Editorial Style Guide

Ages are always expressed as numerals. 
Example: He is 5 years old. 

Alumnus is used to refer to a male graduate or former student.

Alumni is the plural of alumnus but can also be used to refer to a group of male and female graduates/former students.

Alumna is used to refer to a female graduate or former student.

Alumnae is the plural of alumna.  

For alumni years, add apostrophe and the last two digits of graduating year.  
Example: John Smith, ’06.  

For singular nouns not ending in ’s,’ add 's 
Example: the girl's toys, the horse's food 
 
For plural nouns ending in ’s,’ add only an apostrophe 
Example: the girls' toys, the horses' food 
 
For singular proper names ending in ’s,’ use only an apostrophe  
Example: Dickens' novels, Jesus' life 
 
For plural nouns not ending in ’s,’ add 's 
Example: women's rights, children's hospital 

Lowercase directional indicators except when they refer to specific geographic regions or popularized names for those regions. 

Example: Go south on Belmont Boulevard; the Northeast; the Midwest. 
 
As a noun, use United States: Belmont is one of the most innovative universities in the United States. 
 
As an adjective, use U.S. (no spaces): A U.S. senator will speak at Belmont tomorrow. 
Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters, in titles.

College names are written using ampersands.
Example: College of Sciences & Mathematics

Use full college names on first reference. Refer to second reference guide below.  
 
O'More College of Architecture & Design 
2nd: O’More  
 
Watkins College of Art 
2nd reference: Watkins  
 
Jack C. Massey College of Business 
2nd reference: Massey 
 
College of Education 
2nd reference: College of Education 
 
Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business 
2nd reference: Curb College  
 
Gordon E. Inman College of Nursing 
2nd reference: ICON 
 
College of Law 
2nd reference: College of Law 
 
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences 
2nd reference: CLASS 
 
Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine 
2nd reference: Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine 
 
College of Music & Performing Arts 
2nd reference: CMPA 
 
College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences 
2nd reference: CPHS 
 
College of Sciences & Mathematics 
2nd reference: CSM 
 
Interdisciplinary Studies & Global Education 
2nd reference: ISGE 

Use hyphens to link all the words in a compound adjective. Do not use a hyphen if the construction includes an adverb ending in -ly.  
Example: The five-volume report called for cleaning up the area over a 10-year period.

Use en-dashes to link a span or range of numbers 
Example: She is available 2–5 p.m.

Use em-dashes to set off parenthetical phrases, sudden breaks in thought and in place of commas, colons and semicolons. A single space should be included on either side of an em-dash. 
Example: Upon discovering the errors — them — the publisher immediately recalled the books. After three weeks on set, the cast was fed up with his direction — or, rather, lack of direction.

Generally, try not to abbreviate months or days of the week, especially in body text. Dates are expressed as numerals, “st,” “nd,” “rd” and “th” are not used. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.  
Example: The meeting is on Oct. 15. She was born on Thursday, July 12. I love the weather in November. Do you remember September 2013? 
 
When a phrase lists only a month and year, spell out the month and do not separate the year with commas. When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas.  
Example: The new website will launch in December 2024. Jan. 15, 2008, was the first day of the semester. 

Use an apostrophe and spell out academic degrees, use abbreviations for degrees only when you need to include a list of credentials after a name; set them off with commas. There is no ’s in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.  

Example: She has a bachelor’s degree. Peter White, LL.D., Ph.D., was the keynote speaker. Janet earned a Bachelor of Arts.  
 
Abbreviations: AP Style prefers retaining periods (B.A., B.S., M.A., M.S., Ph.D.)

Dollar amounts are always expressed as numerals, and the “$” sign is used.
Example: $5, $15, $150, $150,000, $15 million, $15 billion, $15.5 billion

Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.  
Example: Jan. 15, December 2024

One through nine is generally spelled out, while 10 and above are generally written as numerals. Spell out numbers that start a sentence. 
Example: He carried five books for 12 blocks. 

Avoid using parentheses when possible. If parentheses are required the rules are: If the parenthetical is a complete, independent sentence, place the period inside the parentheses; if not, the period goes outside. 
Example: Place a period outside a closing parenthesis if the material inside is not a sentence (such as this fragment). 

Percentages are always expressed as numerals, followed by the percent symbol.  
Example: The price of gas rose 5%. 

Add an s but no apostrophe to a number to make it plural. The same rule applies to decades. Use an apostrophe on a decade only if cutting off the initial figures. 
Example: She kept rolling 7s; the 1980s; the ‘80s 

For singular proper names ending in s, use only an apostrophe. 
Example: Thomas’ book 
Exception: Ken Burns’s documentary (His requested preference)

For singular proper names ending in s sounds such as x, ce, and z, use ’s. 
Example: Marx’s theories 
 
For plurals of a single letter, add ’s 
Example: She received all A’s this semester.  

Capitalize the name of specific programs.
Example: Jeff is a member of the Global Honors Program. Jeff is a history major. He is a biology major.  

Single quotation marks should be used only for a quote within a quote. Do not use quotation marks for word emphasis.  
 
The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks. The dash, semicolon, question mark and exclamation point go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence. 

Example: “The governor said he will ‘leave no stone unturned’ in the matter,” the director said. “Did you wish to file a complaint?” he asked. Who said, “Fame means when your computer modem is broken, the repair guy comes out to your house a little faster”? 

Don’t use a comma before a conjunction in a simple series.  
Example: We learned math, spelling and grammar. The menu offered a choice of bacon and eggs, pancakes or waffles.

Use a semicolon to clarify a series that includes several commas. Include a semicolon before the conjunction. 
Example: Parts for the carrier are made in Tampa, Florida.; Austin, Texas; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

Use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a.m. or p.m. (with periods). Omit minutes when referring to an event on the hour. 
Example: The meeting is at 4 p.m. January 15. 10 a.m., 1:45 p.m., noon.

In general, confine capitalization to formal titles used directly before an individual's name.  
Example: Provost David Gregory; Dr. John Smith, associate professor.

Quotation marks around all works including TV shows, songs, poems, movies, books, albums. Do not use quotation marks around sculpture titles.  

None: newspapers, magazines, news media outlets, the Bible/Quran/holy books, books that are primarily catalogs/reference materials, software 

Example: “Casablanca,” Businessweek