College Writing Style Guide

The purpose of a style guide is to provide editorial guidance for individuals producing college-related text, for print or the web, particularly in instances when Empire State College has determined a style specific to the institution.

The college follows the Associated Press Stylebook as the first reference, which defaults to Webster's "New World College Dictionary."

Contents

A

a | an

Use "a" before consonant sounds:

• a historic event
• a one-year term (sounds as if it begins with a "w")
• a united stand (sounds like "you").

Use "an" before vowel sounds:

• an energy crisis
• an honorable man (the "h" is silent)
• an MBA degree (sounds like "em").

academic degrees

Capitalize the name of the field or degree program only when the full degree name is spelled out and the discipline is included. If abbreviating a degree, the discipline should be lowercase.

The word “degree” should not follow a degree abbreviation.

Do not use an apostrophe with associate degree.

Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree. Do not use an apostrophe with Bachelor of Art, Bachelor of Professional Studies or Bachelor of Science.

Note: Overseas, the term “baccalaureate degree” is the equivalent of a secondary-school diploma. Use the term “bachelor’s degree” whenever possible.

Use an apostrophe in master's degree. Do not use an apostrophe with Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration or Master of Arts in Teaching.

Doctorate and doctoral degree never take an apostrophe.

Also see graduate degrees and undergraduate degrees.

academic degree abbreviations always with periods

A.A.
A.S.
A.A.S.
B.A.
B.S.
B.P.S.
M.A.
M.S.
M.A.L.S.

academic degree abbreviations without periods

BSN
MAT
MAAL
MBA
MSN

For the sake of consistency, use periods for all degree abbreviations when listed together (such as in the catalog).

acronyms at ESC

See Empire State College brand.

address

See mailing address.

alumni

Identify a graduate of Empire State College as either an alumnus (male) or an alumna (female).

AP style uses the plural, alumni, for all-male groups and for groups of men and women.

Empire State College uses alumni as the plural for all graduates.

Class years should appear after a graduate’s name in first references in publications. The form should take an apostrophe before the year.

There is no comma between the name and the apostrophe. If there are two graduating years, there is a comma between them.

American ethnicity

Always capitalize. Use a hyphen to designate dual heritage. When possible, refer to a person’s country of origin, rather than region. For example, Filipino-American or Italian-American.

and | &

Avoid using "&" and spell out "and."

Do not use an ampersand except in proper names and brand names, e.g., AT&T Inc., Field & Stream (magazine), Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey.

area of study

Capitalize the area of study. Use lowercase for the concentration.

audiovisual

(adj.) designed to aid in learning or teaching by making use of both hearing and sight

audiovisuals

(n.) audiovisual teaching materials

award

Capitalize "award" only when it is part of the official name of an award.

B

baccalaureate

Overseas, the term “baccalaureate degree” is the equivalent of a secondary-school diploma. Use the term “bachelor’s degree” whenever possible.

Also see academic degrees.

book titles

See composition titles.

brand

See Empire State College brand.

bulleted list

See lists.

C

cellphone

one word (no hyphen)

centers

As part of transitioning to "one college" language, do not use centers or units when referring to one of the 35 locations across New York where the college has a presence. For example, instead of the Niagara Frontier Center, use Empire State College at Cheektowaga.

certificates

Advanced certificates are offered by the School for Graduate Studies.

Reserve the term "graduate certificate" for internal use only.

Certificate is used for certificates at the undergraduate level. Associate and bachelor's degree program plans may include a certificate.

chairman | chairwoman

Capitalize as a formal title before a name.

Do not use chairperson, chair or co-chair unless it is an organization's formal title for an office.

Also see college titles.

check in | check-in

Use "check in" as a verb. Hyphenate when the term is used as a noun or an adjective.

check out | checkout

Use check out as two words when used as a verb. Use checkout as one word when used as a noun or attributive noun.

class

In prose, do not capitalize, even when referring to specific classes.

college

Do not capitalize the word "college" without a specific name.

Also see Empire State College brand.

college brand

See Empire State College brand and acronyms.

college titles — administrative, faculty and staff

Capitalize a person’s title, if used, before the name. 

Do not capitalize titles when listed after a name.

Do not capitalize titles that do not include a name.

Professor, associate professor, assistant professor, mentor, instructor and other titles are not capitalized unless used before a name.

Also see chairman, chairwoman, commas and titles and individual references.

collegewide

one word (no hyphen)

commas

A hallmark of AP style is the omission of the comma before the conjunction in a simple series. Although that rule strays from the one taught in English composition classes, it is done intentionally to achieve brevity and clear communication.

Omitting the comma in a simple series is the preferred guideline for Empire State College communications such as periodicals, websites, brochures and other marketing materials, including advertisements, posters and direct mail pieces and for news releases, Exchange, etc.

Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series, however, if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction.

Use a comma before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases.

Academic journals and other more formal documents might require the use of the serial comma. It is acceptable to do so in those instances when using AP style would be inappropriate.

Whichever style you follow, be sure to be consistent throughout your publication, document or suite of documents.

commas and periods with quotation marks

Always place commas (and periods) inside quotation marks, but always place commas outside quotation marks prior to the quote.

commas and titles

Use commas to set off an identification or title following a name.

Also see college titles.

committee, council and panel names

Capitalize names of specific committees, councils and panels. When not using the full name of the group, write the word in lowercase letters.

Commons or the Commons

The Commons is a Web-publishing environment for the Empire State College community sponsored by Information Technology Services.

Unless starting a sentence,  only capitalize Commons and not "the."

composition titles

Apply the guidelines listed here to book titles, computer game titles, movie titles, opera titles, play titles, poem titles, album and song titles, radio and television program titles, and the titles of lectures, speeches and works of art.

• 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.
• Put quotation marks around the names of all such works except the Bible and books that are primarily catalogs of reference material. In addition to catalogs, this category includes almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers, handbooks and similar publications. Do not use quotation marks around such software titles as WordPerfect or Windows.

Also see magazine names and newspaper names.

concentration

Capitalize the area of study. Use lowercase for the concentration.

copy tone and personality

The tone of Empire State College should be confident, positive and upbeat. We do not talk down to our audience — they are intelligent, motivated individuals. Nor do we need to be humble or unassuming — we are a high-quality institution, providing a truly unique service and filling a critical need for our nontraditional students.

Also see voice.

course names

See study or course names.

course work

two words (not coursework)

courtesy titles

See individual references.

credits | credit hours

Use numerals to refer to credits.

D

dashes

Use an em dash ( — ) to set apart a parenthetical phrase or clauses in a sentence. Also use dashes to denote an abrupt change in thought in a sentence or an emphatic pause.

Use a dash before an author's or composer's name at the end of a quotation.

Do not use multiple hyphens(  -- ) to represent a dash. To insert dashes into text, use the symbols or custom character menu in word processing software (such as Word) or HTML WYSIWYG editor for online writing.

Put a space on both sides of a dash. This is AP style.

Also see hyphens.

dates

Numbers in dates should be cardinal.

Do not use ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, on so forth).

Also see months, numbers - cardinal and numbers - ordinal.

days and time

When listing days and times, the time is given first, then the day and date followed by the location.

See also time.

decimals

See numbers - decimals and fractions.

degrees

See academic degrees, academic degree abbreviations, graduate degrees and undergraduate degrees.

directions

See regions.

drop-down

one word (with hyphen)

dropbox

one word (no hyphen)

E

e.g. (never eg)

The abbreviation for the Latin "exempli gratia" (meaning "for example)"is always followed by a comma.

ellipse

In general, treat an ellipse ( ... ) as a three-letter word with a space before and after.

Use an ellipse to show the deletion of one or more words.

email

one word (no hyphen)

emeriti

Identify retired faculty and staff in the following manner:

Emerita: feminine singular

Emeritae: feminine plural

Emeritus: masculine singular

Emeriti: masculine plural or masculine and feminine plural.

Empire State College brand and acronyms

The "Associated Press Stylebook" cautions the avoidance of acronyms that would not quickly be recognized by a reader. There are many acronyms commonly used at SUNY Empire State College.

Do not begin a sentence with an acronym — spell out the name.

F

FAQ (not FAQs)

Abbreviation for "frequently asked questions."

fax

Fax is preferable for facsimile or facsimile machine.

Unless the first word of the sentence, fax is not capitalized.

first-come, first-served

Hyphenate with comma as a compound modifier: first-come, first-served basis.

flier (not flyer)

Flier is the AP style preferred term for a handbill or advertising circular.

forms and informal documents

Do not capitalize the titles of forms or informal documents such as an exemption request form, a learning contract or a leave request.

fractions

See numbers - decimals and fractions.

full time | full-time

Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier.

G

graduate degrees awarded at Empire State College

Master of Arts — M.A.

Master of Arts in Adult Learning — MAAL

Master of Arts in Liberal Studies — M.A.L.S.

Master of Arts in Teaching — MAT

Master of Business Administration — MBA

Master of Science in Nursing — MSN

graduate school

See Empire State College brand.

H

headings and hyphens

In AP headline style, only capitalize the first word in a hyphenated word.

headings on Webpages

Headings at all levels should use title case.

Headings that are true, punctuated sentences should use sentence case.

Heading levels should be nested to show the proper hierarchy of the page structure

The webpage's title is always a first-level heading <H1> and the only <H1> on the page.

Main sections in the page are second-level headings <H2>.

Subsections of the main section are third-level <H3> and then fourth-level <H4> headings.

For more information, see Writing for the Web located in the Web Standards and Practices Guide.

homepage

one word (no space)

hyphens

Use a hyphen ( - ) when not using it might cause confusion.

Hyphenate compound modifiers when they precede a noun, but not when they follow a noun.

Also see headings and hyphens,  numbers and hyphens, American ethnicity and dashes.

I

i.e. (never ie)

The abbreviation for the Latin "id est" (meaning "that is") is always followed by a comma.

individual references

Refer to individuals by first and last name, without courtesy titles, on first reference. After the first reference, only the last name is used, irrespective of the rank of the person.

All titles are lowercase when they are not placed before the name.

Use the courtesy titles Mr., Miss, Ms. or Mrs. only in direct quotations.

Also see college titles.

informal documents and forms

Do not capitalize the titles of forms or informal documents such as an exemption request form, a learning contract or a leave request.

Internet

always capitalize

Internet address — a URL

In text, try to use the name of the website rather than the Web address, in the same fashion that you would use the name of a place and not its address in the physical world. Use ".com" only if it is part of the legal name, as in Amazon.com Inc.

If the Internet address is used, do not include the protocol (http, https, mailto) and :// portion of the address.

Also see Web addresses.

L

lecture titles

See composition titles.

lists — unordered (bullets) or ordered (numbers or letters)

Unordered or bulleted lists seem to have mysterious and slippery rules. There is no consistent set of rules across style guides. The key is to be consistent with the format.

Empire State College uses the The Yahoo Style Guide as the basis for the college website and print publications.

Bulleted lists work best for related items when the sequence is not important.

If order is important, use an ordered (numbered) list.

Try to use parallel construction for items in a list. Each should start with the same part of speech.

List items start with a lowercase letter and are not punctuated until the last item (which gets a period). If items are full sentences, use periods at the end of the item.

Do not use semicolons or commas at the end of a bullet.

locations

As part of transitioning to "one college" language, do not use centers or units when referring to one of the 35 locations across New York where the college has a presence. For example, instead of the Niagara Frontier Center, use Empire State College at Cheektowaga.

login | logon

(n.) process by which individual access to a computer system is controlled by identifying and authenticating the user in reference to credentials used by the user; also often used as an adjective in compound nouns, such as "login screen"

log in | log on

(v.) to establish communication and initiate interactions with a computer or network

logoff | logout

(n.) process of terminating a connection

log off | log out

(v.) to terminate a connection with a computer or network

M

magazine names

Capitalize the initial letters of the name but do not place it in quotes.

Lowercase magazine unless it is part of the publication's formal title: Harper's Magazine, Newsweek magazine, Time magazine.

mailing address

Abbreviate avenue (Ave.), boulevard (Blvd.) and street (St.). All similar words (alley, drive, road, terrace, etc.) always are spelled out.

Use the official two-letter U.S. Postal Service abbreviations only when listing mailing addresses.

master's degrees

See academic degrees and graduate degrees.

months

Abbreviate certain months when used with a specific date: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

For print publications, Empire State College also abbreviates Mar. and Apr. when used with a specific date.

Spell all months out when used alone or with a year alone.

more than | over

Although both uses are acceptable to indicate greater numerical value, the college preferred use is "more than."

N

New York

New York City (aka New York, N.Y.) is used to differentiate from New York state. State is not capitalized.

newspaper names

Capitalize "the" in a newspaper's name if that is the way the publication prefers to be known.

Do not place the name in quotes.

non or non-

The rules of prefixes apply, but in general no hyphen when forming a compound that does not have special meaning and can be understood if "not" is used before the base word.

Use a hyphen, however, before proper nouns or in awkward combinations, such as non-nuclear.

noncredit

one word (no hyphen)

nondegree

one word (no hyphen)

nonmatriculated

one word (no hyphen)

nonresident

one word (no hyphen)

nontraditional

one word (no hyphen)

# not No.

When creating forms, use the # sign not No.

numbered list

See lists.

numbers - cardinal

Spell out zero and whole numbers below 10.

Use numerals for 10 and above, unless the number starts a sentence or identifies a calendar year.

Always use numerals for percentages.

Always use numerals for credits or credit hours.

Spell out casual expressions.

numbers - ordinal

Spell out first through ninth if used to indicate sequence in time or location. Starting with 10th, use digits.

Use 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so forth when the sequence is assigned in forming names.

Never use ordinal numbers with dates.

numbers - decimals and fractions

Use a decimal point (period) and numerals to represent decimal amounts. For amounts less than 1.0, use the numeral zero before the decimal point.

Spell out fractions less than one and use hyphens between the words.

Use numerals for precise amounts larger than one with a space between the whole number and the fraction. Whenever practical, convert to decimals.

numbers - ratios

Use numerals and hyphens to represent ratios. The word "to" is omitted when the numbers precede the word "ratio" or similar phrase.

numbers and hyphens

All compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine are hyphenated when spelled out.

Use to show numerical ranges, meaning “up to and including” — of dates, ages, pages, etc.

Use a hyphen before a numeral.

Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives or as substitutes for a noun.

nursing program | nursing school

See Empire State College brand.

O

one-to-one

Write with hyphens when used as an adjective or adverb.

Also see numbers-ratios.

online

one word (no hyphen) in all cases for the computer connection term

onsite

one word (no hyphen)

(adj.) on or at the site of a particular activity or happening

ordered list

See lists.

over | more than

See more than.

P

part time | part-time

Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier.

password

one word (no space)

percent | %

Spell out "percent" except in scientific, technical and statistical text. In tables, use the % symbol.

Always use numerals for percents and percentages unless the first word of a sentence.

person or voice

To promote a friendly, inviting atmosphere, promotional materials (including the website) should be written in first and second person plural (as in, we and you).

If copy must appear in third person, use of third person plural is used to avoid the cumbersome he/she or his her.

photo captions

Nearly all AP captions follow a simple formula. The first sentence of the caption should follow this structure.

1. The first clause should describe who is in the photograph and what is going on within the photo, in the present tense, followed by the city and state where the image was made, following AP style for the city and state as appropriate.
2. Captions must give attribution for action not seen (e.g., the scene of accident where more than 10 died, according to police).
3. The last portion of the first sentence should be the date, including the day of the week if the photograph was made within the past two weeks, and preceded by a comma. (e.g., Tuesday, May 13, 2014).

These three elements are mandatory and no caption is complete without all of them.

Names should always be listed in order, left to right, unless it is impossible for the caption to read normally otherwise. With multiple people identified within the caption, enough representations to placement are necessary so there is no confusion as to each subject's identity. Do not use middle initials.

The second sentence of the caption is used to give context to the news event or describe why the photo is significant. A photo caption's second sentence should be carefully crafted to include information or additional relevant observations from the photographer on scene. There may be some instances when a second sentence is not needed.

Whenever possible, try to keep captions to no more than two concise sentences, while including the relevant information. Try to anticipate what information the reader will need.

Do not use periods in captions that are not full sentences.

pop-up

one word (with hyphen)

prefixes

Generally do not hyphenate when using a prefix with a word starting with a consonant.

Three rules are constant, although they yield some exceptions to first-listed spellings in Webster's New World College Dictionary:

• Except for cooperate and coordinate, use a hyphen if the prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel.
• Use a hyphen if the word that follows is capitalized.
• Use a hyphen to join doubled prefixes, such as sub-subparagraph.

Q

Q-and-A format

Write out "and" and use hyphens.

quotation marks

Use quotation marks (" ") for direct quotes and the actual words said in partial quotes.

See composition titles for guidelines on the use of quotation marks in book titles, movie titles, etc.

Put quotation marks around a word or words used in irony and for the first use of unfamiliar terms.

For Web writing, use quotation marks for words used as examples and to highlight words. For print publications, italics may be used instead.

Use single marks (' ') for quotes within quotes.

Also see commas and periods with quotation marks.

R

ratios

See numbers - ratios.

regions

In general, lowercase "north," "south," "northeast," and so forth, when they indicate compass direction.

Capitalize compass points when they designate regions or widely known sections.

Capitalize recognized regions of New York state, such as those identified by Empire State Development.

S

school

The word “school” is capitalized only when it precedes an official unit name.

School for Graduate Studies

See Empire State College brand.

School of Nursing

See Empire State College brand.

sign-in 

(n.) process by which individual access to a system is controlled by identifying and authenticating the user in reference to credentials used by the user; also often used as an adjective in compound nouns such as sign-in sheet

sign in

(v.) to establish communication and initiate interactions with a computer or network

sign-off

(n.) process of terminating a connection

sign off

(v.) to terminate a connection

states

Use the state name (unabbreviated) when standing alone in text.

Abbreviate states in the body of any work when used in conjunction with the name of a city, county, town, village, or military base. Do not abbreviate states with six or fewer letters.

Use the official two-letter U.S. Postal Service abbreviations only when listing mailing addresses.

statewide

one word (no hyphen)

street address

Abbreviate avenue (Ave.), boulevard (Blvd.) and street (St.) in numbered addresses. All similar words (alley, drive, road, terrace, etc.) always are spelled out.

Also see mailing address.

students

Do not capitalize freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate, postgraduate, postdoctoral, nondegree or any similar designation, unless it is part of a title, a headline or the official name of an organization.

study or course names

Avoid including study or course numbers in text.

Capitalize the important words when using the formal name of a study or course. Use lowercase if not using the formal name.

subpage

one word (no hyphen)

SUNY-wide

one word (with hyphen)

systemwide

one word (no hyphen)

T

teleconference

one word (no hyphen)

telephone numbers

Use numerals for telephone numbers in the format: area code-exchange-number. Use hyphens to separate the components.

If an extension number is included, use a comma to separate the main number from the extension. Abbreviate extension as "ext." with a period.

Do not precede toll-free numbers with a "1."

TerminalFour or t4

time

Time should be written without a colon or double zeros unless listing a specific time after the hour.

Use lowercase and periods for the abbreviations "a.m." and "p.m."

Use "noon" and "midnight" instead of 12 p.m. and 12 a.m., respectively. Both are lowercase.

A hyphen with no spaces indicates a time frame. Depending on the context, using "to" is also acceptable.

time zones

Capitalize the full name of the time in force within a particular zone: Eastern Standard Time, Eastern Daylight Time, and so forth.

The abbreviations for the time zones are acceptable for zones used within the continental United States, Canada and Mexico only if linked with a clock reading. There is a space between the time and the time zone.

Eastern Standard Time = EST
Eastern Daylight Time = EDT

Also see days and time.

U

undergraduate degrees awarded at Empire State College

Associate of Arts — A.A.

Associate of Science — A.S.

Bachelor of Arts — B.A.

Bachelor of Professional Studies — B.P.S.

Bachelor of Science — B.S.

Bachelor of Science in Nursing — BSN

underline

Do not use underline for emphasis or to denote headings or for composition titles.

In print publications, include the Web address, but do not include the protocol (http, https, mailto) and :// portion of the address.

In Web publications, create an active link, preferably with meaningful words rather than the Web address.

Also see composition titles.

United States — U.S.

units

As part of transitioning to "one college" language, do not use centers or units when referring to one of the 35 locations across New York where the college has a presence. For example, instead of the Niagara Frontier Center's Lockport Unit, use Empire State College at Lockport.

URL — Uniform Resource Locator, an Internet address

In text, try to use the name of the website rather than the Web address, in the same fashion that you would use the name of a place and not its address in the physical world.

Use ".com" only if it is part of the legal name, as in Amazon.com Inc.

If the Internet address is used, do not include the protocol (http, https, mailto) and :// portion of the address.

Also see Web addresses.

username

one word (no space)

V

videoconference

one word (no hyphen)

voice or person

To promote a friendly, inviting atmosphere, promotional materials (including the website) should be written in first and second person plural (as in, we and you).

If copy must appear in third person, use of third person plural is used to avoid the cumbersome he/she or his her.

VoIP

note the mixed uppercase and lowercase

W

Web — short form of World Wide Web

always capitalize

Web addresses

Do not italicize, bold, underline, capitalize, or use all capital letters to emphasize Web addresses.

Avoid putting a period at the end of the address. If possible, recast your sentence.

For writing on the web, create links using descriptive words.

Web browser

two words (capitalize Web)

Web conference

two words (no hyphen)

Web feed

two words (capitalize Web)

Web manager

two words (capitalize Web)

Web search

two words (capitalize Web)

Web stream

Generally, AP style does not use "Web streaming" in any form, but "streaming" alone, which is understood in context.

webcam

one word (lowercase)

webcast

one word (lowercase)

webinar

one word (lowercase)

webmaster

one word (lowercase)

webpage

one word (lowercase)

website

one word (lowercase)

Wi-Fi

always capitalize

writing for the Web

See Writing for the Web in the Web Standards and Practices Guide.

Y

years

Use an "s" without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries.

Years are the lone exception to the general rule that a numeral is not used to start a sentence.