The Chicago Manual of Style, the Associated Press Stylebook and Webster’s New World Collegiate Dictionary are the basis for style decisions in DVC publications both in print and on the web. Consistency in all college products is important.
| All publications, plans, reports, web pages, etc. should include a date, preferably by month, day, and year, July 1, 2017, or month and year, July 2017. In some cases, term references, fall 2017, are appropriate. |
Terminology consistency: apply, register, and enroll
Abbreviations
Symbols
Currency
Days, months, dates and times
Courtesy titles
Organizations
Spellings
Academic degrees and titles
Capitalization
Lists
Punctuation
Common errors
Other
When referring to the process of completing an application and “getting” classes, use the following in our communications, specifically in reference to the words “register” and “enroll”:
Apply to college: this relates to the act of completing the application for admission to college, and submitting it to one of the colleges via hard copy or online.” (While in the past the term “register” was also associated with completing the application, to avoid confusion it will no longer be acceptable to use it in this way.)
Register or enroll in classes: the process of signing up for classes.
After you have applied for admission and met with a counselor, it is time to register for classes.
A class is a physical construct, with a teacher, students and a schedule.
A course refers to the curriculum as described in the catalog that meets the requirements necessary to prepare students for the next step.
terms is preferred over semesters
fall, spring and summer are NOT capitalized (except at the beginning of a sentence.)
fall term
spring term
full-term
term-length
short-term
Use periods for most one-or-two-letter abbreviations. Note there are some exceptions.
DVC (no periods, no spaces) ESL (no periods, no spaces) DSS (no periods, no spaces)
CSU East Bay or Cal State East Bay (not Hayward State or East Bay State)
UC Berkeley
the UF (United Faculty) (no periods)
U.S. when used as an adjective
United States (spell out when used as a noun) Ave. (1600 Pennsylvania Ave.)
Avenue is spelled out when a street number is not included. Saint Mary’s (not St. Mary’s)
Avoid using the abbreviation etc. whenever possible in college publications.
ext. for extension (not Ext. or x.)
Do not use &, %, @ or ¢
Instead spell out and, percent, at and cents.
@ is okay only in an email address.
Use $ before the figure for dollar amounts.
$1 - $999,000; $1 million (not $1,000,000); and $1 billion, etc. Use $30, not $30.00.
Only use decimal when it is not an even dollar amount. $30.78
Don’t abbreviate the days of the week.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.
Don’t abbreviate the month unless it is within a date.
The party was in January. Jan. 1, 2017
Do not use 1/1/17 or 1.1.17 or 1-1-17
The months March, April, May, June and July are never abbreviated.
Indicate a series of years with the full first year and last two numerals of the second year.
Academic year 2017-18
Use periods (no spaces) after a.m. and p.m. Only use a colon when it is not an even hour.
9 a.m.-10:30 p.m., 9-10 a.m.,
9-10:30 p.m.
Mr., Mrs., Miss, and Ms. are to be avoided and should only be used in quotations. Do not use them in news articles.
The names of organizations are written out at first reference with the initials in parenthesis after the name. Later references use the initials or acronym.
Common American English spellings are preferred,
example: theater, color, catalog (not theatre, colour, catalogue).
Titles, when used, should follow the name, be set off by commas and not capitalized. It is preferable to avoid abbreviating the degree, i.e. M.A., and use the phrase instead. Use lower case for all degree designations and academic titles unless using a proper noun.
A.A. (associate in arts is preferred; associate degree is acceptable; do not use associate’s degree)
A.S. (associate in science is preferred; associate degree is acceptable; do not use associate’s degree)
B.A. (bachelor of arts is preferred, bachelor’s degree is acceptable)
B.S. (bachelor of science is preferred, bachelor’s degree is acceptable)
M.A. (master of arts is preferred, master’s degree is acceptable)
M.S. (master of science is preferred, master’s degree is acceptable) Ph.D. (doctorate is preferred)
Ed.D. (doctorate is preferred)
Department names (except in generic usage)
The Math Department (preferred)
Dave Johnson teaches mathematics
The Curriculum Committee (upper case for standing committees)
Instruction Office
Counseling Center
DSS Office or Disability Support Services Office
Admissions and Records Office
The memo was from admissions.
Division names
The Library and Learning Resources Division
The Social Science Division
Official course titles (lower case for generic use)
Sociology 101, Marriage and the Family
DVC offers courses in sociology.
Proper names of people or groups
the Classified Senate
the Board of Governors
DVC Academic Senate Council
DVC Classified Senate
Public Employees Union Local 1 (or Local 1)
the Legislature
DVC President Peter Garcia
the President when referring to United States president only
the United Faculty (UF - no periods)
Proper names of buildings or locations
the Counseling Center
the Administration Building
the DVC Library Building
DVC Book Center
CCCC District Office
Office of the President
Academic Senate Office
Also capitalize religions, races, languages, and trade-marks.
Degree or certificates are NOT capitalized (except at the beginning of a sentence)
associate in arts in studio arts for transfer
associate in science degree in sports medicine/athletic training
certificate of achievement in advanced accounting
Fall, spring and summer are NOT capitalized (except at the beginning of a sentence)
Forms and reports unless using the specific title of a form
admission form
prerequisite form
Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA)
the accreditation rep
Forms and reports unless using the specific title of a form
admission form
prerequisite form
Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA)
the accreditation report
Job titles, generic or ad hoc names or groups, etc.
the president
vice president (no hyphen, no caps)
director of marketing
college president
the accreditation team
the governing board
governing board members (do not use trustees or board of trustees)
the senate
senate council
the catalog task force
Generic usage for buildings and locations
the library
the bookstore
the district’s board room
in room BE-210
the cafeteria
president’s office
the district office
the district
the senate office
Sentence case vs title case:
Titles and major headings are Title Case (all words are capitalized except the, in, a, of, etc.)
Subheads and divisions within reports are sentence case (only the first word is capitalized)
Book, movie, newspaper, magazine, and report titles are italicized (when referenced)
Gone with the Wind
the CBS Evening News
the NBC-TV Today Show
Jessica Inclan’s novel, Her Daughter’s Eyes
Song titles not italicized, unless in a foreign language
The Star-Spangled Banner
Reference works - no italics, no quotations
Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft
Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language
Foreign works - Italicize foreign words or initials. Do not italicize English words, and substitute English title when appropriate.
Rousseau’s War
Die Walkuere from Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelungen
Lists, and vertical lists in particular, often cause confusion. The following are several examples of the preferred style:
It is preferred to write the items out in sentence form:
Contact the DVC Police Services Office with any questions or problems regarding security, first aid, fire, lost and found items, thefts, or other crimes.
A vertical, bulleted list is easier for the reader to follow than sentence form, especially for long phrases, and particularly on the web.
Items to include on your webpage:
Separate each item by a comma (or semi- colon when complex phrases are used) and use a period after the final item. A colon is used to introduce the vertical list or a series.
The outcomes of DVC’s associate in arts degree are:
The Haas School of Business is a highly impacted program and transfer students must have satisfied the following requirements:
Although the preceding example is acceptable, it is preferable to avoid using complete sentences for vertical lists.
Bulleted lists are preferred over enumerated lists. Use numbers only when there is significance to the sequence of the items listed.
Use to form a contraction.
It is = Its
Use to show possession of nouns.
Smith’s
Williams’
the cat’s (singular)
the cats’ (plural)
Use to show plural of a single letter or numeral.
Mind your p’s and q’s.
The Oakland A’s won the pennant.
Use to show something has been left out.
He studied from dusk ’til dawn.
Do not use and apostrophe with numerals or multiple letters.
The custom began in the 1960s.
The airline has two 727s.
Temperatures will be in the low 20s.
Four VIPs were there.
Use to introduce a list (See lists above)
Use to introduce a subtitle.
Use to show time if it’s not an even hour.
11:30 a.m.
Use after an independent clause to make a restatement of it for emphasis.
Many of the professors held additional jobs: Thirteen of them, for example, doubled as cab drivers.
Use after a long introductory clause or phrase.
Use after words in a series.
No serial comma for simple series:
The colors are red, white and blue.
Tom, Dick and Harry are available.
Serial comma for complex series:
Tom had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast.
The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude.
Use to separate two independent clauses joined by a common conjunction.
Use to separate modifiers of equal rank.
Use to set off a non-essential clause.
Reporters, who do not read the style guide, should not criticize their editors. (Note that without the comma, the meaning of the sentence changes.)
Use after the attribution to introduce a direct quote.
Use between the city and state.
Use in dates after the day and after the year.
Do not use between month and year,
January 2017
Use to set off transitional words.
Most comma usages make common sense; however, there are some exceptions.
Hyphenate any set of words that you want understood as one unit.
Part-time faculty (part time when not an adjective) Adjective use is preferred.
She is a part-time employee Not: She works part time.
Hyphenate after a prefix if the first word ends in a vowel and the next word begins with a vowel.
Hyphenate if the prefix ends in the same letter that the next word begins with or if the next word is capitalized.
Re-entry student
Co-op education
Prefixes that generally take a hyphen include all-, anti-, ex-, and pro- Check the dictionary for exceptions.
Avoid redundancies like “college wide” or “district-wide”. Use “college” or “district” instead.
Additional examples and exceptions
email (lowercase, no hyphen)
website (one word, no hyphen, lowercase)
postsecondary (one word, no hyphen,)
online (one word, no hyphen, lowercase)
bylaws (one word, no hyphen)
bilingual (one word, no hyphen)
AB 1725 (government bills, no hyphen, no periods)
BE-210 (DVC room numbers have hyphens, no spaces)
prerequisite (one word, no hyphen, lowercase)
co-requisite (hyphen, lowercase)
Italicize foreign words.
Use to enclose direct quotes or dialogue.
Use around titles of chapters, sections, articles, poems, plays, a coined word or phrase.
Use quotation marks in relationship to other punctuation:
Commas and periods go inside the quotation marks.
Semicolons and colons go outside the quotation marks,
Question marks and exclamation points go inside or outside of the quotation marks, depending on if the question is a part or the quote, or a part of the complete sentence.
In written text, spell out the numbers one through nine.
Use numerals for 10 and above.
They had 10 dogs, six cats and 97 hamsters.
They had four six-room houses, 10 three-room houses and 12 10-room houses.
Use numerals in addresses, ages, clothes sizes, dates, dimensions, highway numbers, money, percentages, recipes, speeds, sports, temperatures, time, weights, years, and academic units.
Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence, in casual reference, and in fractions of less than one.
About a hundred
One-fifth
assure means to convince someone or to make certain:
The instructor assured the class that no late assignments would be accepted.
ensure means to guarantee:
Steps were taken to ensure accuracy.
insure refers to insurance:
The policy insures her life.
cancel - use canceled; not cancelled with two l’s
commit - commitment, committed, committing
Use two spaces after a colon.
Use one space between sentences, not two.
Use that to introduce clauses that refer to an inanimate object or an animal without a name.
Use which (preceded by a comma) to introduce a non-essential clause that refers to an inanimate object or an animal.
The biology course, which is held in the science building, is very challenging.
The biology course that is held in the science building is very challenging.
Note that the meaning of the two sentences is very different.
No space before and after slash
EOPS/CARE
DVC’s URL is www.dvc.edu, not http://www.dvc.edu
Include it on as many publications as possible. URLs are bold whenever possible.
Use dashes throughout (not parentheses or dots) and use ext. for the abbreviation of extension.
925-685-1230
925-685-1230, ext. 2460
