University of San Francisco
Editorial Style Guide
01.25.15
University of San Francisco Style Guide
Office of Marketing Communications
USF produces hundreds of print and electronic communications each year, and the quality of each should be
representative of the university’s brand, mission, and goals. This style guide is intended to help bring stylistic
consistency to all university publications, from newsletters and emails to brochures and flyers.
The guide is largely based on The Associated Press Stylebook with some exceptions. Listings cover everything from
Internet terms (email or e-mail?) to troublesome words (toward or towards?) to the proper names of university
departments and programs.
If your question is not answered in this guide, consult The Associated Press Stylebook or contact the Office of Marketing
Communications at (415) 422-5948 and [email protected].
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Academic abbreviations—(see Degrees)
Academic departments—Capitalize when using the full name of the department: The Department of Philosophy but the philosophy
department.
Academic program names—Do not capitalize “program”: The Master of Public Health program.
Academic titles—Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as professor, dean, etc., when they precede a name. Lowercase
elsewhere, including when they stand alone (i.e. the president, the dean). “Professor John Smith” or “John Smith, a professor.”
On second reference, use only the last name, not Professor. The honorific Dr. is reserved for medical doctors.
Acronyms—If an acronym will be used on subsequent references, write it in parentheses after spelling out the name on first reference.
The Associated Students of the University of San Francisco (ASUSF). An exception is USF; the abbreviation can be used in all cases on
the web or when faced with space constraints.
Addresses—Abbreviate avenue, boulevard, and street only in numbered addresses: He lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. He lives on
Pennsylvania Avenue. Exception for marketing materials: Capitalize and spell out a street as part of USF’s address on the back cover
of brochures.
Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; use figures for 10th and above:
7 Fifth Ave., 100 21st St. Avoid superscripts.
State names are spelled out when they stand alone. Abbreviate when the state name follows a city. Abbreviate as follows:
Ala. (Alabama), Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kan., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss.,
Mo., Mont., Neb., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.M., N.Y., N.C., N.D., Okla., Ore., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.D., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va.,
Wis., Wyo. Never abbreviate Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah.
Do not use state names with the following cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver,
Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans,
New York, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego,
San Francisco, Seattle, Washington.
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Adviser—Always spell with an “e.” Never use “advisor.”
African American—No hyphen.
Afterward—Not afterwards.
Ages—Always use figures. Use hyphens for age expressed as an adjective before a noun or as a substitute for a noun: A 5-year-old boy. The
boy is 5 years old.
Alumni—Use alumnus (or alumni in the plural) when referring to a man who has attended a school. Use alumna (or alumnae in the
plural) for similar references to a woman. Use alumni when referring to a group of men and women. Do not use “alum” or “alums.”
Follow the name of the undergraduate alumni with their graduating year: Jane Smith ’69. If they also have advanced degrees from
the university, give the degree designation and year: Jane Smith ’69, MA ’72 enjoyed the reunion. For graduates with only advanced
degrees: Jane Smith MA ’72.
NOTE: The apostrophe should turn away from the year, not toward it, and the degree is not set off by commas. (see Years)
a.m. and p.m.—Lowercase, with periods. Do not repeat a.m. or p.m.: 10–11 a.m.; 10 a.m.–1 p.m. (see Time)
Among or between—Use between for two things and among for more than two.
And or &—Use “and” instead of an ampersand unless an ampersand is part of an official title. An exception is made for web headlines
and subheadlines when an ampersand is appropriate for space and scanability.
Archdiocese—Capitalize as part of a proper name. Lowercase when it stands alone.
ASUSF —Associated Students of the University of San Francisco on first reference; ASUSF afterward.
Awards—Capitalize for the formal title of an award: Fr. William J. Dunne Award.
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Bay Area—Refers to the San Francisco Bay Area and should be capitalized.
Bible—Capitalize, without quotation marks or italics, when referring to the Scriptures in the Old Testament or the New Testament.
Capitalize related terms such as the Gospels, Gospel of St. Mark, the Scriptures, the Holy Scriptures, Last Supper. Lowercase bible
as a non-religious term: My dictionary is my bible. Do not abbreviate individual books of the Bible. Use this form for citations of
chapter/verse: Matthew 3:16. Luke 21:1-3, 1 Peter 2:1.
Books—(see Composition titles)
Bulleted list—In a bulleted list, do not use a period at the end of incomplete sentences. Use a period at the end of complete sentences.
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Campuses—Always use branch campus, not regional campus. The branch campuses are the Pleasanton Campus, the Sacramento
Campus, the San Jose Campus, the Santa Rosa Campus, and the Downtown Campus.
There is no Presidio campus or Los Angeles campus. Use USF Presidio location and USF Southern California location.
The main campus is the USF Campus. When used to differentiate the main campus from other campuses, use the San Francisco
Hilltop Campus or the Hilltop Campus.
There is no Lone Mountain Campus. Use Lone Mountain building. (see Lone Mountain)
Church—Use “Catholic Church” on first reference, when appropriate. Use “Church,” capitalized, when referring to the Catholic Church
in subsequent references: Next month Church leaders will meet in Rome. Lowercase when used generally: I go to church every Sunday.
City—Capitalize city as part of a proper name: New York City. Lowercase elsewhere: a Texas city, city government. (see Addresses)
Class of—Capitalize: The Class of 1950 held a reunion. But, the ’52 class ….
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Cohort programs—Refers to programs that are offered in a lockstep manner, where the students stay together as a group, take the
same courses at the same time, and the faculty members rotate in and out.
College and school names—The formal names of colleges and schools are capitalized: She attended the College of Arts and Sciences.
Do not capitalize the college on second reference: School of Law BUT the law school.
Commencement Mass—Often incorrectly referred to as the Baccalaureate Mass.
Composition titles—For books, magazines, journals, newspapers, television shows, movies, and plays, capitalize and italicize the
titles and do not use quotes: the San Francisco Chronicle, New Yorker magazine, Meet the Press, The Corrections. For lectures and articles,
use quotes and no italics: The professor published an article, “Study Habits of Highly Successful Students,” in a top scholarly journal.
Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters. Capitalize an article (the, a, an) or
words of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in a title.
Computer terms—Website, web page, web, email, net, online, dot-com, chat room, database, homepage, HTML, laptop, log on (verb),
login (noun), log off, megabyte. Web will continue to be capitalized when part of the more official entity, World Wide Web. Internet is
always capitalized, intranet is not.
Conference names—Capitalize, but do not place in quotes.
Course titles—Capitalize formal course names: Jane Smith’s course, Living Ethics, is full. Lowercase the names of subjects unless
they are proper nouns or adjectives: He is taking an English class, a history class, and a French class this semester.
Coursework—One word.
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Dash­­—There are several kinds of dashes, differing in length. There are hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. Each has its own use.
The em dash is most commonly used. It denotes a sudden break in thought that causes an abrupt change in sentence structure:
He spent several hours carefully explaining the operation—an operation that would, he hoped, put an end to the resistance. (For web
writing only, the em dash should be used with a space before and after.) The principal use of the en dash is to connect continuing or
inclusive numbers, such as dates, time, or reference numbers: The 2000–01 school year. The hyphen, not the en dash, is used between
numbers that are not inclusive, such as telephone and social security numbers. The hyphen is also used in compound adjectives:
Writing is a full-time job.
MacPC
Keyboard Commands em dash: shift-option-hyphen alt-ctl-number keypad hyphen
en dash: option-hyphenctl-number keypad hyphen
Dates—Do not use a day of the week with a date. Use a comma before the year: Dec. 1, 2000. But December 2000 (no comma).
For information about an event, give the time, date (without the day of the week), and location, in that order. Also May to June not
May–June but May 20–25. Do not use “on” before a date or day of the week when its absence would not lead to confusion: The
conference will be Dec. 1.
Decades—Do not use apostrophes when all four digits are used: the 1960s, the ’60s. The apostrophe should turn away from the year,
not toward it.
MacPC
Keyboard Commands
shift-option-right bracket ctl-apostrophe twice
Degrees—Lowercase, and use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree, a master’s, etc., but not in bachelor of arts: Tom is working on a
master’s degree in fine arts. (Note: Not “his” master’s.) Eugene received a bachelor of arts in chemistry. For an individual with a PhD,
the preferred form is to say a person holds a doctorate and name of the area of specialty. Only use the title “Dr.” when referring to a
medical doctor.
Do not punctuate PhD, EdD, MA, MBA, DDS, JD, LLM, MPA, MIS, etc. (see Alumni)
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Doctor—Only used for medical doctors. (see Degrees)
Dorm—Always use residence hall rather than dorm or dormitory.
Dorraine Zief Law Library—The USF School of Law’s library.
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Email—Not e-mail.
Em dash—No spaces before or after for print, spaces before and after for web. (see Dashes)
Emeritus, emerita, emeriti—The title “emeritus” is not synonymous with “retired.” It is an honor bestowed on select retired faculty and
should be included in the title. Feminine “emerita”; plural for both “emeriti.” The word follows “professor”: Professor Emerita Jane Smith.
Ensure or insure—Use the former to mean guarantee: Steps were taken to ensure accuracy. Use the latter for references to insurance:
The policy insures his life.
Entitled—Use it to mean a right to do or have something. Do not use it to mean “titled”: She was entitled to the promotion not The
book was entitled Gone With the Wind.
Etc.—Using etc. at the end of a list is appropriate if at least two items precede it. Etc. should not be used in reference to people or at
the end of a list that begins with e.g.
Events—State in order of time, date, and location: The lecture will be at 4 p.m. Dec. 1 in McLaren Center, Room 252.
Every day (adv.) or everyday (adj.)—She goes to work every day. He wears everyday shoes.
Exclamation points—Use them infrequently.
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FAQ—Use FAQ without an “s.” FAQ contains the last “s” in “frequently asked questions.”
Farther or further—The former refers to physical distance. The latter refers to an extension of time or degree.
Fewer, less—Use fewer for individual items, less for bulk of quantity: Fewer than 10 applicants called. I had less than $50 in my pocket
(an amount) but I had fewer than 50 $1 bills in my pocket (individual items).
Freshman and freshmen—A gender-neutral alternative to the term is “first year.”
Fundraising and fundraiser—One word always.
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Gleeson Library/Geschke Center—Use the complete name for USF’s main library.
GPA—An abbreviation for grade point average. “GPA” should be used in conjunction with a numeric value and is acceptable on first reference.
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Hyphen—(see Dashes)
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Initials—Use periods and no space when an individual uses initials instead of a first name: J.J. Johnson. But: R. James Brown. Do not
give a name with only a single initial: J. Jones.
Inter—Refers to between or among. In general, no hyphen. Exception: inter-American.
Internet—Is always capitalized, intranet is not. (see Computer Terms)
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Jesuits—(see Religious Titles)
John Lo Schiavo, S.J. Center for Science and Innovation—The full name should be used on first reference. Lo Schiavo Science is
acceptable on second reference. Do not use LCSI or CSI.
Jr. and Sr.—Abbreviate as Jr. and Sr. only with full names of persons or animals. Do not precede by a comma: Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
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Lone Mountain building—Capitalize Lone Mountain, but not building: The meeting will be held at the Lone Mountain building on the
USF Campus.
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Magazine names—Capitalize and italicize the name and do not place it in quotes. Lowercase magazine unless it is part of the
publication’s formal title. (see Composition Titles)
Mass—It is celebrated or delivered, not said. Always capitalize when referring to the ceremony, but lowercase any preceding adjectives:
high Mass.
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Nonprofit—Do not hyphenate.
Numerals—Spell out one through nine, use numerals for 10 and above. Spell out a numeral at the beginning of a sentence, except for
a calendar year. Spell out first through ninth when they indicate sequence in time or location. Starting with 10th, use figures. Dates are
not ordinal: Oct. 13; not Oct. 13th. Avoid superscripts.
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Offices—Capitalize only when needed for clarity or when referring to a formal office name. For example, the admissions office provides
applications to students throughout the year or applicants are required to send supporting materials to the Office of Admissions.
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People or persons—Use person when speaking of an individual. The word people is preferred to persons in all plural uses.
Percentages—Use figures in all cases: 1 percent, 2.5 percent, 10 percent. For amounts less then 1 percent, precede the decimal with a
zero: The cost of living rose 0.6 percent. Never use %.
Periods—Use single spaces after a period.
PhD—(see Degrees)
Plural forms of names and words—For proper names ending in “es”, “s”, or “z”, add “es”: Joneses, Gonzalezes. For proper names ending
in “y” add “s”: Kennedys. Add “s” with no apostrophe to figures such as 1920s and 727s. Use “‘s” for single letters: p’s and q’s. Add “s”
to multiple letters: ABCs, IOUs, GPAs.
Podium—A person speaks on a podium, not at a podium.
Possessives—Add “‘s” to plural nouns not ending in “s”: the alumni’s contributions. Add an apostrophe to plural nouns ending in “s”
and to proper names ending in “s”: mathematics’ rules, United States’ wealth.
Pope—(see Religious Titles)
Prepositions—Capitalize all prepositions of four letters or more in headlines, taglines, etc. Exception: Do not capitalize “from” in
Change the World from Here.
President—On first reference use USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. Use Fr. Fitzgerald or the president on subsequent references.
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Priests—(see Religious Titles)
Project—Capitalize when referring to the formal name of a project, but do not capitalize in later references to the project. For example,
the Keta Taylor Colby Death Penalty Project but the project focuses on appealing death penalty cases.
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RA—Use resident adviser on first reference, “RA”, without periods, afterward.
Religious order abbreviations—
C.C.V.I.—Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
O.P.—Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
R.S.C.J.—Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
R.S.H.M.—Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary
R.S.M.—Religious of the Sisters of Mercy
S.C.—Society of Christ
S.J.—Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Religious titles—Jesuits: On first reference, use their full name followed by the designation “S.J.” Place a comma on either side in the
middle of a sentence. On second reference use “Fr. Smith.”
Clergyman or clergywoman: On first reference, capitalize the title before the individual’s name. In many cases, the reverence
is the designation that applies. On second reference, use only a last name: the Rev. Billy Graham on first reference, Graham or
the reverend on second.
Pope: On first reference, Pope Francis. On second reference, the pope or the pontiff.
Cardinal, Archbishop, or Bishop: On first reference, capitalize these titles before the individual’s name: Cardinal Timothy
Manning, archbishop of Los Angeles. On second reference: Manning or the cardinal.
Room numbers and names—Use figures and capitalize the building name: Lone Mountain 103. Capitalize the names of specifically
designated rooms: Pacific Rim Conference Room.
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Seasons, months, and days of the week—Names of days of the week and months of the year are capitalized. The four seasons are
lowercased.
Serial commas—Use commas to separate elements in a series. Do put a comma before the conjunction of both simple and complex
series: The flag is red, white, and blue. The main questions facing the university are how to increase enrollment, where to house
students, and how to attract faculty.
States—(see Addresses)
St. Ignatius Church—Use the full name of the church on first reference, St. Ignatius afterward.
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Telephone numbers—Use this format for all editorial material: (555) 555-5555
Thacher Gallery—Not “Thatcher.”
Theater—Use this spelling, except if proper names dictate otherwise.
Time—Use figures except for noon and midnight: 8 a.m. 9:30 p.m. Avoid the redundant “10 a.m. this morning”; “12 noon”; use 10 a.m.,
not 10:00 a.m.
Titles, non-academic—Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as president, general manager, etc. when they precede a name:
Dean John Trasviña. Lowercase elsewhere: John Trasviña, dean of the law school; the president; the dean.
Past and future titles: a formal title someone held or will hold is capitalized before their name: former Governor Antonio
Aguaro, deposed King Edward England, acting Mayor Paul Patron.
Toward—Never towards.
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University—Capitalize the University of San Francisco. Use University of San Francisco on first reference in most instances. Use USF
or the university (lowercase) on subsequent references. USF is acceptable for first reference on web pages and brochures where the
university branding is prominent.
University of California campuses—“UC” is acceptable on first reference when used with a campus name, e.g., UC Berkeley, UC San Diego.
URLs—Use www before URLs, except social media URLs preceded by the social media icon.
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War Memorial Gymnasium—Use the complete name on first reference, “War Memorial” afterward.
Web-related terms—(see Computer Terms)
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Years—Abbreviated, two-digit numeric years are preceded by an apostrophe: The summer of ’69. The apostrophe should turn away
from the year, not toward it (see below for keyboard command). A span of years written in numeric years and including the century
contains no apostrophe: 1975–82. (see Dates)
MacPC
Apostrophe Keyboard Commands shift-option-right bracket
ctl-apostrophe twice
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