• An abbreviation is an abbreviated form that may be used for a word in some contexts (Dr., Gov., Inc.)
• An abbreviation is not an acronym. An acronym is a word formed from the first letter or letters of a series of words: WAC for Women's Army Corps, or laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation).
• Initials: IOU, IOUs; ABC, ABCs; CEO, AARP, P.R.
  • Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that the reader would not quickly recognize.
  • Do not follow the full name of an organization or company with an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses or set off by dashes. If an abbreviation or acronym would not be clear on second reference without this arrangement, do not use it.
    Names not commonly before the public should not be reduced to acronyms solely to save a few words.
  • Capitals and periods: Use capital letters and periods according to the listings in AP. For words not in AP, use the first-listed abbreviation in Webster's New World College Dictionary. Generally, omit periods in acronyms unless the result would spell an unrelated word. But use periods in two-letter abbreviations: U.S., U.N., U.K., B.A., B.C. (AP, a trademark, is an exception. Also, no periods in GI and EU.) Most two-letter abbreviations take periods (P.T. for physical therapy, O.T. for occupational therapy). Longer capitalized abbreviations generally don't take periods, like MSW, LCSW.
  • Use all caps, but no periods in longer abbreviations and acronyms when the individual letters are pronounced: ABC, CIA, FBI.

Preferred: Spell out degrees, rather than abbreviating, in running text, such as Fazal Kamar, who has a doctorate in psychology.

Don't capitalize: bachelor's degree, master's degree, or doctorate. But capitalize the formal degree title, such as Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science; however, lowercase the area of study. Example: Bachelor of Arts in history; Master of Science in chemistry.

Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree, a master's, etc., but there is no possessive in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.

Also: an associate degree (no possessive).

In very formal references, use baccalaureate degrees.

For short abbreviations, use periods and set off by commas: B.A., M.S., Ph.D., Jed Metzger, Ph.D., associate professor of social work.

Ed.D. is correct.

For longer abbreviations (three letters or more) when the individual letters are pronounced, use all caps, but no periods: BFA, MSW, LCSW, SSJ.

For a graduate of Nazareth, put the graduation year(s) before the degree: 

• Jane Smith '10, '12G, DPT, loves her work.
• Susan E. Nowak '77, Ph.D., SSJ, continues to teach at Nazareth University.

No commas for a single graduation year: 

• Bob Jones '21 loves to see the fountain on campus.

Use one comma between multiple graduation years and none after:

• Juan Gonzalez '18, '20G is now president of XYZ Co.

Lowercase except for:

• words that are proper nouns or adjectives: the English department (and the history department)
• or when department is part of the full, official name: University of Connecticut Department of Medicine, Nazareth University Art Department.

Academic departments at Nazareth: As of August 2015, Nazareth's naming convention for departments is x department, not department of x. As above, capitalize Nazareth University Nursing Department but not the nursing department.

See AP entry for details, including to avoid Dr. except for medical doctors. (Instead: John Smith, Ph.D.)

In general, confine capitalization to formal titles used directly before an individual's name.

• Lowercase and spell out titles when they are not used with an individual's name: The president issued a statement. The pope gave his blessing. Lowercase and spell out titles in constructions that set them off from a name by commas: The vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, declined to run again.
• Formal titles: Capitalize formal titles when they are used immediately before one or more names: Pope Paul, President Washington, Vice Presidents John Jones and William Smith.

Do not capitalize an occupational designation, only a true title: We met President Obama. The speaker will be artist Heather Butterfield.

Exception to the rule: Titles after names can be capitalized at the designer's discretion (for visual appearance), when listed in a conference program or invitation.

• academic titles: Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as chancellor, chairman, etc., when they precede a name; lowercase elsewhere.
  • Correct: Associate Professor of Chemistry John Smith has recently published a textbook.
  • Correct: John Smith, associate professor of chemistry, has recently published a textbook.
  • Lowercase modifiers such as department in department Chairman Jerome Wiesner.
  • Sister of St. Joseph should be listed SSJ, like so: Monica Weis '64, Ph.D., SSJ [Graduation year note: We use the alum's preferred year if they are affiliated with one class even if they technically graduated in a different year. Monica Weis is in Colleague as '64A, '65U. We go with the "affiliated" year, so '64.]
  • Titles appear after alumni graduation year: Jane Smith '10, '12G, DPT
  • If mention of degrees is necessary to establish someone's credentials, the preferred form is to avoid an abbreviation and use instead a phrase such as: John Jones, who has a doctorate in psychology.
  • Use such abbreviations as B.A., M.A., LL.D. and Ph.D. only when the need to identify many individuals by degree on first reference would make the preferred form cumbersome. Use these abbreviations only after a full name -- never after just a last name.
  • Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree, a master's, etc., but there is no possessive in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.
    Also: an associate degree (no possessive).
  • When used after a name, an academic abbreviation is set off by commas: John Snow, Ph.D., spoke.
• board of trustees
  Always lowercase: the board of trustees of Nazareth University

Note: In the Nazareth Directory, we add short bios that include faculty member's degrees and from which institution. (We don't put Dr. before the name nor add degrees or credentials after the person's name.)

Terms designating academic years are lowercased: first-year, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior.

• first-year (noun), first-year student (adjective) The phrase first year (no hyphen) is used when talking about a year, not a student: First-years are encouraged to take first-year seminars during their first year at Nazareth. 
• First-year student is the preferred term (not freshman) because it's gender neutral. 
• freshman (singular noun or adj.), freshmen (pl. n.): Freshmen at Nazareth are required to take a freshman seminar.

Class years are capitalized: Class of 2016, Junior Class

But use lowercase when identifying individuals: senior Kari Steinbock

Also see: academic degrees & graduation years (above)

Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd., and St. only with a numbered address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Spell them out and capitalize when part of a formal street name without a number: Pennsylvania Avenue. Lowercase and spell out when used alone or with more than one street name: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania avenues.

• All similar words (alley, drive, road, terrace, etc.) are always spelled out.
• Always use figures for an address number: 9 Morningside Circle.
• Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; use figures with two letters for 10th and above: 7 Fifth Ave., 101 21st St.
• Abbreviate compass points used to indicate directional ends of a street or quadrants of a city in a numbered address: 222 E. 42nd St., 600 K St. N.W. Do not abbreviate if the number is omitted: East 42nd Street, K Street Northwest.
• Use periods in the abbreviation P.O. for P.O. Box numbers.

Do not italicize.

The terms alumnus (singular) and alumni (plural) for men, and alumna (singular) and alumnae (plural) for women, are acceptable.

(New from AP in 2022:) If a gender-neutral term is desired, alum or alums is acceptable.

For graduation years, see YEARS.

Use the ampersand when it is part of a company or group's formal name: Procter & Gamble, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway.

• Use the ampersand when it is part of a company’s formal name or composition title.
• Nazareth style prefers & in titles.
• Spell out and when used in a sentence, meaning don't write: My favorite activities are reading & swimming.

Note the plural Arts, and that both words are capitalized.

In general, introduce a bulleted list with a colon. Capitalize the first letter of the first word of each bulleted list item. Bulleted items should be in parallel construction. End bulleted sentences with periods (not semicolons or commas), and do not punctuate the end of fragments.

Example of bulleted list of sentences:
Additional information for applicants:

• Students must contact the department directly.
• Professors will inform students of their progress.
• The president makes all final decisions.

Example of bulleted list of fragments:
There are a number of things to keep in mind when writing a style guide:

• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Exceptions to rules

Spell out the word cents and lowercase, using numerals for amounts less than a dollar: 5 cents, 12 cents. Use the $ sign and decimal system for larger amounts: $1.01, $2.50.

(AP refers to the dictionary for -making; Nazareth's style is an exception.)

Nazareth is committed to changemaking and supporting changemakers.

• Changemaker is capitalized only when it refers to the specific Nazareth Changemaker Framework. 
• The Nazareth Changemaker Framework ignites students' potential for impact and empowers them with the confidence to pursue positive change in whatever career field they enter. The Changemaker Framework includes mindsets for changemaking, including believing change is possible, self-awareness of your knowledge and biases/gaps, well-being, perseverance through challenges, empathy, global citizenship, and inclusivity.
• Nazareth provides and encourages changemaker opportunities, to help students see themselves as changemakers, build skills, connect with partners and resources, and be prepared to take action.

• Nazareth faculty and staff teach and promote the skills and mindset for changemaking.

There are many rules regarding commas; see AP for a comprehensive discussion. Here are some common instances when commas are, or are not, used.

A comma should always be used between each element in a series: He nominated Tom, Dick, and Harry. (Exception to AP, which does not insert a comma before the conjunction in a simple series.)

Do not use a comma before Jr. or Sr. after a person's name: John Smith Jr.

The of is necessary. Never use a couple tomatoes or a similar phrase. The phrase takes a plural verb in constructions such as: A couple of tomatoes were stolen.

em dash, en dash, hyphen. See AP entry for details, which includes putting a space on both sides of a dash.

However, when using dashes to off-set a section of a sentence, do not use two hyphens. Instead, use an em dash symbol. (From the "Word" menu at the top of the screen: Insert > Symbol > pull down screen: "normal text.")

Correct: The workshop included a variety of tips — from job hunting to networking — for recent graduates.

Incorrect: The workshop included a variety of tips - from job hunting to networking - for recent graduates.

Incorrect (lack of space): The workshop included a variety of tips—from job hunting to networking—for recent graduates.

Always use Arabic figures, without st, nd, rd, or th.

Abbreviate months if a date follows:

Correct: Aug. 28 - Dec. 16

When a year is needed for clarity, put a comma before and after it:

The meeting at noon Aug. 28, 2023, will focus on student engagement.

The Associated Press updated its guidelines in 2021. They include:

When possible, ask people how they want to be described. Some people view their disability as central to their identity, and use identity-first language such as an autistic woman or an autistic. Others prefer person-first language such as a woman with autism or a woman who has autism.

In describing groups of people, or when individual preferences can’t be determined, use person-first language.

Avoid writing that implies ableism: the belief that typical abilities — those of people who aren’t disabled — are superior. Ableism is a concept similar to racism, sexism and ageism in that it includes stereotypes, generalizations and demeaning views and language. It is a form of discrimination or prejudice against people with disabilities.

Do not describe an individual as having a disability unless it is clearly pertinent to the story. For example: Merritt, who is blind and walks with the help of a guide dog, said she is pleased with the city’s walkway improvements. But not: Zhang, who has paraplegia, is a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Be specific about the type of disability, or symptoms. For example: The woman said the airline kicked her family off a plane after her 3-year-old, who has autism, refused to wear a mask. She said her son became upset because he does not like to have his face touched.

More resources: 

The National Center on Disability and Journalism at Arizona State University has created a style guide covering almost 200 words and terms commonly used when referring to disability, most of which are not covered in The Associated Press style guide.

Special Olympics terminology guidelines (pdf)

Use Dr. in first reference as a formal title before the name of an individual who holds a doctor of dental surgery, doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathy, or doctor of pediatric medicine degree.

If appropriate in context, Dr. also may be used on first reference before the names of individuals who hold other types of doctoral degrees. However, because the public frequently identifies Dr. only with physicians, care should be taken to assure the individual's specialty is stated in first or second reference. The only exception would be a story in which the context left no doubt that the person was a dentist, psychologist, chemist, historian, etc.

Also see academic titles.

Always lowercase. Use whole figures without the cents whenever possible: $5, not $5.00. Use figures and the $ sign in all except casual references or amounts without a figure: The book cost $4. Dad, please give me a dollar. Dollars are flowing overseas.

• For specific amounts, the word takes a singular verb: He said $500,000 is what they want.
• For amounts of more than $1 million, use the $ and numerals up to two decimal places. Do not link the numerals and the word by a hyphen: It is worth $4.35 million. It is worth exactly $4,351,242. He proposed a $300 billion budget.
• The form for amounts less than $1 million: $4, $25, $500, $1,000, $650,000.

The first is a noun, the second an adjective. She received a good education at a reputable educational institute.

Means for example. Use sparingly. Follow with a comma: She bought many things today (e.g., clothes, shoes, food).

( ... ) See AP entry for comprehensive explanation. In general, treat an ellipses as a three-letter word, constructed with three periods and two spaces, as shown here.

Short form of electronic mail. Per AP, all "e-" terms are lowercase and hyphenated, except for email.

Avoid using. If necessary, list at least three examples/items/listings before following with "etc."

Incorrect: He teaches philosophy, etc.
Correct: She studied math, chemistry, physics, etc.

See AP entry. Avoid overuse.

In general, use fewer for individual items, less for bulk or quantity.

Incorrect: The trend is toward more machines and less people. (People in this sense refers to individuals.)
Incorrect: She was fewer than 60 years old. (Years in this sense refers to a period of time, not individual years.)

Correct: Fewer than 10 applicants called. (Individuals.)
Correct: I had less than $50 in my pocket. (An amount.) But: I had fewer than 50 $1 bills in my pocket. (Individual items.)

Means that is (from the Latin "id est"). Equivalent to that is to say or in other words, and should be offset with a comma. Example: He didn't do very well on his exam (i.e., he failed).

Writers or speakers imply in the words they use. A listener or reader infers something from the words.

• For print: Make with tab button, not by hitting the space bar.
• On our website: Don't indent. You can use bullets or subheadings.

Lowercase. Also, intranet. As a colleague once said, "You wouldn't capitalize telephone, so why internet?"

Do not capitalize academic majors, minors, programs, specializations, or concentrations (biology, women's studies) except for languages and titles containing geographic locations (English, Spanish, African studies, Asian studies).

Course titles are capitalized: Modern Europe II: 1890-Present, Management 410: Management Ethics

• Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone. Exception: Spell out months when used in invitations.
• When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not separate the year with commas. When a phrase refers to a month, day, and year, set off the year with commas.
• When a phrase lists a day of the week with a month and a day, spell out the day of the week, but abbreviate the month.

Examples: January 1972 was a cold month. Jan. 2 was the coldest day of the month. His birthday is May 8. Feb. 14, 1987, was the target date.

Use instead of over when discussing amounts.

over
It generally refers to spatial relationships: The plane flew over the city.

more than
is preferred with numerals: Their salaries went up more than $20 a week.

See AP entry for details. In general:

• Spell out whole numbers below 10, use figures for 10 and above: They had three sons and two daughters. They had a fleet of 10 station wagons and two buses.
• In a series: Apply the appropriate guides: They had 10 dogs, six cats, and 97 hamsters. They had four four-room houses, 10 three-room houses, and 12 10-room houses.
• Sentence start: Spell out a numeral at the beginning of a sentence. If necessary, recast the sentence. There is one exception - a numeral that identifies a calendar year.
  • Wrong: 993 first-year students entered the college last year.
  • Right: Last year 993 first-year students entered the college.
  • Right: 1976 was a good year.
• Fractions: Spell out amounts less than 1 in stories, using hyphens between the words: two-thirds. Use figures for precise amounts larger than 1, converting to decimals whenever practical.
  • When using fractional characters, there is no space between the figure and the fraction: 1/4, 1/2, 5/8.

One word and lowercase in all cases for the computer connection term. Also, offline.

(The AP changed this rule in 2019.)

Use the % sign when paired with a numeral, with no space, in most cases: 95%.

For a comprehensive explanation, see AP listing.

Capitalize only if the room has been named: 1924 Room, Golisano Academic Center, room 165.

The abbreviation for the French respondez s'il vous plait, it means please reply. Please RSVP is redundant. Instead: RSVP by calling ..., Please respond by calling ...

Lowercase spring, summer, fall, winter and derivatives such as springtime unless part of a formal name (Winter Olympics, Nazareth University Spring Fest), or as part of a heading or chart.

As of summer 2023, Nazareth is comprised of:

College of Interprofessional Health and Human Services

College of Liberal Arts, Sciences, Business, and Education

• Includes the School of Education
• Includes the School of Business and Leadership

College of Visual and Performing Arts and Design

• Includes the School of Music

Capitalize school when it refers to a specific school: The School was founded a few years ago.

When to use the with school initials:

• The SBL is a noun (along with the SOE, the SHHS); SBL (alone) is an adjective. Use accordingly. The SBL is now a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn. Each year, SBL students are recognized with a variety of awards, scholarships, and commendations.
• The same rule also applies to the College of Liberal Arts, Sciences, Business, and Education and the use of the CLASBE versus CLASBE.

• Standing alone: Spell out the names of the 50 U.S. states when they stand alone in textual material.
• Punctuation: Place one comma between the city and the state name, and another comma after the state name, unless ending a sentence or indicating a dateline: He was traveling from Nashville, Tenn., to Austin, Texas, en route to his home in Albuquerque, N.M. She said Cook County, Ill., was Mayor Daley's stronghold.
• Use New York state when necessary to distinguish the state from New York City.
• In mailing addresses: Use the two-letter Postal Service abbreviations (e.g., NY, PA, IL, etc. - without periods) only with full addresses, including ZIP code.
• Use Washington, D.C. Do not abbreviate to D.C. or DC.
• The names of eight states are never abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah.

In general, refer to AP entry. Use figures without parentheses: 585-389-2499. The form for toll-free numbers: 800-111-1000. Do not use periods between parts of a phone number (incorrect: 585.389.2499).

If extension numbers are given: ext. 2, ext. 364, ext. 4071. Note the space between ext. and the number. Not necessary to use a comma to separate the main number from the extension (different from AP).

According to AP, use theater unless the proper name is Theatre: Shubert Theatre. In general, use theater to describe the building and/or physical space and theatre when referring to the theatre arts program at Nazareth.

Use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. Write a.m. and p.m. in lowercase, with periods between the letters. Note the space between the numerals and the letters: She ate at 6 p.m. The event takes place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• N.B. noon
  Do not put a 12 in front of it. Choose either noon (preferred) or 12 p.m. to avoid redundancy. Similar rule applies to midnight.

See academic professional titles.

Italicize titles of books, periodicals, newspapers, plays, motion pictures, television and radio programs, and long poems and musical compositions. Put titles of songs, poems, TV episodes, short stories, and newspaper and magazine articles in quotation marks.

• Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.
• Capitalize an article (the, a, an) or words of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in a title.
• Prepositions that are part of a verb (grow up, speak out) are capitalized.
• Do not capitalize magazine or the unless it is part of the publication's title or masthead, or the first word of a sentence: Time magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times.

Not towards. Upward, not upwards.

It means one of a kind. It does not take a qualifier: Do not describe something as very unique, rather unique, and/or most unique.

Capitalize the word university when it refers specifically to Nazareth University. Currently, the University is undergoing renovations. A university education is considered necessary nowadays.

In print: For most URLs, it is safe to drop the http:// when typing an address. Example: www.naz.edu instead of http://www.naz.edu. It's preferable to also drop the www and use naz.edu. Always test the exact link before using it.

When the URL does not fit entirely on one line, break it into two or more lines without adding a hyphen or other punctuation mark.

There is no need to italicize or underline URLs when they appear in printed text. (The underline on a webpage, generated automatically when you make the words clickable, shows the user that the text is an active hyperlink.)

On naz.edu webpages, rather than showing the exact URL, make a text phrase clickable, such as: The Nazareth style guide shows how to write and edit copy for all communications from the University.

Do not use "click here." The text phrase you use as the link should match the words at the top of the page the link goes to, for a seamless experience.

Ranking per the magazine's policy, the first reference to this publication should be U.S. News & World Report. Note: U.S. News is two words, and is represented by an ampersand symbol, and report is singular.

For secondary use, U.S. News (italicized, with a space between words).

Or the web.

• website
• homepage
• webpage
• webcam
• webcast
• webmaster
• web links
  Use hyperlinks selectively, and keep them short.

Use figures, without commas: 1975. Use commas only with a month and a day: Dec. 18, 1994, was a special day. Use an s without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries: the 1890s, the 1800s. Years are the lone exception to the general rule in numerals that a figure is not used to start a sentence: 1976 was a good year.

When abbreviating years to two digits, add an apostrophe before the numerals: Blizzard of '78, the '60s.

When referencing a span of years, use an en-dash and use all four numbers of the second year: 1979-1991.

When listing Nazareth student and alumni graduation years, note the apostrophe: John Smith '85. To denote students/alumni obtaining/with graduate degrees, use a G after the year of graduation: Anne Klein '76G or Sue Star '14, '16G.

August and December grads are recorded as being the following year, so a December 2017 grad will appear in our database as '18. But the grad may feel an affiliation with the 2017 class. In writing about alumni, we defer to the alum's preference as to which year we list.

[Added 2021] For those who didn't complete a degree at Nazareth: Nazareth's Alumni Engagement office gives alumni benefits to anyone who completed 30 credits at Nazareth. But we don't write a graduation year after their name, since that's for degree completions. Instead could write: who attended Nazareth or who attended Nazareth 1985-1988.