Office of Communications

The Web Editorial Style Guide was created by the Office of Communications as a quick reference tool to help Princeton communicators follow a style that is consistent and appropriate for websites. The guide follows conventions outlined in the Associated Press Stylebook, but there are exceptions specific to the University.

Use the article "a" before consonant sounds, e.g., a historic event; use "an" before vowel sounds e.g. an honorable person (the h is silent).

Avoid using the ampersand (&) except in specific business names.

Use periods in two-letter abbreviations. Use all caps, but no periods, in longer abbreviations:

• U.S., U.N., YMCA, CIA

The word “degree” should not follow an abbreviation:

• She has an A.B. in English literature.
• She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature.

In general, avoid “alphabet soup” — unnecessary use of acronyms — whenever possible:

• The European Language Resources Association has awarded two Princeton psychologists this year’s Antonio Zampolli Prize. The biannual award, named for the first president of the association [not ELRA], honors outstanding contributions to the advancement of language resources.

When necessary, spell out the first reference followed by the acronym in parentheses; the acronym may be used for subsequent references:

• She joined the University Student Government (USG) later in the year. The USG agenda was posted in the morning.

Acronyms may be used for the first reference if they are widely recognized:

• SAT, NASA

Not "advisor."

See Titles

People

Capitalize a job title when it immediately precedes a person’s name. The title is not capitalized when it follows a name or on second reference:

• Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman
  Shirley M. Tilghman, president of Princeton University
  the president

• Professor of Molecular Biology Jane Flint
  Jane Flint, professor of molecular biology
  the professor

Exception:
Endowed professorships are capitalized, even when the title follows a name:

• Anthony Grafton, the Henry Putnam University Professor of History, moderated the panel.

Departments, Offices, Committees, the Board of Trustees

Capitalize the formal names of departments, offices, programs, committees and institutions; do not capitalize informal names and incomplete designations:

• Department of Chemistry, the chemistry department, the department

• Office of Communications, the communications office, the office

• The Princeton University Board of Trustees, the Board of Trustees, the trustees, the board

Buildings and Places

Capitalize the word University, whenever referring to Princeton University, even though the word Princeton may not precede it. When referring to Princeton’s history and the College of New Jersey, “the College” is capitalized.

Capitalize the formal names of buildings and places, and use the formal name on first reference:

• Princeton University Chapel, University Chapel, the chapel
• Lake Carnegie
• Bobst Center
  
• the center has five rooms.
• The University allows.... (capitalize the "U" when referring to Princeton University)
• At any university, students will...

Omit the first name of the person for whom a building or center is named, unless the reference is for memorial or ceremonial purposes. When a building or center is new, the full name may be used for a year to further establish its identity:

• Burr Hall
• Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding (now may be referred to as the Fields Center)

In general, put the room number followed by the location, but avoid using the word “room” when referring to a location:

• 300 Frist Campus Center

Exception: McCosh 50 (all rooms come after the name at McCosh Hall)

If needed for clarity, capitalize the word “room” when used to designate a particular location:

• The meeting took place in Room 200 of 185 Nassau St.

Events

The formal names of special events are capitalized:

• Alumni Day
• Baccalaureate
• Class Day
• Commencement
• Opening Exercises
• Reunions

Exception:

• reading period (not capitalized, as it’s a description of a specific period of time, not an event)

Use figures for days of the month. Omit nd, rd, st, th.

Place a comma between the month and the year when the day is mentioned:

• On April 27, 2002, Communiversity brought together hundreds of people.

Do not place a comma between the month and the year when the day is not mentioned:

• In April 2002, Communiversity brought together hundreds of people.

When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate the month according to AP Style: Jan., Feb., Aug. Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. (all others spelled out). Spell out when using alone or with a year alone:

• Aug. 27, 2006
• August
• August 2006

Use figures for years without commas: 2006.

Use the year, a hyphen and the last two digits to refer to a period of time:

• The 2006-07 academic year

When abbreviating years to two digits, put an apostrophe in front of the years of undergraduate college classes:

• Class of ’76

Times come before days and dates:

• The performance took place at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12.

Even, half and quarter hours are usually spelled out:

• She left the office at five o'clock. He ate at half past six.

When emphasizing the exact time, or are using a.m. or p.m., use figures (omitting 00 for on the hour):

• 7 p.m.; 7:30 p.m.

Centuries and decades

• Noun: the 20th century
• Adjective: 20th-century literature
• the 1960s
• ’60s fashion

If a file format acronym is being used in a sentence, it should be set in all caps.

Example: I used three GIF images in my design.

If a file format acronym is being used to indicate the type of downloadable file in a link, it should be set in lowercase with a “.” preceding it.

Example: Use the Web Editorial Style Guide (.doc) when proofreading your site's content to ensure editorial consistency.

Use nonsexist language and follow these recommendations:

Don't say “he” when referring to an unspecified person. Instead, recast the sentence into the plural, or avoid the use of pronouns altogether.

Example: Each student is expected to turn in his paper by the deadline.
Better: Students are expected to turn in their papers by the deadline.

If it’s impossible to solve the problem using these approaches, remember that “he or she” is preferable to “he/she.”

Avoid gender-specific titles or terms:

• alumnus/alumni (male graduate/plural)
• alumna/alumnae (female graduate/plural)
• emerita/emeritae (retired faculty woman who keeps her rank or title/plural)
• emeritus/emeriti (retired faculty man who keeps his rank or title/plural)

Initial caps for all menu links, page headers and subheaders.

Exceptions: short conjunctions, prepositions and other words that do not come first, such as:

• and, the, in

Spell out numbers one through nine and general numbers in narrative text:

• There were seven people at the meeting.
• There were 36 students in the class.
• There are approximately 4,500 undergraduates.
• There are a thousand reasons.

When a number is the first word of a sentence, spell it out.

When two or more numbers apply to the same category in a paragraph or a series of paragraphs, don’t use figures for some and spell out others. Instead, use all figures:

• There are 25 graduate students in the philosophy department, 9 in the music department, and 8 in the comparative literature department, making a total of 42 students in the three departments. (“Three” is spelled out because it does not belong to the same category, and it’s under 10.)

Express all percentages as figures:

• 3 percent; 130 percent

For very large sums of money use figures with a dollar sign; spell out million or billion:

• $1.8 million
• between $1 and $2 billion

Place a comma after digits signifying thousands, except when reference is made to temperature:

• 1,160 students
• 2200 degrees

Use the words “more than” instead of “over” in conjunction with numbers:

• More than 200 students signed the petition.

Class Numerals

When class numerals are used following an undergraduate student’s or an alumnus’ last name, there is a single space and an apostrophe before the numbers:

• John Doe ’92

For internal Princeton audiences, Graduate School alumni are depicted with an asterisk:

• Jane Doe *78

For external audiences, use “Jane Doe, a 1978 graduate alumna.”

Phone Numbers

Place parentheses around the area code.

Example: (609) 258-3601

Colon

Use a colon to introduce long lists.

Leave a colon outside quotation marks unless it is part of a quotation.

Comma

Do not use a comma before the last item in a series of items, unless it aids in comprehension.

• She has a cat, a dog and a horse.
• She brought apples, oranges and grapes to the picnic.
• She has angry parrots, scary dogs, and kittens. (The kittens are not scary in this case.)

Commas always go inside quotation marks.

Ellipsis

In a sentence, add a space before and after a three-dot ellipsis:

• She reported what the speaker said ... and then followed up with her own comments.

Hyphen: - ("-" on keyboard)

Do not hyphenate words beginning with non, except if there is a proper noun:

• non-American; nonscholarship

Do not place a hyphen between the prefixes pre, semi, anti, sub, etc., and nouns or adjectives, except before proper nouns, but avoid duplicated vowels or consonants:

• reapply
• semidetached
• antiwar
• pre-enroll

Hyphenate part-time and full-time only when used as adjectives:

• She has a full-time job at Princeton. She works at Princeton full time.

Use a hyphen between numbers:

• 231-29-0002
• 2002-03

Em Dash: — (a double hyphen is preferred on the Web: "--")

Use an em dash to relay a break in thought. Place spaces on either side of the em dash.

• Chartered in 1746 as the College of New Jersey -- the name by which it was known for 150 years -- Princeton University was British North America’s fourth college.

An em dash can be used to set off elements within a sentence.

• The materials used by the artist -- wood, steel and plastic -- created a powerful contrast.

The period and comma always go inside the quotation marks:

• “He will stop by tomorrow,” she said.

The question mark goes inside when part of the direct quote, outside when applying to quoted material within an entire sentence.

• “Will you explain distribution requirements to me?” asked the student.
• What is meant by “distribution requirements”?

The semicolon goes outside quoted material within a sentence:

• Refer to them as “conference participants”; all others should be known as “guests.”

Use the semicolon to set off a series of commas:

• The main offices are in Mercer County, N.J.; Marion County, Ind.; and Broward County, Fla.

If you’re using which properly, it typically is preceded by a comma:

• The announcement about his department’s hiring efforts, which was reported in the media, pleased the director.
• The director was pleased with the announcement in the media that reported on his department’s hiring efforts.

Do not use courtesy titles (Mr., Miss, Ms., Mrs.).

Use the title Dr. only when referring to a medical doctor.

Names followed by Jr., Sr., or a Roman numeral do not have a comma after the last name:

• Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
• W. James Hart III

As a general rule, put titles of books and articles in initial caps and quotation marks:

• “The Grapes of Wrath”

Put titles of newspapers, magazines and journals in initial caps with NO quotation marks:

• Science
• Nature
• The Princeton Packet

Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.

Capitalize “the” in a publication’s name, if that is how it prefers to be known:

• The New York Times

Capitalize a specific course, subject or name of language:

• ECO 420 Introduction to Economic Dynamics

(no colon is used between the abbreviation, the numbers and the title)

In text, put the course name in quotation marks:

• He selected “Introduction to Economic Dynamics” after meeting with his adviser.

Do not capitalize the word after a hyphen in a title:

• Her lecture is titled “An Introduction to 14th-century Franciscan Manuscripts.”

Do not capitalize major areas of study, unless referring to a language:

• She is studying economics and French.

Capitalize the titles of lectures, theses and dissertations:

• He gave the lecture “In Pursuit of Flight” to the class of auditors.

Titles of songs are usually set in quotation marks:

• “Old Nassau”

Many musical compositions do not have titles but are identified by the name of a musical form plus a number or key or both. When used as the title, the form and key are usually capitalized, but no quotation marks are used:

• Symphony No. 5 in C Minor; Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

Titles of paintings, drawings, statues and other works of art are put in quotation marks.

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log in, log out (verb)
log-in (noun, adjective)
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