Editorial Style Guide

Our digital communication — on the web, in social media, and via email — is the start of a two-way conversation with our audience. It is an invitation to connect, inquire, and discover.

To engage our audience and facilitate that conversation, we strive to write clearly using a strong, independent voice. Learn more about the DCE voice.

The guidelines that follow can help you maintain a consistent editorial style and avoid common grammar mistakes.

Abbreviations

Acronyms and initialisms

Use acronyms and initialisms sparingly, particularly on the web where the reader is skimming text and unlikely to read pages in a linear fashion.

• When used, omit periods and spaces between letters. On first reference, terms should be spelled out in sentences and paragraphs. For example, if you want to use the acronym HES, be sure it is mentioned in a previous header or text.
• If you are referencing a degree that you will be referring to later in the text, include the abbreviation in parentheses the first time you use the term.
• Otherwise, omit the abbreviation
  • The Bachelor of Liberal Arts (ALB) degree
  • Harvard Extension Alumni Association (HEAA)

To avoid overuse of abbreviations and to simplify degree name, use alternate references:

• ALB: undergraduate degree, bachelor’s degree
• HEAA: alumni association, the association
• “The” should be used with initialisms if the article is used with the spelled-out form.
  • The Secondary School Program
  • The Pre-College Program
  • The Summer School Programs

Addresses

Spell out street, avenue, boulevard, and the like when part of a formal street name. Abbreviate when part of a full address (123 Maple St.).

• Special note: Write out “One” for One Brattle Square when writing about the studio or classroom space on the website, blog, etc. Use the number “1 Brattle Square” when just listing an address.

Ampersand (&)

Spell out “and” instead of using the symbol unless the ampersand is part of a proper name.

• Exception: Occasionally, an ampersand may be used in a heading or in website navigation to save space.

Centuries

Spell out centuries: Ninth century, twenty-first century

GPA, grade point average

Use GPA on the first reference when used with figures: Students must have a 3.0 GPA.

Spell out (no hyphens) when used alone, and lowercase the initial letters.

Inc.

At the end of an official company name, a comma does not need to precede the abbreviation.

• Apple Computer Inc.

Months

Spell out months in sentences. You can abbreviate in email and on web pages to save space.

For example, in tables, calendars, and lists, the following abbreviations may be used with dates: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.

State names

State names may be abbreviated for space; the following states are never abbreviated:

• Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah
• Postal abbreviations for states (MA, TX, CA) should only be used when listing a complete mailing address.

Teaching assistant

Spell out (in lower case) on first reference. Use the abbreviation, TA (plural: TAs), on second reference.

United States, U.S.

U.S. Spell out United States when used as a noun. On second and subsequent mentions, U.S.

• The U.S. senator supported the ban.
• Students come from around the United States.

Washington, D.C.

Use a comma after D.C. in a sentence.

• They visited Washington, D.C., for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

Academic Degrees & Certificates

Extension School degrees

References to degrees are spelled out and lowercase unless they are degrees from the Harvard Extension School. Capitalize official names of Extension School academic degrees, certificates, and programs.

• Bachelor of Liberal Arts (ALB) in the field of Mathematics
• Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in the field of Psychology
• Software Engineering Graduate Certificate
• Harvard Extension School programs

The following are official HES program names and acceptable abbreviated and capitalized forms.

Official, capitalized program name; all other references lowercased:

• Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies, field of [bioinformatics]
  • Biotechnology Master’s Degree Program (format for program names)
• Harvard Premedical Program, premedical program
• Harvard Professional & Executive Development Programs
  • Certificate of Completion from Harvard Division of Continuing Education
  • Harvard Professional & Executive Development Certificate of Leadership Excellence (CLE)
• Harvard Summer School Pre-College Program, Pre-College Program
• Harvard Summer School Secondary School Program, Secondary School Program
• Undergraduate Degree Program, Bachelor of Liberal Arts Program

Non-Extension School degrees spelling

Note the use of apostrophes in bachelor’s and master’s.

• bachelor of arts, bachelor’s degree, bachelor’s, undergraduate degree; not BA or AB
• master of science, master’s degree, master’s, graduate degree; not MS

Although Harvard Extension School degree/certificate abbreviations may be used on second reference, general references that can be understood by a wide audience are preferred. Always include Harvard in front of Extension. You may also use the HES acronym in parentheses after you have introduced Harvard Extension School (HES) first. You may use HES after that as an abbreviation.

• Susan Smith earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts at the Harvard Extension School. The undergraduate degree gave her a solid foundation for graduate study.

Fields listed with a degree are not capitalized.

• The Master of Liberal Arts in the field of psychology

Use an indefinite article before a degree instead of a pronoun or a definite article.

• Matt Jones earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford. NOT: Matt Jones earned his/the bachelor’s degree from Stanford.

Faculty/Instructor Guidelines

All brands: Never use “Professor” — that implies a professorship title at Harvard, which most of those who teach for us do not have.

• An exception is if we have confirmed professor is part of someone’s official title.
• Instructor may be used as a title to describe the person, for example, Instructor John Smith. This would replace “Professor” as a title since we can’t use Professor like HBS or other academic departments may be able to.

For Harvard Summer School, we can say: “Harvard and visiting faculty.”

For P&ED, “Professional and Executive Development” and “DCE” need to be somewhere in the copy to be able to use the title “Harvard instructor.” This is because we can’t use Harvard if we’ve not already noted that this is the Division of Continuing Education.

If these are not somewhere in the copy or logo, then you cannot use “Harvard instructor.” The best options are “Instructor” or “Harvard Professional and Executive Development Instructor” (with DCE somewhere, i.e. logo). Do not use “faculty member.”

For Harvard Extension School, do not use “Harvard instructor.” Just use “instructor.” Also, do not use “faculty member.”

• Exception: Faculty can be used when referring to a group of Extension School instructors. “Our faculty are experts in a wide range of industries.”

Titles & Names

It’s acceptable to use degree abbreviations (Ph.D.) in listings, such as with an instructor’s name, an alumni listing, and a title in a course listing or directory.

Titles

Titles should be used to introduce people in running text. In subsequent references, drop the title and use a person’s last name only.

Only capitalize a formal professional, civil, military, or religious title if it immediately precedes a name in running text. Don’t capitalize titles when they follow names or when they are used without names.

• Forms should be sent to the ALB director.
• Dean of Students Rob Neugeboren met with the students.
• Rob Neugeboren, dean of students, met with the students.
• Professor Joe Smith has taught at the school for fifteen years.
• Joe Smith, professor of chemistry, has taught at the school for fifteen years.
• The University president, Lawrence Bacow, formed the committee.

Exceptions:

• Named professorships, which are capitalized before and after names.
  • Molly Morris, the John P. Doe Professor of Computer Science and associate dean for computer science, is on the advisory board.
• If a formal title is long, list it after a name instead of before.
  • Avoid: Bachelor of Liberal Arts Program Director John Smith advises students.
  • Preferred: John Smith, director of the Bachelor of Liberal Arts Program, advises students.
  • If the position is not used as a title preceding the person’s name and not part of their signature, it should be lowercase.
• Occupational titles should be lowercase before and after names. Preferably, list job titles after names.
  • Lynn Pierce, academic advisor
  • academic advisor Lynn Pierce
• Formal, or tabular, contexts.
  • Titles that appear with names in tabular contexts, as opposed to running text, should be capitalized.
  • For example: lists of honorees or board members in the front of a publication; in a photo caption, byline, or pull-quote; as part of a mailing address; and in course listings.

Names with titles

Avoid overuse of formal titles with names, and do not use the courtesy titles Miss, Ms., Mr., and Mrs. Instead, reference a subject’s title once, on first reference. On subsequent references, use only the last name for consistency.

• Avoid: Professor Smith, Dr. Jones, and Mr. Carr teach during the spring.
• Preferred: Smith, Jones, and Carr teach during the spring.

Dean and Ph.D./Doctor titles

Doctor (Dr.). Avoid this title for people with a Ph.D. unless an individual expresses a preference for its use. Never create redundancy by combining it with the degree it signifies. Either Dr. Sal Park or Sal Park, Ph.D. Not Dr. Sal Park, Ph.D.

Harvard Extension School degrees

Use degree and graduation year abbreviations after the names of Extension School alumni when appropriate to the audience. If listing multiple degrees, set the degrees off by commas.

Example: Susan Smith ALB ’04 is pursuing a graduate degree in the field of Psychology.

Harvard DCE Leadership titles

For a full list of DCE Leadership titles, please see the Leadership page.

Dean Nancy Coleman

If you are listing her title on its own in a subheading or signature. Format it in this instance.

• Dean, Harvard Extension School and Continuing Studies

If listing her title in the body of a text write: Nancy Coleman, Dean of Harvard Extension School and Continuing Studies. “DCE Dean Nancy Coleman” can be used for email, social, or if we need to shorten her title for space.

On second reference, she is “Dr. Coleman” or “Dean Coleman” — choose which based on the context of the piece.

Do not use “Nancy” on second reference unless this has been specified.

Capitalization

Headers

All headers should be in title case.

• 5 Study Tips to Follow this Fall

If a heading has more than one sentence in it, you can leave off punctuation in the second sentence.

Events

Capitalize official titles of an event or activity, such as a fair, workshop, forum, panel, or reception. Lowercase general references.

Use title case when writing out event names. No quotation marks are used around event names.

• Fred Jones will speak at the career workshop “How to Write a Cover Letter.”
• Fred Jones will speak at a career workshop on cover-letter writing.
• They attended the Harvard International Fair.

Course names

Title case. No quotation marks around course names.

Academic & administrative entities

Capitalize departments, administrative offices, schools, and the like when the complete official name is used. Lowercase less formal references.

The is unnecessary when using the full name of DCE entities. Use the only when you shorten the name: the Extension School, the Summer School, the division.

Examples:

• Harvard Extension School, the Extension School
• Harvard Summer School, the Summer School
• Professional and Executive Development Programs, our programs
• Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement, the institute
• Division of Continuing Education, the division
• Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the faculty
• Department of Mathematics, the math department
• Office of Predegree Admissions and Advising, the admissions team
• Enrollment Services
• Student Financial Services
• Registrar’s Office
• Administrative Board (of the Extension School), the board

Compounds in titles

If the first element is a prefix that does not stand alone (e.g. anti, pre, pro) then do not capitalize the second element unless it’s a proper noun. Note these common uses:

• Achieving Sustainable Development in the Twenty-First Century
• Pre-war Era

Awards

Capitalize the names of awards; in some cases, generic terms used with the official name are not capitalized.

• Pulitzer Prize, a Pulitzer in journalism, a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting
• Lowell Scholarships, Lowell Student/Teacher Scholarship
• Derek Bok Public Service Prize, Bok prize
• Dean’s Prize for Outstanding ALM Thesis in the humanities, Dean’s thesis prize, thesis prize
• Petra T. Shattuck Excellence in Teaching Awards, Shattuck award

Buildings/locations

Capitalize the proper names of campus buildings and locations and lowercase general references.

• Music Building
• Science Center, the center
• Sever Hall
• Undergraduate Program Office

Lowercase “room” even when accompanied by a specific room number and building.

• Emerson Hall, room 121

Exceptions:

• All references to Harvard resident Houses are capitalized.
  • Adams House, the House
  • Lowercase general references to the houses: Students live in campus houses near Harvard Yard.
• Do not capitalize locations with informal names.
  • help desk
  • information desk
  • degree program office

Admissions

• Use lowercase and hyphens for earn-your-way-in.
• Use “earn your way in process” rather than “earn your way in policy.”

Commencement

Capitalize when referring to Harvard Commencement.

Lowercase for Commencement activities:

• degree-awarding ceremony
• undergraduate reception
• morning exercises
• dean’s list

Committees

In most cases, lowercase names of committees.

• examinations committee
• alumni committee

Core Curriculum, core

Capitalize the reference to the curriculum program of Harvard College; lowercase core when used as an adjective without curriculum: core course, core credit.

Directions and regions

Lowercase north, south, east, west, northeast, etc., when referring to direction or location.

• A storm is moving north through New England.
• I prefer a southern climate.
• She lives in the south of France.

Capitalize the term when they refer to recognizable regions, but lowercase these terms as adjectives.

• People are laid back in the West.
• the Northwest, northwestern
• the South, a southern accent

Composition titles

Capitalize the main words in titles of books, periodicals, movies, plays, songs and musical compositions, poems, television programs, lectures, speeches, webpages, and works of art, including prepositions and conjunctions that are more than four words.

Use italics for the following publications and media:

• Books (title alone is sufficient; do not reference publisher, year, etc.)
• Newspapers
• Periodicals (journals and magazines)
• Movies and plays
• Works of art
• Songs
• Sections of musical compositions, with the title of the whole work set in Roman
• Television or radio programs
• Gallery and museum exhibitions
• Use quotation marks to denote short works such as the following:
• Albums
• Newspaper or magazine articles
• Academic papers, such as theses or dissertations
• Stories
• Lectures or speeches
• Episodes of TV or radio shows

Forms

Do not capitalize the principal words in the complete title of official Extension School forms; do not capitalize informal titles.

• Special student scholarship application, the application
• Transcript request form, the request form

Grades

For letter grades, use capital letters and do not use quotation marks or apostrophes.

• She received an A in the course.
• There is a W on his transcript.
• She earned two Bs and three Cs.

Lowercase all other HES transcript designations, and abbreviate on second reference.

• pass/fail
• extension of time (EXT)
• withdrawal (WD)
• noncredit withdrawal (WN)
• make-up exam (MU)
• required to withdraw (RQ)
• met all requirements (AR)
• met most requirements (MR)
• did not meet requirements (NM)

Numbers

Spell out one through nine, and use numerals for 10 and above. The major exceptions are the use of numerals for credits, dates, GPAs, percentages, decimals, page numbers, addresses and room numbers, age, times of day, quantities expressed in whole numbers and fractions, and monetary units. Exceptions can also be made for emails for scannability.

• She earned a 3.0 GPA in her first three courses, and the 12 credits constituted 30 percent of her requirements.
• You’ll find the answer on page 3.
• The alumni association raised $5 million for the anniversary appeal. but She gave me 75 cents (always spell out cents).
• By the time he was 18, he’d taken three college courses.

For numbers in the millions or higher, use a numeral and the word million, billion, etc.

• $2 billion
• 300 million people
• but a million

Do not use ordinal numbers with dates.

• The deadline is August 1. Not: The deadline is August 1st.

Spell out all numbers except calendar years if they appear at the beginning of a sentence; ideally, rephrase the sentence.

• Eight hundred and thirty students received financial aid.
• Financial aid was distributed to 830 students.

Numbers with more than three digits should include commas unless they represent years or test scores.

• the year 2004
• 30,000 residents
• an SAT score of 1180

Spell out fractions and hyphenate; use decimals for a combination of whole numbers and fractions.

• three-fourths
• 3.75

Dates

Use commas to set off years when listing full dates in sentences.

• She began her tenure on September 1, 1993, and became chair of the department in 2000.

Use cardinal numbers for specific dates, never ordinal numbers: September 1, not September 1st.

Include the year only when referring to a date that doesn’t fall in the current calendar year. An exception should be made when referring to Commencement.

• The event will be held this Friday, October 27.
• They moved to Philadelphia on February 1, 2011.
• We look forward to celebrating our 2024 Commencement.

Commas are unnecessary when expressing only month and year. When a day appears with a year in a sentence, a comma should come before and after the year.

• The report is dated September 1975.
• On June 1, 2013, they arrived in the city.

Use en dashes for year ranges.

• The 2024–25 catalog is now live.

Use en dashes for time ranges.

• 7–8 p.m.

Spell out the names of months and days of the week in running text. Days and some months may be abbreviated in headlines or tabular formats to save space. In such cases, ensure months are abbreviated consistently.

• Acceptable abbreviations: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
• Abbreviations for days: Sun., Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat.

Spell out references to centuries.

• eighteenth century, twenty-first century

Only abbreviate years by the last two digits when referring to degrees and graduation years of alumni. An apostrophe precedes the abbreviation.

• ALB ’06, CM ’83; not CM 1983

Decades can either be spelled out or expressed in figures. No apostrophe separates the year from the plural s.

• the nineties, the 1990s
  • not 1990’s

Dollar amounts

Use a dollar sign followed by a numeral. Use numbers with words for amounts that are a million or greater. Do not use .00 with dollar values.

• $50, not $50.00
• $14,800
• $1.3 million

Inclusive numbers

In sentences, use an en dash to indicate ranges in numbers

• She lived in England from 1994–97.
• There was an increase in enrollments during the 2018–19 academic year.
• The offices are open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• See pages 296–297 for more information.

Phone numbers

Phone numbers. Place the area code in parentheses before the phone number: (617) 555-5555. If a phone number is being listed in a communication channel targeting an international audience, include +1 before the area code +1 (617) 555-5555.

Time

Abbreviate and lowercase ante meridiem and post meridiem. Use periods and include a space between the number and a.m./p.m. Use numerals separated by a colon for hours and minutes, with the abbreviations. Omit the colon and minutes for even-hour times.

• 6:30 p.m.
• 6 p.m., not 6:00 p.m.

For deadlines tied to registration or applications, use 11:59 p.m. for midnight in emails per our Enrollment Services Team to avoid confusion on the date we are referring to.

Avoid redundancies such as 10 a.m. in the morning. Use, simply, 10 a.m.

When a time is listed with a day, date, and location, use a comma after the time.

• The event takes place Tuesday, November 4, 6:30-8 p.m., in Harvard Hall.

Time zones

Uppercase the first word in reference to a time zone, spell out on the first reference, and abbreviate on the second reference:

• Eastern Time
  • Use Eastern Time instead of Eastern Standard or Eastern Daylight, which refers to time zones during specific parts of the year. Eastern Time is more general.

Punctuation

Apostrophe

Regarding plural possessives, follow AP style. In particular, for singular proper names ending in s use only an apostrophe.

Do not place apostrophes in plurals of words.

• hundreds of courses, not hundred’s

Omit the apostrophe when a plural term ending in s is used descriptively, but add ’s if a plural word does not end in s.

• teachers college, Citizens Bank
• children’s hospital, people’s republic

Exceptions:

• Veterans’ Day
• Presidents’ Day

An apostrophe can take the place of the century in year abbreviations: ’95 for 1995. No apostrophe is necessary when referring to a decade: the 1990s, not the 1990’s.

Contractions

Contractions give prose a conversational quality. Use them occasionally to create a more natural tone — but don’t overuse them.

Some contractions can be confusing to readers (e.g., contracting “is” with a personal name can miscue readers: The dean’s planning to visit South America). And people new to the English language may have difficulty translating them.

Stick with common, simple contractions such as it’s, that’s, don’t, couldn’t. Avoid odd ones such as it’d, who’re, and should’ve.

Commas

Use a comma before conjunctions (and, or, etc.) in a list of three or more items. (Oxford comma.)

• Students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend the Lowell Lecture Friday night.

A comma separates two independent clauses in a compound sentence. It precedes the conjunctions and, but, or, nor, for, so when the second half of the sentence contains its own subject, verb, and object.

• I wanted to attend the farewell reception, but I had a prior engagement.

Do not use a comma before a conjunction when the phrase that follows is dependent. To do so would cut the verb in the second phrase off from its noun.

• Smith earned a bachelor’s degree at Harvard in 1973 and began teaching here in the 1990s.

Commas in essential/nonessential clauses (that/which)

Essential — or restrictive — clauses are essential to the meaning of a sentence and, thus, not set off by commas. That is the preferred pronoun for introducing essential clauses.

• The film that we watched in class focused on the Korean War.

Nonessential, or nonrestrictive, clauses are not essential to the meaning of the sentence and, thus, are set off by commas. Use which to introduce nonessential clauses.

• The thesis, which took her two years to complete, was published in a reputable journal.

The same rule regarding commas applies to essential/nonessential phrases.

• We attended the workshop “Reading and Study Strategies” Thursday afternoon.
  • The title of the workshop is essential to clarifying which workshop was attended.
• Her husband, Dan, frequently travels to London on business.
• The University president, Derek Bok, delivered the address.
  • In the above example, the names are not integral to understanding who the president or husband is.

Commas in introductory clauses/phrases

Use a comma after a long introductory clause or phrase.

• When the student discovered she’d won the award, she was ecstatic.

Omit commas after short introductory phrases if the meaning is clear without them.

• In June he graduated from law school.
• To date a dozen people have enrolled in the program.

Commas in day/year

When a day appears with a year in a sentence, a comma should come before and after the year.

• On June 1, 2013, they arrived in the city.

Commas in city/state

When a city and state or city and country appear together in a sentence, a comma should come before and after the state or country.

• There is a lot to do in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the summer.
• The Summer School hosted a program in Paris, France, last year.

No commas are used between month and year or between season and year.

• June 1998
• fall 2007

Dashes

There are two types of dash: em dash (—) and en dash (–), and each serves different purposes. Their functions also differ from the hyphen (-). Include spaces on each side of em dashes, but not en dashes.

Em dash (—)

Formed by using the alt + shift + hyphen keys, this dash is used to denote a strong break in a sentence. It can also be used to set off a nonessential phrase in a sentence that includes many commas.

• The organization — both public and private — will be represented at the conference.
• The online courses — which include World History, Religious Ethics, and Gender Studies — will be available in the fall, spring, and summer terms.

En dash (–)

The en dash is longer than a hyphen but shorter than the em dash (option + hyphen keys). It is most often used with numbers in place of to and to indicate ranges.

• Harvard beat Princeton 17–14
• The 2006–07 academic year
• 5–6:30 p.m.
• Monday–Friday

Limit use of the en dash for time ranges to tabular formats. In sentences, use the following word pairs for durations of time and day.

• Fall courses are held from 5–6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. (from, to)
• The offices are closed between 2 and 6 p.m. (between, and)

Never create nonparallel constructions such as the following:

• Fall courses are held from 5–6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• The offices are closed between 2–6 p.m.
• Fall courses are held from 5 and 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• The offices are closed between 2 to 6 p.m.

Hyphen (-)

Hyphens should be used to avoid ambiguity; often, they connect compound terms. In general, follow these rules:

• Hyphenate compound modifiers before a noun when doing so helps avoid confusion.
• Do not use a hyphen after adverbs ending in ly.
• In most cases, hyphens are not necessary with prefixes. Close-up words such as noncredit, nonprofit, postdoctoral, biweekly, reexamine, and coauthor.
• Note words that have different meanings when hyphenated, e.g., recreation and re-creation.
• In running text, do not use hyphens or endashes to indicate a range.
  • Incorrect: Office hours are Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
  • Correct: Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cross- 

Compound words formed with cross are often hyphenated. Check the dictionary when in doubt.

Cross-cultural, but crossover, crosswalk

First-come, first-served

Hyphenate when it immediately precedes a noun but not when it follows the verb.

• The tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
• The event is first come, first served.

Full time, full-time

Hyphenate when immediately preceding a noun.

• Students take a full-time course load.
• International students are required to enroll full time.

Non

In general, this prefix doesn’t require hyphenation. Exceptions include the use of non before proper nouns or in awkward combinations.

• nonbinding
• nonnegotiable
• non-Euclidean geometry

Off campus, off-campus/on campus, on-campus. 

Do not hyphenate when it follows a verb, but do hyphenate when used as an adjective that immediately precedes a noun.

• The meeting will be held off campus.
• Students are searching for on-campus housing.

Part time, part-time

Hyphenate only when preceding a noun.

• Scholarships were awarded to three part-time students.
• He attends school part time.

Prefixes/suffixes

Most words beginning with a prefix are closed.

• Mid. Midterm, midcentury, midcareer but mid-50s (age or temperature), mid-1980s
• Multi. In general, no hyphen with this prefix
• Re-. In general, do not hyphenate:
  • reedit, reunify, reelect
• Post. Do not hyphenate as a prefix
  • posttraumatic
  • postgraduate
• Pre. In general do not hyphenate. Exception: Harvard Pre-College Program
  • Exception: use a hyphen when the prefix precedes a proper noun:
    • post-World War II

Titles

For hyphenated compounds in titles, DCE follows the traditional rules of the Chicago Manual of Style. In general, capitalize the first word and subsequent words that are nouns, adjectives, or verbs.

• Eighteenth-Century History
• Over-the-Counter Medication

Lists

When listing items in a sentence, use the serial comma to separate the items. If an item within a list contains commas, use semicolons to separate the items.

• He bought apples, pears, and oranges.
• The computer science courses include Practical Computing; XML with Java, Java Servlet, and JSP; and Internet Crime.

Vertical lists catch the reader’s attention. They are particularly useful for making critical information stand out on a webpage.

Use bullets to denote each item in a list. Follow both complete and incomplete introductions to a list with a colon, and capitalize the initial letter of each item.

Popular courses for the spring include the following:

• Biology of Neurodegenerative Diseases
• Politics of Humanitarian Emergencies in Africa

To be admitted to the program, students need to:

• Possess a regionally accredited bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent
• Complete three degree courses (12 credits)
• Have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 in all degree courses when applying

Use periods at the end of bullet items if one or more items in a list are a complete sentence. Omit punctuation if the list items are fragments.

Make sure all items in a list are parallel.

Period

Periods go inside quotation marks. With parentheses, periods go inside if the content is an independent sentence.

• At the time, the penalty was probation. (The policy has since changed.)
• Select the type of course (online or on campus).

Quotation marks

See composition titles for what types of titles belong in quotation marks. Place most punctuation, including periods and question marks, inside quotation marks. An exception: the colon, which comes after a quotation mark.

Quotation marks may be used to set off mottos, slogans, and the like, but they are not necessary.

Use italics instead of quotation marks to emphasize terms or phrases.

Spaces

Use one space after periods, commas, or colons in copy.

Commonly misused & misspelled words

Advisor, not adviser

Afterward, not afterwards

Affect/effect. Generally, affect is a verb (e.g. She affected her audience) and effect is a noun (e.g. She had an effect on her audience).

Exceptions: 

• Both affect and effect can be verbs that have similar meanings. Here’s the distinction:
  • The verb affect means to impact (e.g. She affected her audience)
  • The verb effect, which is not as commonly used, means to cause or bring about an impact (e.g. She affected change in her audience)
• Affect can also be a noun, referring to a specific emotional state

Allude, elude. Allude means to refer to indirectly. Elude means to avoid or to evade.

Alumni. Do not use gendered versions — “alumni” is acceptable whether referring to a single man/woman or a group.

• Extension School alumni are identified by listing the degree abbreviation and last two digits of their graduation year, set off by commas.
  • Susie Smith, ALB ’06
  • Note: Most word processors will autocorrect to a straight apostrophe, but degree years must use an apostrophe that curves left (a closing single quote apostrophe).

Backward, not backwards

Canceled, not cancelled. Cancellation

Comprise. Comprise means “to include.” Never write “comprised of” to mean “composed of”

• The country comprises 50 states.

Coursework, one word

Course load, two words

Course list, two words

Decision-making (adj.), decision making (n.)

Doctoral/doctorate. Doctoral is an adjective: doctoral candidate, doctoral degree. Doctorate is a noun: She has a doctorate — not a doctorate degree.

Email, not e-mail; may be used as a noun or a verb

Emerita, emeritus. The term indicates that a retired individual retains his or her rank/title. Place emerita or emeritus after the specific formal title. Do not set off with commas.

• Bill Smith, professor emeritus of English
• Professor Emerita Ann Jones

Ensure, insure. To ensure is to guarantee something. Use insure when referring to insurance.

• By employing different teaching styles, the professor ensures that everyone has the opportunity to learn the material.
• Have you insured your car?

Entitled/titled. Entitled is a right to act or have something; do not use the word to mean titled or called.

• Students are entitled to financial aid.
• The book is titled Crime and Punishment.

Forward, not forwards

Health care, not healthcare

Historic, historical. Historic means having importance in history, historical means from the past or relating to history.

In order to/in order for. Both of these phrases can often be condensed to simply to or for. Omit in order unless the phrasing seems awkward without it.

• Students attend section meetings in order to prepare for exams.

Judgment, not judgement

Log in, log out; log on, log off (v.).

• To register online, you must log in to online services.

Login, logout (n., adj.)

• The FAQs are located on the login page.

Proved/proven. Do not use proven when you mean proved. Proved is the past participle of prove, and proven is the adjectival form.

• His mental acuity was proved (not proven).
• She has a proven ability to excel at every task she pursues.

Prior to. Do not use prior to in place of before.

• Students must complete three courses before applying to the program.

Professor. Capitalize before a name but not after. Don’t use the abbreviation Prof.

Sight, site, cite.

• Sight relates to vision.
• Site is either a noun (like a piece of land) or a verb (as in to position in a place).
• Cite means to quote or refer to.

Sign up, not sign-up

Theater/theatre. Only use the British spelling convention theatre in proper names: Sanders Theatre, American Repertory Theatre. Otherwise, use the American spelling: theater.

Toward, not towards

Waitlist, waitlisted

Who/whom. Who is a pronoun that serves as a subject of a clause (e.g. Who ate my sandwich?), while whom refers to the object of a clause (e.g. To whom did you give my sandwich?)

An easy way to determine which to use is by answering the question you’re asking or re-phrasing your statement as a question. If you can answer she/he, then use who. If you can answer her/him, use whom. (e.g. Who ate my sandwich? She did. To whom did you give my sandwich? Him.) This works because she/he are subject pronouns and her/him are object pronouns, hence they are helpful in identifying the subject or object of a sentence/clause. 

Common grammar pitfalls

Collective nouns. A collective noun is a singular word that refers to a group: team, faculty, jury. Verbs can be singular or plural, depending on whether you’re emphasizing the group as a whole or the individual entities within the group.

• The police are now patrolling all neighborhoods on the east side.
• The faculty meets quarterly to review curriculum changes.

Dangling modifier. A dangling modifier is an error caused by not placing the noun being modified next to its modifier (or failing to use the noun being modified in the sentence).

• Not ideal: Having seen Blackpool Tower, the Eiffel Tower is more impressive.
• Better: Having seen Blackpool Tower, I am more impressed with the Eiffel Tower.

Include/including. Use the word to introduce a series that’s incomplete. Never follow the term with a colon to introduce the series.

• The requirements include a proseminar, an environmental science course, and a master’s thesis.

Use a comma when the series forms a nonessential clause.

• Candidates for the degree complete 10 courses, including a master’s thesis or project.

Prepositions. Ending a sentence with a preposition is acceptable. Doing so often sounds more natural. If you prefer not to, recast the sentence.

Phrasal prepositions. Such phrases — including by way of, contrary to, in accordance with, and in addition to — are often wordy and unnecessary. Use a simple preposition when possible.

Split infinitives. If splitting an infinitive sounds more natural, do so. Such respected reference books as Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Garner’s Modern American Usage, and The Chicago Manual of Style agree that some splits are not only acceptable, they’re preferable. Refer to the preceding reference books for a more detailed discussion of the issue.

Tense. Choose a verb tense and maintain its use throughout the document. Carefully consider whether to use the future tense; it is often unnecessary.

Bias-free writing

Cultural or racial designations

Avoid using cultural or race designations whenever possible. These terms are often seen as biased language and can be distracting to reader. If necessary, see Chicago 8.37-8.42 for how to properly reference ethnic, socioeconomic, and other groups. Also, see the Anti-Defamation League’s Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing.

Names of ethnic and national groups are capitalized but not hyphenated

• African American
• European American
• Latino
• American Indians

However, general terms like black or white are lowercased

Gender

Avoid sentence constructions and terms that create gender bias. Use parallel grammar or rewrite a sentence.

• Avoid: A student who turns his assignment in late will be penalized.
• Better: A student who turns his or her assignment in late will be penalized.
• Best: Students who turn their assignments in late will be penalized.

Choose gender-neutral terms, such as chairperson or firefighter.

Always use a person’s preferred pronoun, paying special attention when writing about people who are transgender.

The following words may be used as modifiers, but never as nouns:

• lesbian
• gay
• bisexual
• transgender (never “transgendered”)
• trans
• queer
• LGBT

Avoid using “homosexual,” “lifestyle,” or “preference” in reference to LGBT people or communities.

Avoid using “same-sex marriage” unless the adjective is relevant to your piece. If it’s not relevant, just use “marriage.” Do not use “gay marriage” ever.

People with disabilities or conditions

Avoid mentioning a person’s disability unless it’s relevant to the story. When referencing a person or group with disabilities, always put the person before the condition.

• Avoid: Autistic people
• Better: People diagnosed with autism

Do not use conditions or disabilities as labels — i.e. schizophrenics, the handicapped. Instead, use “people with schizophrenia” or “people who are handicapped.” Do not use the words “suffer” or “victim” when referring to individuals with medical conditions.

Also see The Conscious Style Guide.