Internal policies for staff and faculty on intellectual property, and usage and style in university publications.
Editorial Style Guidelines
Why a Fielding Style Guide?
The style, appearance, and language of all Fielding communications reflect the university’s image and message. With that in mind, the office of communications created guidelines to ensure that a consistent, quality, sophisticated, and professional identity is maintained throughout the organization.
Formal publications and materials for an external audience (e.g., school brochures, marketing materials, development publications, Focus Magazine, media communications) will adhere to these guidelines.
For informal communications and publications designed for internal audiences, the guidelines should be viewed as agreed-upon conventions followed for consistency. We want to celebrate, not stifle, creative writing and individual style. Good writing comes not from following rules but from clear, concise, and creative writing with purpose and audience kept in mind.
What is Included in the Guide?
The guide is not comprehensive. Rather, it is meant as an easy reference to Fielding-specific terms and style, to terms used frequently in academia, and to some of the more pesky issues of style, grammar, and punctuation.
Why Not Use Those Popular Style Guides?
We do. We view the Fielding’s style guide as a supplement to our preferred non-academic style guides: The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition), and the Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. These guides are used by most colleges and universities and have long set the standard for professional publications.
This guide is not used for academic writing and research publication. For such documents, Fielding students, faculty, and staff follow the guidelines of the APA Publication Manual (5th edition), published by the American Psychological Association.
Thank you for using Fielding’s editorial style guidelines. We appreciate and encourage your questions, suggestions, and input. Contact Sylvia Williams, director of communications: 805.898.2947, swilliams@fielding.edu.
Fielding Editorial Style Guidelines
Abbreviations
Use abbreviations sparingly, and only if they will be understood by the reader. As a courtesy, spell out the abbreviation the first time it is used in the text, followed by the abbreviated form in parentheses. Example:
The School of Human & Organizational Development (HOD) offers doctoral, master’s, and graduate certificate programs. Subsequent references in a document may refer to HOD.
The use of periods in abbreviations is not set in stone. However, here are some general guidelines from The Chicago Manual of Style:
Acronyms are words formed with the first letters of a phrase’s words (e.g., NASA) and do not take periods.
Use periods with abbreviations using all lowercase letters; use no periods with abbreviations using full capitals: p., e.g., a.k.a., etc., p.m.
APA, VP, CEO, USA
With the 2003 publication of its 15th edition, The Chicago Manual of Style omitted the use of periods in degree abbreviations. The format follows that adopted by the APA Publication Manual. The correct form is: BA, MA, MBA, JD, PhD, EdD
An exception is the abbreviation of United States (U.S.), which takes periods to differentiate it from us.
Academic Degrees
Write out degrees (and do not capitalize) when used in text:
bachelor of arts in education,
bachelor’s degree in biology,
bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and comparative literature
NOT bachelor’s of . . .
master of arts in English
master’s degree in organizational management
doctoral degree in psychology
doctorate in jurisprudence
Note that “doctoral” is used as an adjective describing the type of degree, whereas “doctorate” functions as a noun, and is not used in combination with “degree.”
Abbreviate the degree and set it off with a comma when it is part of a person’s title: John Smith, MA, is the treasurer; Jane Doe, PhD, is the chair
To form the plural, add an “s.” Do not use an apostrophe: PhDs, MAs, MBAs, NOT PhD’s
Alumnus, etc.
Fielding uses the terms "alumni" and "graduates" interchangeably. Some institutions consider any former student— graduate or not— to be an alumnus.
Alumnus = singular, masculine or gender unknown
Alumna = singular, feminine
Alumni = plural, masculine or men and women
Alumnae = plural, feminine
Do not use “alum” or “alums” except in informal conversation. Do not use a slash, as in alumnus/na.
a.m., p.m.
Lowercase, with periods. Avoid the use of AM and PM.
Ampersand (&)
Avoid substituting the ampersand for “and” in text. Use only when it is part of a name, title, or logo.
AT&T; Bread & Roses
Fielding uses an ampersand in the name of its schools:
School of Human Organizational & Development; School of Educational Leadership & Change
Capitalization
General Rules:
- When in doubt, use lowercase. Lowercasing a word or title does not make the word, entity, or person to which it refers less important than if the word were capitalized. Over capitalization is counterproductive; audiences can be put off by a proliferation of capitals.
- PROPER NOUNS—Capitalize proper nouns: William, Sally, Ohio, America, Democratic Party (but Democratic and Republican parties)
- EVENTS—Capitalize event names only when using the formal title: Summer Session 2001, Homecoming 1997, 2004 Democratic Convention.
- BUT, Fielding held it semi-annual alumni gathering in July; Over 2,000 alumni attended the homecoming events this year; The Democrats held their convention in Boston.
Capitalize formal titles only when used directly before a name:
- President Theodore Roosevelt, Professor Karen Andrews, Supervisor Susan Rose, Associate Dean Kjell Rudestam
Lowercase occupational titles and when listing titles after a name, set it off with a comma:
- astronaut Buzz Aldren; philosophy professor Craig Templeton, news broadcaster Tom Brokaw
- Becky Randall, program coordinator; John Smith, president; Kjell Rudestam, associate dean
- President Richard Meyers; Richard Meyers is president of Fielding
- Dean Charles McClintock; Charles McClintock is dean of HOD
As a general rule, subsequent references to proper nouns that use a part of that proper noun (such as school, university, hotel, company) are not capitalized.
- The administrative offices of Fielding Graduate University are located in Santa Barbara. The university has three office buildings within the city limits.
Always capitalize named professorships and fellowships:
- John Jones Chair in Psychology; Professor Emeritus Sarah Bergman; Hubert Williams, Alfredo K. Beauchamp Professor of History
These are one word, lower case, no hyphen:
- coauthor
- coeditor
- email
- fundraising
- homepage
- noprofit
- online
- web
- website
Dates
- The year alone: Years are written as numerals unless they begin a sentence.
I was born in 1956.
Nineteen eighty-six was an eventful year.
- The day of the month: Use cardinal numbers. Set off the day and year with commas when using the month/day/year format.
October 31, 2003, was a Halloween to remember.
The Santa Barbara News-Press (23 July 2004) ran a cover story on the 9/11 Commission Report.
Note: No commas are used with the day/month/year format.
- When a day is mentioned without the month, it is spelled out.
On September 16, the heat wave struck with a vengeance. By the twentieth, my plants had died.
- Decades: Spelled out, lowercased, or expressed in numerals (with no apostrophe between the year and the s).
the seventies
the 1920s and 1930s (or the 1920s and ’30s)
the ’50s
Note: an apostrophe (’), not an opening single quotation mark (‘) is used with abbreviated years.
e.g., i.e.,
These abbreviations take periods and are always followed by a comma. The former stands for the Latin exempli gratia (“for example”), and should be used when listing several examples, but not all of a given case:
- Fielding offers a variety of flexible study options, e.g., master’s, doctorates, and custom certificate programs.
Writers often confuse e.g., with i.e., (id est, or “that is” in Latin), and should be used only when referring to all examples of a case:
- Please refer all questions of style to the correct office (i.e., Office of Communications).
Entitled vs. Titled
Avoid using entitled when introducing the name of a book, movie, play, article, or song, etc. Entitled more accurately refers to rights of someone (As Americans, we are entitled to freedom of speech). Instead, use titled:
- Dr. Jim Green, noted author and therapist, has just released his fourth book, titled Overcoming Grief.
et al.
An abbreviation for the Latin “and others.” Note that only “al.” takes the period. When used in a series, follow with a comma:
- In swept the chair, the treasurer, et al., to announce their resignation.
Fielding-specific
Fielding’s official name is Fielding Graduate University.
- Avoid writing The Fielding Graduate University.
- Do not use the abbreviation FGU or the University. Use “Fielding “or the “university” in documents after having spelled out the full name in the first reference.
As a rule-of-thumb, Fielding-specific terms should be spelled out, followed by an abbreviation in parentheses, upon first reference in a document. For later references, the abbreviation can be used alone.
- School of Educational Leadership & Change (ELC)
- School of Human Organizational & Development (HOD)
- School of Psychology (PSY)
Font Usage
Keep the purpose of your document or correspondence and your reader(s) in mind when choosing an appropriate font or fonts. Some guidelines:
- TEXT SIZE (excluding titles, headers, etc.): No smaller than 10 points, no larger than 12.
- FORMAL: Fonts should be classic and easy to read: Arial, Garamond, or Times New Roman.
- INFORMAL (includes email): More modern fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana, are acceptable.
Internet Terms
These terms are commonly associated with the Internet and should be written as follows:
- CD
- CD-ROM (all caps, hyphenated)
- chatroom
- database
- email
- homepage
- Internet
- Internet Service Provider (ISP)
- laptop
- listserv
- log on
- offline, online
- URL (uniform resource locator)
- World Wide Web, web page, website
Nationality and Race
Numbers
- General rule: Fielding follows Chicago’s alternative rule (9.6) and spells out whole numbers from one through nine, along with round numbers (estimates of hundreds, thousands, hundred thousands, millions); use figures for all other numbers:
Sarah will be four years old this year.
Jack will celebrate his ninth birthday this summer.
Fielding marked its 30th anniversary in 2004.
Debbie brought enough snacks for 25 people, but more than 50 showed up at the meeting.
More than fifty thousand people attended the film festival last year.
Approximately one million people gathered to watch the Stage 14 of the Tour de France. Numbers at beginning of sentence: Always spell out a number if it begins a sentence. Or, rewrite the sentence to avoid awkwardness:
Two hundred and twenty-three students out of 300 failed the exam.
or
Of the 300 students in the class, 223 failed the exam.Simple Fractions: Spell out simple fractions.
Three-fourths of the class elected to complete the extra credit assignment.
A two-thirds majority is needed to pass the legislation.Whole numbers plus fractions: Usually written as numerals, but may be spelled out.
The route was 6 1/4 miles long.
The route was six and one-half miles long.
Standard page size is 8 1/2 x 11 inches.
Erica is 5 feet 6 3/4 inches tall.Percentages: Always given in numerals. When used in text, write out the word percent. If the copy includes statistics or multiple percentage figures (such as in a financial report), it is appropriate to use the % symbol.
Twenty percent of the population claims to have an IQ of 140 or more.
More than 75% of the graduating class donated to the Annual Fund this year, an increase of 5% over last year’s giving rate.
Passive Voice
Avoid it as much as possible. The passive voice, where the action is performed upon the subject, is often wordy and much less interesting than the active voice. In the active voice, the subject performs the action in the sentence, and lends an energetic, lively quality to one’s writing.
Active: The students aced the exam.
Passive: The exam was aced by the students.
Active: The dog chased the cat.
Passive: The cat was chased by the dog.
Hint: Choosing active, descriptive verbs whenever possible, in lieu of forms of to be (am, is, are, was, were) is an easy, effective way to transform the passive into the active voice.
Phone/Fax Numbers
- When listing phone or fax numbers, separate the area code, prefix, and final four digits with a period:
805.687.1099
Do not include a “1” before the area code. For extensions, set off the main number with a comma, followed by “ext. 0000”:
805.687.1099, ext. 2947When listing different communication options, keep the format consistent:
Telephone: 805.687.1099
Fax: 805.687.4590
Toll free: 800.340.1099
Possessives
General Rule:
The possessive of most singular nouns is formed by adding an apostrophe (’) and an s. Possessives of most plural nouns are formed by adding an apostrophe only.
- The horse’s mouth
- puppies’ paws
- children’s literature
- a herd of sheep’s mysterious disappearance
Prefixes
Compounds formed with prefixes are normally closed (no hyphen), whether they are nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.
Do use a hyphen in the following instances:
before a capitalized word or a numeral, such as sub-Saharan, pre-1950
before a compound term, such as non-self-sustaining, pre-Vietnam War (before an open compund, an en dash is used)
to separate two i's, two a's and other combinations of letters and syllables that might cause misreading, such as anti-intellectual, extra-alkaline, pro-life
to separate the repeated terms in a double prefix, such as sub-subsentry
when a prefix or combining form stands alone, such as over- and underused, macro- ad microeconomics.
Principal vs. Principle
Principal = noun or adjective (a person who is a leading figure and/or who plays a leading role)
- Our high school principal is very strict.
- Giselle Gonzalez serves as principal dancer for the San Diego Ballet.
Principle = noun (a rule or standard)
- The first principle of success is hard work.
Religious Titles
Capitalize religious titles before an individual’s surname, usually replacing the person’s first name: Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Verdi, Pastor Smith, Bishop Diego, the Reverend James Williams, Rabbi David Cohen.
Use lowercase when referring to the title casually or generically: the rabbi, the pope, the archbishop, the minister, the pastor.
Sexism (avoiding gender-specific language)
Use ungendered language whenever possible:
- firefighter, NOT fireman
- chair, NOT chairman
- businessperson, NOT businessman
Avoid using he and his as gender inclusive references. Don’t use slash-forms: she/he and his/her.
Instead, alter the sentence to avoid any gender-specific references by using neutral plural or singular nouns:
- All students plan their own programs, rather than, Each student plans his or her own program.
- Some child left a lunch box on the bus, instead of Some boy or girl left his or her lunch box on the bus.
That/Who vs. Which/Who
Use the relative pronoun that (who when referring to persons) in restrictive clauses that refer to something specific:
- A company that takes care of its customers will always thrive.
- My brother who is married to a movie star lives in New York.
Use the relative pronoun which (who when referring to persons) in a nonrestrictive clause (set off by commas or dashes, or in parentheses) that provides additional (or parenthetical) information about something already mentioned:
- The car, which was dented and scratched, had seen better days.
- My aunt, who has twenty cats, lives in a small apartment.
Which should be used restrictively only when preceded by a preposition:
- The situation in which we find ourselves is somewhat precarious.
Titled vs. Entitled
See Entitled vs. Titled
Titles of Conferences, Seminars, and Meetings (Capitalization of)
Capitalize all the principal words in the full titles of conferences and meetings. Do not italicize or put in quotes. When referred to generically, use lowercase.
- The Next Generation Leadership Summit is the foremost leadership development event in the United States.
- President Bush addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- BUT, The psychology seminar will begin on Wednesday.
Titles of People – see Capitalization
Titles of Works
Use italics for the following: books, plays, newspapers, periodicals, movies, TV and radio shows.
Capitalize the first and last words in titles and subtitles and all other major words (including prepositions if they are stressed: through in A River Runs Through It). Lowercase the articles a, the, and, or, for, nor, as, prepositions, and the to in infinitives.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Free to Be, You and Me
A Raisin in the Sun
San Francisco Chronicle
The Economist
Newsweek
Note: when writing official names of magazines and newspapers in text, do not italicize or capitalize the initial the of the name, unless at the beginning of a sentence.
The Longest Day
Some Like It Hot
NBC Nightly News
The Practice
All Things Considered
A Prairie Home Companion
Use quotation marks (no italics) for stories, songs, articles, chapters, speeches, and poems. Capitalize using the guidelines listed above.
For unpublished works such as papers, theses, dissertations, use quotation marks and capitalize as above.
URL Addresses
These are the web addresses used to access sites on the Internet. URLs should be italicized, but not underlined. In Internet addresses, no space follows a period (or dot), and if necessary to break a URL or e-mail address at the end of a line, include the period on the new line. Include a period at the end if the URL comes at the end of sentence, but do not hyphenate if it is broken at the end of a line.
Web Site vs. Web Page
A Web site is a collection of Web pages.
Who/Whom
In simple terms:
Who = subject of a sentence or phrase. It performs an action:
- Who bought the coffee? It was Dorothy who bought the coffee.
Whom = object of a sentence or phrase. It has an action performed upon it:
- To whom do I owe the pleasure?
- I learned nothing about the woman whom I was investigating.
Hint: If in doubt, try mentally substituting he or she in the sentence or phrase. If it sounds right, use who. If him or her sounds better, then use whom.
Whoever/Whomever
The same principle applies here as it does with who/whom. However, common usage now allows us to use whoever in most contexts. Thus, we can avoid the use of whomever unless we are certain of the correct grammar.
SELECTED PUNCTUATION GUIDELINES
Please refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for additional and detailed information.
Apostrophe
To form the possessive of singular nouns ending in –s, add only an apostrophe (’):
- mathematics’ rules, measles’ symptoms, United States’ foreign policy.
For nouns ending in an –s sound (but not an –s itself), use ’s:
- Ruiz’s law firm, the fox’s cleverness, Marx’s theories, Xerox’s copiers
To indicate the plural of a family name, do not use an apostrophe:
- the Ortegas, the Kaminskys, the Cohens, the Joneses
Colon
A colon (:) introduces an element or series of elements illustrating or amplifying what has preceded the colon. Capitalize the first word after the colon only if it’s a proper noun or begins a complete sentence. Use only one space after the colon, not the traditional two:
- The study involves three food types: cereals, fruits and vegetables, and fats.
- They even relied on a chronological analogy: just as the Year II had overshadowed 1789, so the October Revolution had eclipsed that of February.
- Henrietta was faced with a hideous choice: Should she reveal what was in the letter and ruin her reputation? Or should she remain silent and compromise the safety of her family?
Comma
With a direct address and informal correspondence:
- Ms. Warren, will you please refrain from talking.
- Friends, I am not here to argue.
- Sir, you’re car is ready.
- Dear John, this is perhaps the most difficult letter I’ve ever had to write.
With “yes,” “no,” and “well”: Use a comma after these if a slight pause is intended.
- Yes, I have been to that restaurant.
- No, that is not the correct answer.
- Well, I’ll have to ask my mother.
but
- No no no! or Yes yes yes!
With independent clauses: When two independent clauses (complete phrases containing a subject and verb) are joined by a conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet), use a comma before the conjunction, unless the clauses are short and closely connected.
- We bolted the door, but the intruder was already inside.
- Everyone present was startled by the news, and one man fainted.
- Do we want to preserve law and order, or are we interested only in our property?
- The bus never came, so we took a taxi.
but - Timothy played the guitar and Betty sang.
With numbers: Use a comma in numbers of 1,000 and above, except for numbers in addresses or SAT scores.
- Julian earned $35,000 last year.
- Send the invitation to 3476 Mockingbird Lane, San Jose, CA 12345.
- Trudy scored 1430 on her SATs.
With names of people: When writing out names, do not include a comma before Jr., Sr., II, or III. When the name appears in a sentence or clause, such as a job title, set off the Jr. or II with commas:
- Robert J. Smith II
- John J. Johnson, Jr., was not as successful as his father.
- Henry Taylor, III, is the president and CEO of Best Brands Inc.
Names of states or nations, with city names: Set off the state or country when preceded by a city, in text:
- We hosted a student from Boulder, Colorado, last spring. This year we will house two international students: one from Rome, Italy, and the other from Beijing, China.
Dash
There are three basic types of dashes: the em dash (—), the en dash (–), and the hyphen (-).
Em dash: Em dashes are the longest dash and are used to emphasize an element or phrase, or signal an abrupt change or interruption. Note that no spaces occur before or after the dashes.
- The influence of three impressionists—Monet, Sisley, and Degas—is obvious in her work.
- The chancellor—he had been awake half the night—came down in an angry mood.
- She outlined the strategy—a strategy that would, she hoped, secure the peace.
En dash: Shorter than the em dash, but a bit longer than a regular hyphen, an en dash is principally used to connect numbers and dates, and sometimes words, as in up to and including (or through):
- 1941–45, chapters 2–5, John 3:16–19, John Smith (1956–), London–Paris train, University of Wisconsin–Madison
but - She attended university from 1988 to 1992. (Use to when from precedes the first number.)
Hyphen: Hyphens are used to connect compound words or hyphenated names and to separate characters or numbers, such as in social security numbers, and ISBNs:
- It’s spelled p-e-a-n-u-t; one-half, ex-boyfriend; three-year-old; matter-of-fact approach; Daniel Radcliffe-Smith
Ellipsis
An ellipsis denotes an omission of a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage. The ellipsis, written as three spaced periods (. . .), is sometimes preceded or followed by other punctuation, such as the final period. . . .
Exclamation Point
Exercise restraint when using exclamation points in professional writing!
Hyphen
Exercise restraint in using hyphens; they are commonly used too often or incorrectly. See dash, as well.
Parentheses
Use sparingly, as too many are distracting (and confusing) to the reader.
Periods and commas: In general, punctuation goes outside a parenthetical phrase (as in this phrase here). the parentheses.)
Note: When the parenthetical element is a complete sentence, include the period inside the parentheses.
Period
Periods ALWAYS go inside quotation marks.
Plurals
Most nouns and proper nouns form the plural by adding –s, or –es if they end in ch, j, s, sh, x, or z.
To form the plural of letters used as words, abbreviations with no internal periods, numbers used as nouns, and noun coinages, add an –s or –es, with no apostrophe (unless to avoid an awkward appearance):
- the three Rs, IRAs, URLs, MAs, MBAs, the 1960s, eds., ifs and buts, dos and don’ts, maybe’s
- four Janes, blue Mondays, Pakistanis, the Joneses
Lowercase letters and abbreviations with a mix of upper and lowercase letters take the apostrophe:
- PhD's, EdD's
- MA’s and PhD’s
Some compound nouns are trickier:
- coups d’état, courts martial, sisters-in-law, millennia, appendices
Italicized words: when the need to use an italicized word in the plural form, such as the name of newspaper, title of a book, etc., the -s is set in plain type. If the name is already in the plural form, leave as is:
- I have collected hundreds of Chicago Tribunes.
- I need to buy two Vanity Fairs.
- Four New York Times
Quotation Marks
Periods and commas go inside closing quotation marks (double or single).
- Carrie smiled as John whispered, “I’ll never leave you again.”
- “That’s not my dog,” he answered.
Colons (:), semicolons (;), question marks (?), and exclamation points (!) all go outside closing quotation marks, unless a question mark/exclamation point belongs within the quoted material.
- Take, for example, the first line of “To a Skylark”: “Hail to thee, blithe spirit!”
- I was asked to state my “name and serial number”; I have no serial number.
- Which of Shakespeare’s characters said, “All the world’s a stage”?
- “Where are you from?”
- “Watch out!”
Quotations within quotations: Set the inner quotation in single quotation marks:
- Johnny explained, “I remember Billy said, ‘I’ll take out the trash for you.’”
Semicolon
The semicolon (;) is stronger than a comma but weaker than a period. Use it to link two independent (complete) clauses, in lieu of a conjunction (and, if, for, but):
- The controversial portrait had been removed from the exhibit; in its place had been hung a traditional landscape.
- Julia intends to travel through South America; however, she has made no firm plans.
The second example also illustrates the use of the semicolon before an adverb (then, however, thus, hence, indeed, accordingly, besides, therefore) when used as a transition between independent clauses.
In a series: use a semicolon to separate items in a series that have internal punctuation, such as commas, parentheses, or em dashes:
- The membership of the international commission was as follows: France, 4: Germany, 5; Great Britain, 1; Italy, 3; United States, 7.
Serial Comma
When listing three or more items in a series, use a comma before the and.
Keep the serial elements parallel in construction and form:
- Harvey visited UC Santa Barbara, UC Los Angeles, and UC Berkeley.
not - Harvey visited UC Santa Barbara, UC Los Angeles, and really liked UC Berkeley.
or - Harvey visited UCSB, UC Los Angeles, and University of California, Berkeley.
Space Between Sentences
Use one space, not two, in between sentences. This not only saves space when typesetting for publication, but lends a cleaner, professional look to the page.