• Hyphenate adjectives.

• Ex:  five-year term; long-term relationship; five-year-old boy

• If the compound modifier consists of an adjective that itself modifies a compound, additional hyphens may not be necessary.

• Ex:  late nineteenth-century literature and early twentieth-century growth are clear without a second hyphen

• If a compound modifier includes two different hyphenated adjectives, a comma or additional hyphen is usually not needed between the adjectives

• Five-year-old family-owned company

• When the second part of a hyphenated expression is omitted, the hyphen is retained, followed by a space.  Exception can be made for a single entity.

• Ex:  fifteen- and twenty-year mortgages
• Ex:  single entity — a five-by-eight-foot rug

• Words that start with “re,” “pre,” “non,” and “co” are usually always one word (no hyphen)
• Hyphenated words in headings should have the first word capped and the second word lowercase, e.g., “Self-assessment Critique.”  (Please note:  this does not apply if the hyphenated phrase is longer than two words, e.g., Face-to-Face Sales Call.)
• Hyphenate any word beginning with “self” or “ex.”
• Em dashes are used to set off an amplifying or explanatory element and, in that sense, can function as an alternative to parentheses, commas, or a colon — especially when an abrupt break in thought is called for.  In typical Richardson text, em dashes should be used more than parentheses.  However, if it is a longer thought that needs to be set off, parentheses should typically be used. 

• Ex.  Thousands of children — like the girl in this photograph — have been left homeless.

• An em dash should be preceded and followed by a space.

• End dashes are used to connect numbers and, less often, words.  With continuing numbers — such as dates, times, and page numbers — it signifies up to and including (or through).  En dashes should always be used to distinguish listed model elements.

• Ex.  Pages 1–17
• Ex.  Assess – Analyze – Address

Parentheses and brackets

• Use brackets when a sentence calls for parentheses within parentheses.
• Ex.  Johnny went to the store with his list of items (bread, milk [fat free], peanut butter, and jelly) but only came home with the bread.
• Brackets are used mainly to enclose material — usually added by someone other than the original writer — that does not form a part of the surrounding text.  Specifically, in quoted matter, reprints, anthologies, and other nonoriginal material, square brackets enclose editorial interpolations, explanations, translations of foreign terms, or corrections.  Per Richardson style, we should not typically use brackets unless they are needed grammatically.
• Ex:  “Satire, Jebb tells us, ‘is the only [form] that has a continuous development.’”
• Always use brackets in quotes, not parentheses.
• Ex:  “I want to talk with X [internal contact] about this …”
• Always use parentheses with 401(k).