieve the goal of the Sendai Framework of reducing global disaster risks and losses, the theme of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2024, which falls on 13 October, will be..." In an email alert, this sentence ends before the reader learns what the document is.

### Always state the DRR angle

The topic of these sites is disaster risk reduction. If the publisher's own abstract doesn't make the DRR relevance explicit, add it: for example, "Chapters 8 and 12 focus on climate change adaptation and its links to disaster risk." State the angle from what the document contains; if it has none, say so rather than inventing one.

## Writing the summary

### Before writing

Look for an existing introduction or abstract that already meets this guidance; if the publisher's abstract does, adapt it rather than starting over. If not, read the introduction and conclusion, and review the table of contents. The executive summary, if there is one, is usually the best single source.

### Two paragraphs

**Paragraph 1: introduce the content.** Say what the document is and what it covers. Add the context or rationale for it, and name the intended audience if the document identifies one. The preface, executive summary or abstract usually has an introductory phrase to work from. Typical openings:

- "This report addresses / covers / presents..."
- "This document states / asserts that..."

**Paragraph 2: recommendations, lessons learned or solutions.** These are usually in the executive summary of a publication or at the end of an academic paper; a paper's own abstract often leaves them out, so look further. Don't end with "This report provides an overview of discussions": say what the discussions concluded. A long inventory of the cities or countries covered doesn't replace the findings either.

Prefer prose. Many baseline summaries used a bulleted list (44%), but the two-paragraph structure takes precedence; if a list is unavoidable, keep it within the second paragraph's role.

Baseline summaries averaged 169 words (range 43–316) in about two paragraphs. About 150–250 words is typical; a short statement may need less.

### What to consider

1. Keep ideas and facts in a logical order that expands on the first sentence.
2. Leave out minor details and don't repeat information.
3. Write in your own words. Don't paste passages from the document.
4. If the original uses "I", replace it with the author's surname or "the author". If it uses "you", use "people" or "they".
5. Leave out your own views. The summary reports what the document says.
6. Avoid promotional phrasing such as "essential reading", "must-read" or "download now to discover".
7. Keep acronyms in check: no more than one or two new ones in a paragraph, each spelled out and matching its expansion.
8. When adapting the publisher's text, clean up what the PDF extraction left behind: duplicated sentences, sentences starting mid-phrase, merged bullets and lost hyphens.
9. For newsletters and activity reports, summarize what a reader can learn from the issue, not the list of the period's activities.

### Checklist

Check the summary by asking:

- [ ] Have you answered what, why, how, for whom, when and where?
- [ ] Does the first sentence work alone in the email alert, leading with what, why and how?
- [ ] Is the DRR angle stated?
- [ ] Is the grammar, punctuation and spelling correct? (See the [Mangrove editorial manual](https://mangrove.undrr.org/llms-editorial-manual.txt); spelling is British English with Oxford spelling (-ize).)
- [ ] Have you left out your personal views?
- [ ] Does the summary hang together when read aloud?
- [ ] Does it give the reader the central ideas of the publication?

### Worked outline

Illustrative; bracketed values stand for real content.

> This report examines [what: subject and scope] to [why: the problem or gap it addresses], drawing on [how: method, data or case studies]. Written for [for whom], it covers [main areas], with [chapter or section] focusing on [DRR angle if not already clear]. [When and where: the programme, event or region it comes from, if relevant.]
>
> The report recommends [main recommendations or lessons]. It finds that [one or two key findings], and calls on [actors] to [actions].

## When to use publications

Use publications for a substantive document, usually a PDF, with lasting reference value:

- Reports and assessments, including the Global Assessment Report and country risk profiles
- Guidance and tools: toolkits, handbooks, implementation guides
- Policies and plans: national strategies, policy briefs
- Educational material: training manuals, learning resources
- Statements and declarations
- United Nations resolutions and reports

Use another content type for news about a document (a [news](news.md) item that links to the publication), upcoming events ([events](events.md)) and personal perspectives ([blogs](blogs.md)).

## Publication types

Choose one value in the **Publication type** field.

| Publication type | Use for |
|---|---|
| Documents and publications | Reports, assessments, guides, toolkits and compendiums. Almost all (98%) baseline items. |
| Policies and plans | National strategies, policy briefs, frameworks and plans |
| Educational materials | Training resources, manuals and learning material |
| Statements | Official statements, political declarations and calls to action |
| UN resolutions and reports | Official United Nations documents; add the document symbol and link through the Official Document System (see [all content types](README.md#all-content-types)) |

### By type of document

The two-paragraph structure applies to all of them; what goes in each paragraph shifts:

- **Reports and assessments:** scope, method and data in paragraph 1; key findings and recommendations in paragraph 2.
- **Guides and toolkits:** what it helps users do and who it is for in paragraph 1; what it contains and how to apply it in paragraph 2.
- **Policies and plans:** policy context and the frameworks it aligns with in paragraph 1; commitments and recommendations in paragraph 2.
- **Statements and declarations:** who issued it and what it states in paragraph 1 (the event or date can follow, not lead); commitments and calls to action in paragraph 2.
- **United Nations resolutions and reports:** the body, symbol and subject in paragraph 1; decisions or mandates in paragraph 2.

## Titles

Use the document's own title. Don't rewrite it to be more appealing; readers and search engines need to match it to the document. Capitalize it as a publication title, here and wherever it is cited: the main words, and the first word of any subtitle (see the [Mangrove editorial manual](https://mangrove.undrr.org/llms-editorial-manual.txt), section: Capitalization).

Where the document has a title and subtitle, separate them with a colon, as in "GAR Special Report 2024: Forensic Insights for Future Resilience". Add the year or edition for recurring documents, and the country or region where it isn't already in the title.

Baseline: titles averaged 82 characters (range 29–186); 56% used a colon and none were questions.

## Short description

The **Short description** field appears in cards, search results and social previews. Write one sentence, under about 200 characters, saying what the document is and who it is for.

- Use: "Practical guidance for governments on integrating disaster risk reduction into national biodiversity strategies."
- Avoid repeating the title. Leave out promotional wording, as well as dates or identifiers (those have their own fields).

## Metadata

See [metadata guidance](metadata.md) for themes, hazards and countries. For publications in particular:

- **Publication type** (required) and **Organization** (required): the publisher and any co-publishers
- **Attachment:** the PDF, with a descriptive file name (not "document1.pdf"). Every baseline publication had one.
- **ISBN/ISSN/DOI:** any identifiers printed on the cover, copyright page or back cover, for example "ISBN: 978-92-1-004180-5, DOI: 10.18356/9789210041805"
- **Number of pages:** the page count of the PDF, as a number only
- **Year of publication:** the year printed in the document, which may differ from the date it is added to the site
- **Author(s)**, where the document names them
- **Image:** the cover or a relevant image, with alt text

## Examples

Chosen from recent PreventionWeb content for what they do well. None is flawless, so each lists what an editor would still fix; the fixes teach as much as the strengths.

### [Financing heat resilience](https://www.preventionweb.net/node/102863)

Documents and publications, 17 June 2026.

**Why it works:** The first sentence says what the report does, for whom (governments) and how (risk-informed investment, financing mechanisms, resilient infrastructure), so it works as the email alert line. It follows the two-paragraph model closely: context and authorship first, then priority investment areas, a practical financing framework and named city case studies. The DRR angle is explicit throughout.

**An editor would still fix:** remove the serial comma in each list; UNDRR not spelled out on first use; a trailing space in the title, and its main words should be capitalized, as for any publication title.

> "This report explores how governments can finance heat resilience through risk-informed investments, innovative financing mechanisms, and resilient infrastructure to protect lives, livelihoods, and economies from rising extreme heat risks."

### [Special report on the use of technology for disaster risk reduction](https://www.preventionweb.net/node/94683)

Documents and publications, 29 May 2025.

**Why it works:** A short, clean two-paragraph abstract. Paragraph 1 says what the report covers and how (definitions, regional case studies). Paragraph 2 gives the conclusion rather than a table of contents. Every acronym is defined on first use.

**An editor would still fix:** the audience is never named; "it is clear that" is filler; capitalize the main words of the title, as for any publication title.

> "The report concludes that despite substantial progress in areas such as Earth observation, early warning systems (EWS) and hazard analysis, it is clear that technology alone cannot resolve all DRR challenges."

### [Strengthening disaster resilience of SMEs through business continuity planning: Guidance and templates](https://www.preventionweb.net/node/101229)

Documents and publications (guidance and templates), 26 March 2026.

**Why it works:** A good model for tools and guidance, which differ from research reports. The first sentence names the audience (small and medium enterprises, including microenterprises) and the purpose (a basic business continuity plan aligned with ISO 22301). The second paragraph explains what the resource contains (three templates for different maturity levels) and why its scope is wider than the standard.

**An editor would still fix:** "Small" capitalized mid-sentence; a repeated word ("This broader scope reflects the broader role"); remove the serial comma; capitalize the main words of the title, keeping the capital after the colon.

> "This resource supports Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including microenterprises, in developing a basic business continuity plan (BCP), with the aim of progressively aligning with leading international standards, particularly ISO 22301:2019 on business continuity management systems."

### [Anticipatory action in the Pacific](https://www.preventionweb.net/node/97789)

Documents and publications (regional review), 27 October 2025.

**Why it works:** A compact regional summary (96 words) whose first sentence leads with what the publication examines and why. It names the countries and mechanisms covered, states the benefit of pre-agreed triggers, actions and financing, and ends with what the report recommends next.

**An editor would still fix:** it is one paragraph where the guidance asks for two; the next steps belong in a second paragraph and should be concrete; remove the serial comma in each list; capitalize the main words of the title.

> "This publication examines how Pacific nations are applying anticipatory action to strengthen disaster preparedness and resilience. It highlights emerging frameworks in Fiji and Palau, regional progress in forecast-based financing, and the integration of traditional knowledge with modern forecasting."

### [Checklist and implementation guideline for inclusive Multi-Hazard Early Warning System in Timor-Leste](https://www.preventionweb.net/node/93670)

Documents and publications (national guideline), 10 April 2025.

**Why it works:** It names its primary users, down to the three national agencies it is meant to help, and explains how the guideline relates to existing national procedures. It defines its acronyms, and the closing sentence states the inclusion outcome the guideline exists to deliver.

**An editor would still fix:** "guidances" (should be "guidelines") and the verb agreeing with it; remove the serial comma in each list; an opening ("The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure") that could lead more directly with what the document does; a title that capitalizes some main words but not others (as a publication title, it should capitalize them all).

> "This document primarily assists the Civil Protection Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the National Directorate of Meteorology and Geophysics in fulfilling their legal obligations to implement early warning systems, and the Government of Timor-Leste’s priorities in line with the National Civil Protection Emergency Plan, and the National Action Plan for Gender-Based Violence 2022–2032."