ABOUT AASUThe Armstrong Atlantic Style Guide
The Office of Marketing & Communications uses the Chicago Manual of Style as the basis for all university publications. The following edited guide is provided for your use.Top ten style points
Abbreviations
Capitalization
Figures
Plurals
Punctuation
Titles
Usage
Top ten style points
- Use a comma before the words and or or in a series.
The bookstore has a large supply of college wear, text books, and stationery.
- Spell out numbers under one ten.
- One space should follow a period.
- When stating a time do not use zeros on the hour.
The meeting is set for 2 p.m.
- Do not say 12 noon. Choose either 12 p.m. or noon to avoid redundancy.
- When not using the full name, Armstrong Atlantic State University,
lower case university in all other references.
The university library is a good place to do research.
- Use an apostrophe when referring to the generic degrees that AASU offers.
AASU offers associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees.
- Only the formal name of a department should be capitalized.
The Department of Continuing Education offers a wide variety of courses.
Many courses are offered by continuing education. - It is assumed that most professors hold doctoral degrees. Therefore, degrees following names are not used.
Merril Shepro has taught biology for almost fifteen years.
- Form the plural of letters used as words, invented words, and numbers by adding only an s (no apostrophe).
ABCs
the three Rs
1970s
Usage of Armstrong Atlantic State University
- After the first formal reference, you may refer to AASU as:
- Armstrong Atlantic
- AASU
- the university
Capitalization
When in doubt, do not capitalize.Capitalize:
- Proper nouns, months, days of the week, but not the seasons.
- All words, except articles, conjunctions, and prepositions in the
titles of books, plays, lectures, musical compositions, etc., including
A and The if at the beginning of the title.
The Man Who Came to Dinner
- All conferred and traditional educational, occupational, and business
titles when used specifically in front of the name or in lists and
programs; do not capitalize these titles in the text when they follow
the names, unless the title is a name or distinguished professorship.
Frederick R. Ford, executive vice president and treasurer, or Vice President Frederick R. Ford
Professor Alice Jones is head of the Department Physical Science or Alice Jones, a professor in the Department Physical Science
Samuel Brown, Oglethorpe Professor of Engineering and professor of civil engineering - The word university only when part of an institution's formal name;
not when making a second reference to any university.
Armstrong Atlantic State University
The university is located at 11935 Abercorn Street. - The words association, building, center,
club, conference, department, division,
hall, office, senate, street,
university, etc., when used as part of a title; thereafter, do
not capitalize these or similar words when used alone to refer to that
specific place or group.
the Department of Physics or the physics department
the Armstrong Atlantic campus or the campus
the Armstrong Atlantic State University Foundation Board or the board - A specific course or subject, but not a generic subject name
Contemporary Spanish Literature
mathematics or chemistry - Geographical regions of the country, but not points of the compass.
the South, the Midwest, the East, northeast
southeast Georgia - Names of athletic clubs and teams.
the Pirates
the Atlanta Braves - Names of all races and nationalities
Caucasian, Nigerian, Irish, Japanese
- The word room when used to designate a particular room.
Room 158 of University Hall
- Official names of college degrees when spelled out
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
associate's, bachelor's, master's
Doctor of Philosophy - Names of academic degrees and honors when following a personal name,
distinguished, and similar professorships.
Clyde M. Habersham, Ph.D.
Albert Hill, Eminent Professor of Geology
Do not capitalize:
- Designations based on color, size, or local usage.
black, white, pygmy
- Titles standing alone or in apposition.
The dean of the College of Education must approve all research projects.
Contact the dean of students for further information. - Names of school or college studies, fields of study, options, curricula,
major areas, major subjects, or programs, except names of countries and k
languages, unless a specific course is being referred to.
He is studying philosophy and English.
Each student must meet core requirements in science and the humanities.
Armstrong Atlantic offers a curriculum in biology. - Organized groups or classes of students in a university or high school,
or the words freshman, sophomore, junior,
senior, or graduate, when they refer to the year in which
a course is to be taken or to the classification of the student.
ENGL 101 should be taken in the freshman year.
John Smith is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The senior class will conduct its annual election tomorrow. - Unofficial titles preceding the name.
flutist Julian Bream
- Designations of officers of a class, social organization, etc.
Paula Smith is president of the Armstrong Atlantic Student Government Association.
She was elected freshman class secretary. - Designations of officers when the title follows the name of the
individual.
Ernest A. Lowe was the first president of Armstrong Junior College of Savannah.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was a great general. - These words or abbreviations:
- bachelor's degree
- baccalaureate
- master's degree
- state and federal government
- state of Georgia
- federal Judge John J. Armestad
- honors
- page
- paragraph
- The words offices, schools, and departments when referring to more than
one individual office, school, or department.
colleges of Education and Health Professions
Abbreviations
When in doubt, spell the word out.Abbreviate:
- The following titles when they precede a name: Dr., Mr., Mrs., the Rev., Fr., and all military titles.
- Other titles, such as professor, only when they precede the first name or
initials; spell out titles when they are used before the surname alone.
Prof. E. B. Smith
Professor Smith
Profs. E.B. Smith and J.T. Jones
Professors Smith and Jones - Page to p. or pp. in footnotes or bibliographical material; spell out when used in text material (page not Page).
- Eastern standard time as EST, without periods.
- The word and as an ampersand (&) only in corporate titles.
- The word saint when used to refer to such cities as St. Louis, St. Paul, etc.
- Complimentary titles, such as Mr., Mrs., and Dr., but do not use them in
combination with any other title or with abbreviations indicating
scholastic or academic degrees.
Paul Huston, Ph.D., not Dr. Paul Huston, Ph.D.
- The degrees bachelor of science, master of arts, doctor of philosophy, and educational specialist, to B.S., M.A., Ph.D., and Ed.S., with periods.
- The department name of a course when it is followed by the course number.
Besides an elective course in English, MA 333 should be selected by the student.
- Spell out all numbers through ninety-nine. Numbers may be used in
statistical listings.
Last spring, thirty-one students graduated from the program.
The results of the survey were 28.7 percent in favor; 39.4 percent against; and 31.9 percent not sure.
Use percent when the statistics are imbedded in an otherwise non-statistical context. Use % in a technical document. - Use all cap abbreviations for names of states when following names of
cities and towns.
Savannah, GA
Do not abbreviate:
- Names of countries, other than U.S.A.
- Given names, such as George, William, and Charles.
- The words association, avenue, boulevard, department, institute, street, etc.
- Names of months.
- Christmas in the form of Xmas.
- The word percent.
In general use the word percent, but in scientific, technical, and statistical copy use the symbol %.
Of this year's student enrollment, 60 percent are men and 40 percent are women.
Reports of spirocercosis in dogs vary from 2% to 100% of the canine population examined. - Parts of geographic names,
except Saint as in St. Louis, St. Paul, etc., unless they are used
in tabular matter.
Fort Wayne
North Dakota - Assistant and associate when used in a title, such as assistant professor of education. Abbreviates may be used more freely in tabular matter.
Punctuation
- Use a comma before the words and and or in a series.
The annual Celebrate AASU Day will include booths by foreign language classes, physical therapy classes, student clubs, and many other campus groups.
- Place a comma after digits signifying thousands: 1,150 students; except
when reference is made to temperature:
4600 degrees.
- Follow a statement that introduces a direct quotation of one or more paragraphs with a colon. Also use a colon after the phrase "as follows."
- Introductory words such as, namely, i.e., e.g., and viz should be immediately preceded by a comma or semicolon and followed by a comma.
- When listing names with cities or states, punctuate as follows: George Andrews, Columbus, president; Carol Green, Savannah, vice president; etc.
- When abbreviating years of college classes, punctuate with a closing
apostrophe.
Class of '76
John White , '39 - When referring to a period of time such as centuries or decades, they
should be punctuated as follows:
1900s
'80s - Call letters of radio stations and alphabetical abbreviations of groups, organizations, or institutions such as AASU, ROTC, USDA, NCAA, or SACS, should be capitalized and written without periods or space; but letter symbols of degrees, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., and of the U.S. should be capitalized and written with periods.
- Bachelor's and master's degrees should always be written with an 's.
- Do not hyphenate the word vice president and words beginning with
non, except those containing a proper noun.
non-German
nontraditional - Do not place a hyphen between the prefixes pre, semi,
anti, etc., and nouns or adjectives, except proper nouns. Avoid
duplicated vowels or triple consonants.
predentistry reapply bell-like
pro-American pre-enroll - Do not place a hyphen between the prefix sub and the word to
which it is attached.
subtotal
- Use a hyphen to avoid ambiguity.
Small-business profits, rather than small business profits.
- Hyphenate part-time and full-time when used as adjectives,
and hyphenate any modifying word combined with well, when
preceding a noun.
well-built engine
well-grounded in mathematics - Hyphenate the word X-ray and use a capital X.
- Use the nonhyphenated spelling of a word if either spelling is acceptable.
- When writing a date, place a comma between the day, if given, and the
year.
December 25, 1987.
- Do not place a comma between the month and year when the day is not
mentioned.
December 1987
- Italicize the titles of books, essays, long musical compositions, motion pictures, pamphlets, periodicals, etc. Place in quotation marks the titles of book series, radio, and television programs (when part of a series), songs, lectures, and parts (chapters, titles of papers, etc.) of volumes.
- Use single quotation marks for quotations printed within other quotations.
- Use single quotation marks in headlines.
JFK Invokes a 'New Frontier'
- If several paragraphs are to be quoted, use quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph, but only at the end of the last paragraph.
- Set quotation marks outside periods and commas and inside colons and semicolons. They should be set inside of exclamation points and interrogation marks that are not part of the quotation.
- No quotation marks are necessary in printing interviews when the name of
the speaker is given first, or in reports of testimony when the words
question and answer or Q and A are used, such as:
Q: Who will benefit from the plan?
A: Full-time staff, students...
Jones: How do you plan your curriculum?
Smith: A committee does that.
Figures
Use figures for:- Numbers 100 or over.
- Days of the month, omitting rd, th, st, nd: April 6, June 1, etc.
- Degrees
longitude 67 03' 06" W.
21.5°F below zero. (Omit the degree sign only in engineering and technical publications.) - Numbers within a series in order to maintain consistency if more than
half of the numbers are 10 or over; otherwise spell out numbers within a
series.
23 hours, 12 minutes, 6 seconds.
Twelve hats, five purses, five umbrellas, seven sweaters, and sixteen pairs of shoes were sold yesterday. - Sums that are cumbersome to spell out, but spell out the words million
and billion.
5.75 million 17.9 billion
- Write phone numbers as follows:
4874 for on-campus publications
927.4874 for publications going off campus - Hours of the day are usually spelled out in text matter.
He left the office at four.
The group worked until after midnight. - Hours of the day are always numerical when specific information is being
communicated.
The class will be held on Thursdays from 7:00 to 9:30 P.M.
(In publications, use 7:00 P.M. The P.M.is one point size smaller than the 7:00.) - Amounts of money with the word cents or with the dollar sign: $3 (not $3.00), $5.09, or 77 cents, unless tabulated in columns.
- Do not begin a sentence with numerals: supply a word or spell out the
figures. Please note: numbers below 100 should be hyphenated when they
consist of two words:
thirty-nine
Titles
- Always include the first name or initials of persons the first time they
appear in an article.
President George W. Bush ‹ thereafter, the president or Bush
- One initial should never be used; use both initials, the first name, or
the first name and middle initial:
T.H. Foran, Thomas Foran, or Thomas H. Foran, but not T. Foran.
- Never use Mr., Mrs., Miss, or Ms. unless the person is deceased.
- The word the should be supplied before Rev. in formal
publications. The abbreviation Rev. should not be used without
the first name or initials.
NOT: Rev. Lehman, Reverend Lehman, J.T. Lehman or Lehman.
INSTEAD:The Rev. J.T. Lehman will give the benediction.
Rabbi Joseph Goldberg ‹ thereafter Rabbi Goldberg
Father Clarence O'Dowd ‹ thereafter Father O'Dowd - Do not use the title Dr. when referring to an academic doctor, or a doctor of medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine.
- When referring to Armstrong Atlantic staff members, use the title or
rank given to them by the university.
Prof. Samuel Brown
Dean Henry Frazier - After referring to an individual by full name, use the spelled-out title
and last name.
Professor Smith
- Apply the title professor only before the name of a staff member of professional rank; professor, associate professor, or assistant professor.
- Do not qualify the title professor with associate or assistant
before a person's name, but do qualify it after the name.
Prof. Samuel Brown, Professor Brown
Samuel Brown, associate professor of biology
For distinguished professors:
Samuel Brown, Ogelthorpe Professor of Engineering and professor of computer engineering - Avoid using long titles before the names of people, such as: Superintendent of Public Instruction John H. Ward. Rather say, Superintendent John H. Ward, or John H. Ward, superintendent of public instruction.
- Do not identify individuals by race, religion, or national origin unless such identifications are essential to an understanding of the topic.
Plurals
- Form the plural of letters used as words, invented words, and numbers by
adding s only (no apostrophe).
ABCs, the three Rs, 1970s
- Use an apostrophe to form plurals of letters used as words, abbreviations
with periods, and capital letters that could be confusing if the s
alone were added.
P's and q's, Ed.D.'s, A's and B's
Usage
Subject-Verb Agreement- The phrases number of, total of, variety of,
majority of may take singular or plural verbs. In general, when
number, total, variety, or majority is preceded by a, it takes a
plural verb.
A number of consultants are attending the meeting.
- In general, when number, total, variety, or majority is preceded by
the, it takes a singular verb.
The number of consultants attending is small.
- With percent, the "rule of attraction" prevails. In other words, if
percent is followed by a singular word, it takes a singular verb; if
followed by a plural word, it takes a plural verb.
More than seventy-five percent of the employees are insured.
More than seventy-five percent of the county is flooded. - Data is always plural.
These data are disturbing.
- A datum is a single fact.
This datum is interesting.
- The decision to use a singular or a plural verb with the subject staff
can be tricky. Use a singular verb if you are considering the group as a
unit.
Her staff is getting a raise.
- Use a plural verb if you are considering the individual members of the
group separately.
Office staff are notified annually about their status.
- The terms black and white are not capitalized when used to
refer to ethnic groups.
We will be inviting two black teachers and two white teachers to serve on the panel.
- The following terms are capitalized: African-American, American Indian (but native American), Anglo, Asian, Caucasian, Chicano, Hispanic, Latino.
- Avoid using the generic he to cover both he and she (and the
possessive his for both his and hers). Where possible, rewrite
your sentence so the plural pronoun they can be used or so no
pronoun is needed.
NOT Each employee has received his own packet. INSTEAD All employees have received their own packets.
Each employee has received a packet. - If your context requires the use of a singular pronoun, the construction he or she is preferable to he alone, but should not be overused.
- Do not try to avoid the issue by using a plural pronoun to refer to a
singular antecedent.
NOT Everyone should bring their emergency guides. INSTEAD Everyone should bring a copy of the emergency guide.
Everyone should bring his or her emergency guide. - Avoid using occupational titles with the ending -man. Here are
some common examples and suggested alternatives.
Example Alternative fireman
mailman
policeman
salesman
fire fighter
mail carrier
police officer
salesperson - Be sensitive to other words and expressions that exclude females and try
to find alternatives for them.
Example Alternative manpower
spokesman
chairmanwork force
spokesperson
chair or chairperson