Style Guide

A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U V W

A

academic degrees

Degree names should be listed in lowercase when spelled out and should be spelled out whenever possible, with the exception of alumni sections of campus publications: The education department offers a master of arts in teaching.
Set a degree abbreviation off with commas: John Doe, `99 B.A., is a member of Lake Erie's alumni band. In alumni publication's class notes sections, omit the periods: '87 BA. In features, news stories, etc., omit the periods in degree abbreviations with three or more letters: John received an MBA in 1987.
Degree abbreviations with three or more letters that use a combination of upper and lowercase letters require periods: Ph.D.; Ed.D.
Avoid redundancies: Donald Miller, M.D., NOT: Dr. Donald Miller, M.D.
Use apostrophes when writing bachelor's degree, specialist's degree or master's degree but not when naming the full degree: bachelor of arts degree.

academic titles

Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as "president" and "chair" ONLY when they precede a name: Chair Jane Smith. Lowercase elsewhere: Jane Smith is chair of the department.
Professor should always be lowercase, even when preceding a name.
Do not use academic and job titles in conjunction: Dean Jane Doe; NOT: Dean Dr. Jane Doe.
Do not use an academic title with a degree: professor Jane Smith or Jane Smith, Ph.D., NOT: professor Jane Smith, Ph.D.
If a professor holds an endowed chair or special professorship, capitalize the full name of the title: Jane Doe, Fulbright Professor of Education.

acronyms

Use acronyms only after spelling them out in first reference to eliminate confusion. The student athletes recently placed in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC). The AMCC recognized two Lake Erie College athletes.

addresses

Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address and spell out all others. Lake Erie College is located at 391 W. Washington St. If using the street name without a number, capitalize as part of the name. The new signs can be seen on Washington Street.

adviser, advisor, advisory

Use "-er" unless "advisor" is part of an official title: The U.S. Department of Labor's Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor provides employers with specific labor regulations. He served as an adviser to the committee. "Advisory" is the correct spelling.

affect/effect

Rule 1
Use effect when you mean bring about or brought about, cause or caused.
Example: He effected a commotion in the crowd.
Meaning: He caused a commotion in the crowd.

Rule 2
Use effect when you mean result.
Example: What effect did that speech have?

Rule 3
Also use effect whenever any of these words precede it: a, an, any, the, take, into, no.
NOTE: These words may be separated from effect by an adjective.
Examples: That book had a long-lasting effect on my thinking. Has the medicine produced any noticeable effects?

Rule 4
Use the verb affect when you mean to influence rather than to cause.
Example: How do the budget cuts affect your staffing?

Rule 5
Affect is used as a noun to mean emotional expression.
Example: She showed little affect when told she had won the lottery.

ages

Always use figures: By the age of 22, the student had completed college. The academic policy is 5 years old.
Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or that substitute for a noun: The 3-year-old girl played in the sand.

alumna, alumnus, alumnae, alumni, alum

Use alumnus (alumni plural) for a man who has graduated from or attended Lake Erie College. Use alumna (alumnae plural) to refer to a woman. Use alumni when referring to a group of men and women. Although considered slang, it is also acceptable to use alum (singular for either man or woman) or alums (plural for men and women). Lake Erie College defines alumni as anyone who has graduated from or attended the College for at least one year.

among, between

"Between" is used to show the relationship between two entities; "among" when more than two are involved: It was a choice between green and white. It was a choice among green, white and black. "Between" is correct when expressing the relationships of three or more items considered one pair at a time: Negotiations on a teaching format are under way between the teacher and the students, faculty and academic committee.

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B

bimonthly, biweekly

These terms mean once every two months or every two weeks. Sometimes confused with semimonthly and semiweekly. But for readability, twice a month is preferred to semimonthly; likewise twice a week is preferred to semiweekly.

Board of Directors

Capitalize and use full name on first reference. Use "the board" (lowercase) for subsequent references: The Lake Erie College Board of Directors met to discuss the proposal. The board discussed the proposal and voted on the issue.

buildings

Capitalize buildings that have a formal name, including the words "Building" or "Center": the Austin Science Building. Capitalize only proper nouns in common references: the Arthur S. Holden Center building.
Lowercase buildings with generic names that reflect the discipline taught or the activity conducted therein: the science building.
Lowercase names of rooms and facilities within buildings: Turben dining room, room 212 of the administration building; the Lincoln Library classroom.
For use on campus, certain unit, building and program names can be abbreviated and capitalized on first reference if they are readily understood: the Theatre.
Capitalize rooms and facilities within buildings that have a formal name: the Board Room in the administration building.

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C

campus

Capitalize when used with the full name of the campus: Willoughby Campus. Lowercase when it stands alone: The fight song contest winners visited campus.

century

Lowercase, spell out numbers less than 10: the first century; the 21st century. Do not hyphenate: This was a 21st century addition to the College.

chair

Preferred over chairperson. Chairman and chairwoman are also acceptable, especially if it is the preference of the person. Use the full name and capitalize first reference of endowed chairs: Joe Actor Chair of Fine Arts. On second reference the Actor chair is acceptable.

classes, courses

Lowercase when making a general reference to courses: He studies math and political science. Uppercase when referring to a specific class or when the class name includes a proper noun or numeral, and set off in quotations: I took "Psychology 101" and "English 100."

commas

Avoid excessive use. Do not use a comma before the final conjunction in a simple series: The president delivered a speech before an audience made up of students, faculty and staff.
With Jr. or Sr., do not use a comma in names: Ken Griffey Jr.
With dates and times, offset the date with commas, but not the time: The president will address the faculty at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in College Hall.
Phrases beginning with the word which are non-essential clauses. Place commas before and after the phrase: My shoes, which are Nikes, need washed.

commencement, Commencement

Uppercase the formal ceremony; lowercase for generic usage: Maya Angelou spoke at Commencement; Lake Erie holds commencement in May of each year.

company names

Use caps and ampersands as the official company name dictates. Abbreviate Co. and Corp., unless doing so makes the name confusing. Do not uppercase the word the as part of the company name. Delete references to Inc.: the Plain Dealer, General Electric Aircraft Engine Group, Kmart, the Kroger Co., Macintosh, MasterCard, Procter & Gamble.

complement, compliment

"Complement" is something that completes or enhances; "compliment" is an expression of respect or admiration: The black complements the green in Lake Erie's design. She complimented the College on its new logo.

compound modifiers

When two or more modifiers express a single concept before a noun, link the modifiers with hyphens: long-term assignment, full-scale investigation, small-business owner, part-time or full-time worker. But: She works part time. The point is to clarify which word modifies which word: Squad helps dog-bite victim. Not: Squad helps dog bite victim.
The word, very or words ending in ly, are never hyphenated: very good food, organically grown food.

computer terms

Spelling of Internet-related words are aligned with the AP stylebook, including:
World Wide Web (proper name) home page
the Web hyperlink
Web site Internet
webcast Internet2
webmaster intranet
cyberspace IP address (Internet protocol address)
download Java (a trademark)
dot-com (informal adjective) listserv
DNS (domain name system) MP3
DSL (digital subscriber line) URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
firewall
FTP (file transfer protocol)

cum laude; summa cum laude; magna cum laude

Place the descriptor in italic type and lowercase:
She graduated cum laude.

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Always use the official name on first reference. On second reference in informal usage, CV is acceptable, if the meaning will be clear to readers. If you intend to use the acronym on second reference, let readers know this by setting it off in parentheses directly after the first official reference: The professor's Curriculum vitae (CV) was emailed to the office

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D

dates

Spell out months when used alone or with the year only: September 2008.
Abbreviate the month, except for March, April, May, June and July, when used with a specific day: Sept. 2.
Do not use a comma between the month and year when no specific day is mentioned: January 2006. The same rule applies to seasons: fall 2000.
When referring to a month, day and year, place a comma between the day and year: Dec. 5, 1945.
Place a comma after the year when a phrase with a month, day and year is used in a sentence: Feb. 21, 1987, was the target date.
Do not use "on" with dates unless its absence would lead to confusion: The program ends Dec. 15; Not: The program ends on Dec. 15.
To indicate sequences or inclusive dates and times, use an en dash: Apply here May 5-9, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Do not use "st," "nd, " "rd" or "th" with dates: Oct. 14; NOT: Oct. 14th or Feb. 2nd.

departments

Capitalize only when using the full and official name of the department or unit: Department of Sociology; Victor School of Law.
Lowercase when using a reference that is not the official name: the sociology department; the law school.
Capitalize proper nouns and adjectives in all references: the English department; the Fixit engineering school.
"College" and "department" are never capitalized unless they part of the official name, the first word of a sentence or an official reference to the College: The College celebrated its 150th Anniversary.

disabilities

The phrase "people with disabilities" is preferable to "the disabled," "disabled" or to "handicapped."

doctoral, doctorate

"Doctorate" is a noun; "doctoral" is the adjective. You may have a doctorate or a doctoral degree, but not a doctorate degree: The student received her doctoral degree in English; She holds a doctorate in English.

dollar

Use numerals like $3, rather than 3 dollars except in casual references or amounts without a figure: My mom gave me a dollar. For amounts of more than $1 million, use the $ and up to two decimal places: The business manager proposed a $6.5 billion budget.

dorm

Use dorm or dormitory only when it is part of the official name; residence hall is the preferred term for on-campus student living accommodations.

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E

eCommerce

No hyphen, upper case C.

e-mail

This word should always be hyphenated and in lowercase. Do not allow an e-mail address to break over two lines with a hyphen. Position an e-mail address within a sentence so that it does not precede an unrelated and possibly confusing mark of punctuation such as a period.

emeritus, emerita, emeritae, emeriti

Not the same as retired. The titles emeritus (male) or emerita (female) are bestowed on many, but not all, retiring faculty. When used, emeritus follows the formal title: professor emeritus of biology, president emeritus, dean emerita of arts and sciences.
For individual female professors, the correct term is professor emerita (plural is professors emeritae). When individual male professor, the correct term is professor emeritus. When it's all-male or a mixed group, the correct term is professors emeriti.

ethnic references

In most general uses, the preferred terms are: African-American, Asian, Asian-American, black, Caucasian, Hispanic, Mexican-American, Pacific Islander and white.

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F

farther, further

Farther refers to physical distance. Further refers to an extension of time or degree.

fewer, less

Fewer applies to numbers and modifies a plural noun. Less applies to quantities and modifies a singular noun: She now eats fewer meals and less candy

fractions

Spell out amounts less than one, using hyphens: two-thirds, seven-sixteenths. Use figures for precise amounts larger than one, converting to decimals whenever practical. In tabular material, use figures exclusively.

fraternities, sororities

The full, formal name should be used on first reference: Sigma Phi Epsilon. Abbreviations are acceptable on second reference (SPE), but avoid nicknames such as SigEps.
A member is a member, never a "brother" or "sister."
In reference to a fraternity or sorority's building, the word "house" should be capitalized when it follows the name of the organization: Sigma Phi Epsilon House; fraternity house.

fund-raiser (n.), fund raising (n.), fund-raising

Fund raising is difficult. They planned a fund-raising campaign. A fund-raiser was hired. The organization is planning a fund-raiser.

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G

grade point average, GPA

Spell out on first reference; GPA (no periods) is acceptable on second reference. Federal law prohibits the listing of a student's GPA in a story without the explicit written permission of the student.

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H

Honors Program

The official name is Honors Program, listed in uppercase. The terms, "honors classes" and "honors professor" are lowercase.

I

initials

Generally avoid using middle initials. When two initials are used together, omit the space in the middle: T.S. Elliot.

Inc.

Abbreviate when part of a name; do not set off with commas: Rock Island Line Inc.

IT

Jargon abbreviation for "information technology"; do not use in normal text except in informal usage: The student contacted IT for assistance with her e-mail account.

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L

Lake Erie College

Lake Erie College is always to be used on first reference; thereafter, Lake Erie can be used. LEC is not an acceptable reference to the College in formal printed materials: The Lake Erie College students were quoted in a news article. The article discussed how excited the Lake Erie students were to be back on campus.

lectures

Put the full titles of lectures in quotation marks: The subject of his lecture is "Global Warming and the
Great Lakes."
Capitalize lecture titles and lecture series titles; do not capitalize preceding adjectives: She delivered the fourth annual Lake Erie College Lecture.

lie, lay, lain, lying

Lie means a state of reclining. (lie, lay, lain, lying). It can mean an untruth (lie, lied, lying). Lay means an action is being taken, and it requires an object (lay, laid, laying).

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M

mid-

Use a hyphen only when a capitalized word follows: mid-American, midterm. The geographic region Midwest is capitalized. Use a hyphen when connecting a word with a numeral: mid-'70s.

more than, over

These words are not interchangeable. Do not use "over" unless you are referring to a spatial relationship: Her plane flew over campus on her way home.
"More than" should be used when referring to figures and amounts: The number of students taking his class rose to more than 200 after his book was published.

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N

non, non-

In general, do not use a hyphen when used as a prefix: nonprofit; nonentity.
Use a hyphen before proper nouns and in awkward constructions: non-English speaking people; non-nuclear submarine.

numbers and numerals

- Spell out those less than nine; use numerals for 10 and above.
- Spell out "first" through "ninth" when indicating sequence in time or location. Starting with
"l0th," use figures.
- Spell out numerals at the beginning of a sentence: Twenty years ago today, I received my bachelor's degree.
- In text, express years in four numbers, e.g. 1985, not '85, except when casually referencing someone's year of graduation: John Smith ('85).
- Indicate decades or centuries with numbers followed by "s" without apostrophes: 1960s, the l900s.

The exceptions, which use numerals exclusively, are:
ages (the 4-year-old child), acres, cents, dimensions (the rug is 6 feet wide), dollar amounts ($1 million), formulas, heights, military and political designations (2nd District Court, 7th Fleet), percentages (7 percent), ratios (a 2-1 ratio), sizes (a size 9 shoe), speeds (50 mph), temperatures (except zero), volume (2 ounces) and weights.

Use No. with a figure for showing rank. (The department ranked No. 3 in the nation this year.)

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O

office names

Use the official full office name in upper-case on the first reference and lowercase thereafter: The Office of Admissions meets with entering students. New students are shown to the admissions office.

P

P.O. Box

Use periods in the abbreviation when used in editorial copy.

possessives

AP style is to always use "'s" if the word does not end in the letter s: the fox's lair; Marx's theories.
Words that end in an "s" sound and are followed by a word that begins with "s": for appearance' sake; the appearance's cost.
Singular common nouns ending in s: Add "'s" unless the next word begins with "s": the hostess's seat; the hostess' chair.
Singular proper nouns ending in "s": Use an apostrophe only: Kansas' school system; Hercules' adventures.
Joint possessives: Use an apostrophe after the last word only: Ted and Tina's party.
Compound words: For those terms that include two or more separate words or a hyphenated word, add the "s" to the most significant word: attorneys general, daughters-in-law, deputy chiefs of staff, lieutenant colonels.
Multiple letters: Add an "s" with no apostrophe: ABCs, VIPs.
Single letters: Add "'s" to avoid confusion: Her report card was full of A's and B's.

pre-

When a word begins with the prefix pre, hyphenate the word if the first letter after the prefix is an e: pre-eminent, pre-election.

principal, principle

"Principal" can be either a noun or an adjective: She returned to her old high school last year as its principal. The principal reason she enjoys her job is because she gets to work with students.

"Principle" is a noun only and can mean a truth, doctrine or rule of conduct (It compromised her principles.), a scientific law (the principle of cell division) or an essential element or quality that produces a specific effect (the active principle of a medicine).

program

Capitalize only when program is part of the formal name: the department's visiting scholars program; the Lake Erie College Honors Program.

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R

re-

When a word begins with the prefix re, hyphenate the word if the first letter after the prefix is an e: re-elect, re-enter.

regard

Be careful of the phrase in regard to (never in regards to).

residence hall

The preferred term for on-campus student living accommodations; use "dorm" or "dormitory" only when it is part of the official name.

room numbers

For consistency, use before building names: The meeting will be in Room 392, College Hall.

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S

SAT

Although SAT still officially stands for Scholastic Assessment Test, the abbreviation is sufficient even on first reference: SAT, no periods. Score totals are written without a comma: 1300.

seal

The College seal is reserved for formal presidential, academic or board-related College publications as approved by the Office of Public Relations and Marketing. Use of the College's seal is protected under trademark laws, and seal elements cannot be separated, altered, retyped or recreated in any way.

seasons

All four seasons should use lowercase: spring, summer, fall and winter.

semesters

Academic semesters are lowercase with no comma preceding a year: fall semester 2008.

semicolon

When semicolons are needed in a series to clarify individual elements requiring extra commas, then use the semicolon before the word and: They will honor Jane Smith, professor of history; Joe Schmo, instructor of psychology; and Jane Doe, head volleyball coach.
Use a semicolon to connect two closely related sentences: We set some lofty goals when we developed the Team for Excellence plan in the latter half of the 1980s; seven years later, we've accomplished all of them.

spacing

For letters and publications, single space between sentences rather than double space.

states

- Spell out the names of the states in text when they appear alone: Wildfires continued to rage through southern California yesterday.
- Abbreviate them when they appear in conjunction with the name of a city, town, village or military base: Needham, Mass., Oxnard Air Force Base, Calif.
- Do not abbreviate Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah (the two states that are not part of the contiguous United States and the states that are five letters or fewer)

When abbreviating U.S. states, do so as follows:

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

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T

telephone numbers

Use periods to separate area codes and prefixes: 502.852.6171.
Do not use the numeral 1 before area codes, including 800 numbers.

that, which

"That" is used to introduce an essential clause (one that cannot be eliminated without changing the meaning); "which" is used to introduce a nonessential clause: Jill signed up for the history course that she needed to complete her major. Jill took History 200, which is a course that she needed to complete her major.
An essential clause must not be set off from the rest of the sentence by commas; a nonessential clause must.

that, who

Use "that" when referring to inanimate objects and to animals without a name: She works for the company that researches genetics. There goes the cat that scratched me.
Use "who" when referring to people or to animals with a name: She was the one who founded the group. It was Garfield who scratched me.

time

Use figures except for "noon" and "midnight."
Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 8:45 a.m.
Use 8 a.m. rather than 8:00 a.m.
Avoid redundancies such as 10 a.m. this morning.
Avoid constructions using "o'clock."

Titles (compostions)

Capitalize all words in a title of four or more letters. Capitalize articles (the, a, an) and all shorter words if they are the first or last words in a title
Italicize titles of books, plays, artworks, television shows, radio shows, movies, journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, long poems published as books, and gallery and museum exhibitions:
The Star-Spangled Banner, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Gone With the Wind, NBC's Today show, the CBS Evening News, the sitcom Seinfeld.
Set off in quotation marks magazine articles and lectures: The article in Newsweek, "Top Five Reasons to Know the News," generated a lot of reviews.
The Bible and books that are primarily catalogs of reference material are capitalized only (no quote marks or italics). This category includes almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks and similar publications.

toward

Not towards.

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U

U.S., United States

Spell out United States when used as a noun: Individuals of different cultural backgrounds live in the United States.

Use U.S. with periods when used as an adjective or in tables and graphs: The U.S. Congress is in session.

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V

versus

Abbreviate as vs. in all uses

W

Web addresses

To save space, do not include http:// if followed by www. If the URL does not fall under www, the http:// is necessary to avoid confusion.
Always include a period at the end of a sentence even if a Web address or e-mail address appears at the end: My e-mail address is student@lec.edu.

who, whom

In formal English "who" functions as a subject: Who was that?
"Whom" functions as an object: To whom was the letter sent? [object of to].

who's, whose

Who's is a contraction for who is: Who's up for pizza?

Whose is possessive: The writer, whose book was published, won an award.

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