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Writing Style Guide

The purpose of this style guide is to bring consistency to our online and print publications. In general, we follow the Associated Press Stylebook, except as outlined below. This guide should not be considered authoritative for academic writing.

If you have additional questions and comments about the university's style, please contact Burke Olsen in Communications & Marketing at 540-261-8416 or burke.olsen@svu.edu.

Academic Degrees and Honors

The names of academic degrees and honors should be capitalized when following a personal name, whether abbreviated or written in full.

Example: John M. Armstrong, Ph.D.

When academic degrees are referred to in such general terms as bachelor’s degree or master of science they are not capitalized. Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, etc., but not in associate degree.

Example: She earned a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University.

Academic Titles

Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as president and chairman when they precede a name. Lowercase elsewhere.

Example: Vice President Richard G. Whitehead was a mission president.

Example: Madison Sowell is provost at Southern Virginia University.

Accreditation

The language used to represent the university's status with accrediting and state agencies must follow the guidelines of those agencies. See the university's Accreditation page for examples.

Alumni

The word alumni refers to a group of males and females. Use alumnus (alumni in the plural) when referring to a male who graduated from Southern Virginia. Use alumna (alumnae in the plural) for similar references to a woman.

Example: Sally Jones was the university’s first alumna to become a CEO. Southern Virginia will honor Jones along with many other distinguished alumni at the banquet.

Awards

Names of awards and prizes are capitalized.

Buildings and Facilities

Below is a list of the buildings on campus and their proper names.

• Arthur House
• Camelot House
• Carriage Town Houses
• Carriage Modulars
• Chandler Hall
• Chestnut House
• Craton Hall
• Durham Hall
• Fawson Alumni House
• Ferrel House
• Four Winds
• Gayle Smith Apartments
• Kimball Student Center
• Knight Sports Arena (The Barn)
• Knight Guest House
• Lancelot House
• The Lofts at Southern Virginia University (The Lofts)
• Magnolia Hall
• Main Hall
• President’s House
• Rice Fitness Center
• Ridge House
• Robey Hall
• Stoddard Activities Center
• Stoddard Living Center
• The Fields
• Tucson House
• Von Canon Library

Cafeteria

The preferred term is dining hall.

Century

Use lowercase letters, numerals and non-superscript letters when referring to a specific century.

Example: 21st century

Chief Officers

When referring to the chief officers of an organization in headlines, titles and text, spell out first references to all titles except CEO. After the first reference, the acronyms of other titles may also be used. Example: Appointed chief information officer in 1980 by the CEO and president, Butler was the most senior CIO at the conference.

Church

The official name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Note the article The is capitalized and the word day is lowercase.

When writing about the Church, please follow these guidelines:

• In the first reference, use the full name of the Church.
• Avoid the use of “Mormon Church” or “LDS Church.”
• When a shortened reference is needed, use “the Church” or “the Church of Jesus Christ.”
• When referring to Church members, the term “Latter-day Saints” is preferred.
• “Mormon” is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon, Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Mormon Trail, or when used as an adjective in such expressions as “Mormon pioneers.”
• The term “Mormonism” is acceptable in describing the combination of doctrine, culture and lifestyle unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Capitalize church when used in such terms as Church activities or the Church.

Comma in a Series

Do not place a comma after the last element in a list of three or more items, unless omitting the comma would create unnecessary confusion.

Example: Susan bought apples, oranges and bananas.

Conference

Should only be capitalized if it is part of the official title of the conference.

Example: The annual Virginia Academic Conference was a big success. The conference had more than 200 participants.

Dash

There are several different kinds of dashes that differ in length and use.

1. Hyphen (-): Roughly the width of an e in the font you are using. Use the hyphen to separate numbers that are not inclusive such as telephone numbers and social security numbers.

   Example: He can be reached at 540-261-1111.

   Use the hyphen for compound words and in word division.

   Example: He was the state’s first three-term governor.

   Place a hyphen in established clichés.

   Examples: up-to-date, over-the-counter

   When a prefix stands alone, add a hyphen.

   Example: The Student Center is both over- and underused by the students.

2. En dash (–): Roughly the width of a capital N. Use the en-dash to connect continuing, or inclusive, date, time or reference numbers.

    

   Examples: 1984–93 pp. 12–50

   3 a.m–2 p.m. Luke 12:3–14:1

   April–June 2000 13 May 1965–9 June 1966

   But

   from 1968 to 1972 (never from 1968–1972)

   from May to June 1967 (never from May–June 1967)

   between 1968 and 1970 (never between 1968–70)

    

3. Em-dash (—): Roughly the width of a capital M. Use the em-dash to denote a sudden break in thought that causes an abrupt change in sentence structure.

    

   Example: The anticipated result of this effort—and it is already proving to be correct—is that local students who take these courses will be in a stronger position to find meaningful employment.

   Use the em-dash to give emphasis or explanation.

   Example: Southern Virginia University students consume 167,000 gallons of milk—the entire production of a 300-cow dairy.

   An em-dash can also be used to separate a subordinate, modifying element from the main element in a name.

   Example: Brigham Young University—Idaho

    

Dates

The preferred style is month-day-year.

Example: The fireside is scheduled for May 5, 2006.

Department / Division

Southern Virginia University has academic divisions, not departments. Do not capitalize the name of divisions.

Example: The division of fine arts will be offering a workshop this weekend.

Email

Use a lowercase e and no hyphen.

Example: The school just launched its new email system.

GPA

Use grade-point average on first reference. GPA is fine for the second reference thereafter, assuming the meaning is clear.

Housing

Residence hall is the preferred term. Do not use the terms dorm or dormitory.

The full name of the new residence hall on Maple Avenue is The Lofts at Southern Virginia University. It is appropriate to shorten the name to The Lofts.

Indentation

It is not necessary or desirable to indent the first paragraph in a story or article or the first paragraph after a subheading.

Institute

Capitalize in a title but not in secondary references.

Example: Southern Virginia University houses the largest daytime Institute of Religion in the Eastern United States. The institute serves more than 500 students.

Internet

Always capitalize.

Example: The fastest way to locate the information is via the Internet.

JPG, GIF, PDF

Always capitalize these acronyms unless you are using them as file extensions.

Example: Please submit photos as JPEG, GIF or PDF files.

Knights

The term Knights refers to both men’s and women’s teams. The reference Lady Knights is never appropriate.

Example: Melissa Smith led the Knights with a season-high 21 points.

Knight Sports Arena

Refers to the gymnasium where basketball and volleyball games are held. The Barn also is appropriate in secondary references if the association is clear.

Leader-servant

Do not capitalize the term leader-servant. Always hyphenate between the words.

Months

Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.

Example: February always seems to be a cold month. Feb. 4 was the coldest day of the month.

Majors

Majors are not capitalized unless referring to a language.

Example: Tom Jones majored in history, and his wife majored in Spanish.

Numbers

Spell out whole numbers one through nine. Numbers 10 and above should be written in numeral format.

Example: The two new classrooms each have 10 computers.

Spell out any number that begins a sentence.

Example: Two hundred twenty-one students attended the open house.

Very large numbers may be expressed in numerals followed by million, billion and so forth.

Example: Total membership is expected to rise by at least 6.3 million.

MONEY: Follow the rules above to determine whether to spell out or leave as a numeral. If the number is spelled out, so is the unit of currency. If the numerals are used, the symbol is also used.

Example: The fundraiser earned a total of $683.

Example: Everyone in attendance had to pay a seven-dollar entrance fee.

PERCENTAGES: Spell out the word percent. Always use a numeral for a number that comes before the word percent. It is acceptable to use the symbol % if numerous percentages are being listed or if used in tables or graphs.

Example: More than one million people need wheelchairs, but less than 1 percent have access to one.

PLURALS: The plurals of spelled-out numbers are formed like the plurals of other nouns. Adding s alone forms the plurals of numerals.

Example: Most college students are in their twenties and thirties.

Example: Among the scores were two 240s and three 238s.

Example: Throughout the 1990s, the world saw great technological advances.

Online

Do not capitalize unless at the beginning of a sentence. Use as one word.

Example: The necessary forms can be found online.

References to People

On first reference use the person’s full name. On following references, use the last name only, or use personal pronouns.

In second reference, President Rodney K. Smith should be referred to as President Smith. Follow this same guideline when referring to general authorities of the Church.

Southern Virginia University

In first reference, always use Southern Virginia University. In secondary references, use Southern Virginia. When appropriate, references to the university are also acceptable. The acronym SVU should be used sparingly. It is only appropriate to use this reference if the university is mentioned two times or more, close together, in the same paragraph.

CAPITALIZATION: Do not capitalize the word university.

Example: Jones graduated from Southern Virginia University in 2006. He was one of the university’s top students.

Spacing

Leave only ONE space after periods and all other punctuation marks.

Double-spacing was necessary on typewriters because the letters were monospaced. Keying in two spaces after periods, colons, question marks, and other end punctuation on a computer creates unsightly gaps in the text.

State Names

STANDING ALONE: Spell out the names of the 50 U.S. states when they stand alone in textual material.

EIGHT NOT ABBREVIATED: The names of eight states are never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.

ABBREVIATIONS REQUIRED: In conjunction with the name of a city or town or in short-form listings of party affiliation

Example: R-Mont., D-Ala.

Following are the state abbreviations:

Time

Use figures except for noon and midnight. When designating one time and it falls on the hour, do not follow the time with a colon and two zeros. Avoid such redundancies as 10 a.m. this morning. The abbreviations a.m. and p.m. should never be capitalized.

PARALLELISM: When mentioning several times in the same paragraph, make sure they are in the same format.

Example: 4:00 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 9:00 p.m.

Example: 2 a.m., 6 a.m., 11 a.m.

TIME ELEMENT: Use Monday, Tuesday, etc., for days of the week within seven days before or after the current date. Use the number and month for dates beyond this range.

Example: President Smith will address the campus community Friday.

Example: Register early for the Writers Workshop on Sept. 15.

URLs

In most cases, do not include http:// or www.

Example: For more information, visit svu.edu/library.

Website

Only capitalize when it is in a headline or used to begin a sentence.

Example: Michael Thomson's photography can be found on the website.

Updated Oct. 7, 2010