stylebook

Scoop Stylebook Academic courses Capitalize course titles and enclose them in quotes: “Magazine Industry Workshop.” In general usage and mention of a course of study, do not capitalize unless it is a proper noun: She is enrolled in “Survey of American Authors,” biology, a public relations course and Russian history. Academic terms Use lower case for academic terms: fall semester, spring term. Always lowercase seasons and derivatives such as springtime unless part of a formal name: Summer Olympics, Dartmouth Winter Carnival. Academic titles Professor is sufficient. Do not distinguish between professors, associate professors, instructors, etc. unless the person is a teaching assistant. Clarify if a person has a Ph.D., but use Dr. only in reference to medical doctors. Don’t use titles on second reference. According to Do not use as a verb of attribution unless quoting documents. INCORRECT: “Tennessee football is the best in the country,” according to John Smith. CORRECT: The incoming freshman class has the highest GPA average in UT’s history, according to the admissions department’s annual report. Adviser Not advisor: Billy met with his adviser before registering for fall semester. Amid Not amidst. Among, between In most cases, between introduces two items and among introduces more than two: The fight was between Lisa and Amy. The pie was divided among all three boys. However, use between when expressing the relationships of three or more items considered one pair at a time: Negotiations on a settlement are under way between the defendant and plaintiffs Mary, Sue and Bob. Pronouns that follow are in the objective case: among us, between him and her, between you and me. a.m., p.m. Lowercase, with periods. Always include a.m. or p.m. with times, but use midnight and noon instead of 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. Avoid redundancies such as 10 p.m. Monday night. Use 10 p.m. today or 10 p.m. Monday. The construction 4 o’clock is acceptable, but not preferred. Use only in quotes or special context. Brand names Do not use them unless it is impossible to find a generic term. For example, change Xerox to photocopy and Kleenex to tissue. Astroturf, Jell-O and Jet Ski are brand names. Building names A list of proper usage with regard to building names appears at the end of the style book. CD Acceptable on all references for compact disc. Cite, site, sight Use cite if you mean “to mention as support, illustration or proof.” Use site if you mean “a physical location.” Use sight if you mean “something seen.” Class standing Use lowercase – freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. College and university departments, programs Use lower case unless the department is a proper noun or a language. For example, the department of political science, but the department of English. University colleges and schools are capitalized: College of Arts and Sciences. College of Communications and Information Capitalize and state in full on first reference. Use CCI on second reference. Commas Follow AP style. Commas are never to be used in a series. CORRECT: apples, bananas and oranges. INCORRECT: apples, bananas, and oranges. Composition titles Italicize magazine and newspaper names. Put television shows, book titles and radio programs in quotes. If a Web site has a particular style of capitalization, use that style. Examples: eBay.com, CNN.com, etc. Contractions Do not use contractions unless they are in quotes. Courtesy titles Do not use Mr., Miss, Mrs. or Ms. If two people have the same last name, try to use context for clarity. If necessary, repeat the first name on second reference for clarity. Dates Use a hyphen, not the words “to” or “through.” CORRECT: July 1-4. INCORRECT: July 1 to 4. Dean, Director Capitalize only if it precedes a name as a title: Dean Smith. Lowercase in all other uses: Michael Wirth is the dean of the College of Communications and Information. Peter Gross is the new director of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. Note: JEM school director, Peter Gross is an acceptable form when School of Journalism and Electronic Media is previously referenced. Do not double-up on titles. INCORRECT: Director of the School or Journalism and Electronic Media, Peter Gross, Ph.D., enjoys playing basketball. CORRECT: Peter Gross, Ph.D., accepted the position of director of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media this past summer. DVD Acceptable on all references for digital video disc. e-mail Acceptable on all reference for electronic mail. Ellipses Use an ellipsis to indicate the deletion of one of more words in condensing quotes. Avoid excessive use. If necessary, ask the source to repeat what they said. Exclamation points Use sparingly, if at all. GPA Acceptable on all references for grade point average. Holland Don’t use except when referring to the Dutch provinces of Noord-Holland (North Holland) and Zuid-Holland (South Holland). The Netherlands is the nation’s official name and should be used in all references. Style for cities in the Netherlands is (city), Netherlands, not (city), the Netherlands. Example: Utrecht, Netherlands. Internet Capitalize in all references. The Internet is not interchangeable for the World Wide Web. JEM Spell out journalism and electronic media on first reference. JEM is acceptable on second reference and thereafter. Capitalize the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. JEM school is acceptable on second reference. Note: school is lowercase because the JEM school is not the official name. Never use JEM School. Media A plural noun that requires a plural verb and plural pronouns. The singular form is medium. Most Refers to the superlative: the most exciting experience of my life. INCORRECT: It was one of the most exciting experiences in my life. CORRECT: It was one of the more exciting experiences of my life. Music groups Require no quotes around their names. Online One word, no hyphen. Online journalism is defined as the reporting of facts produce and distributed on the Internet. It may use the Web as an outlet for content. Online and Web journalism are not always the same and should not be used interchangeably. An e-mail newsletter is online journalism, not Web journalism. See Web entry. Professor Do not capitalize when used before a proper name. Do not abbreviate. Do not use professor on second reference. Punctuation in quotes Commas and periods are always placed inside the closing quote marks. Colons and semicolons are almost always placed outside the quote marks. Question marks and exclamation points are placed inside the quotes when they belong to the quoted material. When the question mark is part of the sentence, it goes outside the quotes. Quotes, Quotation Marks Quotes should not dominate the story. Use them appropriately. Paraphrasing is encouraged it the text is already quote heavy. For Partial Quotes, Running Quotes, see AP Stylebook entry “quotation marks” in the Punctuation Guide section. Put quotation marks around unfamiliar words/terms: Broadcast frequencies are measured in “kilohertz.” Use quotation marks to indicate irony: The “debate” turned into a free-for-all. Radio stations Use full name on first reference with call letters, call numbers and title: WUTK-FM, 90.3, The Rock. Use WUTK on second reference. Resume No accent marks needed, such as resumé or résumé. Rock ‘n’ Roll Not rock and roll. Said Past tense, the all-purpose word of attribution. Use Smith said instead of said Smith. Occasional variety is appropriate and perhaps desirable as long as the substitute attribution is precise: replied, stated. Sentence structure Starting a sentence with ‘also,’ ‘and,’ ‘but’ and ‘because of’ is acceptable when used sparingly. Spacing Use one space, not two, between sentences. Don’t use spaces before most punctuation. Use one space after punctuation. Use one space on each side of a dash (--). States Use AP abbreviations. Students Identification should be by college, class and major: Joe Smith, senior in journalism and electronic media, said he loved Scoop. That, which Use in reference to inanimate objects and animals without a name. Use that for essential clauses, important to the meaning of a sentence and without commas: I remember the day that we met. Use which for nonessential clauses where the pronoun is less necessary and use commas: The team, which finished third a year ago, is in first place. Tip: If you can drop the clause and not lose the meaning of the sentence, use which. Otherwise, use that. Theater, theatre Use theater unless used in the proper name of a building, such as Clarence Brown Theatre. Time range Use to, not a hyphen. INCORRECT: 8 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. CORRECT: 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Unique Something is unique only if it is one of a kind. Thus, something is never very unique or almost unique. Try to avoid because it conveys little or no information to the reader. United Kingdom Spell out as a noun, abbreviate as an adjective. Consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales. Ireland is independent of the U.K. United States Spell out as a noun, abbreviate as an adjective. university Use lower case unless reference is to a proper name. UT acceptable on second reference for the University of Tennessee. UTPD Use University of Tennessee Police Dept. on first reference. UTPD is acceptable on second reference. Note: Same for Knoxville Police Dept. and KPD. Web Capitalize in reference to the World Wide Web, which is a service, or set of standards, that enables the publishing of multimedia documents on the Internet. Web journalism, Web Design, Web site Two words, with Web capitalized, but it is webcam, webcast, webmaster and weblog. Do not underline a Web site. Capitalize the name of a Web site: Tennessee Journalist or JPROF. Italicize the complete address: www.TNJN.com or www.jprof.com. Do not use http:// in addresses. Note: If the “dot com” is part of the name, such as CNN.com, make sure to include it. Do not capitalize a Web site’s name if it is not capitalized on the Web site, such as datelinealabama.com. Example: CNN’s news site, CNN.com, is continually updated. Visit www.cnn.com for the latest headlines. When asked, when asked about Avoid introducing a source’s answer to a question with these phrases. Years It is in the 1990s or the ‘90s, not the 1990’s or the 90’s. Building names Aconda Court Ayres Hall Alumni Memorial Building Andy Holt Tower Art & Architecture Building Berry Hall Buehler Hall Burchfiel Geography Building Clarence Brown Theatre Claxton Education Building Communications & University Extension Building Conference Center Credit Union Dougherty Engineering Building Dunford Hall Eastabrook Hall Ferris Hall Glocker Business Administration Building Henson Hall Hesler Biology Building Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building – HPER on second reference Hodges Library Hoskins Library Humanities/Social Sciences Building International House Jessie Harris Building McClung Plaza McClung Museum Music Building Nursing Building Panhellenic Building Parking Services Pasqua Engineering Building Perkins Hall Security Office South College Stokely Athletic Center Stokely Management Center Student Counseling Center Student Health Center Student Services Center Taylor Law Center Temple Court Tyson Alumni Center University Club University Center University of Tennessee Police Dept. Car Pound – UTPD on second reference Walters Life Sciences Building