To promote consistency in its communications, please use the following Saint Michael's College style guide, which draws from both the AP Style Guide and Chicago Manual of Style, with certain exceptions that are particular to Saint Michael's.
For the most current and accurate College data, please contact John Kulhowvick.
academic degrees - Capitalize abbreviations for degrees and professional designations, placing them only after proper names. Do not use periods to separate them, e.g., Michael Knight, PhD. Lowercase when degrees are spelled out, e.g., bachelor of arts in history.
academic titles - Refer to professors and administrators by full name, title and department (not capitalized, unless a proper noun), e.g., Marie Knight, professor of biology; Marcus Aurelius, associate professor of English; John J. Neuhauser, president. Only capitalize titles and affiliations when preceding a name, e.g., Professor Francis Drake, Associate Director Marvin Perkins. The title "Dr." is used only when referring to a medical doctor.
class years - Saint Michael's has a gender-neutral language policy. Therefore, do not write "freshman(men), upperclassman(men)" and instead use first-year student(s), sophomore(s), junior(s), senior(s), or upper-level student(s) (not upper-class) when referring to juniors or seniors. Numerically present class years with apostrophe preceding last two digits of year and no comma between last name and class year, e.g., Mike Knight '08. In cases of graduates from previous centuries, give full year, e.g., Michael D. Knight 1908. Uppercase "C" in "Class of" construction, e.g., Michael D. Knight, Class of 1908.
academic years - lowercase first-year, sophomore, junior, senior, e.g., senior John Doe, or John Doe '08. Do not use the word "freshman." Do not use the word "upper-class" to signify and upper-level (junior, senior) student. Use "upper-level" instead.
upper-level student(s) - indicating junior or senior, with hyphen. Not upperclassman/men, nor upperclass students
states - On digital content, use the two letter capitalized postal code, e.g., VT, MA, NJ, NH.
a.m./p.m. - lowercase, periods between letters, e.g., 10 a.m. or 10:00 a.m.; noon or midnight, not 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. In time spans, use en (-) dashes and no spaces between times, e.g., 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
dates - always spell out months e.g., November; December 2013. Do not use ordinals in dates, e.g., November 7, not November 7th. For date spans, use en (-) dash with no spaces between dates, e.g., February 14-15.
ordinals - spell out first through ninth, use numerals for 10th and above. Do not use ordinals in dates, e.g., Nov. 10, not Nov. 10th.
numerals - spell out numerals one through nine, use numerals for 10 and above
alumna - singular female graduate.
alumnae - plural female graduates.
alumni - plural male graduates, or male and female graduates collectively.
alumnus - singular male graduate.
Alum - do not use
team names - Capitalize names like Women's Basketball team. Teams that are one gender need not indicate men's or women's, e.g., Volleyball team, Field Hockey.
seasons - lowercase spring, summer, winter, fall.
ellipsis - indicates deletion of one or more words to condense text, constructed with three periods and one space on either … side. If words preceding an ellipsis make a complete sentence, place a period at the end of the complete sentence, followed by a space, followed by three periods. …
em dash - a long dash that separates clauses within a sentence — one space on either side. Use two en dashes – to make an em dash --. In HTML, you can use the HTML entity —.
en dash - a medium dash used to indicate duration, with no spaces on either side, e.g., 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; 12-18 months ago old. Also used in phone numbers, no spaces on either side, e.g., (508) 793–2300. (To access in Word tool bar, go to Insert, select Symbols, select Special Characters.) In HTML, you can use the HTML entity –.
publication names - italicize names of newspapers, magazines, plays, and news journals.
building names - capitalize the names of the college's buildings, e.g., Jeanmarie Hall, Alliot Student Center, Hoehl Welcome Center.
ALANA - abbreviation for African-American, Latin American, Asian-American, Native American.
baccalaureate - lowercase "b"
Baccalaureate Mass - uppercase "B" and "M"
Board of Trustees - uppercase formal name, but lowercase "the board."
Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel - not St. Michael's Chapel
coed, coeducational - no hyphen
Commencement - uppercase
department names - Uppercase formal department names, e.g., Department of Mass Communication, Journalism and Digital Arts. Lowercase informal department names, e.g., art department, except when it includes proper nouns, e.g., English department.
dollars - for dollar figures equal to or greater than one million dollars, present as, e.g., $1 million; $10 billion. For dollar figures less than $1 million present as, e.g., $900,000; $250; $9.99; $4. Do not follow the numerals with the word "dollars."
e-mail - lowercase, hyphen
extracurricular - no hyphen. Extracurricular implies activities which are additional with no particular relationship to the curriculum, while cocurricular implies activities which are complementary and go hand-in-hand with the curriculum.
Father/Fr. - on second reference, use abbreviated Fr. preceding last name, e.g., Fr. Doherty. On first reference, use abbreviated Rev. for Reverend preceding full name, e.g., Rev. Michael Cronogue, SSE. Use SSE (Society of St. Edmund) preceded by comma on first, full reference.
GPA - grade point average, no periods.
The Hilltop - informal nickname for campus.
Mass - uppercase "M" for religious service.
nonprofit - no hyphen
office names - uppercase in formal form, e.g., Office of Admission. Lowercase in informal form, e.g., admissions office.
online - lowercase, no hyphen
percent - spell out when used in body text, e.g., 10 percent. Don't spell out numerals, even when less than 10 percent, e.g., 8 percent. Use decimals, not fractions, e.g. 8.5 percent. Use only numerals and % symbol within tables and graphs.
pre-pharmacy - hyphen
Reverend - abbreviate when preceding a name, e.g., Rev. Michael C. Cronogue, SSE. Subsequent references use abbreviated Fr. Cronogue (no SSE).
e the acronym CREC at all to reference the McFarland Center.
Society of St. Edmund - abbreviated as SSE
telephone numbers/extensions - area codes separated by periods 802.654.3000; Extensions:, x2556
URLs - lowercase website addresses. Unless necessary, no http:// preceding.
Web, website - capital "W" for Web (shorthand for World Wide Web), e.g., the Web, Web page. However, website, webcam, webcast, webmaster are one word, lower case "w"
internet - lowercase "i"