Editorial Style Guide: M-Z
Do not capitalize unless at the beginning of a sentence. Use an apostrophe when modifying a noun, otherwise use no apostrophe.
"She's getting a master of science in biology."
"His master's degree means great job prospects."
media and medium
Media is plural and takes a plural verb, whereas medium is singular:
"The media work hard for their money."
"This medium is better than the rest."
Moore-Barlett-Skarland Complex
Hyphenate Moore-Bartlett-Skarland. Capitalize all initial letters, including “Complex.” Abbreviate to MBS Complex (no hyphens) on second reference.
Mount McKinley
Do not abbreviate Mount. The park is Denali National Park and Preserve.
"Mount McKinley is located in Denali National Park and Preserve."
multilevel lounge
See Wood Center multilevel lounge
multimedia
No hyphens, all one word
muskox (singular) and muskoxen (plural)
One word, no space.
MyUA
One word, capital M.
"We have an Internet portal accessible through the UAF web pages which is called MyUA."
Nanook is a derivation of the Inupiaq Eskimo word for polar bear, “nanuq.” All UAF sports teams are called “Alaska Nanooks,” (avoid “UAF Nanooks”). Capitalize. Use singular form as an adjective, plural or singular as a noun.
"The Nanook hockey team made the playoffs this year.”
"The Nanooks won in overtime.”
"The former Nanook was a first-round NHL draft.”
Do not use "lady” when referring to a women’s team (e.g., "the Lady Nanooks").
Native
Capitalize when referring to Alaska's Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts:
"Alaska Natives have lived in Alaska a long time."
non-contiguous state
Hypenate. Refers to Alaska and Hawaii.
Hyphenate
nonprofit
No hyphen
nonresident
No hyphen
north, North, northern, Northern
Do not capitalize when using as a general term.
"The snow on the north side of the building was the last to melt.”
"The house’s northern exposure made it harder to sell.”
Capitalize when referring to the specific geographic area.
"His research was on the mushrooms of the North.”
"Scientists studying the Northern Hemisphere were at the conference.”
numbers, ordinal
Do not superscript the "st” or "th” designations:
"They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.”
Don't capitalize:
"The trans-Alaska oil pipeline flows south from …"
on campus, on-campus
Hyphenate when serving as an adjective describing a noun:
"I want to live in on-campus housing."
Do not hyphenate when on serves as a preposition:
"I want to live on campus."
NOTE: Same rules apply with "off campus" and/or "off-campus"
online
No hyphen
Use numerals and spell out percent:
"More than 5 percent of the fish were dead."
"Less than 20 percent of the people voted."
Performance Based Budget/Budgeting
No hyphens. Capitalize.
pipeline (See"oil pipeline")
planets
Capitalize nouns and adjectives derived from the proper names of planets and other heavenly bodies.
"Spirit and Opportunity are two rovers NASA landed on Mars in January 2004 that continue to gather data as they roam the Martian landscape."
Poker Flat Research Range
There is no "s" on the end of Flat.
Police Department (see also Fire Department)
The full name is the University of Alaska Fairbanks Police Department or UAF Police Department (not the University Police Department. Compare with Fire department.). Capitalize when referring to the UAF department, even when not preceded by UAF. Lowercase when referring to police departments in general.
"The UAF Police Deparment is staffed 24 hours per day, every day."
"You may call the Police Department to request an escort to your car."
"TVC Law Enforcement Academy students are employed by police departments throughout the country.”
postbaccalaureate
One word, no hyphen
postdoctoral
One word, no hyphen
pre-major
Hyphenate
president's professor
Capitalize when used as part of a formal title before the name, otherwise lowercase.
President's Professor John Walsh studies global change, and Buck Sharpton, president's professor of remote sensing, conducts research in the Geophysical Institute.
program
Unless otherwise noted, capitalize when used as part of a formal title.
"TVC launched its popular Fast Track Training Program. Many students have enrolled in the program.”
Pub
Capitalize when referring to the bar in Wood Center. Do not capitalize a preceding "the.”
Quaternary (see also"geologic age”)
Not Quarternary
Capitalize when using the full name or shortened version:
"The Rasmuson Library is part of the Fine Arts Complex …"
"The Elmer E. Rasmuson Library is located in the Fine Arts Complex …"
Do not capitalize "library” when not preceded by "Rasmuson.”
room
Capitalize when part of a formal name of a room:
"The meeting will be in the Wood Center Memorial Conference Room."
"The lecture will be in the Globe Room."
Delete when using a numeral and building name.
"The group meets in 208 Gruening.” (Alt: Gruening 208, or adding "Building” following the proper name)
Capitalize when part of official title:
"The School of Management is in the Bunnell Building."
Preferred house style is not to flip-flop school names (see department), but capitalize if doing so. Lowercase in other instances:
"The management school is in the Bunnell Building."
"The school renewed its accreditation in 2007.”
UAF schools and their abbreviations:
Graduate School (usually not abbreviated)
School of Education (SOE)
School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (SFOS)
School of Management (SOM)
School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences (SNRAS)
scientific names
See genus, species
Do not capitalize:
"She caught a cold every winter.”
"Enrollment was high at the start of the fall 2005 semester.”
"I hope to graduate in spring 2006.”
ships
Italicize the name of the ship, but not the preceding designator (contrary to AP style). Use the pronoun "it” rather than "she.”
"The r/v Alpha Helix…"
Signers' Hall
Not Signer's Hall. Signers' Hall is plural since there were many signers of the Alaska constitution in this building.
Hyphenate when used as an adjective modifying a noun.
"The 14,000-square-foot building was funded in part by private donations."
"The building featured 14,000 square feet of labs and classrooms."
Note exception to the tagline "360+ million-acre classroom” (see slogans)
slogans
Use the following upper- and lowercase:
"Alaska's Land, Sea and Space Grant institution"
"UAF is a Land, Sea and Space Grant institution."
"360+ million-acre classroom" (Can also be used without +)
"America's arctic university"
square foot, square mile, square inch
See size.
state of Alaska
In general, don't capitalize state:
"The state of Alaska is the 49th state in the union."
states
See AP Stylebook.
statewide
Do not use a hyphen and don't capitalize:
"The statewide offices are in the Butrovich Building."
Steller’s jay, Steller’s eider, Steller’s sea eagle
Capitalize Steller and spell with an "-er,” not an "-ar."
Steller sea lions
Capitalize Steller and spell with an "-er", not an "-ar."
student-athlete
Hyphenate
One word, no hyphen. Do not capitalize.
telephone numbers (see also toll free)
Correct form for on-campus telephones:
"Call 7581 for more information."
Correct form for off-campus calling:
"Call 474-7581 for more information."
Correct form for off-campus out-of-state calling, as well as all web references:
"Call 907-474-7581 for more information."
"Call 800-474-1111 for more information."
temperatures
Use figures. Use below, not a minus sign, for temperatures below zero:
"It was 80 degrees in July and 30 below in October."
Fahrenheit temperatures are assumed and need not be designated as such. See the AP Stylebook for further treatment of Fahrenheit and Celsius.
theatre
Use theatre when referring to UAF's department or theater company:
"Theatre UAF is the university's student production company."
"UAF's theatre department is popular among students."
"UAF's Salisbury Theatre is located off the Great Hall."
Use theater when referring to theater in general:
"Theaters across the country are …"
For whole number times, use numerals, no :00. If minutes are indicated, include the colon. Separate the time from the a.m./p.m. designation with a space:
"The program will start at 9 a.m."
"The program will start at noon."
"The doors will open promptly at 6:45 p.m."
Use a.m. and p.m., not upper case:
"The program will start at 9 a.m."
Use an en dash with no spaces if times are inclusive:
"The conference will be held from 9–11 a.m."
titles (see alsocenter, department, seasons andjob titles)
Articles, exhibits, lectures, songs, unpublished papers
Capitalize and use quotation marks:
"The choir sang 'Alaska's Flag Song' after the ceremony."
"He introduced Bill Robinson's lecture, 'Leading from the Middle.'"
"The museum hosted ‘The Nature and Art of Collections’ exhibit."
Awards, certificates, prizes, projects, recognitions, scholarships
Do not italicize or use quotation marks. Capitalize:
"She received the Alaskan of the Year Award."
"The student won the John Doe Scholarship.”
Books, magazines, movies, newsletters, newspapers, operas, radio shows, reports
Italicize, contrary to AP style:
"Newsweek quoted the president as saying …"
"UAF publishesThe Alumnus four times a year.
Classes, committees, conferences, conventions, seminars, workshops
Do not italicize or use quotation marks. Capitalize.
"The department is hosting the Festival of Native Arts."
"He was appointed to the 2003 International Resources Committee."
Programs
Capitalize when part of the title.
"TVC launched the popular Fast Track Training Program in 2005.”
Note: Not all programs use the word "program” in their title.
"UAF participates in GVEA’s Sustainable Natural Alternative Power program.”
Do not capitalize when used as a general term:
"The student took every health care program offered.”
Two words unless modifying a noun.
"Students can call toll free anytime.”
"The toll-free number was inadvertently disconnected."
trademark symbol - (TM) or ™
If you can't use a superscript, use parentheses (TM).
Troth Yeddha'
Capitalize. Pronounced "trot yet."
"The land now occupied by the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus was called Troth Yeddha' (wild potato hill) by the Tanana Athabascans."
Do not use periods between letters. Use only after full name has been used at least once. If possessive, use an apostrophe.
"UAF's enrollment is up."
University, university
Capitalize as part of a title:
"The Ohio State University campus is …"
Lowercase in other instances:
"The university campus is …"
URLs
A Uniform Resource Locator is a web address. Leave off the http:// unless there is no www in the address.
"Visit www.uaf.edu for more information."
"Check your financial aid status online at http://uaonline.alaska.edu"
If a URL must break across two lines, choose to break at a punctuation point, such as a period or a slash.
"For more information about the counseling program visit www.uaf.edu/
educ/graduate/counseling.html."
URLs that end with a directory (e.g.. www.uaf.edu/chancellor/) should have a slash at the end. Do NOT use a slash at the end if the URL ends with a filename (e.g. www.uaf.edu/chancellor/bio.html) or if the URL is only the domain name (e.g. www.uaf.edu). URLs that end in /index.html can be shortened to the directory name (e.g. www.uaf.edu/chancellor/index.html can be changed to www.uaf.edu/chancellor/)
U.S.
Use periods for abbreviating United States but not USA:
"The U.S. is facing a coffee shortage."
"Several former Nanook athletes will represent the USA.”
Usibelli Awards
The official titles of the awards are: Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching Award, Emil Usibelli Distinguished Research Award and Emil Usibelli Distinguished Service Award. May retain initial caps of Usibelli Award on second reference, or when combining the three separate titles for the sake of brevity. Do not capitalize award when used alone.
"The university announced the Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service Awards today. Yelena Matusevich won the teaching award. The Usibelli Awards are handed out annually in the spring."
Do not hyphenate.
Capitalize as part of a title:
"Vice Chancellor Joe Smith voted to second the motion."
Lowercase in other instances:
"Joe Smith, vice chancellor, voted to second the motion."
vita, vitae
Vita is singular and vitae is plural. Use when referring to a biographical sketch, generally in conjunction with "curriculum," especially when the information refers to academic history. Curriculum vita is the formal name for an academic's resume, curricula vitae is the plural designation.
"Her curriculum vita was outstanding."
When used as a noun and adjective, two words, no hyphen:
"If you are on a wait list for a class and have kept up with class activity, you may be allowed to register for the class as vacancies occur."
When used as a compound modifier, hyphenate:
"Ten students hoped to get into the wait-listed class."
web
When "web" stands alone, use a lowercased "w" (contrary to AP Style). This is short for the formal name "World Wide Web" or "WWW." Avoid use of the formal name, whenever possible, but if it must be used, the "Ws" should be upper case.
"The student found her grades on the web." (contrary to AP style)
website
One word, lowercased "web" (contrary to AP Style).
Wood Center
Officially "William R. Wood Center," but "Wood Center" can be used. Does not need to be preceded by "the."
Wood Center Carol Brown Ballroom
Not "Wood Center Ballroom"
Lowercase "multilevel” and "lounge.” Do not hyphenate "multilevel.”
work force
Two words, not one
No apostrophe:
"In the 1960s UAF continued to grow."
"Deferred maintenance was an issue during the 1980s – 1990s."
Yupik, Yup'ik
In most cases, use Yupik with no apostrophe. Use "Yup'ik" when referring to those from Central or YK Delta regions.