Editorial Style Guide

See brackets ([/]) above for words inserted in a quotation.

email (not “e-mail” or “Email” or “E-mail”):

In directories, no need to preface email addresses with “email.”

endowed chairs:

When referring to UC Santa Cruz endowed chairs, use the full formal name (“The Ida Benson Lynn Endowed Chair in Ocean Health”). When referring to the chair holder, use the following abbreviated form that incorporates the donor’s last name and the area of study: “James Zachos, the Lynn Professor of Ocean Health.” Note that some chairs use “in” and some use “for” in the title. For a complete list of UC Santa Cruz endowed chairs, see http://news.ucsc.edu/awards/endowed-chairs.html

evaluation system:

Use “Narrative Evaluation System” (specific to UC Santa Cruz) in a historical context only. Lowercase short and general forms: “narrative evaluations,” “evaluation system.”

every day vs. everyday:

Every day is an adverb. Everyday is an adjective.

She goes to work every day. He wears everyday shoes.

F

fellow, fellowship:

Lowercase when used alone, when referring to faculty members of a college, or in combination with a granting organization:

• an NIH fellow
• a Guggenheim fellowship
• a fellow of the American Economic Association
• a fellow of Cowell College

financial aid:

Capitalize the names of specific grants, scholarships, and loans (Regents Scholarships, Regents Fellowships, University Loans, Pell Grants)

forms:

Capitalize the full names of forms; lowercase shortened or general forms.

• Application for Undergraduate Admissions and Scholarships
• Petition for Removal of Incomplete
• admission application
• fee waiver form

fractions:

Hyphenate (“one-third,” “one-half,” etc.)

G

gender references:

• Avoid “man,” “mankind,” and words ending in “-man” (such as “fireman” and “chairman”) Substitute: “humanity,” “people,” “worker,” firefighter,” or “chair.”
• Use “his or her” or “he or she” when referring to an unspecified individual; use specific gender references (“he,” “his,” “she,” “her”) as appropriate for specified individuals. Do not use “he/she” or “his/her.” Overall, though, it is preferable to avoid this usage if possible; use plural construction or recast the sentence to substitute “they” or “you.” (“Students must pay their fees,” or “You should pay your fees.”)
• UC Santa Cruz style recognizes that people have a range of pronouns. In campus publications, people can be referred to as he, she, or they. The writer should take care to avoid confusion on the reader’s part. While the use of “they” as a singular pronoun is acceptable, try to reword when possible, since this gender-neutral construction is still unfamiliar to many readers.

  For example, in stories 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, or otherwise reword the sentence, whenever possible. If they/them/their use is essential, explain in the text that the person prefers a gender-neutral pronoun. Be sure that the phrasing does not imply more than one person. Here’s an example of rewording:

  Hendricks said the new job is a thrill (instead of Hendricks said Hendricks is thrilled about the new job or Hendricks said they are thrilled about the new job).

• Avoid references to “both genders” or “either gender.” Instead use “all genders” or “any gender.”

general education requirements:

Lowercase unless a specific program title.

gigabytes:

(GB)

governor:

Follow AP style. Lowercase in text “The governor signed the bill”); capitalize and abbreviate if used as title before a name (“Gov. Brown signed the bill”).

GPA:

Acceptable in most usages; spell out “grade point average” (lowercase) if needed for clarity.

grade levels:

“seventh-grader,” “seventh-grade students,” “the seventh grade.”

grades and course notations:

• Capitalize course notations and grades (Pass, No Pass, Incomplete, In Progress, Withdrawal; P, NP, I, IP, W; A, B, C, D, F). Do not enclose in quotation marks or use italics; instead, rephrase sentence if needed for clarity. Use the term “notation,” unless referring to a letter grade.
• Do not use quotes or italics to set off letter grades (“a student with a B average”; “a grade of C or better”).

graduate programs:

See disciplines, majors, and programs.

H

headline capitalization:

Capitalize the first word only, unless the headline contains a word that is capitalized in text (such as “English,” “African,” or “Earth”).

hyphenation of compound words:

Hyphenation of compound words generally follows Webster’s, so when in doubt, consult that reference. Here are some basic rules: Words formed with prefixes are not usually hyphenated:

• prewar
• prelaw
• premedicine
• nonprofit
• midyear
• childcare program; she needed more childcare (note that UC Santa Cruz style differs from AP in this usage; AP prefers the open compound “child care” as a noun and the hyphenated “child-care” as an adjective)

Exceptions: When the second element is capitalized, when the second element is a figure, to avoid letter duplication, or to distinguish homonyms:

• pre-Civil War
• pre-1960
• mid-June
• pre-enrollment
• pre-register, pre-registration
• re-enter, re-entry
• re-create, un-ionized

Many compounds that are spelled open as nouns are hyphenated as adjectives:

• field-study program; she conducted a field study (not fieldstudy)
• full-time or part-time job; he works part time
• health-care services; they lacked adequate health care (not healthcare)

• low-income family; the family had a low income

• lower-division course
• ninth-century manuscript
• off-campus housing; she lives off campus

Compounds that begin with adverbs ending in “-ly” are not hyphenated:

• highly complex species
• poorly organized paper

For compound hyphenation, use this form:

• two- to three-hour period

Preferred forms of some commonly used compounds and other terms:

• African American, Asian American, Mexican American, and similar compound words are not hyphenated when used as modifiers.
• bilingual
• campuswide, statewide
• coauthor
• copyedit (but copy editor)
• corequisite, prerequisite
• coursework
• cross-cultural (hyphenated in all uses)
• database
• decision making
• email
• fieldwork
• fundraising, fundraiser
• groundbreaking
• high school physics; he attended high school (not high-school)
• home page
• Indigenous (in reference to original inhabitants of a place)
• interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary
• internet, the net
• long-range
• multicultural
• nonmajor
• nonprofit (adj.)
• nonrefundable (adj.)
• nonresident
• online, offline
• postdoctorate, postgraduate
• semiconductor
• socioeconomic
• underrepresented
• underway
• vice chancellor, vice president (not hyphenated)
• voicemail (not “voice-mail” or “voice mail”)
• wait list (n.); wait-listed (adj.)
• the web; web-based (adj.); website
• well-xxx (hyphenated before and after the noun: well-regarded, well-edited, etc.)
• well-being
• work-study
• year-round (adj.)

I

IB exam(s):

Use “International Baccalaureate exam(s)” on first mention; after that, “IB exam(s).”

Indigenous:

Capitalize this term used to refer to original inhabitants of a place. “Aboriginal leaders welcomed a new era of Indigenous relations in Australia.” “Bolivia’s Indigenous peoples represent some 62% of the population.”

initials in names:

Try to avoid middle initials in publications unless a person typically uses them as part of his or her name. Initials can be used as part of a signature (“UC Provost Jane M. Smith”). Note that a space is typically used between two initials in a name (“E. B. White”). One exception to this rule: Former UC Santa Cruz Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood uses no spaces between initials.

internet:

Lowercase. Avoid using “on the internet;” use “online.”

intranet:

Do not capitalize (an intranet is one of many)

J

K

L

Latino/Latina, Hispanic, Mexican American, and Chicano/Chicana:

Usage in this area varies, but in general:

• Use “Latino” (or “Latina” for female individuals) to refer to people of Latin American descent who live in the U.S. (those living in Latin America are “Latin Americans”). Latin America includes Mexico, Central America, and South America; it also includes Brazil (where Portuguese is spoken). “Latino” is always capitalized.
• “Hispanic” generally refers to people who originated in Spanish-speaking countries (including Spain). It does not include people from Brazil. “Hispanic” is capitalized.
• “Mexican American” (or “Cuban American,” “Peruvian American,” etc.) can be used to refer to people from specific countries. These terms are not hyphenated when used as modifiers.
• “Chicano” (or “Chicana”) is a term preferred by some, but not all, Mexican Americans living in the U.S. It can be used carefully to refer to these people and groups (and can also be used in a historical context).
• Some prefer the recently coined gender-neutral terms Latinx or Chicanx, which should be confined to quotations, names of organizations, or descriptions of individuals who request it and should be accompanied by a short explanation. “Hernandez prefers the gender-neutral term Latinx.” For groups of females, use the plural Latinas; for groups of males or of mixed gender, use the plural Latinos.

legislature:

Lowercase only if generic (not referencing the California Legislature). If California is implied, then cap (“the Legislature;” “the state Legislature”).

John R. Lewis College:

UC Santa Cruz announced in October 2021 that College Ten would be named in honor of the late congressman and civil rights icon John R. Lewis. The formal name change took place in May 2022. Use the full name “John R. Lewis College” when referring to the college. Do not use shortened versions such as “John Lewis” or “Lewis.”

log in or log on (v.), login (n.), log-in (adj.):

• Be careful when you log in (or log on).
• Her login was unsuccessful
• She used an incorrect log-in code.

M

majors:

See the entry for disciplines, majors, and programs, above.

megabytes:

(MB)

months:

When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. (per AP).

N

numbers:

Follow AP style. Spell out numbers up to and including nine, and use figures for 10 and above:

• one, eight, nine
• 10, 21, 105, 2,436

Number usage can be mixed in the same sentence or paragraph:

• Two administrators and 11 faculty members from UC Santa gave reports. Eleven journalists, three legislators, and 146 community members voiced their opinions.

Use the same rules for ordinal numbers:

• second, ninth, 10th, 25th, 169th
• UCSC’s five tennis players ranked first, third, 10th, l6th, and 23rd in the men’s singles competition.

Spell out numbers that begin a sentence or the title of a course. Spell out numbers one through nine if they occur with “century,” and use figures for 10 and above. In these cases, also spell out the numeral if it appears at the beginning of the sentence or course title:

• Twentieth-Century Chinese Art
• French History: The 19th Century
• Classical Chinese Culture and Literature: Sixth Century through 16th Century
• Professor Emerita Nicole Paiement specializes in 20th-century French music.
• Twentieth-century Caribbean and Latin American literatures and cultural studies is Professor Lourdes Martínez-Echazábal’s field.

Use figures for course numbers, course credits or units, page numbers, scores, percentages, compound numbers, decimal fractions, and very large numbers:

• Biology 3
• 5-credit course
• page 7
• 5%
• 4 feet 7 inches
• 1.34
• $5 billion
• 3 million years ago

O

office names, administrative and academic:

Capitalize full names of offices (and their shortened forms when it’s a clear reference to the UC Santa Cruz campus):

• Office of the Department of Theater Arts; Theater Arts Department Office
• Office of the Chancellor; Chancellor’s Office

Note: Some campus offices prefer the use of complete names (e.g., “Office of the Registrar,” “Office of Admissions”).

P

percent:

Use the % sign when paired with a number, with no space, in most cases (a change in 2019): Average hourly pay rose 3.1% from a year ago; her mortgage rate is 4.75%; about 60% of Americans agreed; he won 56.2% of the vote.

In casual uses, use words rather than figures and numbers: She said he has a zero percent chance of winning.

At the start of a sentence: Try to avoid this construction. If it’s necessary to start a sentence with a percentage, spell out both: Eighty-nine percent of sentences don’t have to begin with a number.

phone number formats for U.S. numbers:

(212) 727-2074. Use a hyphen, not an en dash.

place and regional names:

Capitalize full names of specific places and recognized regions. Do not capitalize if the reference is to a more general area. Examples:

• Central Coast
• Southern, Northern, and Central California
• East Coast, West Coast (but eastern U.S.)
• Monterey Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area
• Salinas Valley, Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, Central Valley

Related lowercase uses include central Africa, western Asia, eastern Nevada.

Q

quarter, term:

Lowercase names of quarters (“winter quarter”). No comma is used between quarter and year (“spring quarter 2020”). In general, use “quarter” instead of “term,” though the latter may be necessary with references that include UC Berkeley and UC Merced.

R

regents:

Capitalize only as a formal title before one or more names, or when referring to the organizational body by formal name:

• the Board of Regents of the University of California
• the Board of Regents
• the regents
• Regent Richard C. Blum
• Richard C. Blum and Sherry L. Lansing are regents

requirements, UC:

Lowercase. Examples:

• American history and institutions requirement
• English/reading and composition requirement
• language other than English requirement
• subject requirement
• examination requirement

résumé:

Use accents.

S

senior thesis, senior project:

Use lowercase.

Social Security number:

Lowercase “number.”

summer session:

Do not capitalize when referring to a specific program or when referring to the period of time (“She took the class during the first summer session”; “The summer session at UC Santa Cruz is popular.”)

T

time of day:

In correspondence and press releases, use lowercase “a.m.” and “p.m.” with a space after the numeral.

• 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

These forms are preferred for noon and midnight (Do not use “12 a.m.” or “12 p.m.”).

• 12 noon; noon
• 12 midnight; midnight

For class time ranges and other durations involving minutes, use the following style, employing the en-dash—a slightly longer dash than a hyphen, made by simultaneously pressing option-hyphen:

• 8:00–9:10 a.m.
• 4:15–11:00 p.m.

titles, academic and administrative:

In general, capitalize formal or courtesy titles—“president,” “chancellor,” “senator”—that directly precede names of individuals. Lowercase titles after names and when they are used descriptively.

• Dean Paul Koch met with students.
• The dean of the Division of Graduate Studies has retired.
• The provost of Crown College is giving a lecture.
• Chancellor Cynthia Larive chaired the committee.
• Cynthia Larive, the chancellor, agreed to the plan.
• Chancellor Emeritus Karl Pister
• Karl Pister, chancellor emeritus
• Professor Eric Porter
• history professor Eric Porter (“history professor” is descriptive)
• UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D.
• Associate Professor Jane Doe

The title “professor” should be used only for full professors; “associate professor,” “assistant professor,” or “lecturer” should be used as appropriate. “Professor” is acceptable to refer to all ladder-rank faculty in headlines. Occupational or descriptive titles are lowercased:

• novelist Toni Morrison
• historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

titles of events and programs:

Capitalize title (as noted in the section below) and enclose in quotes (“University Forum: Community Partnerships in the Time of COVID”).

titles of works and publications:

Note that the following rules apply to text only and are not necessarily correct bibliographic form. Also note that this usage differs from AP style; it instead follows the Chicago Manual of Style.

The full or abridged titles of published books, pamphlets, and periodicals should be capitalized and italicized. These guidelines also apply to the titles of campus print and online publications.

• University of California, Santa Cruz, General Catalog, 2019–20
• UC Santa Cruz General Catalog
• Fall 2019 Schedule of Classes

General and descriptive titles should be lowercase (not italic):

• catalog
• fall schedule

Articles, prepositions, and coordinate conjunctions should be lowercase in titles unless they are the first or last words; lowercase the “to” in infinitives.

• The Last of the Mohicans
• A Rage to Live

In addition to published books, pamphlets, newspapers, and periodicals, the titles of long poems, plays, major musical works, paintings and sculptures, compiled music recordings (CDs, records, albums), radio and television programs, movies, and DVDs are capitalized and set in italics:

• a story in the San Jose Mercury News
• an article in Foreign Affairs
• Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice
• the film Monster’s Ball
• the television program Grey’s Anatomy
• the radio program All Things Considered
• Don Giovanni by Mozart
• El Greco’s View of Toledo
• Tom Jones by Fielding

The titles of articles, songs, short poems, and parts of books are capitalized, set in roman (non-italic) type, and enclosed in quotation marks:

• “Silent Night”
• “The Raven”
• Professor Thackeray’s article is titled “Which Way Is Up?”

Similarly, the names of unpublished works such as master’s theses and dissertations should be enclosed in quotation marks in roman type:

• Her dissertation was titled “Women in Early America.”
• His thesis, “Man and His World,” was …
• Do you like the song “Frère Jacques?”

Note that commas and periods are set inside of quotation marks; colons and semicolons are placed outside of quotation marks (unless they are part of the matter quoted).

transfer students:

Lowercase; don’t use “transfers.”

U

underlining:

Avoid underlining in computer-generated documents. Underlining originally indicated italic text in typewritten documents, but it is no longer used.

University of California title:

Capitalize “University of California”; lowercase “university” when not using the formal title.

• The University of California has revised its policy on smoking.
• The university’s current drug policy is consistent with previous policies.

University of California campuses:

Format as follows: “University of California, Campus Name.” Do not use “at” between the main elements. Instead, use commas before the campus name (and after the campus name if additional text follows):

• The University of California, Santa Cruz, opened in 1965.
• She attended the University of California, Davis.

Full name on first reference is preferred. The following short forms are acceptable:

• UC Berkeley
• UC Davis
• UC Irvine
• UCLA
• UC Merced
• UC Riverside
• UC San Diego
• UC San Francisco, UCSF
• UC Santa Barbara
• UC Santa Cruz

upper-division, lower-division:

Hyphenate as a modifier (“upper-division students,” “lower-division courses”).

URLs:

For URLs cited in text use the following guidelines. The type style (italic or colored type) can vary, but avoid underlining.

• Cut http:// but retain www.
• Use http:// if there is no www. Example: http://ucfuture.universityofcalifornia.edu
• https:// Required to access secure sites. Do not cut.
• If possible, avoid breaking URLs across lines in print documents or PDFs. If necessary, break after a slash or a dot. For very long internal URLs, consider using a shorter redirect.

U.S.:

Use periods. Use only as an adjective (“U.S. citizens”); use “the United States” for nouns (“He was born in the United States”). Do not use “America” as a synonym for the “United States.”

V

visas:

Cap letter and hyphenate visa designation; lowercase visa: “F-1 visa.”

W

web, the web, website:

Lowercase.

webinar:

Lowercase.

white:

In July 2020, the Associated Press decided it would continue to lowercase the term white in racial, ethnic, and cultural senses.

This decision follows its move in June to capitalize Black in such uses. The AP consulted with a wide group of people internally and externally around the globe and considered a variety of commentary in making these decisions.

There was clear desire and reason to capitalize Black. Most notably, people who are Black have strong historical and cultural commonalities, even if they are from different parts of the world and even if they now live in different parts of the world. That includes the shared experience of discrimination due solely to the color of one’s skin.

They found less support for capitalizing white. White people generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color.

The AP will closely watch how usage and thought evolves, and will periodically review its decision.

work in progress:

No hyphens.

X

Y

years (academic and fiscal):

Connect with en dashes, as follows: 1996–97; 1999–2000; 2020–21. For fiscal years, use “FY 1996–97” (with a space). Avoid constructions such as the following: 1996–1997, 1996/97, 1996/1997, 96-97, 96/97).

Z