Editorial Style Guides

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s . . . t . . . u . . . v . . . w . . . x . . . y . . . z

 

abbreviations

• Acceptable if part of formal name (Morgan Stanley & Co.).
• Avoid in running text (Professor Smith, not Prof. Smith).
• With place names, abbreviate St. (St. Louis) but spell out Fort (Fort Lauderdale).
• U.S. is acceptable as an adjective, but use United States for the noun. U.S. is one of the few abbreviations for which periods should be used.

acronyms

• Acceptable on second and subsequent references if given in parentheses after a first spelled-out use.
• Acceptable without first spelling out if initials are widely recognized (e.g., NU, CEO, SAT, NCAA, AIDS, HMO, NASA, FBI).
• Do not put in parentheses after a first spelled-out use if the organization is never mentioned again.

addresses

• Use plus-4 zip code when possible.
• In running text, spell out North, South, East, West before the street name; Street, Avenue, Road, Drive, Boulevard, and the like. In mailing panels, the name of the state may be given with postal abbreviations.
• Use official names of offices (Office of the Provost, not Provost's Office).
• Northwestern addresses generally follow this order:
  Northwestern University
  name of department/school
  building name, room number
  street address
  Evanston, Illinois 60208-xxxx
• See "business reply mail" for BRM regulations.

Admission (Office of Undergraduate)

• Note that there isn't an s at the end of Admission.

adviser

• Preferred spelling has er.

African American, Asian American

• Do not hyphenate.
• African American is preferred to black.

alumni

• In alumni newsletters, and often in other publications, it is desirable to note that a person attended Northwestern, and we even grant alumni status to people who didn't leave here with a degree. Alumni are so noted by listing the school or major and the year of graduation in parentheses after the name.
• University Relations uses the following alumni designations in text in University-wide publications, except in Northwestern magazine and some Alumni Relations publications:
  (Weinberg 99)
  (McCormick 99), (MS McCormick 99), (PhD McCormick 99)
  (Medill 99), (MS Medill 99)
  (Music 99), (MA Music 99), (PhD Music 99)
  (EdSP 99), (MS EdSP 99), (PhD EdSP 99)
  (Communication 99), (MS Communication 99), (PhD Communication 99)
  (SCS 99)
  (Kellogg 99)
  (Bus 71) for people who received bachelor's degrees in business before 1972
  (Dental 43)
  (Feinberg 99)
  (Law 99)
• The exception is for people with advanced degrees in the arts and sciences. Designate these by the degree followed by the field in lowercase:
  (PhD chemistry 99)
• A particular school's publications may designate majors with the abbreviations it has used in the past. However, it is desirable to use a consistent format within a publication, with the major followed by a space and the year:
  (ECE 98), (PhD classics 95)
• If it isn't necessary to designate a major, the year alone may be used in parentheses:
  John Smith (99)
• Where space is tight, such as in donor lists, the school designations used by Alumni Relations are acceptable: C, FSM, J, L, McC, Mu, SCS, SESP, KSM, WCAS.
• To find out whether someone is an alumnus and, if so, the major and the year of graduation, check the Northwestern Alumni Association's Northwestern University Alumni Directory.
• Graduates of the year 2000 are designated with 00.

American Indian

• American Indian is generally preferred, but Native American may be used if the subject prefers it or if it is in a formal name.

ampersand

• Use only when it is part of a company or organization's formal name. Do not use in text to replace and.

apostrophes

• Do not use to form plurals (it should be 1940s, not 1940's) unless it would be confusing without (thus A's and B's, not As and Bs; p's, not ps).
• Possessives of singular nouns ending in s are formed by adding 's (e.g., Russ's dog).
• Some grammarians say that plural nouns modifying other nouns do not need an apostrophe if they are used in an attributive rather than a possessive sense (e.g., Parents Weekend is a weekend for parents, not a weekend possessed by parents). If you want to be safe, however, use the apostrophe, unless it is not used in a formal name (e.g., Department of Veterans Affairs). The Managers' Program of the Kellogg School uses an apostrophe.

Arch

• Capitalize Arch in reference to Northwestern's.

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bias-free language

• If appropriate, use first-year students instead of freshmen.
• International students is preferred over foreign students.
• Juniors and seniors is preferred over upperclass students.
• See also "nonsexist language."

Bienen, Leigh Buchanan

• She prefers Leigh Buchanan Bienen and doesn't want to be called Mrs. Bienen.

Big Ten

• Ten is spelled out.

Board of Trustees

• Capitalize when referring to Northwestern's.

buildings and spaces on campus

• Do not use SPAC. It should be Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Norris Aquatics Center in first reference and the sports pavilion or the aquatics center in subsequent references.
• Capitalize North Quads, South Quads; University Library's towers (North Tower, East Tower, South Tower); Deering Meadow.
• Do not capitalize campus in reference to Northwestern's Evanston campus and Chicago campus.
• It may be acceptable to omit the first name of the person for whom a building was named (Deering Library, Block Museum of Art) if the building is commonly known by the surname only.
• Do not confuse buildings with similar names — Annie May Swift Hall and Swift Hall; Arthur Andersen Hall and Harold Anderson Hall; Owen L. Coon Forum and Byron S. Coon Sports Center; Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Rebecca Crown Center; Norris Aquatics Center and Norris University Center; Frances Searle Building and Searle Hall.
• John J. Louis Hall is sometimes referred to informally as the Studio Building, but the formal name should always be given on first reference.
• Some full names:
  Accenture Forum
  James L. Allen Center
  Arthur Andersen Hall
  Harold Anderson Hall
  Walter Annenberg Hall
  Ethel M. Barber Theater
  Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art
  Blomquist Recreation Center
  Cahn Auditorium
  Center for Catalysis and Surface Science
  Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly
  Ivan Combe Tennis Center
  William A. and Gayle Cook Hall
  Byron S. Coon Sports Center
  Owen L. Coon Forum
  Cresap Laboratory
  Crowe Hall
  Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Dellora A. and Lester J. Norris Aquatics Center
  Rebecca Crown Center
  Charles Deering Library
  John Evans Alumni Center
  Louis and Saerree Fiedler Hillel Center
  Ford Motor Company Center for Global Citizenship
  Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center
  Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
  Peggy Dow Helmerich Auditorium
  O. T. Hogan Biological Sciences Building
  Donald P. Jacobs-Kellogg Center
  Kresge Centennial Hall
  Kresge Digital Media Studio
  John J. Louis Hall
  Josephine Louis Theater
  Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
  Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center of Northwestern University
  Lutkin Hall
  Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center
  Levy Mayer Hall
  McCormick Auditorium
  Robert McCormick Hall
  McCormick Tribune Center
  Alice S. Millar Chapel and Religious Center
  Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center
  Morton Medical Research Building
  Seeley G. Mudd Library
  Music Administration Building
  Mussetter-Struble Theater
  Nicolet Football Center
  Norris University Center (see www.norris.northwestern.edu/floorplans.php for the names of rooms in Norris)
  Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park
  Walter E. Olson Pavilion
  Arthur and Gladys Pancoe–Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Life Sciences Pavilion
  Patten Gymnasium
  Pick-Staiger Concert Hall
  Prentice Women's Hospital and Maternity Center
  Pritzker Legal Research Center
  Regenstein Hall of Music
  Arthur Rubloff Building
  Ryan Field (not Dyche Stadium)
  Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
  Frances Searle Building
  Searle Medical Research Building
  Sheil Catholic Center
  Richard and Barbara Silverman Hall for Molecular Therapeutics and Diagnostics
  Benjamin W. Slivka Residence Hall
  Annie May Swift Hall
  Tannenbaum Chabbad House
  Tarry Research and Education Building
  Technological Institute
  Theatre and Interpretation Center
  Hal and Martha Wallis Theater
  Montgomery Ward Memorial Building
  Wells Field
  Welsh-Ryan Arena/McGaw Memorial Hall
• For student residences and other buildings and centers, consult the Offices and Departments section of the University web site.

business reply mail

• The permit numbers for business reply mail are 1092 in Evanston and 15540 in Chicago. A business reply postcard or envelope for Evanston looks like this:

  

  For Chicago campus mail, the line below BUSINESS REPLY MAIL should read
  FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 15540 CHICAGO, IL.
  
  

• Northwestern's address on business reply mail takes the zip code 60201 in Evanston and 60611 in Chicago, followed by four digits unique to the respective department and corresponding to the bar code. Mail Services (1-8411 in Evanston, 3-8131 in Chicago) can provide the appropriate bar code and four digits.

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campuses: Chicago campus, Evanston campus

• Do not capitalize campus.

capitalization

• As a rule, official names are capitalized (Department of Chemistry) and unofficial names are not (chemistry department).
• Capitalize geographical areas and localities (the Midwest, the South Side of Chicago, New York City), government bodies (the U.S. Congress, the Evanston City Council), historical periods (the Depression, the Enlightenment), names referring to the Deity (God, Jehovah), sacred books (the Bible, the Koran), words denoting family relationships used in place of a person's name (Grandmother Jones), registered trademarks (Xerox).
• Lowercase job titles (the chief executive officer, the sales manager); departments or offices that are not the official name (the alumni office); nouns used with numbers to designate chapters, rooms, pages, etc. (chapter 1, room 234, page 1,986); derivative adjectives (french fries); simple directions (the west coast of Michigan).
• See also "the Arch," "Board of Trustees," "buildings and spaces on campus," "campuses," "Commencement," "conferences," "course titles," degrees," "departments and programs," "endowed professorships," "fellowships and other awards," "forms," "lists," "offices," "prepositions in headlines," "quarter," "the Rock," "schools," "second references," "Summer Session," "the in names," "titles," "the University," "the web."
• See "headlines" for capitalization in headlines.

captions for photos

• Use a caption if there's a person, place, or situation that the reader is likely to want to identify.
• Use (left), (from left), or the like if there might be confusion about who's who.
• Do not use a middle initial if the full name with initial is already in the story.
• Do not use periods in captions that are not sentences, except to be consistent with other captions in the same spread or publication.
• Do not include the obvious (e.g., The group is standing by the copy machine).

chair

• Use instead of chairman (chair of the English department). An exception may be made for chairman of the board, although board chair is preferable.

citations

• Treat all citations within a publication consistently.
• Graduate viewbooks often feature each professor's research and list recent scholarly publications. In a professor's individual listing, it isn't necessary to repeat his or her name in each publication citation. Names of coauthor(s) may be shown in brackets — for example: Grating diffraction of blends involving NLO random copolymers [with D. Winoto]. Macromol. 29: 5149–55 (1996).

cities

• Major U.S. cities do not need state identifiers in running text, with the exception of cities of the same name in different states (e.g, Portland, Kansas City). See "states" for a partial list.
• Foreign cities commonly associated with a country do not need a country identification (e.g., London, Bangkok, Tokyo, Toronto).

comma (serial)

• Use a comma before and or or in a series (red, white, and blue — not red, white and blue), except in Medill publications. Medill publications generally follow Associated Press style, which does not use the serial comma.

Commencement

• Capitalize if Northwestern's.

communication sciences and disorders department

• Name for School of Communication department is the Richard and Roxelyn Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

community assistant (CA), senior community assistant (SCA)

• Name for residence hall staff positions. Do not use residence assistant or RA.
• Spell out community assistant and senior community assistant in first reference.
• No periods in CA and SCA.
• No apostrophe in the plural (CAs, SCAs).

conferences

• Capitalize formal names (the National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty).

contact information

• To avoid dating a publication, use a job title rather than a name in contact information (PAS department assistant, not John Doe) unless there's a compelling reason for using a name.

corporations

• Use the name used by the company, including abbreviations and ampersands. However, Inc. or Ltd. usually may be dropped, and the should not be capitalized.
• Abbreviations are acceptable (Co., Corp., etc.) in notes, bibliographies, and lists.
• Do not use all caps unless the letters are individually pronounced (USX).

course titles

• Capitalize.
• Do not put in quotation marks.

courtesy titles

• After a first reference, subsequent references generally use only a person's last name, except in obituaries. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Rev., Dean, and Professor should not be used in second references except in quoted material. An exception may be made for donors when a development officer requests it.
• See "degrees (academic)" and "Dr." for discussion of Dr.
  

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dashes

• Use en dashes to denote a range (pages 40–48) and to join adjectives when one of the adjectives is already a compound (New York–Boston route).
• Em dashes may be used for material that amplifies, explains, or digresses. Commas often may be used for the same purpose.
• Use spaces around em dashes (the four states — Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan — that border Lake Michigan).
• Hyphens, not en dashes, should be used in sports scores.

dates

• Use an en dash to show a range of dates and do not repeat 20 (2007–08, not 2007—2008).
• If the day of the month appears, use a comma before and after the year (by the January 15, 2008, deadline). Do not use a comma between the month and the year alone (by the January 2008 deadline).
• Use the year with the month only if it's not the current year.
• Do not use st, nd, rd, th, even if dates are adjectives (March 1 event, not March 1st event).
• Times come before days and dates (at 4 p.m. Friday; at 9 a.m. Monday, June 7).
• Months are not abbreviated.
• Use numerals for decades (1960s or the '60s).

degrees (academic)

• Do not use periods in PhD, BS, MBA, etc.
• Do not capitalize bachelor of science, master of arts, etc. Likewise, do not capitalize the field (bachelor of arts in philosophy) unless, of course, it is a proper noun (bachelor of arts in English).
• For people with PhDs, do not use PhD after the name or Dr. before it. See further discussion under "Dr."
• Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree and master's degree.

departments and programs

• Full formal names of Northwestern departments and programs are capitalized (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Undergraduate Program in Biological Sciences), but shortened second mentions are lowercased (the materials science and engineering department, the undergraduate biological sciences program).

disabilities

• People with disabilities, not the disabled or disabled people.
• Avoid words like victim, afflicted, and stricken.
• Do not use normal to mean the opposite of having a disability.

Dr.

• Most style guides reserve Dr. for medical doctors and dentists. Because people with PhDs are sometimes offended by not receiving that courtesy title, you might want to avoid using Dr. for MDs and DDSs, too. One way to do so is to identify a specialty after the name or use some other language that implies a medical degree (John Smith, an orthodontist; Mary Brown, a professor of pediatrics at the Feinberg School of Medicine).

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ellipses

• Use three dots with spaces around each ( . . . ), but close up the space between an ellipses point and a quotation mark (". . . ).
• If a sentence ends with ellipses, use a period ( . . . .) as well.

e-mail

• Hyphenate e-mail; lowercase it except at the start of a sentence.
• Do not break a line after a period within an e-mail address. Bring the period down to start the next line:
  janedoe@law
  .northwestern.edu
  
• If an e-mail address does not fit on one line, do not introduce hyphenation when breaking it.

emeritus, emerita

• Follows professor (professor emeritus, not emeritus professor).
• Use emerita for a woman.
• Use emeriti for the plural.

endowed professorships

• Capitalize whether before or after the name.
• If in doubt about the correct title, call the faculty records manager in the provost's office.

equal opportunity statements

• See "statements to include in University publications."
• Note that the name Office of Equal Opportunity and Access has replaced Office of Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and Disability Services.
  

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faculty

• May be singular or plural, depending on the context, but be consistent within a context.

Feinberg

• Feinberg School of Medicine is the name of the medical school.
• On second reference, use Feinberg School or the medical school.
• The alumni designation is (Feinberg 00), except in alumni publications, which use the designation (FSM).

fellowships and other awards

• The formal name is capitalized (Fulbright Fellowship), but informal references (Fulbright grant) are not.
• Lowercase the s in National Merit scholarships and National Merit scholars.

foreign words

• Italicize unless the word has been Americanized or is commonly used (cum laude).

forms

• Capitalize formal name (Application for Admission to Candidacy for the PhD Degree) but do not use quotation marks or italics.

fractions

• Write out and hyphenate (two-thirds, three-fifths) in text.
• A fraction and a whole number appear as numerals with no space between them (3˝).
  

freshman, freshmen

• When appropriate, use first-year instead.

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grades, grade point average

• Do not put in quotation marks.
• Use an apostrophe for plurals (A's, B's).
• Depending on the publication, it may be acceptable to abbreviate GPA in first reference.

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headlines

• The use of downstyle or upper- and lowercase headlines is generally determined by the formality of the publication and the design, but once a style is chosen, it should be followed consistently within a publication. In downstyle headlines, the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. In upper- and lowercase headlines, every word is capitalized except articles (a, an, the), coordinate conjunctions (and, or, for, nor), prepositions, and to in infinitives.

Health Service

• Note Service is singular.

Hispanic

• Latina/Latino is considered more politically correct, but Hispanic is acceptable. Use the preference of the client.

hyphenation

• In general, do not hyphenate words beginning with the prefixes co, non, pre, post, or re unless there is a possibility of confusion (co-op, post-master's) or the root word begins with a capital letter (post-Renaissance).
• Hyphenate words beginning with the prefix self.
• Hyphenate an adjective-noun modifier if there is a possibility of confusion (senior-class speaker). It is not necessary to hyphenate when the pair is familiar (high school student).
• Hyphenate compounds used as adjectives (decision-making) but not as nouns (decision maker).
• Do not hyphenate a modifier that comes after the noun unless Merriam Webster's hyphenates it. (He is writer in residence. They live off campus.) An exception is part-time, which is always hyphenated.
• Do not hyphenate compounds with vice (vice chair, vice president).
• When more than one prefix is joined to a base word, hyphenate the prefixes standing alone (micro- and macroeconomics).
• Hyphenate University-wide but not campuswide.
• Do not hyphenate fundraising, freelance, yearlong, health care, African American, Asian American.
• An en dash, not a hyphen, should be used with a range of dates (1967–69) or times (5–7 p.m.) or to join adjectives where one of them is already a compound (post–Civil War).

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initials

• Use middle initials in formal publications, unless a person prefers otherwise.
• Be consistent from person to person in use of the middle initial.
• Two initials should be separated by a space (R. J. Nabisco).
• In scientific citations, it is acceptable to use only a single initial and a last name. A single initial should not be used in running text, however.

international students

• Preferred over foreign students.

invitations

• Do not require end-of-line punctuation.
• Numbers greater than 10 may be spelled out.
• Street numbers may be spelled out.
• :00 or o'clock may be used in time.

italicization

• See "forms," "publications (in-house)," and "titles."

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Jr., Sr., III in names

• Do not set off by commas.

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Kellogg

• J. L. Kellogg School of Management, not J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, in official documents. J. L. does not need to be used in marketing materials.
• Kellogg School on second reference.
• The Kellogg Managers' Program takes an apostrophe.
• The master of management (MM) degree has become the master of business adminstration (MBA) degree.

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Lakefill

• Do not use. Refer to that area as lakeside campus.

Latina, Latino

• Preferred over Hispanic, but either is acceptable. Follow preference of client.

Law (Northwestern University School of Law)

• Northwestern University School of Law is the official name. We use Law School in caps only when we can't substitute Northwestern or the school, but we do not use Northwestern Law School. And Northwestern Law is a logo, not a name to be used in text.
• The law library is now the Pritzker Legal Research Center.

lecture titles

• Put quotation marks around the formal title.

line breaks

• Our in-house preferences for line breaks include not breaking a proper name, not breaking a hyphenated word except at the hyphen, not ending a column at a hyphen, bringing down at least three characters of a hyphenated word, and allowing only two consecutive lines to end in a hyphen.
• It is acceptable to break Northwestern, preferably between h and w.

lists

• Do not use a colon after a verb or a preposition introducing a list (including Ben, Julie, and Pete instead of including: Ben, Julie, and Pete) unless the introductory phrase contains some variation of the following or as follows.
• Maintain parallel construction in listed items.
• Avoid numbering unless there will be a reference to the numbers in later text.
• If you must number a list in running text, place numbers (without periods) in parentheses.
• In vertical lists, use a period after each item if one or more is a complete sentence. In that case, the first words should be capitalized. Otherwise, capitalization of the first words depends on the context.
• Alphabetize or put listed items in some other logical order.

 

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McCormick

• Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science in first mention; McCormick thereafter.
• Do not refer to the school as Tech. Tech is the building — i.e., the Technological Institute.

Medill publications produced by University Relations

• Use a modified Associated Press style (abbreviation of states with cities, months with dates; no comma before and in a series; for other differences, consult the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual). However, unlike in AP style, italicize titles of publications and creative works.
• Medill School of Journalism in first mention; Medill thereafter.

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names

• No comma before Jr. or Sr. or III.
• Space between initials (J. P. Morgan).

Native American

• American Indian is generally preferred, but Native American may be used if the subject prefers it or if it's in a formal name.

nonsexist language

• Use whenever possible (chair, chairperson, police officer, etc.).
• Although chairman of the board may be used, board chair is preferable.
• One way to get around the his or her dilemma is to recast in the plural.

NU

• Do not use NU for Northwestern in any but very informal publications, Alumni Relations publications, and Athletics and Recreation publications.

NUcat

• Closed up, cat lowercased.

NUMBALUMS

• Note that there is an and in the name: Northwestern University Marching and Band Alumni.
  

numbers

• One through nine spelled out; 10 and above in numerals, except that numbers of the same category should be treated alike within the same context.
• First through ninth spelled out; thereafter, 10th, 11th, etc.
• Use two letters with 22nd, 23rd, etc.
• Use numerals with percent (7 percent), dollar sign ($3), temperature (8 degrees), scores (7-3), page (page 2), room (room 9), and chapter (chapter 6).
• Numbers beginning a sentence are always spelled out.
• For figures greater than 999,999, use million or billion (2.3 million, 4 billion).
• Use a comma in a figure greater than 1,000, unless it's a date.
• For inclusive numbers, the second number should be represented by only its final two digits if its beginning digit(s) are the same as the first number's (pages 343–47).
• A dash should not be used as a substitute for to in a range (from 1967 to 1983, not from 1967–83).

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offices

• Capitalize when formal name (Office of the Provost); otherwise, lowercase (provost's office).

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postal regulations

• Since postal regulations are complex and ever changing, it is advisable to check with Mail Services (1-8411 in Evanston, 3-8131 in Chicago) about size and such before designing a printed piece.
• Bulk mail (200 or more pieces of the same size and weight mailed together) requires an indicia in the upper-right corner. 
  The following indicia may be used for items to be mailed from any post office where the client or mailing house has applied for a permit in Northwestern's name:
  Nonprofit Organization
  U.S. Postage
  PAID
  Northwestern University
  The following indicia may be used when the items will be mailed from Evanston:
  Nonprofit Organization
  U.S. Postage
  PAID
  Permit No. 205
  Evanston, IL 60201
  The following indicia may be used when the items will be mailed from Chicago:
  Nonprofit Organization
  U.S. Postage
  PAID
  Permit No. 2435
  Chicago, IL 60611
• Check with Mail Services about other preparation requirements for bulk mail.
• See also "business reply mail."

prepositions in headlines

• Always lowercase, unless the preposition is the first word.

professors

• See "titles (people)."

programs, academic

• Do not capitalize in reference to a curriculum (for instance, international studies).
• Capitalize the formal name of the program when it is the equivalent of the formal name of a department (Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences Program).

publications (in-house)

• Italicize only official, published titles (Undergraduate Catalog 2008); otherwise, lowercase (the undergraduate catalog).

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quarter (fall, winter, spring)

• Do not capitalize.

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resident assistant, RA

• Do not use. See community assistant for correct usage.

reprints

• Reprinted matter with another publication's credit is not edited to house style.

resource materials

• The Undergraduate Catalog is a good resource for doublechecking the spelling of professors' names, although it may not have the latest academic rank. 
• Northwestern University Alumni Directory may be used for checking alumni names and years/degrees.

Rock

• Capitalize the R.

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schools

• J. L. Kellogg School of Management in first mention in official documents, Kellogg School of Management in first mention in marketing publications (note that Graduate is no longer used); Kellogg School in subsequent references.
• Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science in first mention; McCormick in subsequent references.
• Feinberg School of Medicine in first mention; Feinberg or the medical school in subsequent references.
• Medill School of Journalism in first mention; Medill in subsequent references.
• Northwestern University School of Law is the official name. We use Law School in caps only when we can't substitute Northwestern or the school, but we do not use Northwestern Law School. And Northwestern Law is a logo, not a name to be used in text.
• Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in first mention; Weinberg in subsequent references.
• The former School of Speech is now the School of Communication.
• Dental School, not School of Dentistry, in reference to the school that closed in 2001; avoid using NUDS.
  
• No The or the before Northwestern University School of Law, Northwestern University Dental School, Northwestern University School of Communication, Northwestern University School of Music.
• The School of Continuing Studies (formerly University College) may be abbreviated SCS in second references.
• One-word references to a school are capped (Music undergraduates), but do not cap a field of study (music majors).
• For guidelines about designating alumni, see "alumni."

second references

• Capitalize the University in reference to Northwestern. Do not capitalize the school or the college in second references to the individual schools.
• Second and subsequent references to a person generally use only the last name, except in obituaries. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Rev., Dean, and Professor should not be used in second references except in quoted material. An exception may be made for donors when a development officer requests it.

smart quotes, straight quotes

• Smart (curly) quotation marks and smart apostrophes are typographically correct.
• Straight quotes are used to designate inches, straight apostrophes to designate feet.

SPAC

• Do not use. The first reference should be Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Norris Aquatics Center. Subsequent references should be the sports pavilion or the aquatics center.

statements to include in University publications

• These statements normally appear in viewbooks, applications, and other long recruitment documents produced by University Relations:

  [publications code]
  ? year Northwestern University. All rights reserved.
  Produced by University Relations.
  month-year/quantity/initials of editor-initials of designer/job number

  [disclaimer]
  Northwestern University reserves the right to change without notice any statement in this publication concerning, but not limited to, rules, policies, tuition, fees, curricula, and courses.

  [the long nondiscrimination statement]
  Northwestern University does not discriminate or permit discrimination by any member of its community against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, parental status, marital status, age, disability, citizenship, or veteran status in matters of admissions, employment, housing, or services or in the educational programs or activities it operates. Harassment, whether verbal, physical, or visual, that is based on any of these characteristics is a form of discrimination. This includes harassing conduct affecting tangible job benefits, interfering unreasonably with an individual's academic or work performance, or creating what a reasonable person would sense is an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment. While Northwestern University is committed to the principles of free inquiry and free expression, discrimination and harassment identified in this policy are neither legally protected expression nor the proper exercise of academic freedom. For advice or assistance regarding this policy, see www.northwestern.edu/eeo.
  
  

• In shorter recruitment publications such as brochures and posters, the short nondiscrimination statement may be substituted for the long one:
  Northwestern University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer.
• According to the Office of General Counsel, catalogs and applications should also contain the following two statements:

  In exceptional circumstances, Northwestern University reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to waive any documentation normally required for admission. It also reserves the right to admit or deny an applicant admission whenever it believes that it has sufficient evidence for the decision. At the discretion of the University, supporting documents received more than one month after the application form may not be incorporated into the admission decision.

  It is Northwestern University policy to ensure that no qualified student with a disability is denied the benefits of, excluded from participation in, or otherwise subjected to discrimination in any University program or activity. In response to a request made by a qualified student with a documented disability, the University will arrange, at no cost to the student, for the provision of educational auxiliary aids, including sign language interpreters, real-time captions, note takers, readers, and tutors, determined by the University to be necessary to afford such student the opportunity for full participation in University programs.
  
  

• The disclaimer is needed only on publications that can be construed as a contract between the University and the recipients.
• The statements other than the publications codes need not appear on newsletters. They also may be omitted from stationery and letterheads and other publications on which they would detract greatly from the appearance.

states

• States should not be abbreviated. Exceptions may be made when states appear with city names in class notes, tabular material, and mailing addresses (use postal codes then).
• Not required for Evanston and major cities widely associated with a state. These include Atlanta, Baltimore, Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis. If there is a major city of the same name in another state, however, include the state name.
• Use with smaller and lesser-known cities.
• Use commas before and after state names when they appear with cities (Wilmette, Illinois, is north of Evanston — not Wilmette, Illinois is north of Evanston).
• If a high school bears the name of its city, insert the state in parentheses: Downers Grove (Illinois) High School.
• A similar rule applies to newspapers, but italicize the state within an italicized newspaper name: Aurora (Illinois) Beacon News.

Summer Session

• Capitalize when it's Northwestern's (but summer school).

symbols

• In text, spell out the words percent, degrees (temperature), feet, inches, and cents. In tables, it is acceptable to use symbols for these (%, ?, ', ", ?).
• Amounts greater than 99 cents should be in numerals with a dollar sign ($4).

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Tech

• In informal usage, acceptable in reference to the building after a first reference to the Technological Institute.
• Should not be used as a substitute for the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

telephone numbers

• In text, use a hyphen between area code and number.
• An exception may be made for phone numbers in list form — for instance, on business cards, stationery, and posters.

theater

• Other than in School of Communication publications, always er except when referring to the formal name of a department (Department of Theatre), program (Music Theatre Program), or building that uses the re spelling (Theatre and Interpretation Center).
• In School of Communication publications, always re except when referring to the formal name of a facility or organization that uses the er spelling.
• It's the Theatre and Interpretation Center, but the spaces within it are Mussetter-Struble Theater, Barber Theater, Louis Theater, and Wallis Theater.

the in names

• Lowercase, no matter how the corporation, organization, or publication spells it.
• The at the start of titles of creative works is generally capitalized (The Canterbury Tales).
• Should not be used before University Library, Summer Session, Northwestern University School of Law, Northwestern University School of Communication, Northwestern University School of Music.
• Do not use before named professorships, because in some cases (i.e., Walter P. Murphy Professor, Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence), there is more than one person with the same title.

times

• Do not use :00 with a time unless it's a very formal publication in which it would be appropriate — for instance, invitations.
• Lowercase a.m. and p.m.
• It is sometimes permissible to remove the periods in a.m. and p.m. in tables and lists if space is tight, but use the periods in text.
• Noon, not 12 p.m. or 12 noon.
• Do not use a dash in place of to in a range of times introduced by from (from 5 to 7 p.m., not from 5–7 p.m.).
• Do not use o'clock unless it's in quoted material or contexts such as formal invitations.

titles (dissertations, theses)

• Capitalize and set in roman type and within quotation marks.

titles (legal citations)

• Italicize and use v. for "versus" (Brown v. Board of Education).

titles (organizations)

• Names of associations, organizations, conferences, meetings, etc., follow the same guidelines as for compositions, except that the article the preceding a name is lowercased even when it is part of the formal title and the organization capitalizes it. Use the group's punctuation and abbreviations for its name.
• Use Co. when a business uses the word as part of its formal name. Inc., Corp., and Ltd. are usually not needed but when used after the name of a corporate entity should be abbreviated.
• Such words as club, team, and conference are lowercased when used alone. The exception to this is University when referring to Northwestern. (New members of the John Evans Club attended the event. The club is a recognition society for donors to the University.)

titles (people)

• Uppercase preceding a name if it's a title by which the individual is called (Professor Smith, Dean Van Zandt, Provost Linzer), but lowercase a functional title (program director Jane Johnson). It's Dean Barbara J. O'Keefe of the School of Communication but School of Communication dean Barbara J. O'Keefe. It follows that plurals are lowercased (music professors Walfrid Kujala and Ray Still).
• Capitalize endowed professorships whether before or after a name. Do not use the before endowed professorships, because in some cases (i.e., Walter P. Murphy Professor, Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence), there is more than one person with the same title.

titles (publications and creative works)

• Titles of books, periodicals (including online magazines), movies, television series, plays, works of art, musical compositions (except those with generic titles, e.g., Symphony no. 5 in C Minor), collections of poetry, and long poems published separately are italicized.
• Titles of lectures, speeches, episodes of television and radio series, songs, poems, articles from newspapers and periodicals, chapters, short stories, essays, and individual parts of books are in roman type and within quotation marks.
• Lowercase articles (a, an, the), coordinate conjunctions (and, or, for, nor), prepositions regardless of length, and to in infinitives. Capitalize everything else, including those parts of speech if they appear as the first or last word in a title (On the Waterfront).

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universities (other)

• Use official names instead of trying to be consistent about the use of in, of, dashes, or commas in indicating campus locations. This site includes a list of some schools; a complete list appears in the annual American Council on Education directory.

University (referring to Northwestern)

• Always capitalize when referring to Northwestern.

University Library

• Formal name; does not take the before it.

upperclass students

• When appropriate, use juniors and seniors instead.

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vice president and other vice words

• Open compounds.

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The web and e-mail

• Hyphenate e-mail; lowercase it except at the start of a sentence. Merriam-Webster's now allows e-mail to be used as a verb, going the way of fax, another noun that common usage turned into a verb.
• Do not hyphenate online.
• World Wide Web is not needed; web is sufficient.
• http:// is not needed at the start of a web address unless the address doesn't start with www. or there might be some confusion about whether it is a web address.
• < > is not needed around a web address.
• Capitalize Internet but lowercase web.
• Use home page and web site as two words.
• Use database as one word.
• Italicize the titles of online publications (HotWired).
• If an address does not fit on one line, do not introduce hyphenation when breaking it. For instance, do not hyphenate northwestern in a web or an e-mail address; readers might think the hyphen is part of the address. An unavoidable line break should come after a // or other punctuation mark (except a period) within a URL.
• Do not break a line after a period within a web or an e-mail address. Bring the period down to start the next line:
  www.kellogg.northwestern
  .edu/admissions/clpr_000.htm
• Close up webcast, webcasting, and webcam, but leave a space in web camera.

Weinberg

• First reference: the Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
• Second and subsequent references: Weinberg.

widows

• Care should be taken to avoid lines of less than full measure (known in typesetting parlance as widows) at the top of columns.
• Hyphenation that results in an incomplete word alone in the last line of a paragraph should be avoided.

WildCARD

• Close up.
• Put W and CARD in caps.

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zip codes

• See "addresses."

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