Berkeley Advancement Identity

SPELL OUT
In general, spell out on first reference followed by the acronym in parentheses:

• World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

Use the acronym in subsequent references.

ABBREVIATE
Chief executive officer can be abbreviated as CEO.

Postal designations for states (CA, MD, IL) are acceptable in formats such as class notes; in journalistic formats, AP style (Calif.) is preferable. In general, spell out the names of states.

See also Cities.

Omit periods from initialisms:

• DOE, NCAA, NEA, NIMH, SAT scores, UNESCO but U.S., U.N.

Use U.S. as an adjective and United States as a noun.

Avoid, except in commonly used acronyms such as L&S or entities, facilities, and the like that feature it: Connie & Kevin Chou Hall. Otherwise, spell out and.

Ampersands may be used in graphics.

PLURALS
Do not use apostrophes to form plurals (1960s not 1960’s) unless it would be confusing without (thus A’s and B’s not As and Bs; p’s not ps).

POSSESSIVES
Possessives of singular common nouns ending in s are formed by adding ’s. Athletics does not use the ’s.

• campus’s legacy, thesis’s premise

Possessives of singular proper names ending in s use only an apostrophe.

• Chancellor Lyons’ team, Charles Townes’ Nobel

Plural nouns modifying other nouns do not need an apostrophe if they are used in an attributive rather than a possessive sense.

• Parents Weekend is a weekend for parents not a weekend possessed by parents.

If you want to be safe, use the apostrophe unless it is not used in a formal name.

• Department of Veterans Affairs

Follow the most prevalent online usage for holidays:

• Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Presidents’ Day, Veterans Day

See Bias-free Language page.

They should be consistent in their look and general length, but they may vary in construction. They should also be relatively short in length. You can add periods to the ends of bullet points if they are full sentences.

STATES
Lowercase state when used as an adjective or common noun:

• a state map, the state economy, the people of the state of California

Capitalize state when writing about the state government:

• The State of California provides about 14 percent of Berkeley’s annual budget.

TITLES AND HEADINGS
In titles and headings, capitalize all major words in hyphenated compounds unless they are preceded by a prefix or follow a musical key symbol:

• Long-Range Development Plan, Pre-collegiate Academy, E-flat Concerto

PLURALS FOLLOWING PROPER NAMES
Plurals of generic terms after proper names are lowercase:

• San Francisco and Alameda counties, University and Shattuck avenues, departments of Chemistry and Physics (but physics and chemistry departments)

U.S. CITIES
Major U.S. cities do not need state identifiers with the exception of cities of the same name in different states.

• Kansas City, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri Portland, Maine: Portland, Oregon

The Associated Press Stylebook has a complete list of U.S. cities that don’t need state identification. See the Datelines entry. In general, spell out state names. See also World Cities below.

WORLD CITIES
World cities commonly associated with a country do not need a country identification.

• Bangkok, Cairo, London, Tokyo, Toronto

The Associated Press Stylebook has a complete list of cities around the world that don’t need country identification. These can be found under the Datelines entry.

AP generally follows the guidelines for datelines when U.S. and world city names are listed within stories, lists, and so forth (not just when cities are listed in datelines in stories).

INTRODUCING ONE COMPLETE SENTENCE
When a colon introduces one complete sentence, lowercase the word right after the colon.

• I say it often: research is different at Cal.

INTRODUCING TWO OR MORE COMPLETE SENTENCES
When a colon introduces two or more sentences or when it introduces speech in dialogue or a quotation or questions, the first word following the colon is capitalized.

Remember to use AP style for colons when writing for Athletics. AP style keeps the complete sentence after the colon capitalized.

• I say it often: Research is different at Cal.

MOST COMMON USE
In general, we use the serial or Oxford comma:

• Berkeley researchers are tackling the biggest scientific, technological, societal, and cultural issues of our time.

ATHLETICS AND PRESS RELEASES
For Athletics pieces and press releases, use AP style: the serial comma would not be used unless to avoid confusion. The final comma in this example separates each component:

• You help support scholarships, academic mentoring and tutoring, and health and wellness programs.

Do not use a serial comma after an ampersand if that symbol is part of a formal name:

• Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology program at Berkeley Haas

SEPARATING CLAUSES
When using a comma to separate clauses in a sentence, ensure that both clauses are capable of standing alone as independent sentences. If the sentence has only one subject but has two verbs or objects, no comma is used.

• Incorrect: We are grateful to have you here today, and for your generous support of Berkeley.
• Correct: We are grateful to have you here today and for your generous support of Berkeley.
• Incorrect: For more information on the evening’s exciting program, or to make hotel reservations, visit celebration.berkeley.edu.
• Correct: For more information on the evening’s exciting program or to make hotel reservations, visit celebration.berkeley.edu.

CONJUNCTIONS
This rule of using commas (Separating Clauses above) applies to English’s seven coordinating conjunctions:

• for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Remember these seven using the mnemonic FANBOYS. The same rule also applies to not only and but also, which are correlative conjunctions.

• Incorrect: He was not only a good friend, but also a great brother.
• Correct: He was not only a good friend but also a great brother.

AS WELL AS
This means “in addition to.” As a general rule, you don’t need a comma before as well as. A comma turns the thing you’re talking about with as well as into an aside — information that is less important than the rest of the sentence. If that part after as well as is just as important, the best thing to do is get rid of the comma and change as well as to and.

MONTH AND YEAR

• September 2000 (no comma)

MONTH, DAY, YEAR

• September 10, 2009

DECADES

• 1980s (no apostrophe) or ’90s

SEASONS
Seasons are not capitalized:

• the spring of 2000, summer, fall, winter

TIME

• a.m., p.m. (not A.M., pm, PM, or other variations)
• noon (not 12 p.m.)

Do not precede noon or midnight with 12.

• Pacific Daylight Time/PDT
• Pacific Standard Time/PST

(or similar terms for different regions)

Make sure to note the time correctly. Daylight savings time in the United States falls between early March and early November.

DURATION
To indicate duration of time, use to between the hours in text, but an en dash in calendar or tabular entries:

• The picnic will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; class times are 11 a.m.–noon, 4–5 p.m., and 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m.

Do not use 10:00.

Leave space after the number but not on either side of the en dash. Do not mix formats.

• Incorrect: The lecture is from 10–11 a.m.
• Correct: The lecture is from 10 to 11 a.m.

EM DASH
Use an em dash to set off phrases.

• I will go — no matter what — tomorrow night.

Use spaces on either side of the em dash.

EN DASH
Use an en dash between numbers in times.

• Your appointment is 10–11 a.m.

Capitalize it as a motto, but don’t italicize it unless it’s the name of a book, magazine, or title of a publication: Fiat Lux

See also Gender under Bias-free Language section.

In general, use gender-neutral terms whenever possible:

• chair, chairperson, police officer

Do not use s/he or his/her.

Recast in the plural:

• Donors may pay by credit card if they so choose.

Be careful not to mix singular and plural.

• Incorrect: Every student has their preference.
• Correct: All students have their preferences.

If a piece of collateral is a story about a specific person or persons, such as a feature or bio, ask what pronouns people use. Don’t ask what they prefer.

THEY/THEM/THEIR
In pieces about people who identify as neither male nor female or ask not to be referred to as he/she/him/her, use the person’s name in place of a pronoun. While the use of they/them/their is acceptable as a gender-neutral pronoun, avoid confusion whenever possible by using the person’s name. If they/them/their is essential, explain in the text that the person uses (not prefers) a gender-neutral pronoun.

CAPITALIZATION
In general, capitalize compass points when referring to a place and lowercase when referring to a direction:

• Settlers from the East went west in search of new lives.

Lowercase compass points when describing a section of a nation, state, or city (eastern Texas) unless denoting widely known sections:

• Southern California, Northern California

Other accepted uses:

• the Bay Area, the West Coast, Western capitalism, Eastern religion

COMPOUND ADJECTIVES THAT PRECEDE THE NOUN THEY MODIFY are hyphenated unless they are easily recognized as a single concept:

• lower division or upper division class, computer science field, private sector contributions, real estate markets

COMPOUNDS THAT ARE HYPHENATED AS ADJECTIVES

off-campus housing, part-time employment, decisionmaking skills

COMPOUNDS NOT HYPHENATED AS NOUNS

• her housing is off campus; she works less than full time; findings that assist in decision making

COMPOUND ADJECTIVES WITH -LY are not hyphenated: privately funded, highly regarded

COMPOUND ADJECTIVES WITH NUMERALS should not be hyphenated:

• the $40 million campaign

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• fundraising (not fund-raising, fund raising)

For additional guidance, see the Word List in Appendices.

Words starting with a pronounced h, long u or eu take the article a, not an:

• a hotel, a historic study, a euphonious word; but an honor, an heir

Use one space after a period in printed and online materials.

COMPANY
For a company’s formal name, consult the national stock exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange, www.nyse.com, or Nasdaq, www.nasdaq.com. According to AP Style you do not use a comma before “Inc.” or “Ltd.,” even if it is included in the formal name. Include the full company name somewhere in the story. The formal name need not be used on first reference. Generally, follow the spelling and capitalization preferred by the company. For example, “eBay.” But capitalize the first letter if it begins a sentence. Do not use all-capital-letter names unless the letters are individually pronounced. For example, “BMW.” Others should be uppercase and lowercase. For example, USA Today not USA TODAY.

Use an ampersand only if it is part of the company’s formal name but not otherwise in place of “and.” Use “the” lowercase unless it is part of the company’s formal name.

See also the company names entry in the Associated Press Stylebook.

PERSONAL
Except in letter salutations, avoid use of courtesy titles (Mr., Mrs., or Ms.) except to distinguish persons with the same last name. First (and last) names may be used in informal situations. Subsequent references should be consistent: either last names (preferred) or first names.

Enclose nicknames in quotes:

• John “Boomer” Smith

Do not divide personal names at the end of a line. Break after the middle initial(s) if it’s not possible to keep the whole name together:

• J. R. R. / Tolkien not J. R. R. Tol- / kien

AP and Chicago recommend that commas be dropped from names with suffixes:

• James Madison Jr., Walter A. Haas Sr., Arthur C. Oppenheimer II

In some instances, exceptions are made to follow individual preference:

• Walter Haas, Jr. Pavilion

Compound names should be hyphenated or not, according to the preference of the individual.

Compound names should be alphabetized under the last surname or according to the individual’s established usage.

Spell out zero through nine in ordinary text, and spell out any number that begins a sentence:

• seven, 7,000

Exceptions include course numbers, grade-point averages, unit and monetary values, scores, percentages, compound numbers, and decimal fractions. Indicate all of these with numerals.

Use commas with all numbers above 999:

• 1,000, $13,500, 500,000

For amounts of a million or more, use figures when referring to monetary amounts, but follow the regular rule for other quantities:

• $8 million, eight million people, $40 million campaign

In a series, treat all numbers the same:

• Berkeley’s faculty includes 4 Pulitzer Prize winners, 136 members of the National Academy of Sciences, and 85 members of the National Academy of Engineering.

Spell out ordinals through ninth:

• first grade, 21st century, 25th anniversary, eighth reunion, 1oth annual, 18th reunion

Use a numeral in reference to a specific annum.

• In year 2 of the program, we will recruit three new professors.

Use numbers to represent ages, even those under 10.

If it can be done without confusion, single or multiple letters or numbers used as nouns form the plural by adding s alone:

the three Rs, YMCAs, in twos and threes

See also Apostrophes above.

Faculty is singular when referring to an academic body:

• Berkeley’s faculty is one of the finest in the nation.

Faculty is plural when referring to several individuals:

• The college’s faculty are working with local schools

Plural nouns ending in s take only an apostrophe:

• the VIPs’ entrance, states’ rights

Singular nouns ending in s take ’s to form the possessive (unless you’re writing Athletics pieces):

• campus’s, James’s, Haas’s

Exception: when two or more sibilants precede the apostrophe:

• Kansas’, Moses’

A the preceding a name (of an association, company, or institution), even when part of the official title, is lowercase in the running text, according to Chicago. This is also the way of AP, which prefers “down” style:

• You are granted access to special events such as the Charter Hill Society Leadership Roundtable.
• Make a gift to the Cal Parents Fund today.

Exception: The name of the organization includes a specially designed font

Our designers often refer to this as watermark text, which is often used in programs and invitations. This usually includes the capitalized The.

‎PEOPLE
ACADEMIC

• the professor; Laura Sanchez, professor of comparative literature; Professor Sanchez

USED IN APPOSITION
When a title is used in apposition before a personal name — not alone and as part of the name but as an equivalent to it, usually preceded by the or by a modifier — it is considered not a title but rather a descriptive phrase and is lowercased:

• former presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, Berkeley Haas professor Christine Parlour

DESCRIPTIVE TITLES
When preceding a name, generic titles that describe a person’s occupation should be lowercased:

• the historian Daniel Alexander Payne Murray not Historian Murray

For additional guidance about the treatment of people’s titles in Athletics collateral, see Athletics Style Guidelines.

WORKS

Italicize titles of books, periodicals, poems, plays, films, works of art, and long musical compositions. Titles of dissertations and theses, exhibition titles, course names, lectures, manuscripts, articles, songs, and television and radio episodes are enclosed in quotes.

Athletics follows AP style and uses quotation marks to set off titles of works.

Use URLs sparingly. Do not bold or italicize.

See Internet in Administrative Style and Usage.