Guilford Editorial Style Guide

These style guidelines will be applied to all editorial copy produced or edited by the Office of Communications and Marketing. Guilford draws its style guidelines from The Associated Press Stylebook . For those who are unfamiliar with this guidebook, here are some common style points.

General Style Guidelines

Century

Should be written lowercase, with numbers less than 10 spelled out (Example: the sixth century; the 20th century), unless part of a formal title.

Colon

  • Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it starts a complete sentence or is a proper noun.
  • Colons go outside quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation itself.
  • Use a colon to introduce longer quotations within a paragraph and to end a paragraph that introduces a paragraph of quoted material.

Commas

  • In a simple series, use commas to separate elements, but do not put a comma before the conjunction. (Example: I had tea, cakes and bread for a snack.) However, put a comma before the concluding conjunction if an element of the series needs a conjunction. (Example: I had tea, cakes, and bread and butter for a snack.)  Also use a comma before the final conjunction in a complex series of phrases.
  • Use a comma to separate adjectives that are equal in rank. Adjectives are equal if the comma could be replaced by "and" without changing the sense of the phrase. ) Example: "a dark, dangerous street").
  • Use a comma to introduce a one-sentence, complete quotation in a paragraph. Do not use a comma before an indirect or partial quote.
  • Commas are used to separate names of cities and names of states or nations. (Example: The group traveled from London, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland.)
  • A comma is always used after a state name or nation unless it concludes the sentence.
  • Commas are always placed inside quotation marks.
  • Do not use commas to set off an essential phrase in a sentence. An essential phrase is needed to specify what the author had in mind. (Example: “Novelist Jane Doe is coming to campus next week for a reading.” No comma is used because there are many novelists; without the name, the reader would not know which is meant.)
  • Use commas to set off a nonessential phrase in a sentence. A nonessential phrase provides additional information to the reader, but the reader would not be misled without it. (Example: “The writer who came to Guilford last week, Jane Doe, has another book coming out soon.” The name of the writer is informative, but its absence would not change the meaning of the sentence.
  • Use commas to set off an individual's hometown and/or age when they are set in apposition to the individual's name. (Example: Jane Jones, 34, wrote the novel. Miles Richards, of Bridgewater, Va., was her editor.)

Composition Titles

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

  • Titles and subtitles of published books, pamphlets, proceedings and collections, periodicals and newspapers and section of newspapers published separately (New York Times Book Review) are set in italics. Such titles issued in microfilm are also italicized.
  • Titles of articles and features in periodicals and newspapers, chapter titles and part titles, titles of short stories, essays and individual selections in books are enclosed in quotation marks. (Example: "A Defense of Shelley's Poetry," by Kathleen Raine in the Southern Review)
  • Titles of movies, plays, songs, television programs and most other compositions are enclosed in quotation marks and not italicized.
  • Capitalize the principal words, including conjunctions of four or more letters and prepositions.
  • Also capitalize words of fewer than four letters and articles (a, an, the) if they are the first or last words in a title. (Examples: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Of Mice and Men, Time After Time)

Dates

  • Use Arabic figures, without nd, rd, st or th, within all text (Example: Sept. 22). It is unnecessary to add the day of the week in most cases. (Example: July 23, not Saturday, July 23.) See "Months."

Dollars

  • Use figures and the $ sign in all cases except casual references or amounts without a figure. For specified amounts, the word uses a singular verb. (Example: She noted that $1,000 is what they asked for.)
  • For amounts greater than $1 million, use the $ and up to two decimal places.

Hometowns and Ages

  • Use commas to set off an individual's hometown and/or age when they are set in apposition to the individual's name. (Example: Jane Jones, 34, wrote the novel. Miles Richards, of Bridgewater, Va., was her editor.)

Hyphens

  • A compound modifier is two or more words that express one concept. When a compound modifier precedes a noun, hyphens should be used to connect all the words in the compound, except the word very and adverbs that end in --ly. (Examples: a first-quarter touchdown, a full-time job, reddish-brown hair; an easily forgotten time)
  • Many modifiers that are hyphenated before a noun are not hyphenated when they come after a noun. (Example: The team scored in the first quarter. She works full time.)
  • When a modifier that would be hyphenated before a noun comes after a form of the verb to be, the hyphen is usually retained. (Examples:  The man is well-known. The woman is quick-witted. The children are soft-spoken.)
  • When hyphenation is used in a title, do not capitalize the second word. (Example: "Human Rights: Global and Cross-cultural Perspectives")

Months

  • Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone or with a year alone. When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not separate the year with commas. When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas. (Examples:  January 1972 was a cold month. Jan. 2 was the coldest day of the month. His birthday is May 8. Feb. 14, 1987, was the target date.)

Names

  • In general, use the last name only on second reference.
  • Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.
  • Abbreviate Jr. and Sr. only with full names of persons. Do not precede by a comma. (Example: Martin Luther King Jr.)

Numerals

  • Spell out whole numbers below 10 and use figures for 10 and above. (Examples:  They had three sons and two daughters. They planted 12 trees last year. They had 10 dogs, six cats and 97 hamsters.)
  • Use figures for all ages, including those of animals and inanimate objects.
  • Spell out a numeral at the beginning of a sentence. If necessary recast the sentence. There is one exception -- a numeral that identifies a calendar year.
     Wrong:  493 students graduated from our high school.
     Right:  Last year 493 students graduated from our high school.
     Right:  2001 was a tumultuous year.

Punctuation with Quotes

  • Use quotation marks to surround the exact words of a writer or speaker.
  • Running quotations: If a complete paragraph of quoted material is followed by a paragraph that continues the quotations, do not put close-quotes at the end of the first paragraph. Do put open-quotes at the start of the second paragraph, continuing in this way for succeeding paragraphs. Use close-quotes only at the end of the quoted material.
  • Use quotation marks to set off the first reference to a term that may be unfamiliar to the reader.
  • When using a partial quote, do not put quotation marks around words that the speaker could not have used.
  • When a quote is within a quote, alternate between double and single quotation marks.

Seasons

  • Seasons and derivatives (i.e., wintertime) are lowercase unless part of a formal name. (Examples: fall, winter, springtime, fall semester, spring semester 2004, Summer Olympics)

Semicolon

In general, use a semicolon to indicate a greater separation of thought than a comma, but less than that of a period. The basic guidelines:

  • Use semicolons to separate elements of a series when the individual segments contain material that needs to be set off by commas. (Example: He leaves a son, John Smith of Chicago, Ill.; three daughters, Jane Smith of Wichita, Kan., Mary Smith of Denver, Colo., and Susan, wife of William Kingsbury of Boston, Mass.; and a sister, Martha, wife of Robert Warren of Omaha, Neb.)  NOTE: The semicolon is used before the final "and" in such a series.
  • Use a semicolon when a coordinating conjunction such as and, but or for is not present. It must connect two complete sentences closely linked and can be replaced by a conjunction and comma. (Example: The package was due last week; it arrived today.)

States

  • Spell out the names of the 50 U.S. states when they stand alone in text.
  • Use state abbreviations within text in conjunction with the name of a city, county, town, village or military base. The abbreviations are:

Ala. Md. N.D.
Ariz. Mass. Okla.
Ark. Mich. Ore.
Calif. Minn. Pa.
Colo. Miss. R.I.
Conn. Mo. S.C.
Del. Mont. S.D.
Fla. Neb. Tenn.
Ga. Nev. Vt.
Ill. N.H. Va.
Ind. N.J. Wash.
Kan. N.M. W.Va.
Ky. N.Y. Wis.
La. N.C. Wyo.

The names of eight states are never abbreviated in text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.

Memory aid:  Spell out the names of the two states that are not part of the contiguous United States and of the continental states that are five letters or fewer.

  • The preferred style is outlined above. The exception to this style is when the state name is used as a part of a mailing address. Any state abbreviation that appears on letterhead, envelopes, business cards or other pieces that will be processed by the U.S. Postal Service should reflect postal standards. (Alabama: AL; Alaska: AK; Arizona: AZ; Arkansas: AR; California: CA; Colorado: CO; Connecticut: CT; Delaware: DE; Florida: FL; Georgia: GA; Hawaii: HI; Idaho: ID; Illinois: IL; Indiana: IN; Iowa: IA; Kansas: KS; Kentucky: KY; Louisiana: LA; Maine: ME; Maryland: MD; Massachusetts: MA; Michigan: MI; Minnesota: MN; Mississippi: MS; Missouri: MO; Montana: MT; Nebraska: NE; Nevada: NV, New Hampshire: NH; New Jersey: NJ; New Mexico: NM; New York: NY; North Carolina: NC; North Dakota: ND; Ohio: OH; Oklahoma: OK; Oregon: OR; Pennsylvania: PA; Rhode Island: RI; South Carolina: SC; South Dakota: SD; Tennessee: TN; Texas: TX; Utah: UT; Vermont: VT; Virginia: VA; Washington: WA; West Virginia: WV; Wisconsin: WI; Wyoming: WY)

Times

  • Use figures except for noon and midnight. Capitalize "noon" and "midnight" only when they begin a sentence or are part of a proper name ("The basketball team held its annual 'Midnight Madness' event on Friday"). Never use “12 noon” or “12 midnight.”
  • Use a colon to separate hours from minutes only. Periods must be used when defining a.m. and p.m. (Examples:  1 p.m., 11 a.m., 3:30 p.m.)

Titles of Individuals

  • Titles are lowercase and spelled out when not used with an individual's name. (Examples: The president issued a statement. The pope gave his blessing.)
  • Titles are also lowercase and spelled out when they are set off by commas. (Examples: The vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, declined to run again. Paul VI, the current pope, does not plan to retire. John Smith, professor of history, delivered his paper at the recent conference. Jane Smith, vice president of marketing, attended the conference as well.)
  • Capitalize a title only when it precedes an individual's name and is not set off by commas. (Example:  Vice President Jane Smith attended the conference as well.)

Web Terms

  • Capitalized: Web feed, Web page, the Web
  • Not capitalized: website, webmaster, webcam, webcast
  • E-mail (with hyphen)
  • Internet (considered to be a formal noun; always capitalized)

Guilford-specific Style Guidelines

Below are specific style guidelines that Guilford follows:

  • Adviser: Use adviser, not advisor.
  • Courtesy titles: In accordance with Quaker traditions, courtesy titles (i.e., Mr., Mrs., Dr.) are not used.
  • Professional titles: In most instances, titles should follow the name. (Jane Smith, professor of biology, is leading the panel discussion.)
  • Alumni and student class names and years:   When referencing a Guilford student or alum, the name must be followed by the appropriate class year. A comma does not follow the name, and the apostrophe must face outward:  Jane Smith '01. When referencing current students, the same style should be applied.
  • The college: When using the phrase "the college" within text, college is lowercase. (The college celebrated commencement.)
  • First-year:  Hyphenate references to first-year students. The exception is when referring to the First Year Center, First Year Program and First Year Experience. The college does not use the designation of freshman.
  • Fundraising:  Do not hyphenate the word fundraising.
  • Web addresses:   A Web address is not underlined unless it is a hyperlink within electronic text or it contains a URL. (Examples:  www.guilford.edu, www.guilford.edu/academics)
  • Department and office names:   When referring to an office or department as a proper name, the reference should appropriately begin with "Department of" or Office of."  Examples are:
    • Proper names: Center for Continuing Education, Department of Foreign Language, Office of Enrollment, Office of the President, Multicultural Resource Center, The Learning Commons.
    • Certificates, headers for letterhead, business cards or address listings should refer to the proper name.
    • Second references within text, such as "the center" or "the department," should be lowercase.
  • Majors: In general, majors should be lowercase. (She is a business management major.) An exception is when the major is a proper noun, such as a language. (He changed his major from philosophy to German. A workshop for English majors will be held Feb. 2.)
  • Guilford:  After the first reference to "Guilford College" in a text document, all subsequent references should be simply "Guilford" or "the college." 
  • Campus organizations:   All references to the proper name of a campus program, club or organization should be capitalized. (Examples: the Honors Program, the First Year Program, Forevergreen.) 
  • Course titles: In text, should be capitalized without quotation marks (Examples: Human Biology, Introduction to Poetry, Comparative Politics) only when using full, formal title. Partial or informal references to courses should be lowercase.
  • Building and facility titles: On first reference in text, use complete title of a building, room or other facility. Capitalize names of specially designated rooms (Leak Room, King Hall Room 126).