vanguard style book

8/6/2019 Vanguard Style Book

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The Valley VanguardStylebook 2007

Kathie Marchlewski-Bachleda, Faculty AdvisorAaron Crossen, Editor

Alex Baumgardner, News EditorAndy Hoag, Sports Editor

Vanguard photo/Brandon Kish


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June 7, 2007

The purpose of this guide is straightforward: to advise current writers and editors of the Vanguard as to the com-monly accepted style of usage for a number of terms, and to set a precedent for future writers and editors to follow.

This guide was written in consultation with the 2007 edition of the Associated Press Stylebook, from which manycommonly used terms are taken. The AP guide is the standard in all levels of journalism. If you cant nd whatyoure looking for in this guide, follow the standards in the AP guide.

Consistent capitalization, punctuation, grammar and spelling is essential to the readability of any newspaper. Onthe collegiate level, it can make the difference between award-winning writing and ignored writing. The Vanguardhas won awards for its writing in the past, but competition is stiffening, and the Vanguard must continue to im-prove if you are all to win awards in the future.

Hopefully this guide will help and encourage all of you to keep writing, and keep winning good luck, everybody.

Aaron CrossenAssistant Editor, 2006-2007

Editor, 2007-2008

The ghost of Jacob Marley (Jerry Dennis) coaxes Ebenezer Scrooge (Caleb Knutson) into opening a music box from his past.In Director Ric Roberts adaptation Marley shares the stage as a narrator and main character

A word fromthe Editor....

Vanguard photos/Brandon Kish


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A

administration

Always lowercase.

Gilbertons adminstration has been less than effective at combating grade ination.

The Bush administration refuses to confront Russia on the subject of nuclear disarmament.

Admin is acceptable in headlines. Do not use in regular text.

addresses

Abbreviate street, boulevard, and avenue to St., Blvd., and Ave., respectively. All other names (road, alley,drive) are spelled out. Only abbreviate if used with a number, however.

If simply saying the name of the street, spell everything out.

Compass points of addresses follow the same rule: only abbreviate if used in a numbered address.

People live on streets, in cities and at addresses.

Finally, spell out street names zero through nine. Use numerals for streets numbered 10 and above.

Never spell out address numbers.

The president lives on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The president lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The president lives at 1600 E. Pennsylvania Ave.

The president lives on East Pennsylvania Avenue.

The president lives at 7400 Fifth St.

The president lives at 7400 10th St.

The president lives on 10th Street.

The president lives on Ninth Street.

The president lives at 7400 Ninth St.

Youll get the hang of it.


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aka

Also known as. No periods. Avoid in news stories; its use in commentaries and otherwise is acceptable.

adviser

Not advisor.

affect, effect

Affect means to inuence. It is a verb.

The game will affect the standings.

Effect as a verb means to cause, or to create.

He will effect many changes in the company.

Effect as a noun means result.

The effect was overwhelming.

afterward

Not afterwards.

age

Use gures for all ages nine years and older. If using an age as an adjective before the noun, use hy-phens. Years is assumed; be specic if referring to a different duration of time. No apostrophe whendescribing an age range.

The woman, 36, was found guilty of reckless endangerment.

A six-year-old boy may not be able to tell the difference between right and wrong.

The man was in his 60s.

The two-month old.

The woman has two daughters, one of which is 10 months old.

all right, alright

The proper usage in every case is all right. Alright is a combination of both, and is deemed as slang bymost experts. Avoid it.

William did an all right job on the test.


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almost never

Do not use. Hardly ever and seldom are preferable.

alumni

The masculine Latin plural for graduate. The feminine form is alumnae.

Avoid both, if possible. Use alum or simplygraduate instead.

CardMail

The Universitys e-mail system. Capitalize the C and the M.

ampersand (&)

Never use as a substitute for and. Only use if it is part of the formal name of a company or other en-tity.

Ccapital

Not capitol. Always lowercase.

Michigans capital is Lansing.

connote, denote

Connote means to suggest or imply, denote means to be explicit about the meaning.

To some people, the word marriage connotes too much restriction.

The word demolish denotes destruction.

Cancel, canceled, canceling, cancellation

One l in everything except cancellation.

controversial

Avoid this word. Convey the controversy of a story through quotes by sources. If the material is con-troversial to the reader, they will make that decision.


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contractions

Avoid them in more serious stories. In light-hearted, feature, sports, opinion, and A&E stories, theyare acceptable.

Professor Gibson cannot make it to the play tonight for undisclosed reasons.

I just cant believe the Cards didnt beat Northwood last week.

The most likely candidate after Clintons withdrawl appears to be Barack Obama, who would have likely wonthe New York primary anyway.

He wouldve done that if you just told him to.

Use common sense.

currency

Generally, do not capitalize. Spell out every currency except dollars, where a $ sign is preferable informal contexts.

I have 20 euros.

I only have $15.

DdatesAbbreviateJanuary, February, August, September, October, November and December toJan., Feb., Aug.,Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.

Use the abbreviated forms when part of a larger sentence. When using in smaller sentences or at thebeginning of a sentence, spell out the month.

When just using the month and year in a phrase, do not separate the terms with a comma. If using aday, month, and year, set off the year with a comma.

Never use th, st, rd, or nd.

January 1972 was a cold month.

His birthday was May 8.

The target date is Feb. 14, 1987.


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degrees

Avoid using Dr. in front of names, or Ph.D after them. If possible, formulate the sentence to read like

this:

Francis C. Dane, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry, spoke at a lecture today.

If referring to a medical doctor or dentist, the use ofDr. is recommended upon rst reference. Drop itupon subsequent references.

For Associates, Bachelors and Masters degrees, follow the same method as with the doctoral de-gree. Keep in mind that the apostrophe signies possession of the degree: Bachelor of Arts, for exam-ple, does not need one.

Capitalize the area of specialty only if using the degree as part of a title, or if identifying a specicprogram at a university. Always capitalize Masters and Bachelors, but never doctorate or doctoral.

He holds a Masters degree in ne art.

SVSU offers Bachelors degrees in history, English, and psychology.

A Master of Science in Chemistry is available at SVSU.

Graduate admissions have trailed off, as Masters degrees at SVSU acquire a poor reputation.

deans list, presidents list

Not capitalized.

departments and colleges

Capitalize only if referring to departments or colleges specic, formal title. In other cases, lowercase.College of Ed is acceptable for all references to the College of Education at SVSU.

SVSUs Department of Communication and Theatre offers 12 undergraduate degrees.

The English department at Grand Valley is lacking in good professors.

SVSUs business school just doesnt cut it on an international level.

For the most part, the College of Ed prepares its teachers well.

directions

For compass directions, use lowercase.

He drove east. Were heading north.


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emcee

Avoid.Master of ceremonies is preferred.

for all intents and purposes

Notfor all intensive purposes.

espresso

Not expresso.

F

French friesUsefries instead.

geographic areas

In general, geographic regions of the United States such as the Northeast or the Southwest are capital-ized, but general directions: Were heading east, for example, are not. It depends on the usage.

Midwest is capitalized, midwestern is not. TheMidwest refers specically to the U.S. states in the mid-dle of the country, roughly straddling the Mississippi River.

New England is always capitalized. Its use is acceptable in news and commentaries.

Pacic Rim is always capitalized. Its use is acceptable in news and commentaries.

Pacic Northwest is always capitalized. Its use is acceptable in news and commentaries.

Avoid Bible Belt, unless quoted or used in commentaries.

The South is capitalized, but southern states is preferred.

Avoid the geopolitical term West, as it pertains to Europe/North America in news stories. Its use incommentaries is acceptable.

The geographic term West is acceptable in news and commentaries.

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The Northeast is acceptable in news and commentaries.

Avoid the Liberal North. Its use in commentaries is acceptable.

Down Under is acceptable in all cases.

Countries are always capitalized, and nations within nations Chechnya, or Kurdistan, for example are also capitalized. They are all proper nouns. See the directions entry for more info.

For other regions, consult the AP Stylebook.

Groupwise

A staff-only e-mail client in SVSUs ofces. Always with a capital G.

Information Technology Services

Always capitalized. ITS is acceptable in headlines and upon second reference; spell it out on rst ref-erence.

I

Internet

Always capitalize. Net is acceptable on second reference, but it should also be capitalized.

government bodies

In general, spell out and capitalize upon rst reference, or at the very least, make the distinctionbetween state bodies and federal bodies clear. If referring to both the House and Senate in the samestory, it is assumed that both bodies belong to the same level of government. For agencies most wide-ly known simply by their acronym, the acronym is acceptable upon rst reference. For example, theFBIand CIA.

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill to fund the Iraq war last week. The House billgoes to the Senate next week.

The state Senate decided not to appeal a Supreme Court decision banning contraception.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned an earlier decision banning abortion yesterday, setting the state for a pro -longed legal battle over womens rights in state courts.

immigrate, emigrate

One immigrates to a country; one emigrate from one.


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middle initials

Avoid them, unless requested by the individual. If writing from written material, use them to be safe.Ask the source, under any circumstance.

LLatin abbreviations

Avoid all Latin abbreviations. i.e. means that is, e.g. meansfor example, cf. means as compared to, etcmeans and so forth. Use the long, English forms instead.

legislative titles

Capitalize all formal titles like Senator and Representative before all names. Lowercase in other uses.Always spell out titles upon rst reference; Sen. and Rep. are acceptable upon second and subsequentreferences. If talking about state and federal representatives, note the difference:

State Senator Hugh Carter spoke with U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum on agricultural reform last Tuesday.

Avoid congressman or congresswoman; use formal titles to avoid any confusion.

lie, lay

The action word is lay. Laid is past tense; laying is present.

I will lay the book on the bookcase. The prosecutor tried to lay blame on me. I laid the book on the table.

Lie means to recline. Past tense is lay, present is lying. Past participle is lain.

Im going to lie down. Hes lying down right now. He just lies on the beach all day. I have lain down the rules.He lay on the beach all day.

A difcult one, but with practice, itll be no problem.

M

movie ratings

Italicize and capitalize. Hyphenate when using as an adjective.

It is rated G. The R-rated movie might offend some viewers.


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Nnames

On second reference, use last names only.

For young children (ages 15 and under), you can maintain the use the rst name unless the serious-ness of a story calls for the use of the surname. For older teenagers (16, 17 years old) use judgment. Ifused a light-hearted story, generally, the rst name is acceptable. If dealing with serious content, usethe surname.

Use nicknames if an individual is widely known by the nickname. For example, Jimmy Carter, BillClinton. For other nicknames not widely known, upon rst reference use the full name with the nick-name in the middle in quotations, but only if if the nickname is essential to understanding the story.If the entire story demands the use of the nickname simply to understand it, or if it is a light-heartedstory, use the nickname throughout. Otherwise, just use the last name upon second and subsequent

references.

Paul Bear Woods was famous in the shing community.

Follow the sports style guide for usage in sports contexts.

Muslim

Not Islamist, Moslem, or otherwise. Avoid sayingfundamentalist,extremist or anything of the sort whenreferring explicitly to the enemy combatants of U.S. and Iraqi troops in the current U.S.-Iraq War. Useinsurgents instead.

money

Spell out the amount if used in the beginning of a sentence or in a quote. If used elsewhere, use the $sign, followed by the dollar amount. The terms million and billion and so on are used for larger dol-lar amounts.

Forty dollars was needed to provide the bare necessities.

Well, it comes to about one million dollars.

It cost about $6. She spent $70 on other supplies. The Board allocated $1.2 million for the reconstruction of thebuilding.


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Oobscenities, vulgarities, and racial/ethnic slursAvoid unless quoted.

Tasteful use of damn, damn it, and hell is acceptable in commentaries and other subjective pieces.Avoid God damn it. Depending on the context, more expletive vulgarities like shit, asshole, and soforth may be used in commentaries. Get a recommendation from an editor if in doubt.

Racial and ethnic slurs are forbidden, unless quoted. Editors judgment should be careful.

numbers

Notate everything after nine normally unless quoted or placed at the beginning of a sentence, inwhich case you should spell it out. Do not go beyond two decimal places.

The company has built 45 houses to date.

Five times out of ve, were going to beat this team.

Fifty years later, everything has changed.

She was nine points off.

There were 10 people at the meeting.

OK, okay

Use okay in quotes, but OK for all other uses is acceptable. There is no apostrophe in OKed. Since theterm is awkward, try to avoid it.

No, its not okay, she said.

Gilbertson OKed the funding for the project.

Ppingpong

Preferred over table tennis. One word.


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political philosophies

Capitalize when referring to specic parties or groups. In other cases, lowercase. Capitalize partywhen referring to a specic partys name. Someone can be a republican without being a member oradherent of the Republican Party. Same thing with democrats, socialists, and so forth.

The Democratic Party is holding a benet gala next weekend.

My friend is a communist.

The Communist Party in Russia still holds seats in parliament.

politics

A plural noun when referring to a set of beliefs or philosophies.

My politics are my own business.

As a study, science, or academic discipline, its singular.

Politics is a demanding profession.

preventive

Not preventative.

prison, jail

The two terms are not interchangeable. Prison is a corrections facility of some sort for mid to long-term prisoners;jail is a facility to house temporary criminals or people serving short sentences.

In general, refer to the specic facility. If using the term in a generic fashion, prison is probably whatyoure looking for.

professor

The abbreviation profis acceptable in headlines. Use professor in formal titles and throughout thebody of the text.

Professor of Communication Michelle Silva studied at Pennsylvania State University.

pompom

One word.


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Rracial terms

Avoid African-American, black, Asian, white, Caucasian or Native American unless the story calls for it;that is, if a source expresses a desire to be known as such, and the piece requires an understanding ofthe sources race for purposes of readability. In general, racial terms are best left avoided, but if onemust be used, consult the source before using it.

In commentaries, use black carefully always consult the source or subject.

Instead ofAsian, identify the nation from which the person in question hails. For instance, Filipino orMalaysian. Avoid South Asian, East Asian, and Central Asian use the nationality of the person instead.

Native American is preferred to American Indian. Use the tribe instead, if no preference is expressed by

the source:

The Cherokee people of the midwestern states have a rich heritage.

Avoid all racial slurs unless quoted.

If reporting that police are looking for someone, a racial description is allowed.

AvoidMiddle-Eastern. Use the nationality of the person instead.

religious termsIn general, capitalize proper nouns like Transubstantiation. Since such a list would be too exhaustivefor the scope of this guide, consult the AP Stylebook or an editor when in doubt.

A couple exceptions: always capitalize Satan, but never devil or satanic. In any case, avoid unlessquoted or if the story calls for it.

SspeedsFollow the sports style guide. Generally, use gures for speeds over nine. Avoid extensively hyphen-ated phrases like ve-mile-per-hour winds.Mph is a suitable substitute for miles per hour under allcircumstances. For all other acronyms, spell everything out rst.

The boat was traveling at 14 kilometers per hour. 14 kph is rather slow for a boat.


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T

SVSU

Always use the acronym, unless quoted as Saginaw Valley State University. Saginaw Valley is acceptablein sports stories.

SVSU is preparing for a drop in enrollment.

Saginaw Valley State University is falling behind the times.

Saginaw Valley has dropped to sixth in the GLIAC.

spilt

Use spilled instead.

spokesperson

Use spokeswoman or spokesman instead. Use representative or ofcial if you do not know the gender of

the individual.

SUV

An acronym for sport utility vehicle (not sports utility vehicle, as commonly thought). SUVis acceptablefor all references.

temperature

Always capitalize and spell out Celsius and Kelvin. Spell out degrees. If the story is very scientic and/or technical in nature, the use ofKafter a number to signify degrees Kelvin is acceptable. For Fahren-heit, spell out upon rst reference. Upon second and subsequent references, you may use degrees, asFahrenheit is implied.

times

Format normally except for noon, dawn, dusk, and midnight. Do not capitalize a.m. or p.m. Ifa.m. or p.mis the last word in a sentence, do not use an extra period.

She got out of bed at 7:36 a.m. exactly.

The group left for Milwaukee at dawn.

ONeill agreed to a meeting with the Secretary at noon.


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W

titles

In general, if used before a name, capitalize. If used after a name, do not. Use the middle initial only ifa person is commonly known with it. Always use Gilbertsons middle initial upon rst reference.

Executive Assistant to the President Carlos Ramet got everyone some coffee. Carlos Ramet, executive assistantto the president, got everyone some coffee.

SVSU President Eric R. Gilbertson delivered is semi-annual State of the University address today. Eric R. Gil -bertson, president of SVSU, delivered his semi-annual State of the University address today.

For informal, generic titles, do not capitalize.

Campus ambassador James Thompson visited Grand Valley yesterday.

History Club president Urijah Faber spoke with the press this morning.

Web site

Always two words, always capitalize Web. Upon second reference, just use site. When referring to theWorld Wide Web in general, use Web or Net.

Uuniversity

Capitalize when referring to a specic university. Otherwise, no capitals. Do not capitalize the whenreferring to the University.

SVSUs mission has been to keep class sizes down. So far, the University has upheld that promise.

All universities have done for us, as a nation, is to waste our time and money.

A poll of university students suggests classes are getting easier.

Grand Valleys housing staff have done their best to accommodate on-campus residents, but the Universityssupply is falling behind demand.

Universities are referred to as other nonhuman entities:

SVSU does its best to serve its students. It is an admirable institution.


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For books, italicize. Capitalize and spell as commonly known. For multi-part titles like the examplebelow, spell the whole book out on rst reference. A shortened version is acceptable on second refer-ence.

David Landes masterpiece The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some are so Rich and Some so Poorhas captured the market of economics classrooms. Wealth and Poverty takes its name form AdamSmiths The Wealth of Nations, an 18th century work.

For plays, use quotations. Do not italicize. For acts and scenes of plays, avoid the Roman numeralsand use Arabic notation. Capitalize both Act and Scene. The exceptions: The third scene was very roman-tic. Hamlets best monologue is in the rst act.

Angels in America debuted at SVSU on Saturday to much criticism. Act 2, in particular, featuresfull-frontal male nudity.

For games, use italics.

I beat this kid in Halo 2 today.

For other compositions, consult the AP Stylebook.

works of art

For album names, italicize and capitalize.

Dredgs newest release El Cielo has wooed fans with dreamlike passages.

For song titles, use quotations. Capitalize.

I think Given to Fly is my favorite Pearl Jam song.

For titles of orchestral works, capitalize, but do not italicize.

Bachs Suite No. 1 for Orchestra was easily my favorite work of the evening.

For lms, italicize and capitalize.

Martin Scorceses gangster epic The Departed won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

For poems, quote the title and spell as is commonly known. Do not italicize.

T.S. Eliots epic poem The Wasteland inuences modern writers to this day.

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