III. Editorial Style Guide
The Columbus State University editorial style guide is designed to achieve as
much consistency as possible in all manners of communication from the
university. The Office of Public Relations, which deals directly with the media,
conforms to Associated Press style in most publications and presents these
guidelines for documents that will be read by an external audience, including
Web pages. Internal correspondence, particularly informal correspondence, may
have its own style that does not need to conform to these rules. Our hope is that
this document, adapted from the Associated Press Style Book, can provide some
standards and consistency of information that can be used widely. Entries
consisting of a single word or term are offered as a guide to spelling,
capitalization or punctuation. Any questions or comments can be directed to the
CSU Office of Public Relations at 568-2030. This part of the guide will be
particularly subject to updating; suggestions for revisions and additions are
welcome. E-mail recommendations to Bill Sutley at [email protected].
-AD. Abbott Turner College of Business — Use the full formal name on first
reference. College of Business is OK on second reference.
abbreviations and acronyms — In general, avoid alphabet soup. Don’t use
abbreviations or acronyms that the reader would not recognize without offering a
more complete reference. (Acronyms are abbreviations that form words from the
first letter or letters in a series of words.) Offer the abbreviation in parenthesis
after the first, spelled-out reference only if it’s necessary to prevent confusion.
Guidance on how to use a particular abbreviation is provided in later entries.
Some worth noting:
• Before a name: Abbreviate the following titles when used before a full
name outside direct quotations: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Mr., Mrs., Rep., the
Rev., Sen. and certain military designations. Spell out all except Dr., Mr.,
Mrs. and Ms. when they are used before a name in direct quotations
• After a name: Abbreviate junior (jr.) or senior (sr.) after an individual’s
name, but don’t precede this with a comma. Abbreviate Company (Co.),
Corporation (Corp.) and Incorporated (Inc.) when used after the name of a
specific corporate entity.
• With dates or numerals: Use the abbreviations A.D., B.C., a.m., p.m., No.,
and abbreviate month names that have five or more letters when used
with the day of the month.
o Right: In 450 B.C.; at 9:30 a.m.; in room No. 6; on Sept. 16.
o Wrong: Early this a.m., he asked for the No. of your room.
o Right: Early this morning, he asked for the number of your room.
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•
•
In numbered addresses: Abbreviate street, avenue and boulevard when
addresses include numbers, spelling it out otherwise: He lives on
Pennsylvania Avenue. He lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
In offering the name of a specific city, use the AP style of abbreviating
state names rather than those used by the U.S. Postal Service. That
means you would refer to Tampa, Fla., rather than Tampa, FL … When
writing for an audience that’s mostly in Georgia, there’s no need to include
Ga., after a Georgia town. AP style calls for spelling out the names of
state names with five or fewer letters, plus Hawaii and Alaska, in all
references.
The article (a or an) that an abbreviation or acronym takes depends on the
way it is pronounced — an if it’s before a vowel sound, a before a consonant
sound. Correct: a U.N. resolution (although U.N. starts with a vowel, it’s not
pronounced with a vowel sound). Correct: an FBI agent (although FBI starts
with a consonant, it’s pronounced with a vowel sound).
Generally, use periods in two-letter abbreviations and omit periods in longer
abbreviations and acronyms when the individual letters are pronounced
(ABC, CIA, FBI), unless the result would spell an unrelated word.
academic degrees — B.A., Bachelor of Arts, M.A., Master of Arts, M.S., Master
of Science, Ed.D., doctor of education, Ph.D., doctor of philosophy, etc. No
space after periods in abbreviations. The word degree should not follow a degree
abbreviation: He has a B.A. in history. Not: He has a B.A. degree in history. Use
an apostrophe in referring to bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees, never
bachelors and masters degrees. When referring to degrees in general, lowercase
the first letter of the degree and use the s ending, i.e.: they all had master’s
degrees in engineering. Capitalize formal names of academic degrees: Bachelor
of Science, Bachelor of Arts in Accounting, Doctor of Philosophy. For copy that’s
forwarded to the news media, check the preference of AP Stylebook regarding
the use of academic degrees and the prefix “Dr.”
academic departments/offices — Capitalize names of departments and the
words department, college, office and school when they appear as part of an
official name. In other words, references to Department of Art and art department
are both correct. For news releases to external media, follow AP style by using
lowercase except for words that are proper nouns or adjectives: the department
of history, the history department, the department of English, the English
department. Never capitalize the words department, college, office, school or, for
that matter, university, when they’re used alone, even if they’re referring to an
official entity.
academic titles — Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as professor, dean,
president, chancellor, graduate research professor, professor emeritus and
chairman when they precede a name. Lowercase elsewhere. Lowercase
modifiers such as history in history Professor Jane Doe or department in
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department Chairman John Smith. Place longer titles after the name: John Smith,
executive director of the Roy Barnes Center for Political Survival, said he agrees.
academic year — When referring to the academic year (August through May),
use the format 2005-06. Do not capitalize fall semester or similar terms.
accreditation designations — For correspondence or publications, place
accreditation designations after academic degree designations for purposes of
addressing correspondence: Jane Smith, Ph.D., APR. Do not use accreditation
designations in news releases.
administration — Lowercase: the administration, the president’s administration,
the governor’s administration, the Bush administration.
admission, admittance — Use admittance for physical entry to a specific place:
Because of remodeling, admittance to some Richards Hall offices was
impossible. Use admission for academic entry into a university or in other
examples of figurative entry, such as admission of evidence or when physical
entry is involved, in the further sense of right or privilege of participation:
admission to a society, the price of admission to the theatre.
Admissions Office — No apostrophe.
affect/effect — The verb affect means to influence. Don’t confuse it with the
rarely used verb effect, which means to cause. The use of the word effect as a
noun, meaning result, is more common.
African-American — Newspaper style is to use black, but African-American is
acceptable for internal publications when referring to black Americans, not when
referring to black people who are citizens of other countries.
ages — Always use figures. When the context does not require years or years
old, the figure is presumed to be years. Ages expressed as adjectives before a
noun or as substitutes for a noun use hyphens: A 5-year-old boy, but the boy is 5
years old. The boy, 7, has a sister, 10. The woman, 26, has a daughter 2 months
old. The law is 8 years old. The race is for 3-year-olds. The woman is in her 30s
(no apostrophe).
alma mater — Lowercase.
alumnus, alumni, alumna, alumnae — In formal usage, alumnus (alumni in the
plural) refers to a man who has attended a school and alumna (alumnae in the
plural) refers to a woman. Use alumni when referring to men and women. In
informal usage, alumnus and alum are acceptable in referring to either gender.
Columbus State University considers anyone who has attended an alumnus.
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alumni association — The formal name is Columbus State University Alumni
Association, Inc., but the comma and the Inc. can be dropped in all but legal
references.
American College Test — ACT on second reference.
and, & — Use and instead of the ampersand except when the ampersand is part
of a proper noun.
annual — An event cannot be described as annual until it has been held at least
two successful years. Consequently, don’t use the term first annual. It is
appropriate to note that organizers plan to hold an event annually.
apostrophe — Use the apostrophe to indicate the possessive. Generally, avoid
its use in plurals. The AP Stylebook offers a comprehensive guide to correct use.
Army — Capitalize when referring to U.S. forces: the U.S. Army, the Navy, Air
Force regulations. Do not use abbreviations. Use lowercase for the forces of
other nations: the French army. Be aware that many foreign nations do not use
army as the proper name.
assistant — Do not abbreviate. Capitalize only when part of a formal title before
a name: Assistant Secretary of State George Ball. Whenever practical, however,
an appositive construction after the name is preferable: George Ball, assistant
secretary of state.
association — Do not abbreviate. Capitalize as part of a proper name: American
Medical Association.
attribution — Identify the source of any material that’s repeated word for word
from a published source. If the document is on the Web, offer its URL, or
address. If the material is generic in nature, you may rephrase it in your own
words. But if you’re copying someone’s writing word for word, be certain to
provide attribution.
-Bbaccalaureate
bachelor of arts, bachelor of science — A bachelor’s degree or bachelor’s is
acceptable in any reference. See academic degrees for guidelines on when the
abbreviations B.A. or B.S. are acceptable.
biweekly — Means every other week. Semiweekly means twice a week.
black — AP style, but African-American is acceptable for internal publications
when referring to black Americans, not to black people who are citizens of other
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countries. (John Townsend is the first black student and graduate from CSU. He
graduated June 7, 1965 with an associate’s degree.)
board — Capitalize only when an integral part of a proper name. See
capitalization.
board of trustees — Capitalize only when referring to the formal body in formal
instances: The CSU Board of Trustees Friday decided … This is a collective
noun and takes a singular verb. It also is an organizational body and does not
take a personal pronoun, meaning its would be the correct possessive reference.
But use the personal pronoun when referring to the members as individuals,
even if they’re acting collectively: The trustees decided their meetings were …
buildings — When possible, use official names of campus facilities, such as
Davidson Student Center, capitalizing the words in first reference. On a second,
more informal reference, the name may be used lowercase: Students often enjoy
playing pool in the student center. In many instances, more informal references
to campus buildings are acceptable; these include the Lumpkin Center and the
Cunningham Center.
Among the buildings on the main campus:
Cunningham
Center for
Arnold Hall
Leadership
Center for
Development
Commerce &
Davidson Student
Technology
Center
Center for
Elizabeth Bradley
International
Turner Center
Education
Faculty Office
Charles B.
Building
Morrow
Clubhouse
Fine Arts Hall
Clearview II
Frank G. Lumpkin
Jr. Center
Command
College
Courtyard I
Courtyard II
Health and Safety
Center
Howard Hall
Illges Hall
Jordan Hall
LeNoir Hall
Plant
Operations
Richards Hall
Schwob
Memorial
Library
Stanley Hall
Studio Arts
Building
Tucker Hall
Woodall Hall
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Among the buildings on the RiverPark campus in downtown Columbus:
RiverCenter for
the Performing Arts
The Rankin
Corn Center for
the Visual Arts
CSU’s Coca-Cola
Space Science Center
CSU Theatre on the Park
Seaboard Freight Depot
Yancey Center
at One Arsenal
Carpenters Hall
bullets and numbering — Lists that begin with bullets, or numbers, are a good
way to allow readers to more easily digest information. They are particularly
valuable on the Web, providing typographic relief from large blocks of copy.
Several bullet styles are available, but choose one style for main bullets and, if
needed, one style for sub-bullets and stick with that choice. Don’t mix bullet
styles. Keep material that follows each bullet parallel in structure so that, for
instance, if you begin each bullet with a verb, then follow all bullets with a verb.
Generally, bullets work best when each item completes a statement that’s set up
leading up to the bullets and ending with a colon. If both parts combine to
constitute a sentence, use a period at the end of each bullet item. Bullets also
can be used to launch a list of items, which would need no punctuation at the end
of each line — even after the final item.
-Ccampus — Use the terms main campus and CSU RiverPark campus, without
capitalization except as noted, to indicate the two geographic areas that most
CSU entities call home. The CSU RiverPark campus, a designation that
originated in 2005, is used to refer to the university’s growing presence in
downtown Columbus, also known as Uptown to locals. Use CSU or Columbus
State University whenever a reference is made to the RiverPark campus.
campuswide — One word. Also citywide, countywide, statewide, nationwide,
universitywide and worldwide.
capital, capitol — A capital is the city where a seat of government is located:
Atlanta is the capital of Georgia. A capitol is the building in which state and
federal legislative bodies meet. Capitalize U.S. Capitol when referring to the
building in Washington.
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capital campaign — Fund-raising campaign seeking donations for one-time
uses. The 2001-2005 An Investment in People capital campaign collected more
than $100 million from supporters of Columbus State University.
capitalization — In general, avoid unnecessary capitals. Use a capital letter only
if you can justify it by one of the principles listed here. Many words and phrases,
including special cases, are listed separately. If there is no relevant listing for a
particular word or phrase, consult a dictionary.
• Proper nouns: Capitalize nouns that identify a specific person, place or
thing: Heather, Atlanta and Africa.
• Proper names: Capitalize common nouns such as party, river, street,
west, college and university when they are an integral part of the full name
for a person, place or thing: Democratic Party, Potomac River, Fleet
Street, West Virginia, College of Science. Lowercase when they stand
alone in subsequent references: the party, the river, the street, the college,
the university. Lowercase names in all plural uses: the Democratic and
Republican parties, Main and State streets.
• Titles: Capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name.
Lowercase formal titles when used alone or in constructions that set them
off from a name by commas.
chairman, chairwoman — Chair is preferred: department chair, but use
chairman or chairwoman for news releases. Never use chairperson unless it is
an organization’s formal title for an office.
chancellor — Lowercase in second reference; capitalize before the name of the
administrator of the University System of Georgia.
CINS — Stands for Computer Information and Networking Services; no periods
or other punctuation.
classroom — One word.
clock tower — Two words. Official name is the Thomas Y. Whitley Clock Tower,
named after the founding president of CSU. Built by the alumni association, the
darker interior bricks of the tower are from the Shannon Hosiery Mill, where CSU
held its first classes in 1958.
coach — Capitalize only when used without a qualifying term before the name of
the person who directs an athletic team: Coach Herbert Greene, head coach Jay
Sparks, the coach said.
coed — Coed apartments house students of both sexes, but never use the word
by itself to refer to a female college student.
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collective nouns — Collective nouns are used when a committee, group or
other body is considered a unified body. Such terms take a singular verb and
pronoun. Correct: CSU’s Board of Trustees is expected to vote next week after
its chairman returns. But note that the verb and pronoun usage changes when
the use of a collective noun is dropped: CSU’s trustees are expected to vote next
week after their chairman returns.
College Level Academic Skills Test — CLAST on second reference.
College of Arts and Letters
College of Science
College of Business — D. Abbott Turner College of Business is the official
name.
comma — AP style calls for no comma before the conjunction when items are
listed in a series. Hooray for the red, white and blue! A comma is called for in
front of the conjunction when two clauses are joined in a sentence. The
department chair announced his retirement, but she said she would remain until
the end of the school year. (A clause is a phrase within a sentence that has both
a noun and verb.) The AP Stylebook includes a section on punctuation, noting
areas where confusion often arises.
committees, task forces — Capitalize names of specific committees and task
forces: The People Awareness Week Committee met Tuesday. Lowercase
second references that use only an informal version of an official name: The task
force selected the guest speakers.
Communication — No s at the end when referring to CSU’s Department of
Communication.
course names — Capitalize the first name of each word when referring to a
course by its formal name, such as Principles of Accounting. Unless you’re
writing exclusively for an on-campus audience familiar with the curriculum, refrain
from using the abbreviation and course numbers, such as COMM 1110, and
don’t capitalize informal references such as the required speech course.
courtesy titles — In general, (outside of standard correspondence) do not use
the courtesy titles Miss, Mr., Mrs., Ms. on first and last names. Do not use Mr. in
any reference unless it is combined with Mrs.: Mr. and Mrs. John Smith or Mr.
and Mrs. Smith. Use this construction only when first names are unavailable. For
news releases to an external audience, the term Dr. should used only to refer to
medical doctors. For CSU’s Web site and external publications, the use of the
courtesy title Dr. to refer to someone with an academic doctorate is acceptable.
CSU RiverPark campus — See campus.
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CSU Coca-Cola Space Science Center — Use CSU or Columbus State
University at all times in referring to this NASA-affiliated center that’s part of the
CSU RiverPark campus.
curriculum — In plural form, use curricula except for news media releases,
where curriculums is preferred.
-Ddates — Spell out days of week at all times and months when a specific date
isn’t mentioned: September 2000. Abbreviate months when referring to a specific
day: Sept. 1, 2000, except for March, April, May, June and July — all months’
names with five or fewer letters. Don’t use a comma between a month and year
when a specific day isn’t mentioned. The same is true for seasons: He joined the
faculty in fall 1991. A comma should follow the year when a specific date is
given: Feb. 8, 1990, was the date mentioned. Do not add the ordinal suffix,
making it Sept. 1st. Sept. 1 is correct.
days, months, years — Do not use the date for an upcoming or past event if it is
within a week of the date that’s being used in a news release: The concert will be
held Thursday, not Thursday, Jan. 10 (if the release date is Tuesday, Jan. 8).
Likewise, do not use the year if it is within a year of the release date. Do not use
on with dates when its absence would not lead to confusion. Correct: The
program ends Dec. 15. Incorrect: The program ends on Dec. 15. To describe
sequences or inclusive dates or times, use an en-dash (–) for to: Apply here May
7–9, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. It’s unnecessary to use the word from before such
constructions. Spell out ordinal numbers first through ninth and use numerals
with letter suffixes for 10th and above: the first semester, the 10th anniversary.
Do not use st or th with dates: Submit applications by Oct. 14, not Oct. 14th. Use
s without an apostrophe to indicate decades or centuries: She attended CSU in
the 70s. (This final item is an exception to AP style.)
days of the week — Do not abbreviate, except when needed in a tabular format:
Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat. Three letters, without periods, to facilitate
tabular composition.
dean’s list — Lowercase in all uses: He is on the dean’s list. She is a dean’s list
student.
degrees — See academic degrees
dimensions — Use figures and spell out inches, feet and yards to indicate
depth, height, length and width. Hyphenate adjectival forms before nouns: He is
5 feet 6 inches tall, the 5-foot-6-inch man, the 5-foot man, the basketball team
signed a 7-footer. The car is 17 feet long, 6 feet wide and 5 feet high. The rug is
9 feet by 12 feet, the 9-by-12 rug. The storm left 5 inches of snow. Use an
21
apostrophe to indicate feet and quote marks to indicate inches, such as 5’6,” only
in a technical context.
director — Lowercase in most uses. Exception: When used before a name as
part of a formal title. That decision will be made by Athletic Director Herbert
Greene … The schedule was approved by the athletic director.
doctor, Dr. — For news releases, use Dr. in first reference as a formal title
before the name of only those individuals who hold a medical degree. The form
Dr., or Drs., in a plural construction, applies to all first-reference uses before a
name, including direct quotations. For internal publications, the use of the
courtesy title Dr. for those with academic doctorates is acceptable. (This is an
exception to AP style.) See courtesy titles.
dormitory, dormitories — Avoid these words. Student apartments, student
residences or student housing are preferred terms. Apartments within The
Rankin in downtown Columbus are often referred to as the Rankin lofts. The
apartments in the CSU RiverPark campus buildings scheduled for completion in
fall 2006 are often referred to as warehouse chic apartments.
downtown — This word may be used, lowercase, to describe a retail area of
Columbus that’s also known as Uptown Columbus to locals. CSU’s RiverPark
campus is comprised of the university’s holdings in this area.
-Ee. g., i.e., etc. — Avoid these abbreviations. It’s preferable to use for example,
for instance and and so forth instead
ellipsis — Treat the ellipsis (…) like a word, with space on either side.
e-mail — Electronic mail. Note lowercase e and hyphen. Other acceptable,
related examples: e-commerce, e-trading, e-retailing. When writing e-mail
addresses, use all lowercase unless the address is case sensitive. Be aware that
the default setting for Word and other Microsoft software is to underline all e-mail
addresses and URLs (Web addresses). These should be removed in most print
usage. The underline causes problems with CSU’s e-mail address naming
convention because it calls for an underscore between the last and first names,
such as [email protected]. Underline that and the underscore disappears.
Immediately after the underline appears, hit Undo Typing under Edit at the top of
the Word screen and the underline will go away. Ctrl-Z is the shortcut.
emeritus, emeriti, emerita, emitae — This word often is added to formal titles to
denote individuals who have retired but retain their rank or title. When used,
place emeritus after the formal title, in keeping with the general practice of
22
academic institutions: Professor Emeritus Samuel John Doe or Jane Murphy,
professor emeritus of history.
-Ffaculty — Plural. Lowercase unless part of name or title.
fax — Acceptable without capitalization as a short version for facsimile machine.
fewer, less — The first word should be used with plural nouns indicating
something that can be counted. Use less to refer to degree or amount —
something measurable but not countable. Correct: The instructor expects fewer
students in the class next semester. The professor expressed concern that less
prestige was attached to the journal where he had been published.
Fort — Do not abbreviate for cities or military installations: Fort Lauderdale, Fort
Myers, Fort Benning.
fraternity — Lowercase unless it’s part of a proper name, which is rare.
freshman — One word, lowercase. Use the singular version as an adjective. Do
note that some universities prefer first-year students to refer to students who are
starting to college for the first time. Either term is acceptable at Columbus State.
See also: student classifications.
full time, full-time — Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier: He works
full time. She has a full-time job.
fund raising, fund-raising, fund-raiser — The first is a noun, the second an
adjective, the third a noun: the banquet was for fund raising, fund-raising dinner,
the marathon was a fund-raiser.
-GGPA — Grade point average. GPA (all caps) is OK on first reference
graduate — Lowercase when classifying status by itself.
Graduate Record Examination — GRE on second reference.
graduate school — Lowercase unless it’s part of a formal title: “My son is going
to graduate school.”
grant-in-aid, grants-in-aid — Note plural form.
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greeks — Lowercase in reference to the fraternity and sorority system. Note that
most of these organizations do not use the word fraternity or sorority in their
proper names. It’s good practice to follow the greek name with fraternity or
sorority, to clarify what it is, but don’t capitalize either word in that usage.
green space — Two words. Make sure its meaning is clear in context, usually
referring to the more natural, building-free areas of campus.
groundbreaking — One word for both the adjective — a groundbreaking
discovery — and the noun: A groundbreaking for the new clinic will be held.
-Hhe, she — As a general rule, avoid sexist language. Don’t refer to police officers
casually as policemen. Avoid female pronouns for referring to a large, undefined
group of nurses. Likewise, avoid the generic he pronoun when other alternatives
are possible. Generally, it’s better to use plural forms without indicating gender.
Avoid: If a student wants to take the class, he can register online. Better: If
students want to take the class, they can register online. Avoid the awkward
he/she construction. (Avoid use of the slash except in writing Internet addresses.)
home page — Two words. The first page of a Web site. Usually referred to as
the site’s home in pages within the site.
honors — Lowercase. She graduated with honors.
hyphens, dashes — Note that there is a difference between these punctuation
marks and their use is discussed in the AP stylebook. Also see days, months,
years entries in this section and the information on dashes in the Marketing
message section earlier. A hyphen is needed to connect two adjectives that work
together to modify a noun, but a hyphen is unnecessary when the two adjectives
work separately (use a comma then) or one of the modifiers is an adverb.
-Iidentification — It’s preferable to use the full academic title of a faculty member
following the name: Joe Jones, assistant professor of education. Likewise, it’s
good policy to identify students by classification and major: Joe Jeffries, a
freshman English major. When the name is common, it’s often good policy to
avoid confusion by including a hometown and, if available, age: Joe Jones, 19, a
freshman computer science major from Kennesaw.
incomplete grade — Or a grade of Incomplete, capitalizing it in that usage.
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interim — Capitalize when preceding a title used before a name. Lowercase
otherwise. Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs Thomas Harrison will
conduct the meeting … Sally Morgan was named the interim dean.
Internet — Always capitalized.
intermural — Competitive teams from different universities.
intramural — Competitive units within a single community or institution.
intra-office — Several areas within one office or area.
intranet — An intranet allows Web-like access to content that’s restricted to a
specific group of users. Lowercase this because there are many intranets; there
is only one Internet. CougarNet is CSU’s intranet, acting as a passwordprotected portal to e-mail, calendar and other information.
ISIS (Integrated Student Information System) — Web-based system used for
registration and for accessing a student’s record at CSU. No periods or other
punctuation when abbreviating. Pronounced i-sis.
its, it’s — Confusion over these two words is widespread. The first is a
possessive, indicating ownership. The contraction it’s, with the apostrophe, can
take the place of it is or it has.
-Jjr., sr. — Use the abbreviation with a name and do not precede it with a comma
— Joe Johnson Jr. — except in business correspondence. Numerals never take
a comma: Joe Johnson III. Be aware that the use of II, such as in Henry Ford II,
is correct and often used when a name is used, but a generation is skipped.
junior — See student classifications.
-Llectures — Capitalize and use quotation marks for the formal title of a lecture,
but lowercase the word: Her lecture was on “How To Succeed.”
legislative titles — Use Rep., Reps., Sen. and Sens. as formal titles before one
or more names in regular text. When necessary for clarification, use: Sen. Sue
Atkins or U.S. Rep. Tom Lee. Spell out and capitalize these titles before one or
more names in a direct quotation. Spell out and lowercase representative and
senator in other uses. Spell out other legislative titles in all uses. Capitalize
25
formal titles such as assemblyman, assemblywoman, city councilor and delegate
when they are used before a name. Lowercase in other uses.
legislature — Capitalize when preceded by the name of a state: the Georgia
Legislature. Retain capitalization when the state name is dropped but the
reference is specifically to that state’s legislature.
library — This term may be used informally to refer to the main Simon Schwob
Memorial Library. However, the formal name is CSU Libraries, also
encompassing the university’s Music Library at the Schwob School of Music in
RiverCenter.
-ly — Do not use a hyphen between adverbs ending in ly and adjectives or
verbs they modify: an easily remembered rule, a badly damaged island, a fully
informed electorate. Use hyphens between adjectives when they function as a
compound modifier for the word or words that follow immediately. The hyphen
entry in the Punctuation Guide section of the AP Stylebook offers more direction.
-Mmajors, programs — Do not capitalize majors, programs, specializations or
concentrations of study. She majored in economics.
master's, bachelor’s — Using these more than informal designations as
alternatives to the proper name, such as Master of Arts or Bachelor of Science, is
acceptable in any reference.
military titles — Capitalize and abbreviate a military rank when it’s used as a
formal title before an individual’s name.
millions, billions — Use figures with million or billion in all except casual uses:
I’d like to make a billion dollars. The nation has 1 million citizens. I need $7
billion.
-NNational Collegiate Athletic Association — NCAA on second reference.
National Education Association — NEA or the association on second
reference.
National Merit Scholarship — Official title.
noon, midnight — Use without numeral 12 before. To avoid confusion, do not
use 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. in reference to either noon or midnight.
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-OOK, OK’d, OK’ing, OKs — Do not use okay.
on campus, on-campus — On-campus is a unit modifier: students live in oncampus housing; on campus shows adverbial location: she has a job on campus.
online — One word in all cases for the term that refers to being connected to the
Internet or a computer network.
-Ppercent — Spell out, except in headlines, as part of a graphic or in a table, when
the % symbol is acceptable. Always use figures with percent.
Ph.D., Ph.D.’s — The preferred form is to say a person holds a doctorate and
name the individual’s area of specialty. See academic degrees and doctor.
postdoctoral
postgraduate
preprofessional
President, President’s Office — Capitalize president only if used as a reference
to an official title, in front of a name: “President Frank Brown. The president said
he would attend.” President Frank Brown is the third president of CSU. CSU’s
founding president was Thomas Whitley. The second was Francis Brooke.
professor — Capitalize when used as a formal title only before a name. Do not
capitalize a course subject, however, unless it is a proper noun: “He studied
under history Professor John Smith. John Lupold is a history professor.”
programs — See majors.
-Rrace — Capitalize names of races and ethnic groups: Caucasian, Hispanic,
lowercase black and white when used to refer to races. See African-American.
regents — OK on second reference when referring to the Georgia Board of
Regents. Don’t capitalize when used alone. Note that regents’ test is correct.
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registrar — Office of the University Registrar is the formal name. It’s OK to refer
to the registrar’s office on second reference.
registration — Also lowercase the words advanced, regular, late, employee and
non-degree when used in conjunction with this word.
researcher — Common title. Do not capitalize in title preceding a name.
residences, apartments (student) — Preferred usage over dormitories.
RiverCenter for the Performing Arts — Referring to it as the RiverCenter (one
word) or the performing arts center is OK on second reference. It contains the Bill
Heard Theatre, Legacy Hall (with the Jordan Concert Organ) and Studio Theatre.
RiverPark — Avoid standalone use. See campus, CSU RiverPark campus.
room, room numbers — Use figures and capitalize room when used with a
number: Room 2, Room 211. Uppercase in such uses as Howard Hall Room
210, but the word room can also be omitted in such cases, making it simply
Howard Hall 210. Capitalize the word room when it refers to a specific location,
such as the Columbus Room in the Davidson Student Center.
ROTC — Acceptable on first reference for Reserve Officer Training Corps. No
periods.
-Sseasons — Lowercase for fall, winter, spring and summer and all derived words
such as springtime. Capitalize only when part of a formal name: Winter Olympics.
semester — Lowercase when not followed by a specific year. Preferred usage
for semester is term.
senior — See student classifications.
sophomore — See student classifications.
South — Capitalize when referring to a specific region of the country: He grew
up in the South. Lowercase when referring to direction: The flock of geese flew
south for the winter.
spaces — Leave only one space after a period or similar punctuation. Persons
who learned to type before the widespread use of personal computers were
taught to leave two spaces; this practice can present problems in formatting text
for a publication.
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spokesman, spokeswoman — Never spokesperson.
state, federal — Lowercase state in all references. Capitalize federal as part of
corporate or governmental bodies that use the word as part of formal name,
lowercase when used as adjective to distinguish from state, county, city, town or
private entities: our state universities, federal loans, the state of Florida, state
grants, Federal Communications Commission.
student classifications — Do not capitalize freshman, sophomore, junior or
senior. He is a senior communication major. But capitalization is OK when
referring to a specific entity: The Senior Class sponsored the lecture. The plural
of freshman is freshmen. (See Freshman entry.)
Student Government Association — SGA is acceptable on second reference.
-Ttelephone numbers — Include the area code without parenthesis: 706-5682030; if including more than one extension, use a slash (/) between the numbers:
706-568-2030/2033. When listing an extension within an office, write the number
followed by a comma, a space, “ext.” and the number: 706-568-2030, ext. 132.
theatre — Department of Theatre, theatre major. (This is an exception to AP
style.)
times — Use figures except for noon and midnight, like this: 4 p.m. or 10 a.m.
Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11 a.m., 3:30 p.m. Avoid the word
o’clock, except in a quotation, and the :00 is never used in AP style. Incorrect on
two counts: 4:00 o’clock. Also avoid redundancies such as 10 a.m. this morning.
Time listings with a.m. or p.m. are preferred, except in formal invitations and
announcements.
titles — See academic titles.
tomorrow — Use only in direct quotations and in phrases that do not refer to a
specific day: The world of tomorrow will need additional energy resources. Use
the day of the week in other cases.
toward — Not towards.
transfer — Lowercase to categorize students.
trustee —Do not capitalize if used before a name.
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-Uundergraduate
under way — Two words when describing something in progress; one word
when used as adjective: the underway flotilla.
university — Lowercase unless in specific title: “Columbus State University was
established in 1958. The university now has more than 7,400 students.”
University Police — Formerly Public Safety. Can be reached at 568-2022.
Uptown — Many locals use the term Uptown Columbus to refer to the area that
others call downtown Columbus. CSU refers to its buildings in this area as CSU’s
RiverPark campus.
-Vvice president — No hyphen. Capitalize only when used as a title in front of a
name. Note that the word for (not of) is used in the titles of CSU’s four vice
presidents: vice president for academic affairs, vice president for business and
finance, vice president for student affairs and vice president for university
advancement.
-WWeb site — Always two words, with Web capitalized. But webcast and
webmaster are one word; webmaster should be lowercase unless it’s actually a
formal title before a name, which it usually is not.
Web site addresses — In most cases, http:// may be omitted:
www.colstate.edu. Many Columbus State University sites don’t use the www, so
references to those sites need to include the http://:, as in: http://art.colstate.edu
… Avoid underlines in publishing these URLs (uniform resource locators) in print
(see e-mail entry) and never let one break between two lines, creating a hyphen.
World Wide Web — Part of the Internet; Web on second reference.
-Yyears — Use figures, without commas: 1986. Use an s without an apostrophe to
indicate spans of decades or centuries: the 1890s, the 1900s. Use an apostrophe
when mentioning a decade casually: The ‘80s were wild. Years are the lone
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exception to the general rule in numerals that a figure is not used to start a
sentence. Correct: 1976 was a very good year.
yesterday — Use only in direct quotations and in phrases that do not refer to a
specific day: Yesterday we were young. Specify the day if it’s less than a week
away.
-ZZIP code — All caps on the first word; it’s an acronym for zone improvement
plan.
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