Government Speak

This section provides resources for navigating terms and abbreviations commonly used in the federal government.

TOP RECOMMENDATION:

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United States Government Glossary of Interagency and Associated Terms⁠

(Federal Acquisition Service) A glossary of terms used across federal agencies to facilitate interagency collaboration.

Key Government Terms

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Glossary of Legislative Terms⁠

(US Congress) Brief explanations of terms commonly used in Congress.

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GovSpeak⁠

(University of California, San Diego Library) [Non-government] A guide to government acronyms and abbreviations from the University of California, San Diego.

GAP ANALYSIS:

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Congress’ Glossary of Legislative Terms⁠

and the University of California, San Diego’s

GovSpeak⁠

guide offer comprehensive explanations of formal government language. However, we could not find a similar guide to informal lingo used in government that would be helpful for new employees to know (i.e., terms like FYSA, which means ‘for your situational awareness’).

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Government Norms This section includes information about government norms that might be new for technologists coming from the private sector. It includes information on government speak, government communications, and government ethics rules.⁠

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Communications This section includes materials on crafting clear and effective public communications. Resources are divided into those that deal specifically with written communications and those that address digital communications strategy more broadly.⁠

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