Editorial Style Guide: D-L
See hyphens and dashes.
data
Data can be either a singular or plural noun and requires a singular or plural verb accordingly. See the AP Stylebook for further explanation.
"The data is inaccurate."
"The data have been carefully collected."
database
One word, not two
dates
Abbreviate months with more than five letters:
"The program will begin Jan. 1, 1991."
"The program will begin March 1, 1991."
"The program will take place on April 1, 1991."
Use an en dash with a space on either side when dates are inclusive :
(on Mac keyboards, type option+dash to create an en dash.)
"The conference will take place June 1 – 10, 1991."
Do not use a comma to separate the month and year ("June 2003").
day care
Two words, no hyphen, in all uses. (An exception to Webster’s use as an adjective.)
"The Bunnell House day care center gives hands-on training to early childhood education students.”
days of the week
Never abbreviate in text:
"The program will begin Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1991."
dean
Capitalize as part of a title:
"UAF School of Hard Knocks Dean John Smith…"
"At the meeting, Dean John Smith…"
Lowercase in other instances:
"John Smith, dean of UAF's School of Hard Knocks…"
dean's list and deans' lists
When someone is named to a dean’s list, the apostrophe should be placed before the “s.” Place the apostrophe after the “s” when referring to the many lists from the many deans.
degrees
Lowercase in text when spelled out:
"UAF offers bachelor of arts degrees in…"
Capitalize and use periods when abbreviating (only on second reference):
"UAF offers B.A. degrees in…"
Preferred: "John Smith received a bachelor's degree in computer science."
UAF offers:
certificates
associate degrees
bachelor's degrees
master's degrees
educational specialist degrees
doctoral degrees – Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy)
degree-seeking (See alsonon-degree-seeking)
Hyphenate:
"All degree-seeking students eventually must declare a major."
Although most departments’ formal names are Department of X, they are also commonly referred to as X Department. Retain capitalization in either case.
"The Department of History is sponsoring a contest."
"The History Department is sponsoring a contest."
Lowercase when not using the full title in either form:
"The department is sponsoring …"
Exceptions:
There are departments that are not preceded by “Department of” or whose official name at UAF is contrary to convention. Such names should be capitalized. These include: Admissions, University Fire Department, University of Alaska Fairbanks Police Department, Registrar’s Office, Marketing and Communications and University Relations.
director
Capitalize as part of a title:
"When Employee Relations Director Bill Smythe arrived…"
Lowercase in other instances:
"When Bill Smythe, director of Employee Relations, arrived…"
dollars
Use dollar sign, not the word “dollars,” no decimal:
"The cost is $12 per person."
Do not hyphenate costs that modify a noun:
"The $1.2 million budget increase was blamed on skyrocketing insurance costs.”
Dr.
Do not use Dr. as a title when someone has earned a Ph.D. or honorary degree, and don’t use Ph.D. after the name. Reserve “Dr.” for those with medical degrees unless it’s specifically necessary to use “Dr.” to indicate expertise in a subject as opposed to a lay understanding.
"Steve Jones is UAF's chancellor."
Exceptions:
May be made for formal university documents or on mailings pulled from Raiser’s Edge.
Capitalize when referring to the planet:
"The Earth is bigger than the moon."
Lowercase when using as a general reference:
"It felt good to dig in the moist spring earth."
Edith R. Bullock Prize for Excellence
Initial capitalization. Adding “in service” is not part of the title; neither is “award.”
ellipsis
Indicates the omission of words from a quoted sentence. In the middle of a sentence: space, three periods, space.
(On Mac keyboard, type option+semicolon to create an ellipsis.)
"I always try to do my best … however, nobody's perfect."
At the end of a sentence: space , one period, space, three periods. The first period indicates the end of the sentence:
"Spring activities included mud volleyball, and a bonfire. …The chancellor began the festivities with a reception."
See the AP Stylebook for further treatment.
Hyphenate with a lowercased "e."
emeriti, emerita, emeritus
Use emeriti in a plural context:
"Engineering emeriti are designing…"
Use emeritus and emerita in a singular context:
"Joe Smith, professor of geology, emeritus, was appointed to the committee."
"Janet Peters, who was given emerita status in 1991, …"
Use faculty as a singular noun:
"The faculty is meeting today …"
"Faculty members are meeting today …"
"He is a member of the faculty."
Farmers Loop
No apostrophe.
fax
Short for facsimile machine, use lowercase:
"The student wanted to fax her transcript to the graduate school."
Fire Department (see also Police Department)
The full name is the University Fire Department (not UAF Fire Department; compare with Police Department.) Capitalize when referring to the university department, even when not preceded by “University.” Lowercase when referring to fire departments in general.
"The University Fire Department serves the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, as well as a large off-campus fire district."
"UAF fire science graduates find employment in fire departments nationwide."
first names
Use full name unless nickname is preferred by the owner:
"Charles Ray was named professor emeritus."
Or if he prefers:
"Chuck Ray was named professor emeritus."
See AP, names entry for treatment of children and youth.
fonts
See www.uaf.edu/marketing/standards/graphic/fonts.html for approved university fonts.
fundraiser, fundraising
One word, no hyphens
General Educational Development. Use initial caps. On first reference, use "General Educational Development." For second reference, use "GED."
"For admission to associate/certificate programs, you must have a high school diploma or a General Educational Development diploma. If you do not have a high school diploma or GED, you may take courses as a non-degree-seeking student."
In the first reference of scientific or biological names, capitalize the first, or generic, Latin name for the class of plant or animal and lowercase the species that follows: Homo sapiens, Tyrannosaurus rex. On second reference, abbreviate the first letter and spell out the second word: H. sapiens, T. rex.
geographic information system
Lowercase. Abbreviate as GIS (no periods).
Capitalize the name and the eon, era, etc.
"Several faculty members in the Anthropology Department specialize in Alaska archaeology from the Holocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period."
Georgeson Botanical Garden
"Garden" is singular, not plural.
governmental titles
Abbreviate in the following ways in text:
"Gov. Sarah Palin …"
"Sen. Joe Smith …"
"Rep. Ann Jones …"
grade point average
On first reference, use "grade point average." For second reference, use "GPA."
Great Hall
Officially "Regents' Great Hall," but "Great Hall" can be used. “Regents’” is plural and possessive.
Two words when used as a noun and a compound modifier (contrary to Webster’s).
home schooling, home-schooled, home-schooler
honors list
Lowercase, no apostrophe:
"John Smith was named to the honors list."
honorary degrees
Do not use “Dr.” before the name of an individual whose only doctorate is honorary. Exceptions may be made for formal university documents or on mailings pulled from Raiser’s Edge.
hyphens: use when separating noninclusive numbers or in compound nouns. Do not use spaces around the hyphen.
"My mother-in-law is coming to town. Her phone number is 555-1234."
en dash: use to separate ranges of items, such as dates or quantities. Place one space before and after the en dash.
(On Mac keyboards, type option+dash to create an en dash.)
"There will be 30 – 50 people there."
"The event runs Oct. 10 – 15."
em dash: use in place of commas to set off a section of the sentence that requires special emphasis. Place one space before and after the em dash.
(On Mac keyboards, type option+shift+dash to create an em dash.)
"The em-dash — a very important typographical element — should not be overused."
See also time of day.
Preferred house style is to delete even when part of a corporate name, but if it is retained, abbreviate and capitalize as Inc. Do not set off with commas. Apply the same treatment to other designations such as LLC.
"Arco Alaska is an oil company." or
"Arco Alaska Inc. is an oil company."
in-state (adj.)
Hyphenate
"Alaska residents pay in-state tuition."
Institute, institute
Capitalize when part of official title:
"The Institute of Arctic Biology…"
Lowercase in other instances:
"The institute…"
Interior
Capitalize when referring to the geographical region of Alaska. Refers generally to the Tanana, Yukon and Kuskokwim river valleys.
"UAF is located in the Interior."
"UAF is located in Interior Alaska."
Internet
Always capitalize. Acceptable to use “the Net” on second reference.
Inupiaq
The language of Alaska Inuit Eskimos, spoken on the North Slope and in Northwest Alaska as far south as Unalakleet. Distinct from Yupik. A north Alaska Eskimo (person). Use Inupiaq to refer to the language (never Inupiat), to one person and as an adjective. Use Inupiak to refer to two people. Use Inupiat to refer to three or more people (never Inupiats), to the people collectively and to the culture.
"The Eskimo languages include the four Yupik languages of Alaska and Siberia as well as Inuit, the Alaskan sector of which is called Inupiaq."
When preceding an individual's name, capitalize formal titles but not occupational descriptions. At UAF, capitalize only the following formal titles and their subsets (e.g., Chancellor Jones and Vice Chancellor Sharpton): president, chair (don't capitalize department), chancellor, dean, director, professor and its subsets (contrary to AP), and provost. Chair is contrary to AP's use of chairman and chairwoman.
"The audience applauded after Chancellor Jones' speech."
"The committee listened to the advice of attorney Janice Rogers."
"Students met with department Chair PT Barnum to discuss the changes."
“The committee granted tenure to Assistant Professor Kline.”
Do not capitalize titles when not followed by a name.
"The dean of the College of Liberal Arts is retiring."
Stands for "kindergarten through 12th grade." Use en dash.
KUAC
Refers to both the radio station transmitter and the PBS television station in Fairbanks.
See also AlaskaOne.
See Nanooks.
Land, Sea and Space Grant institution
Capitalize Land, Sea and Space Grant, but not institution. No hyphens.
Latin names
For scientific names, see genus, species.
Legislature
Capitalize when referring to the Alaska Legislature:
"The Legislature held a special session last month to …"
-ly words
Do not use a hyphen with -ly words:
"UAF offers many privately funded scholarships."