Style Guide

The Office of Marketing and Communications offers our colleagues across campus numerous editorial resources to help them communicate better with their constituents, including writing, editing, and proofreading services and an Allegheny College style guide. Don’t know if it’s Lord Gate, Lord Gates, Lords Gate, or the Lord’s Gate? The style guide can tell you that—and much more.

Allegheny College Style Guide

The style guide that follows can be used for many Allegheny publications. Note that with grammar and spelling there is a right and a wrong. But style often denotes a set of preferences. It’s not necessarily right or wrong, but it does help us maintain consistency in our publications.

    • Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business and Economics (CBE): Use the full name on first reference; “center” or “CBE” may be used on subsequent references.
    • Allegheny magazine
    • a.m., p.m. (Note: saying “midnight” or “noon” is much less confusing than saying “12 a.m.” or “12 p.m.” Also note that “12 midnight” or “12 noon” is redundant.)
    • academic grades: capitalize and use roman typeface (e.g., A, B+); for plurals: A’s, B’s, C’s, etc.
    • academic majors: Lowercase (e.g., biology major). Exceptions: English, French, German, etc.
    • acronyms: Spell out for first citation and follow with acronym in parentheses. E.g., “The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) reflects well on the students of Allegheny College.” After the first reference use the acronym.
    • advisor (not adviser, but depends on the audience since AP style is adviser)
    • AEC: stands for Administrative Executive Committee
    • Alden Scholar
    • ALIC @ Bessemer (see also Allegheny Lab for Innovation and Creativity)
    • Allegheny Christian Outreach
    • Allegheny College Board of Trustees (but the board of trustees, the trustees, the board, etc.)
    • Allegheny College Bulletin
    • Allegheny Lab for Innovation and Creativity (ALIC)
    • Allegheny Review
    • Allegheny Student Government (ASG)
    • Alpha Phi Omega: co-ed service fraternity
    • Alumni Council
    • Alumni Medal
    • alumnus (male, singular), alumna (female, singular), alumnae (female, plural), alumni (male or male and female, plural). One individual is never an alumni. (Never just alum, except in some social media where characters count!)
    • Annual Fund
    • Association for Asian and Asian American Awareness (A5)
    • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM): computer science society
    • Association of Black Collegians/Association for the Advancement of Black Culture (ABC)
    • Band Camp for Adult Musicians
    • Beta Beta Beta (biology honor society)
    • Bicentennial: Capitalize when it refers to the College’s 200-year celebration.
    • Blue and Gold Weekend: includes both Homecoming Weekend and Family Weekend
    • Blue Citation
    • board of trustees: no need to capitalize unless using full name: Allegheny College Board of Trustees
    • Bousson Environmental Research Reserve
    • bulleted list: Use no punctuation after the items in a bulleted list
    • Carrden: the produce and flower garden near Carr Hall
    • Center for Business and Economics (CBE): See “Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business and Economics.”
    • Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD)
    • Center for Political Participation (CPP)
    • Center for Research and Teaching Excellence (CREATE)
    • chair or chairperson (instead of chairman or chairwoman)
    • Chamber Choir
    • Chamber Orchestra
    • Chemii: chemistry society
    • Chompers they/them
    • Civic Orchestra
    • Class Notes: Refers to section in Allegheny magazine
    • class year: immediately follows the name of the alumna or alumnus: Christine Crackersmith ’47 . Note that if you space after the numerals Microsoft Word will automatically turn a backward apostrophe into a correct apostrophe.
    • class: the Class of ’75. Do not capitalize class years: first-year, sophomore, junior, and senior.
    • CoDE: Council on Diversity and Equity
    • Collaboratory: a meeting and collaboration space on the upper level of Pelletier Library
    • College Choir
    • College Choir
    • College Court (residence hall)
    • colon: use one space after a colon
    • commas: We use the serial (or Oxford) comma (“red, white, and blue”). However, news releases follow AP style, which does not use the serial comma.
    • Commencement
    • committees: capitalize only the full, official name of a committee or task force: the Committee on Institutional Diversity (otherwise, the institutional diversity committee)
    • community and justice studies: Formerly called values, ethics and social action (VESA).
    • Community Wellness Initiative (CWI): a collaborative effort among several organizations and institutions (including Allegheny) to improve wellness in Meadville
    • course names: capitalize but do not use quotation marks or italics: Introduction to Chemistry, Philosophy from Hegel to Homer Simpson
    • Creek Connections
    • cross country and track & field: use ampersand with track & field to show it’s one term within the larger category
    • date: Do not add st, nd, rd, or th to a date. It’s Jan. 1, not Jan. 1st.
    • David V. Wise Sport and Fitness Center: full name for the Wise Center
    • departments, academic and administrative: Capitalize names of departments only when the official, full name of the department is given: Department of Biology (but biology department); Office of Student Affairs (but student affairs office).
    • Dimensions (math society)
    • Doane Hall of Art
    • Doane Hall of Chemistry
    • Doane Scholar
    • dollar amounts: Use $ with numerals: $5, $10,000, $8.3 million
    • Double space after period or colon in text: No. Absolutely not. Never. Don’t even think of doing this.
    • EL seminars: refers to experiential learning
    • em-dash: This is the standard dash used as a punctuation mark: “I don’t know what he was thinking — maybe no one knows what he was thinking — but I know what he did.” If you type two hyphens in Microsoft Word, Word will convert the two hyphens into an em-dash. There should be spaces on either side of the em-dash..
    • email addresses: print lowercase and do not underline: news@allegheny.edu
    • email
    • emeritus (male, singular), emerita (female, singular), emeriti (male or male and female, plural), emeritae (female, plural): trustees emeriti, professor emeritus
    • Faculty Council
    • Finance and Facilities Committee (FFC)
    • First Six Weeks
    • first-year student (not “freshman”)
    • Ford Memorial Chapel: or just “the Chapel”
    • Founders Day: April 24
    • Frank B. Fuhrer Field
    • from/to: Once you use the word “from” in a construction like “from Tuesday to Saturday” or “from March 2 to 22” you cannot substitute a hyphen or a dash for the “to” (“from Tuesday-Saturday” is wrong)
    • Fundraising: one word in all cases.
    • Gamelan Ensemble
    • Gator Activities Programming (GAP)
    • Gator Day: academic, career, and professional development programming day
    • Gator Hub
    • Gator Post & Print (post office and print shop)
    • Gators: always capitalize (unless you’re talking about real alligators)
    • Gladys Mullenix Black Theatre do not shorten
    • Gold Citation
    • GPA
    • Grounds for Change (GFC) coffee house)
    • Habitat for Humanity
    • Henderson Campus Center: usually OK simply to say Campus Center
    • Hillel
    • hyphen: do not hyphenate adverbs ending in “ly” and adjectives: the newly elected president
    • Inc.: Abbreviate and do not precede with comma
    • initials: Do not separate with a space: H.J. Heinz
    • Internet
    • italics: Italicize titles of books, plays, newspapers, magazines, operas, ships, movies, television program titles, paintings, exhibits, record titles, works of art, famous statues, and long musical compositions. Italicize foreign words if they don’t appear in the regular part of the dictionary. Exception: news releases follow AP style, which uses quotation marks rather than italics for these items.
    • James H. Mullen, Jr. Arena: performance arena in the David V. Wise Sport and Fitness Center (informally known as “Jim’s Gym”)
    • Jazz Ensemble
    • Jewish Community Center (or JCC)
    • junior, senior: Abbreviate as Jr. and Sr. and do not precede with a comma: Regis Bumpkin Sr.
    • Lambda Sigma (sophomore honor society)
    • Latino/Latina: Latino is male, Latina is female
    • Lord Gate
    • Make A Difference Day
    • Matriculation
    • Maytum Center for Student Success
    • McKinley’s Food Court
    • microcredential
    • Middle East and North African (MENA) studies
    • Montgomery Performance Space: in Montgomery Gym
    • months: don’t abbreviate months of the year when they stand alone or appear with the year: September 2006, December. Do abbreviate the following when used with a specific date: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
    • Nancy Sheridan ACA Scholarship (for women)
    • nicknames: Add within quotation marks (Margaret “Pookie” Mullins)
    • North Village II
    • North Village
    • numbers: Spell out whole numbers below 10, and use figures for 10 and above. Exceptions: Use numerals for times, measurements, decimals, fractions, percentages, sports scores, and ages: 3 ounces, 3.5, 3 percent, final score was 5-2, the child was 5 years old.
    • Odd Fellows Building
    • Office of Economic, Civic & Community Engagement
    • Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (URSCA)
    • OK (not Okay)
    • Omicron Delta Kappa (leadership society)
    • Orchesis (modern dance group)
    • Outing Club
    • Parent Library: the library in the Tippie Alumni Center; named after donors named Parent
    • percent: Use a numeral with the word percent (1 percent, 50 percent, 100 percent)
    • Percussion Ensemble
    • Phi Alpha Theta (history honor society)
    • Phi Beta Kappa (national scholastic society)
    • Pi Mu Epsilon (mathematics honor society)
    • Pi Sigma Alpha (political science honor society)
    • Playshop Theatre
    • pre-professional
    • Psi Chi (psychology honor society)
    • Quade Walk
    • quotation marks: Use quotations marks for titles of poems, short stories, lectures, short musical compositions, song titles, titles of articles within magazines and newspapers, book chapter titles (see also italics).
    • Ravine-Narvik Hall
    • residence hall: preferred over “dorm” or “dormitory”
    • résumé
    • Reunion Weekend (but “the reunion”)
    • Richard J. Cook – Teresa M. Lahti Scholars Symposium
    • Richard J. Cook Center for Environmental Science in Carr Hall
    • Robertson Athletic Complex
    • Rustic Bridge
    • seasons: Lowercase spring, summer, fall and winter.
    • semester: spring semester, fall semester
    • Senior Circle
    • Senior Comp
    • Shafer Auditorium: Not necessary to use full name—Raymond P. Shafer Auditorium—in most usages.
    • Sigma Xi (scientific society)
    • Single Voice Reading Series
    • Sojourners Christian Fellowship
    • Soprano-Alto Chorale
    • Springfest
    • Staff Advisory Committee (SAC)
    • states: Spell out state names in all references. Use postal abbreviations (IA, PA, CT, MS) only when giving a complete address including ZIP code: Regis Bupkin, 432 Willowrest Road, Meadville, PA 16335.
    • Steffee Hall of Life Sciences
    • Student Art Society
    • Student Experimental Theatre (SET)
    • student/faculty ratio
    • Students for Environmental Action (SEA)
    • study away
    • Symphonic Band
    • Tenor-Bass Chorus
    • that: “that” is preferable to “which” in restrictive clauses: “The report that he gave me was pure drivel.”
    • the Campus (student newspaper)
    • the College (capitalized only when referring to Allegheny College)
    • the Honor Code
    • the Kaldron: the yearbook
    • The Presence of Seven in the Light of Movement: the Danny Lane sculpture in the Senior Circle
    • the Tillotson Room: the dining room in the Patricia Bush Tippie Alumni Center
    • theatre department
    • time: Do not use 00 with a time: write 8 p.m. rather than 8:00 p.m.
    • Tippie Alumni Center: The full name is the Patricia Bush Tippie Alumni Center at Cochran Hall, but it’s OK to use the shortened name in most instances
    • titles: Capitalize titles only when they appear immediately before a proper name: Professor of Ornithology Lydia Swallow brought the class to a frenzy. Lydia Swallow, professor of ornithology, brought several stuffed dodos to class.
    • toward: not towards
    • track & field
    • trademarked names: Watch out for these. A lot of product terms are proper nouns. It’s Kleenex, not kleenex; Frisbee, not frisbee, Ping Pong, not ping pong. Sometimes you can get around this — just say tissue instead of Kleenex, but sometimes it’s just too awkward. (Who wants to say “Wanna go out and play a game of flying disc?”) Also, you should never have to use that little ™ mark or the ® in regular copy. The people who own the trademarks might need to, but we don’t.
    • Union Latinx
    • United States (noun), U.S. (adj.)
    • Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA): national program
    • Volunteers in Support of Allegheny (VISA): Allegheny College program
    • Vukovich Center for Communication Arts
    • WARC-FM (college radio station)
    • Watershed Conservation Research Center: Use the full name on first reference; “center” or “WCRC” maybe used on subsequent references.
    • website
    • wellbeing
    • which: “which” should be used in nonrestrictive clauses: “The report he gave me, which I read over the weekend, was pure drivel.” “That” is used for restrictive clauses: The car that hit me was being driven at a high rate of speed. (Restrictive serves to identify which car we’re talking about.)
    • Wingfest
    • Winslow Health Center
    • Women’s, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS): Replaced the women’s studies major and minor and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) studies minor.
    • academic degrees: a Bachelor of Arts, a bachelor’s degree, a Master of Fine Arts, an MFA, an MBA, a master’s in political science, a Ph.D., a doctorate. (Please note that “bachelors degree” and “masters degree,” without the apostrophe, are incorrect.) Never say a “B.A. degree.”

Please contact Marketing and Communications if you have specific questions about editorial standards and usage.