The Le Moyne College Style Guide was created to serve as a resource to members of the College community. It outlines the guidelines followed by the College’s Office of Communications in preparing text for internal and external audiences, including copy for posters, brochures, the Web and Le Moyne College Magazine. In general, the College follows the AP Style Guide, and many of the most common entries in that guide are included in the College guide. Other entries are specific to Le Moyne.
If you have any suggestions for additional entries to the Le Moyne College Style Guide, please contact Molly McCarthy at [email protected].
Abbreviations
Abbreviate the following titles when used before a full name outside direct quotations: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Mr., Ms., Mrs., Rep., the Rev., Sen. Spell out all except Dr., Mr., Ms. and Mrs. when they are used before a name in direct quotations.
Abbreviate “junior” or “senior” after an individual’s name. No comma is necessary.
Abbreviate “company,” “corporation,” “incorporated” and “limited” when used after the name of a corporate entity. No comma is needed.
Abbreviate “avenue,” “boulevard” and “street” in numbered addresses. All similar words, including “alley,” “drive,” “road,” “terrace,” etc., should be spelled out.
Use the following state abbreviations in conjunction with a name of a city, town, village or military base: Ala. (AL), Ariz. (AZ), Ark. (AR), Calif. (CA), Colo., Conn. (CT), Del. (DE), Fla. (FL), Ga. (GA), Ill. (IL), Ind. (IN), Kan. (KS), Ky. (KY), La. (LA), Md. (MD), Mass. (MA), Mich. (MI), Minn. (MN), Miss. (MS), Mo. (MO), Mont. (MT), Neb. (NE), Nev. (NV), N.H. (NH), N.J. (NJ), N.M. (NM), N.Y. (NY), N.C. (NC), N.D. (ND), Okla. (OK), Ore. (OR), Pa. (PA), R.I. (RI), S.C. (SC), S.D. (SD), Tenn. (TN), Vt. (VT), Va. (VA), Wash. (WA) W.Va. (WV), Wis. (WI) and Wyo. (WY). (Note: Spell out the names of the 50 U.S. states when they stand alone in textual material; the names of the eight states that are never abbreviated are: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Do not use the two-letter postal abbreviations except in tables or complete addresses, including street number, street and ZIP code. Specify New York state or New York City, as well as Washington state, to avoid confusion.)
Academic Degrees
When mentioning an academic degree to establish someone’s credentials, the preferred form is to use a phrase such as “doctorate in history,” “master’s degree in English” or bachelor’s degree in computer science.” Note: There is no possessive in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science. Also, an associate degree is not possessive.
Academic Divisions at Le Moyne
College of Arts and Sciences
Kathy '66 and John '65 Purcell School of Professional Studies
Madden School of Business
Acronyms
Some acronyms such as FBI, IRS and NBA are highly familiar and should be used without spelling the entire name. For example: Le Moyne College junior Sara Smith completed an internship at the FBI this summer.
For others that are less familiar, spell out the entire name in the first reference, followed by the acronym in parentheses. For example: The Contemporary Catholic Trends (CCT) poll conducted last month asked respondents about their views on a number of subjects.
ACT
Use the initials only when referring to this college entrance exam.
Adobe Acrobat
Software for creating, displaying and printing PDF files.
Advisor
Not adviser
Afterward
Not afterwards
AJCU
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. There are 28 members:Boston College, Canisius College, College of the Holy Cross, Creighton University, Fairfield University, Fordham University, Georgetown University, Gonzaga University, John Carroll University, Le Moyne College, Loyola College in Maryland, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola University Chicago, Loyola University New Orleans, Marquette University, Regis University, Rockhurst University, Saint Joseph's University, Saint Louis University, Saint Peter's College, Santa Clara University, Seattle College, Spring Hill College, University of Detroit Mercy, University of San Francisco, University of Scranton, Wheeling Jesuit University and Xavier University
Alphabetization
Complete lists of items – such as student groups, majors offered and parking lots on campus – should be listed alphabetically.
Alumnus, Alumni, Alumna, Alumnae
Use alumnus (alumni in the plural) when referring to a man who has attended a school. Use alumna (alumnae in the plural) for similar references to a woman. Use alumni when referring to a group of men and women.
Ampersand (&)
Use the ampersand when it is part of a company’s formal name or composition title: House & Garden, Procter & Gamble, etc. It is also used in Le Moyne department names. The ampersand should not otherwise be used in place of and.
a.m., p.m.
Lowercase, with periods. Avoid the redundant 10 a.m. this morning.
Annual Events
Commencement (capitalized). Typically the 3rd Sunday in May.
Reunion Weekend (capitalized). Typically two weeks after Commencement.
Deans’ Scholars Dinner (capitalized). Typically the Friday of Family Weekend.
Family Weekend (capitalized).
Founders’ Day (capitalized). Typically in mid-October
Young Alumni Weekend (capitalized).
Boards
Capitalize the Board of Trustees, Board of Regents and Alumni Board of Governors (an exception to the AP Style Guide)
Capitalization
Capitalize titles when they appear before a name, but not after.
Professor John E. Adams
John E. Adams, professor
Do not capitalize titles when they appear without a name:
The project is being coordinated by the College’s vice president.
Centers at Le Moyne College
Center for Peace & Global Studies
Center for the Study of Environmental Change (CSEC)
Center for Urban & Regional Applied Research (CURAR)
Tim and Kathleen '81 Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship
Donald J. Savage Sr. ’51 and Family Center for Reflective Leadership.
Class Years
An individual’s class year should be included whenever possible and should be noted in the following way: John Smith ’66. When referring to a couple who graduated during the same year, the class year only needs to be used once after their names. For example, John and Marie Smith ’66.
College
Capitalize College when referring to Le Moyne, even in cases where the word Le Moyne is not used.
Coursework
One word
Courtesy Titles
Refer to individuals by their first and last name: Ann Jones or William Jones. Use the courtesy titles of Mr., Miss, Ms. and Mrs. only in direct quotes and in certain situations such as: when it is necessary to distinguish between two people with the same last name.
Departments
Capitalize when using the proper name of an academic department, i.e., Department of Education; lowercase in informal references, i.e., education department.
FAFSA
Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Fundraising/ fundraiser
One word in all cases.
FTP
File transfer protocol, a common procedure for transferring files on the Internet. The acronym is acceptable in the second reference.
Full time/ Full-time
Hyphenate when used as an adjective. She is a full-time student. She attends Le Moyne full time.
HTML
Hypertext markup language
HTTP
Hypertext transfer protocol
LSPB
Spell out Le Moyne Student Programming Board in the first reference, use acronym in references after that.
Majors
The names of majors are not capitalized, except in the cases of proper nouns such as English, Spanish, etc.
Mass
Capitalize
Middle Atlantic States
As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, they are: New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
Names of Places on Campus
Campus Center:
Curtin Special Events Room
James Commons
LaCasse Dining Center
Panasci Family Chapel
Drescher Community Room
Shanahan Chapel
Reilly Hall
Reilley Room (note the extra ‘e’)
In the Thomas J. Niland Athletic Complex
Vincent J. Ryan, S.J. Pool
Grant Court
Dick Rockwell Field
Veterans House
W. Carroll Coyne Center for the Performing Arts
Northeast-10 Conference
The conference in which all of Le Moyne’s 14 Division II teams participate. Le Moyne’s baseball and women’s lacrosse teams are Division I.
Numerals
Spell out the numbers zero though nine. Numerals are appropriate for sums of 10 and greater. However, all numbers should be spelled out if they are at the beginning of a sentence. For example: 1946 was the year Le Moyne College was founded.
Online
It is one word in all cases for the computer connection term.
PDF
Portable Document Format, a file for Adobe Acrobat.
Programs
Do not capitalize the names of programs such as gender & women’s studies program.
Punctuation
Apostrophes
Years are written as follows: “the students of the ’80s ”
Follow these guidelines for possessives:
Plural nouns not ending in s: add ’s, i.e., the alumni’s contribution, women’s rights
Plural nouns ending in s: add only an apostrophe, i.e., states’ rights, the girls’ toys
Nouns that are the same singular and plural: treat them the same as plurals, i.e., the two deer’s tracks, one corps’ location
Singular nouns not ending in s: add ’s, i.e., the ship’s route, the horse’s food
Singular common nouns ending in s: add ’s unless the next word begins with s, i.e., the hostess’s invitation, the hostess’ seat, the witness’s answer, the witness’ story
Singular proper names ending in s: use only an apostrophe, i.e., Achilles’ heal, Dickens’ novels. (An exception is St. James’s Palace.)
Omitted letters: I’ve, it’s, don’t rock ’n roll
Omitted figures: The class of ’62, the Spirit of ’76
Colon
Use a comma to introduce a direct quotation of one sentence that remains within a paragraph. Use a color to introduce long quotations within a paragraph and to end all paragraphs that introduce a paragraph of quoted material.
Commas
Do not use a comma before the conjunction in a simple series. For example: She is studying calculus, English and history.
Do use a comma before the conjunction in a complex series: He ate toast, fruit, and ham and eggs for breakfast.
Dash
Use a dash to denote an abrupt change in thought in a sentence or an emphatic pause, i.e., We will fly to Paris in June – if I get a raise.
Use dashes when a phrase that would otherwise be set off by commas contains words that must be separated by commas, i.e., He listed the qualities – intelligence, humor, independence – that he admired in the executive.
Use dashes for attribution, i.e., “Who steals my purse steals trash.” – Shakespeare
Ellipsis
In general, treat an ellipsis as a three-letter word constructed of three periods and two spaces. Use an ellipsis to indicate the deletion of one or more words in condensing quotes, texts and documents. Be especially careful to avoid deletions that would distort the meaning. Example: I … tried to do what was best.
Periods
Should be used at the end of a complete sentence: The graduates picked up their caps and gowns.
Should be used in time designations such as 8 p.m.
Semicolon
In general, use the semicolon to indicate a greater separation of thought and information than a comma can convey but less than the separation by a period implies.
Use semicolons to separate elements of a series when the items in the series are long or when individual segments contain material that also must be set off by a comma, i.e., He is joined by a son, John Smith of Chicago; three daughters, Jane Smith, of Wichita, Kan., Mary Smith, of Denver, and Susan Smith, of Boston; and a sister, Martha Smith, of Omaha, Neb.
Religious Titles
Use the titles such as The Rev., The Most Rev., etc., before the names of vowed religious people. Do not use Rev. before the name of a member of the Society of Jesus. Instead, use the initials S.J. after their names, i.e., Jack Smith, S.J.
SAT
Use only the initials in referring to the previously designated Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Titles of Published Works and Titles of Addresses
Titles of books, computer games, Movies, operas, plays, poems, albums and songs should be italicized, i.e., The Catcher in the Rye. Titles of talks given on campus, however, should be in quotation marks. The titles of foreign works should be translated into English unless the work is known by the general public by its foreign name.
Toward
Not towards
URL
Uniform Resource Locator
website
One word. (But Web, webcast, webmaster, Web page and Web feed)