NSU Editorial Styles Manual

Abbreviations — Do not use abbreviations and acronyms that the reader wouldn't understand. Spell out the word(s) in the first usage. Example: Northeastern Activities Board (NAB).

Two-letter abbreviations are set with periods; three or more letters without periods: a.m., U.S., R.N., CAE, SAT, GPA. NSU is always written with no periods, set solid.
Use periods for all degrees, certificates and licenses: B.S., M.Ed., M.B.A.
A standard set of three- and four-unit department abbreviations is used with the course titles in all catalogs, bulletins and class schedules. They are set in solid caps with no periods: MKTG, ANTH.
Corporate Identity. Abbreviate company, companies, corporation, incorporated and limited. Use a comma only if the organization uses a comma in its formal name. If used, a comma must be used both before and after the abbreviation in textual material unless the company's name appears at the end of the sentence.
Abbreviate the following titles when used before a name outside direct quotations: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Mr., Mrs., Ms., Rep., Rev., the Rev., Sen. When these titles are used in a direct quotation, spell them out, with the exception of: Dr., Mr., Mrs., Ms.
Always abbreviate junior or senior when either appears after a person's name. Do not separate from the name with a comma.
ACT — Stands for American College Testing Program assessment, a standardized admissions test. Spell out in first usage.
Assistant, associate — do not abbreviate
Extension — abbreviate Ext.
Annual — An annual event is one that has been held in at least two successive years. Do not use the phrase "first annual".
Numbered addresses. Abbreviate avenue, boulevard, circle, court, drive, road, place, street, terrace when used in numbered addresses. Without a number, spell out, Example: His home was at 914 Crafton St.
State names and U.S. Postal Service codes. (See Titles and Names)

Apostrophes (') — Apostrophes denote something missing, as in a contraction, or possessiveness. Do not use needlessly. Examples in which apostrophes are appropriate include can't, don't, it's (for "it is"), John's paper, the '90s (note an apostrophe for the omitted "19" and not between the numbers and the "s"). Do not use apostrophes for 1990s, his, hers, its (when denotes possessiveness), theirs, TVs, VCRs.

Area Codes — There are two acceptable formats (918) 456-5511 or 918 / 456-5511.

Asterisk (*) - When used to refer to a footnote, the asterisk follows all punctuation marks except the dash and closing parenthesis when the note refers only to what is within the parentheses.

Board of Education — The Oklahoma State Board of Education is the name of the body that guides the Oklahoma Department of Education.

Board of Regents — In the first reference, use the full formal name: Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges and Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. In subsequent references, any of the following may be used: Board of Regents, the board (note lowercase), the regents (note lowercase), Oklahoma Board of Regents, state Board of Regents.

Books, Titles of — Capitalize and italicize titles and subtitles of books and journals. See "titles of compositions, publications, works."

Bookstore — The retail outlet for books, magazines and school-related sundries at NSU is known as the Northeastern State University Bookstore. The university's name may be dropped, however, if the reference is clearly to NSU's store (but the cap is retained in Bookstore). It is housed in the University Center.

Buildings — Never abbreviate in textual material. Capitalize the proper names of buildings, including the word building if it is an integral part of the formal name. Examples: The NSU campus has numerous buildings, including the Fine Arts Building, the Science Building and the University Center.

Business-Reply Mail — Contact the NSU Postal Services for guidelines for using the university's business-reply mail permit. Note: The guidelines are very exact and subject to change. The first name to appear on the address must be that of the permit holder, which is the university. NSU's permit number is 37. Note: There is a separate ZIP code used for business-reply mail at NSU. It is 74464-9989.

Capitalization — Capitalize the complete formal names of NSU colleges and departments, offices, committees, programs, course titles. Lowercase any fragmentary title, such as the college, the university, the center.

alma mater — lowercase

Lowercase titles following a name or standing alone: John Jacobs, dean of the College of Arts and Letters; director, Publications Services. Capitalize titles preceding names: Vice President Howard, Dean Haskins.

At NSU, the term professor is used very specifically; it is not a generic term for any person teaching a course at the university. The word should be used only in reference to those who have official status as full professors. In references to other faculty, use the official designations given in the university catalog. Such designations include associate professor assistant professor, adjunct professor, instructor, etc.

Capitalize the formal names of academic departments, but lowercase informal or incomplete references. Example: the Department of Mass Communication, the mass communication department, the department; the College of Optometry, the optometry college, the college.

bachelor's degree — Lowercase informal references to the degree; capitalize formal degree names, Examples: They both have bachelor's degrees. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree; he has a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology.

Capitalize program in formal names: Honors Program, Advanced Placement Program, General Education Program. Lowercase program name: M.B.A. program, Master of Science program in finance.

Majors, minors, emphases, areas of concentration, subject areas are lowercase: Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, theatre emphases. Master of Education program in curriculum and instruction.

Academic quarters, semesters, terms — Lowercase these generic terms. Examples: The fall term begins on Monday. She will take classes this summer quarter. Classes for the College of Optometry begin in the fall semester.

Academic units (such as centers, chairs, colleges, departments, institutes, offices and schools) — Capitalize the formal name of an academic unit. Lowercase partial or informal unit names except for words that are proper nouns or adjectives. Examples: Northeastern State University, the university. The Living Literature Center has done a fine job. The center plans to do even better. He was a member of the faculty of the Department of Curriculum and Development.

Alumni Association. This is a generic term and is always lowercased. NSU's alumni association is the Northeastern State University Alumni Association, but it may be called the NSU Alumni Association or the Alumni Association of Northeastern State University.

Board of Directors. The term board of directors is always lowercased. At NSU, we have the NSU Foundation board of directors and the NSU Alumni Association board of directors.

Committees — Committees are capitalized only when part of a formal name: The NSU Homecoming Committee, etc.

Directions — Capitalize when referring to a region; do not capitalize when referring to compass directions.

Directors. Capitalize before the name; lowercase when standing alone or when following the name. Media Information Services Director Neal Weaver, Director Neal Weaver; Neal Weaver, director of Media Information Services.

Organizations and institutions — Capitalize the full formal names of organizations and institutions (and retain the capitalization even if Co., Corp., Inc., etc., is deleted from the full proper name), lowercase partial or informal references. Examples: the American Medical Association, the association; the First Methodist Church, the church; The Northeastern State College of Optometry, the college; the Society of University Women, the society. Capitalize major subsidiaries or subdivisions of an organization in a similar fashion. However, lowercase internal elements of an organization that have names that are widely used generic terms. Examples: the board of advisers, the board of trustees, the board of directors, the sports department at the newspaper, the library's reference desk.

Student classifications, groups — Capitalize the formal names of organized groups of students and student classes, but lowercase student classifications. Examples: Northeastern Student Government Association, the Biology Club, senior class, class of 1994, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate, undergraduate.

Center — Capitalize only when it is part of a fully expressed formal name. Examples: The University Center is a NSU campus building. The Student Development Center is the name of an important NSU division.

Certified public accountant — Spell out in first references. Do not capitalize. Do not use periods with CPA.

Chapter, organization — Lowercase when the reference is to a chapter of an organization. Example:: The Oklahoma chapter of BACCHUS.

Chapter, publication — Capitalize when used with a number - always an Arabic figure - for a chapter of a publication. Example:: The information was in Chapter 3 of the book.

Capital, capitol — capital is a town, capitol is a building.

Certificates, teaching — Northeastern State University prepares students to teach; but the state of Oklahoma, not the university, awards teaching certificates.

CEU — Stands for Continuing Education Unit. Do not use periods. The plural does not take an apostrophe (CEUs).

Chairman of an NSU academic department — The head of an academic department at Northeastern State University has the title chairman. No other title, such as chairwoman, chairperson or chair, may be used instead.

Commas (,) — in a series — use to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: The dress is blue, green and gray.

Placement with quotes — commas always go inside quotation marks.

With dates, months, seasons, years — Do not use a comma between the month and year, or season and year, unless a specific day is given. Note: A comma follows the year when used with a month and date in textual material. Examples: June 1889 was the month he retired. The new president's term will begin fall 1890. The editor set March 24, 2003, as the deadline for the stylebook.

With identification of cities, states, nations — In textual material, enclose the name of a state or nation with commas when it appears with a city. Examples: Ken Selby of Tulsa, Oklahoma, attended the meeting. Tulsa, Oklahoma, has many fine schools. She spent her vacation at a Dublin, Ireland, resort.

With Jr., Sr., III, IV, etc. — Do not use a comma to separate a name from Jr., Sr., III, IV, etc.

With numbers — Use a comma for most numbers larger than 999. Examples: 1,000; 11,000; 111,000; 1,111,000; 111,111,000. Exceptions: Street addresses, room numbers, serial numbers, telephone numbers, course numbers and years do not require commas.

With quarters, semesters, terms — Do not use a comma between the year and the quarter, semester or term. Examples: The new class begins each year at fall quarter. The College of Optometry is an exception; its classes begin fall semester 1995.

Colons(:) — The most frequent use of a colon is at the end of a sentence to introduce lists, tabulations, texts, etc. Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence: He promised this: The company would make good on all its promises. But: There were three courses he needed to graduate: speech, health and college algebra.

Courses — For list of courses or reference to course titles and/or descriptions, use the form in the latest issue of the catalog. Exception: course titles should not be set in all caps. The catalogs are the authority for names of courses, programs, etc.

When a course title has a subtitle or a period designation, separate it from the main title with a colon: U.S. History II: Civil War to World War I.

Dates — If a month is used with a specific date and year it should be written Aug. 12, 1996, is the starting date. Without a specific date, it should read August 1996. Do not abbreviate days, and do not abbreviate March, April, May, June and July.

Degrees — See bachelor's, capitalization.

Emeritus — The emeritus title goes after a name: Bill Martin, dean emeritus.

Exclamation Point (!) — Use it to mark emphatic expressions, high degree of surprise, incredulity or other strong emotion; avoid overuse as it diminishes the effectiveness.

Placement with quotes — place inside quotation marks when it's part of the quoted material: "How wonderful!" she exclaimed. Place outside when not pact of the quoted material: I hate reading "Beowulf"! Do not use a comma or a period after the exclamation mark.

Hyphen (-) — Hyphens are joiners. Use them to avoid ambiguity or to form a single idea from two or more words: The president will speak to small-business owners.
. With compound modifiers: When two or more words express a single concept — preceding a noun, use hyphens to link all the words in the compound except the adverb very and all adverbs that end in ly: a first-quarter touchdown, a full-time student, a well-known teacher, a very good class, an easily remembered rule. DO NOT HYPHENATE VICE PRESIDENT.
. Modifiers — hyphenate two-word modifiers: nationally-acclaimed performers.

Numbers — For numbers 10 and above use numerals. Spell out nine and below with the following exceptions: semester hours, ages, and percentages.

Use of decimals with numbers. Express gradepoint averages to two decimal places: 2.50, 4.00. Time of day: 8 a.m., not 8:00 a.m. Sums of money: delete .00 unless the figure is aligned in a table with other figures.

Telephone companies have now agreed upon a standard format for all phone numbers using parenthesis around area codes and hyphens between the first three and last four numbers. For Example:, (918) 456-5511 is the standard format.

WATS lines — preferred style :1-800-000-0000.

Parentheses ( ) — Parentheses are jarring to readers and should be used sparingly. With punctuation: place punctuation outside of closing parentheses if the material is not a sentence (such as this fragment). When a phrase is place in parentheses (this is an Example:) might normally qualify as a complete sentence but is dependent on surrounding material, do not capitalize the first word or end in a period.

Periods (.) — Use at the end of a declarative sentence: The stylebook is finished. At the end of mildly imperative sentence: Shut the door. At the end of an indirect sentence: He asked what the score was.

Initials — Use after initials, with no space left between, John F. Kennedy. T.S. Eliot (no space between T. and S.). Placement with quotation marks: periods always go inside quotation marks.

Question Mark (?) — Use at the end of a direct question: Who started the fire?

placement with quotation marks — may go inside or outside, depending on the meaning:
Who wrote "A Prayer for Owen Meaney"?
He asked, "How long until class is over?"
"Who is there?" she asked. Note no comma.

Quotation Marks (" ") — Quotation marks should surround the exact words of a speaker: "I have every intention of graduating this May," she said. "I would like to see," he said, "more Rueben sandwiches in the Cedar Room." A spectator said, "The game was wonderfully played."

Running quotations — If a full paragraph of quoted material is followed by a paragraph that continues the quotation, do not put close-quote marks at the end of the first paragraph, but do put open-quote marks at the start of the second paragraph. Placement with other punctuation — the period and the comma always go within the quotation marks. The dash, the semicolon, the question mark and the exclamation point go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

Semicolon (;) — Use the semicolon to indicate a greater separation of thought and information than a comma can convey but less than the separation that a period implies. To clarify a series: Use semicolons to separate elements of a series when individual segments contain material that also must be set off by commas: Students and their hometowns are John Deere of Flint, Mich.; Julie Stone of Muskogee; Brad Steele of Fayetteville, Ark.; and Deidre Callahan of Tahlequah. Note semicolon is used before the final "and" in the series.

Spelling / Word Treatment — Following are examples of word treatment specific to NSU.

Set solid:
audiovisual
corequisite
crosslisted
email
gradepoint
inservice
noncredit
online
percent
postgraduate
preregister
superhighway
videotape

Set as two words:
course work
field house

Hyphenate:
graduate-level courses
lower-division courses
non-majors
non-business
on-campus
off-campus
post-secondary
pre-engineering
pre-enrollment
pre-professional

Frequently Misspelled:
accommodate(s), accommodations(s)
acknowledgment
judgment
adaptable
adviser (preferred spelling)
commitment
its, it's (one is a contraction, one denotes possessiveness)
John Vaughan Library (note "a" in Vaughan)
vice president (note no hyphen)

Terminology and Usage — Miscellaneous Terminology — The University Catalog should be referred to when referring to NSU academic procedures and policies, titles of programs, departments and majors.

The official department name and connection must appear in the text of a publication which treats various programs or emphases. The program or division within the college should be referred to as: Dr. Brad Agnew, professor of history in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.

Upper division and lower division are the correct references, for NSU students in the junior-senior or freshman-sophomore groups and for NSU courses at the 3000-4000 or 1000-2000 levels. Do not use the terms upper class, under class, or lower class in this context.

Tuition and fees are the expenses a university students pays upon registering for classes. Tuition is the charge which covers the student's instructional program; fees cover all the additional charges such as activities, athletics and health services. An out-of-state student pays out-of-state tuition, not out-of-state fees.

Use semester hours to refer to academic credits, not credit hour (or hour alone, except in second reference).
Use gradepoint average (second reference could be GPA). Example: She has a 4.00 gradepoint average, last year she had a 3.50 GPA.

Spell out the names of campus buildings rather than use the abbreviation (found in the university telephone directory, schedule of classes or campus map).
When giving campus addresses use the building name followed by the room number: Leoser 104.

Please note the proper terminology for degrees: One earns a bachelor's degree or a baccalaureate degree, a master's degree; a law degree or Juris Doctor degree; a doctoral degree or a doctorate. Also, Ph.D. degree or M.A. degree is preferred over simple Ph.D. or M.A.

Ages — When expressing age, always use a figure. This is an exception to the usual rules about numbers. Use hyphens in ages expressed as adjectives before ones, or as substitutes for nouns. Example: He's just a 6-year-old child. His sister is 4 years old. The 40-year-old professor has a son, 9, from a previous marriage. The boy ran in a race for 12-year-olds and lost.

alumnus, alumni, alumna, alumnae, alum — An alumnus (alumni in the plural) is a man who graduated from NSU. An alumna (alumnae in the plural) is a woman who graduated from a school. Alum is colloquial for either male or female graduate. Use alumni when referring to a group of men and women graduates.

time — use nopn and midnight, lowercase and separate with periods a.m., p.m. No zeros are necessary for whole hours: 8 a.m., 7 p.m., 6:30 p.m.

Titles and Names — If it is necessary to identify faculty rank, use the exact designation: John J. Smith, associate professor of history.
Do not precede a name with a courtesy title indicating an academic degree and follow it with the abbreviation for the degree. Example: Dr. Ken Collins, Ph.D., is redundant. Ken Collins, Ph.D., education, would be better
The use of individuals' names should be avoided unless a publication is for short-term use. Whenever possible, headline a position or title: "For more information, write to the chair of the Department of Mathematics." If names are used, first reference should names be by first and last name; subsequent references usually are by last name only.

Capitalize the formal names of academic departments, but lowercase informal or incomplete references. Example:the Department of Mass Communication, the era, communication department, the department; the College of Optometry, the optometry college, the college.

When listing an institution, do not use location unless it is part of the title. Examples: University of Wisconsin-Madison. If the institution is outside of the U.S., give location. Abbreviate the following titles when used before a name outside direct quotations: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Mr., Mrs., Ms., Rep., Rev., the Rev., Sen. When these titles are used in a direct quotation, spell them out, with the exception of: Dr., Mr., Mrs., Ms.

Northeastern State University. After a first reference (using the full name), the university's name may be abbreviated as Northeastern State or as NSU (no periods). Note: The word university is not an abbreviation for the institutions name. When used alone, it is not capitalized. The preferred usage is to spell out Northeastern State University.

Numbered addresses. Abbreviate avenue, boulevard, circle, court, drive, road, place, street, terrace when used in numbered addresses. Without a number spell out. Example: His home was at 914 Crafton St.

State names and U.S. Postal Service codes. The U.S. Postal Services uses a system of two-letter codes to designate states mailing addresses (examples: OK, CA, TX). These are not abbreviations for use elsewhere. Spell out the names of the 50 U.S. states when they stand alone in textual material. Never abbreviate the name of the nation's capital. The names of eight states never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, Utah. The remaining state names should be abbreviated in textual material when used with the name of a city or town. The state abbreviations for text are: Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kan., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Neb., Nev., Okla., Ore., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.D., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo. Do not abbreviate Washington, D.C., or District of Columbia.

With dates. Spell out the months of the year when they are used alone or with the year. With a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.