College of Science

College of Science Editorial Style Guide

Last updated: July 31, 2008

The College of Science uses Miscellaneous Tips for Writing and Formatting © Jeffrey Scott Vitter. Please note: Purdue University uses the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) as a primary reference. Exceptions to CMS are noted within the style guide. The University News Service and the media use the Associated Press Style Guide. Note: use your browser's "Find" function to search for specific questions or keywords like "capitalize".

Who should use this guide?

Anyone writing material that will be publicly distributed on behalf of Purdue University, the College of Science, its departments, or affiliated centers.

Why use this guide?

Following the style in this guide, with a few exceptions, is in keeping with Purdue University style, established by President Emeritus Martin C. Jischke. It gives the organization a similar voice and consistency of presentation.

How to use this guide...

This style guide is set up alphabetically, although if you have a specific question you may find it easiest to use your browser's "find" command to search for keywords like "capitalize."

howto

Entries that correspond to an entry in the Chicago Manual of Style are noted. E.g. "See CMS 7.46 (p. 289)". Some entries do not have explanations; they are included to show the appropriate spelling or punctuation but do not require an extended explanation.

For further information

This style guide is based on two primary works—Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster's 11th Edition Collegiate Dictionary.
Please refer any questions to Karen Pulliam, communication and media coordinator, College of Science at kp@purdue.edu, 49-41764, or Amira Zamin, communications strategist, Purdue Marketing Communications at azamin@purdue.edu, 49-49747.

Style Guide

a and an
See CMS 7.46 (p. 289).

academic subjects, courses, and lectures
See CMS 8.91–8.93 (pp. 345–46).

addresses
In return addresses and in running text, use the following style:
Return address:
Pfendler Hall, Room 128
715 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907–­2061

Running text:
Pfendler Hall, Room 128, 715 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907–2061
This style takes addresses from the “Search Campus Addresses” site and adds punctuation where necessary, particularly after compass points. Note that street names are spelled out but cardinal directions are not. Nine-digit zip codes and telephone numbers generally use hyphens. Also, do not put a comma between the state and the zip code.

Note: When addressing an envelope tosomeone for a bulk mailing, use U.S. Postal Service style—all capital letters and no punctuation.

advisor

Affirmative Action Statement
The statement is An equal access/equal opportunity/affirmative action university. All Purdue publications must contain the Title IX/EO Statement or the Affirmative Action Statement in order to ensure that every University publication contains a statement about equal access/equal opportunity.
See Appendix F, “Legal Statements, Disclaimers, and Verbiage.”

African American
See CMS 8.41–8.42 (p. 325).

aircraft
See CMS 8.124–8.126 (p. 355)

“All-American” Marching Band

Asian American
See CMS 8.41–8.42 (p. 325).

Big Ten
In this phrase, Ten is always spelled out.
The Big Ten, established in January 1895, actually has 11 conference members: University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, and University of Wisconsin.

Board of Trustees/board of trustees
Capitalize Board of Trustees in reference to the Purdue University Board of Trustees; thereafter, use the board or the trustees when referring to that specific group. Do not capitalize “board of trustees” in conjunction with a company name.

Boilermakers
When including Purdue’s nickname in text, use the term Boilermakers. Intercollegiate Athletics discourages use of the shortened form, Boilers, but understands that there are exceptions, such as headlines and cheers.

Boilermaker Special
The Boilermaker Special, Purdue’s official mascot, resembles a train locomotive. The fifth version of the Boilermaker Special was dedicated September 25, 1993.

brackets
See CMS 6.104–6.110 (pp. 267–268) and CMS 11.66–11.68 (pp. 463–464).

brand names
See CMS 8.162 (p. 365).

building names
In mailing addresses and running text, it is acceptable to use short forms of building names, e.g., “Beering Hall” instead of “Steven C. Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education. If your client voices a preference for listing the whole name or using an alternate short form such as “Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education,” defer to the client and be consistent in this usage across the client's publications.

campus
Per the president, lowercase the c in campus whenever referring to particular Purdue locations; e.g., “West Lafayette campus,” “North Central campus,” etc.


campus names
The following are the full names of the University and its campuses:

Note: The punctuation mark used in the IPFW and IUPUI references above is an en-dash, not an hyphen. In addition, try to avoid using the word “regional” when referring to campuses outside of West Lafayette, as some think the word diminishes the stature of the campuses. Rather, favor verbiage that emphasizes the Purdue identity of these institutions.

campus-wide
This term should be hyphenated in all uses to avoid misreading.

capitalization
Please see the entry specific to the term you are using: college, department, professor, or title.

captions
See CMS 12.31–12.39 (pp. 484–487).

centuries
Contrary to CMS 9.36, centuries are not spelled out, unless describing a single-digit century or beginning a sentence.

The Chao Center
Legally named: Purdue GMP Center LLC Doing Business as The Chao Center for Industrial Pharmacy & Contract Manufacturing. Don’t use the full legal name in our publications; it’s The Chao Center.
The law firm Stuart & Branigin LLP has written guidelines for referring to The Chao Center. Please refer to the appendix at the end of this document for examples of appropriate and inappropriate references to The Chao Center.

charts
See CMS 12.56–12.61 (pp. 491–492).

childcare
In all uses, spell as one word, no hyphen. Exceptions: If the word is treated differently in a proper noun, then follow that usage.

citations
See CMS 11.72–11.84 (pp. 465–469).

class
When referring to a group of juniors and/or seniors, “upperclassmen” may be used. When referring to a group of first-year students and/or sophomores, “underclassmen” may be used. “Upperclassmen and “underclassmen” are gender-neutral words; do not use “upperclass students,” lowerclass students,” or “underclass students.”

college/school names
Use capitalization when listing a college or school by its formal name (e.g., College of Science) or when using a shortened form (e.g., Science) to make clear you are referring to the college/school versus a field of study. Do not capitalize “college” or “school” in generic, subsequent references such as “the college” or “the school.”
Do not capitalize the words “colleges” or “schools” when referring to more than one individual school or college, e.g., “the colleges of Science and Agriculture.”
When referring to all the colleges and schools at Purdue, list “colleges” first then “schools”, e.g., colleges/schools, colleges and/or schools.
When alphabetizing college and school names, organize them by their discipline and not by the “College of” or “School of” part of the name.
The following are the colleges and schools on the West Lafayette campus:

colons
See CMS 6.63–6.69 (pp. 257–258).

commas
Use a comma before the final conjunction (e.g., “and” or “or”) in a list of three or more items.
See CMS 6.18–6.56 (pp. 244–255).

company/institution names
See CMS 8.73–74, 8.163 (pp. 338–339, 366).
The proper names of companies and institutions should be treated as they are by the company/institution. If an article preceding the company/institution name is part of the proper name and is capped by the company/institution, then it should be capped. If there is unusual capitalization or spacing, then maintain it.

If a sentence begins with a brand/company name that has a lowercase initial letter, recast the sentence so the name does not begin the sentence.
Remove commas preceding the words company, corporation, incorporated, LLC, etc.

computer terms
See CMS 7.81 (p. 299).

Córdova, France A.
Purdue's 11th president is referred to as President France A. Córdova on first mention. Thereafter, use President Córdova or "the president."

course names
When listing the whole course name, use the following treatment:

coursework

credit lines
See CMS 12.40–12.51 (pp. 487–490).

dates
See CMS 6.46 (p. 253).

deans
There are 10 deans at the West Lafayette campus. Refer to the current issue of Facts at Your Fingertips for their names and titles.

decades (CMS 9.37, p. 389).
Because CMS doesn’t like to capitalize decades like the twenties or the sixties, Purdue's preference is for using numerals.

Note that the apostrophe on the shortened version is NOT an open single quote mark.
Certain decades, like other traditional names, are capitalized (CMS 8.79–8.80, pp. 340–341).

degrees
Degree abbreviations should be formatted as follows (without periods):

Refer to general degree names as follows:

See CMS 8.32 (p. 321) and CMS 15.21–15.22 (pp. 563–564) for more style pertaining to academic degrees.
In running text (i.e., Class Notes), degree attribution should be done using the degree and two-digit year of graduation.

departments
The College of Science includes the following departments:

department names (CMS 8.73, p. 338)
Use capitalization when listing a department by its formal name (e.g., Department of Physics) or when using a shortened form (e.g., Physics) to make clear you are referring to the department versus a field of study. On successive references, use “the department.” Avoid using phrases such as “the physics department” so that you don’t appear inconsistent. Note that "physics department" is not the department's formal name. There are special rules for professor names that include departments; see “professor” entry.

For named departments, use the full title on first reference. A shortened version of the title may be used on subsequent references, e.g., “Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts” on first reference and “Visual and Performing Arts” or “VPA” thereafter.

disabilities
The wording is “students with disabilities” as specified by the Office for Civil Rights. Place emphasis on the person, not the disability. In certain contexts, “students with special needs” might be the best verbiage. 

distinguished professor
See “professor” entry.

dorm/dormitory
Do not use. The preferred terminology is residence hall or residence.

dot-com
Online business, usually selling retail goods and/or services to individual consumers.

Dr.
In running text, CMS recommends using the title Dr. only when referring to a doctor of medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine. HOWEVER, use Dr. as the salutation when writing a letter or similar correspondance to an individual with a PhD.  In the College of Science, it is permissible to use Dr. to refer to someone with a PhD.

e-
Internet-age words that start with e- or e (such as e-news or email) should be capitalized only at the beginning of a sentence or in a title.

ellipses
See CMS 11.51–11.66 (pp. 458–463).

e-mail policies
E-mails written by the Dean of the College of Science must not be forwarded to a third party without his prior express permission.

em-dash
An em-dash (—) is punctuation and should be placed in text with no space before or after. An em dash indicates a pause or shift in thought. It gets its name because it traditionally had the width of a capital M. Note: You can get an em-dash in Microsoft Word by typing “--“ with no prior spaces; after typing further, the “--“ turns into “—.”  (The proper option must be set by Tools->AutoCorrect Options->AutoFormat As You Type.) You can also get an em-dash in Word by typing control-alt-hyphen (on the toolbar far-right numeric pad).

emeritus/a professor
See “professor” entry

en-dash
An en-dash is used most often to specify a range. See CMS 6.80 (p. 260) and CMS 6.83–6.86 (pp. 261–263). It gets its name because its width was traditionally the width of a capital N.  Note: To create an en-dash in Microsoft Word, type a space and then “--“ and continue typing.  If you don’t want the space before, you need to go back and delete the space. (The proper option must be set by Tools->AutoCorrect Options->AutoFormat As You Type.) You can also get an en-dash in Microsoft Word by typing control-hypen (on the toolbar far-right numeric pad).

Engineering Mall
Per President Córdova, DO NOT use this term. Instead, call it the Purdue Mall.

equal access statement

(Title IX/EO statement)
The statement is An equal access/equal opportunity university. It should be spelled out whenever possible, not abbreviated.
See Appendix F, “Legal Statements, Disclaimers, and Verbiage.”

ethnic group names
See CMS 8.41–8.43 (pp. 325–326).

exclamation points
See CMS 6.76–6.79 (p. 260).

foreign words, names, titles, and institutions
See CMS 7.51–7.56 (pp. 291–292), CMS 7.62 (p. 294), and CMS 10.1–10.154 (pp. 400–441).

Foster, Christian J.
Chris Foster may be referred to as First Gentleman Chris Foster.

freshman
The phrase first-year student is preferred; however, freshman is still used in cases where a distinction needs to be made between a beginning college student and someone who has transferred but is in his/her first year at Purdue. Freshman also is acceptable in headlines and in phrases such as “freshman class.”

fundraising
The term fundraising is to be written as one word with no hyphenation.

government bodies
See CMS 8.66–8.70 (pp. 334–336).

Greater Lafayette
Do not use the phrase “Greater Lafayette” unless it’s part of a formal name, such as the United Way of Greater Lafayette. Instead, refer to the local community as “Lafayette–West Lafayette” with an en-dash between the city names.

headlines
The first word of a headline is capitalized. Subsequent words are not. The first word after punctuation is capitalized.

healthcare
In all uses, spell as one word, no hyphen. Exceptions: If the word is treated differently in a proper noun, then follow that usage.

Hispanic
See entry for “Latina/Latino.”

home page
The term home page is to be written as two words in lowercase letters.

hyphenation
See CMS 6.80–6.82 (pp. 260–261) and CMS 7.82–7.90 (pp. 299–308). In addition, the dictionary is a great resource for determining whether or not a word should be hyphenated.

initials
When using a person's first two initials, use periods and put a space between the first and second letter.

Intercollegiate Athletics
Refer to this Purdue entity as Intercollegiate Athletics, NOT as Athletic Department, Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, or Athletics. In addition, leave out the words “Division of” in references to this area.

Jischke, Martin C.
Purdue’s 10th president may be referred to as President Emeritus Martin C. Jischke on the first mention. Note that "President Emeritus" is capitalized because it comes before his name.

Krannert School of Management
Because the Krannert School of Management is a named school, do not omit the word “Krannert” on first reference. On second reference, use “the Krannert School,” “the school,” or “Krannert.”

Lafayette–West Lafayette
When referring to the local community, use “Lafayette–West Lafayette” separated with an en-dash. Do not use “Greater Lafayette.”

land-grant/land grant
Requires a hyphen when used as an adjective. No hyphen is needed when used as a noun. This rule applies to sea-grant/sea grant and space-grant/space grant also, as well as to many “two-word” phrases.
When using all three together follow this order:

Latina/Latino
See CMS 8.41–8.42 (p. 325).

line breaks
See CMS 7.33–7.45 (pp. 286–289).
listserv

majors (CMS 8.91, p. 345)
In running text, do not capitalize the names of majors unless the major itself is a proper noun, e.g., English, American history, etc. However, in tables or bulleted lists, it’s acceptable to capitalize majors.

military terms
See CMS 8.120–8.123 (p. 353).

Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss,
Omit courtesy titles in most contexts, including journalistic articles. This style extends to Patty Jischke, who prefers to be listed as Patty Jischke in most contexts, not as Mrs. Jischke.  

named professor
See “professor” entry.

names (of people)
See CMS 8.5–8.20 (pp. 312–317).

names, possessives of
Add ’s to the end of a name to form the possessive when it is pronounced with an extra “s.”  Some multisyllable words that end in “s” form the possessive by appending “’” without an “s.”

For exceptions, see CMS 7.20–22 (p. 283).

Native American
See CMS 8.41–8.42 (p. 325).

nondiscrimination policy statement
See Appendix F, “Legal Statements, Disclaimers, and Verbiage.”

numbers
Follow the alternative rule in CMS 9.6: Spell out single-digit numbers and [use] numerals for all others” when the number is used as an adjective.   Use numerals at all times when the number is used as a noun.  For example, “there are five examples and 12 theorems in Section 4.”
Numbers beginning a sentence should always be written out, although the preferred method is recasting the sentence to avoid beginning with a number.

Octoberbreak
The official spelling is Octoberbreak—all one word, with a lowercase “b.”

Online and offline
The terms online and offline are written as one word in all uses.

orphans
A single word alone on the last line of a paragraph must have five or more letters.

parentheses
See CMS 6.97–6.103 (pp. 265–267).

periods
See CMS 6.13–6.15 (pp. 243–244).

passive voice
Use active voice as much as possible.
Not recommended:

Recommended:

phone numbers
Phone numbers should use hyphens and not en-dashes. Format phone numbers as follows:

Note: The preferred style is to place parentheses around the area code in long-distance numbers and leave a space between the closing parenthesis and next digit. Phone numbers use en-dashes.

places (names of)
See CMS 8.46–8.63 (pp. 326–333).

plurals
See CMS 7.6–7.16 (pp. 279–281).

possessives
See CMS 7.17–7.30 (pp. 281–286).

postscript
When adding a postscript to a letter, use capital letters and place a period after each letter.

professor (CMS 8.31, p. 321)
When referring to Purdue staff members, use the title or rank given to them by the University. Apply the title professor only before the name of a staff member of professorial rank: professor, associate professor, or assistant professor.  Do not use it before the name of an instructor, teaching assistant, or staff member.
Do not qualify the title professor with associate or assistant before a person’s name, but do qualify it after the name.

Note that “biological sciences” is not capitalized in the last example.  Do not abbreviate assistant and associate when used in a title.

After referring to an individual by full name, use the spelled-out or abbreviated title and last name.

For distinguished and named professors, use and capitalize full title on first use.

Subsequent usage follows the rules for professor.
For emeritus/a professors, indicate status following the name on first use.

Subsequent usage follows the rules for professor.
For faculty members with more than one title, include both on first reference.

proofreaders’ marks
See CMS pp. 100–101.

Purdue Alumni Association
In accordance with the new branding announced in October 2007, do not use PAA anymore. First reference is Purdue Alumni Association. Second and subsequent references, use Purdue Alumni. Contact Kelly Hiller, Director of Creative Communications, for more information.

question marks
See CMS 6.70–6.75 (pp. 259–60).

quotation marks
Use single quotation marks in headlines. See CMS 6.120 (p. 270) and CMS 11.33–11.50 (pp. 453–458) for other styles pertaining to quotation marks.

religious names and terms
See CMS 8.97–8.119 (p. 347).

RSVP/R.s.v.p.
According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, the abbreviation should be treated with all capital letters and no periods. Note, however, that in promoting events at Westwood, the usage should be R.s.v.p.
To avoid redundancy, never use the word “please” before RSPV; the term is an abbreviation of the French expression répondez s'il vous plaît, which means “please reply.”

SATS
See “Student Access, Transition, and Success Programs” entry.

school/college names
See “college/school names” entry.

scientific terminology
See CMS 8.127–8.161 (p.356).

seasons (fall, winter, etc.)
See CMS 8.94 (p. 346).

slashes
See CMS 6.111–6.119 (pp. 268–270).

spring break/spring vacation
The official term used by the Office of the Registrar is “spring vacation”; however, “spring break” may be used also. Lowercase both terms in running text. Capitalize the terms when used in calendars, tables, etc.

state names
Do not abbreviate names of states when following names of cities and towns, except in footnotes, class notes and mailing addresses. 

When you do abbreviate, use U.S. Postal Service abbreviations.
Always abbreviate the District of Columbia to Washington, DC. Omit periods from DC.

Student Access, Transition and Success Programs (SATS)
An official department name. Do not use a serial comma after “Transition.”

system-wide or systemwide
This term is perhaps the best adjective/adverb to use when talking about things that span all Purdue campuses/locations.

theater vs. theatre
Because the Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts consistently refers to its academic area of study as “theatre” and its performance stages as “theatres,” all VPA-related references should use the “re” spelling. However, references to movie or other performing theaters—and other generic usages—should use the “er” spelling unless referring to a proper name.

The Campaign for Purdue
Note that the “T” is uppercase.

times (CMS 9.41–9.43, p.391)
Unlike CMS style, PMC style is to use numerals for times of day in running text.

The abbreviations a.m. and p.m. should be set in lowercase type with periods. Zeros should be used for even hours. Separate time ranges with an en dash and with no space on either side of the en dash. When stating a beginning and ending time in running text, use “from” and “to.” Noon and midnight should be spelled out and lowercased unless they begin a sentence.

In some types of publications, such as agendas, invitations, etc., there is some flexibility.

time zones (CMS 8.96, p. 347)
When spelled out, time zones are lowercased. Abbreviations are capitalized.

Note that even though Indiana observes daylight saving time in March–October, it (and the rest of the country) uses standard time in November–February.

titles and offices
As a general rule, titles are capitalized only when they precede the name. Titles following the name or used in place of the name are not capitalized. Over-capitalization can appear amateurish and pompous.

See CMS 8.21–8.35 (pp. 317–323).

titles of works (books, television shows, etc.)
See CMS 8.164–8.208 (p. 366).

trademarks
See CMS 8.162 (p. 365).

University
The word University should be capitalized in instances where it stands in for the longer phrase Purdue University:

Note that such references to “University” are always preceded by the word “the.”

University-wide
When referring to Purdue University, capitalize University-wide and hyphenate it in all uses.

upperclassmen
A gender-neutral group of juniors and/or seniors. Do not use “upperclass students.”

underclassmen
A gender-neutral group of first-year students and/or sophomores. Do not use “lowerclass students” or “underclass students.”

URLs
URLs should be set in plain type, not underlined or set in italics, etc.
Don't print the http:// portion of a URL unless the URL won’t work without it.
If a URL can’t be listed on one line, never break it with a hyphen; rather, break the URL after a period, slash, or double slash.

U.S.
Use periods when abbreviating United States. Note, however, that the abbreviated form is only recommended as an adjective.

Usenet

Washington, DC
Always abbreviate the District of Columbia to Washington, DC. Omit periods from DC:

Web
Web should be used with a capital W when it refers to a Web page, site, or search engine.

West Lafayette
Do not abbreviate “West” in “West Lafayette.”

West Lafayette campus
The “c” should be lowercase in running text.

year in school
See “class” entry.

years
In cases where the century doesn’t change, inclusive years may be formatted as follows:

Appendix A: Basics of clear writing

Basics of organization—this is the most important technique
Always write in a top-down manner using version-by-version refinement, which is a simple mechanism to force yourself into proper organization. Start with Version 1 as a rough outline of the main points and topics in the order of treatment. On the side, make a list of all the little detailed ideas and points that have come to you in the process, but you don't yet know where they should go. (Don't put them in the outline yet; you're not ready for that stage.)
Version 2 should be an elaboration of Version 1, in which you identify the section titles and specify the main ideas of each section. Insert the ideas and points you want to make into the relevant sections, so that you know where they belong. Version 3 should be a further elaboration of Version 2 with specific sub-ideas and a clear story line. Version 4 should be close to the final version, if not the final version itself.
Even though it seems like you're doing extra or redundant work to go through the version-by-version refinement process, in reality it will save you incredible amounts of time, and the resulting paper will be organized and coherent.
Go for clarity and simplicity. Review your writing to streamline it. Eliminate unneeded words, phrases, and sentences.

Filler words and terms
Avoid use of "filler" words or phrases that carry no real meaning, such as
"actually,"
"basically,"
"essentially,"
"it is important to note that" (a phrase only for exceptional situations),
"note that,"
"now,"
"therefore,"
"thus,"
"activities like that"
Aside from taking up valuable space, filler words can give the impression that you're "puffing up" a topic because you can't give specifics of the topic or its importance, for example. Filler words can serve a useful purpose; an example is the use of "thus" or "therefore" to signal a conclusion. But they're easy to overuse, so minimize their use.

Section organization
The first two sentences of a letter (correspondence), section, or report should convey the basic who, what, when, where why, and how information. One easy way to do this is to ask yourself how you would explain this idea or story to a friend in one or two sentences. It’s likely that what you’d say are the main ideas and the most interesting points to a general audience.  The remainder of the letter, section, or report can then focus on the details.

Sentence organization
Place the verb close to the subject. Otherwise, in long sentences, confusion will reign.

Sentence stress points
The two stress points of a sentence are at its beginning and its end. The end generally gets the most emphasis, so try to reserve the end of the sentence for its most important element. Structure each sentence to move from the known concept to the unknown, from the given idea to the new, from the background to the result. Put transitional and background words or phrases (such as “therefore," “thus," “at the same time," “in the last section," etc.) at the beginning of the sentence, saving the important content for the end.

Appendix B: Notes on punctuation

Colons
Colons usually introduce a list.  Do not use colons in the natural flow of a sentence.  Here is a good example of using a colon to introduce a list of colors:

This sentence makes a poor use of:

since the list is the object of the preposition “of” and the object should not be separated from the preposition by a colon.

Comma
The serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma) is recommended.  It precedes the last item in a list of three or more items.

Do not put a comma before a conjunction like "and" if the second part of the sentence does not include a subject and shares the subject from the first part of the sentence:

En-dash vs. Em-dash
An en-dash “–“ is used to indicate a range of time. 

It is automatically created in Microsoft Word when you type a space and one or two hyphens between text.  To get rid of the space, you need to delete it manually. (The proper option must be set by Tools->AutoCorrect Options->AutoFormat As You Type.) You can also get an en-dash in Word by typing control-hypen (on the far-right numeric pad).
An em-dash is a form of punctuation and indicates a sudden break in thought—a parenthetical statement like this one—or to stress a certain phrase—especially to get the reader’s attention as being done now. Do not use spaces before or after an em-dash, contrary to CMS policy. In Microsoft Word you can create an em-dash by typing two hyphens with no prior spaces; after typing further, the two hyphens turn into an em-dash. (The proper option must be set by Tools->AutoCorrect Options->AutoFormat As You Type.) You can also get an em-dash in Word by typing control-alt-hyphen (on the far-right numeric pad).

Hyphenations
African American is capitalized, but not hyphenated.
Campus-wide should be hyphenated to avoid misreading.
Do not hyphenate a Web address, ever. It encourages misreading.

Quotation marks
Periods and commas are usually placed inside the quotation marks. Other punctuation, such as question marks and semicolons, are put inside the closing quotation mark when they are part of the quotation; otherwise, they are put outside. 

When quoting a person, a comma is used before the quote.

Appendix C: Common Word Mistakes

That or Which
“That” is restrictive and is used when providing information that is necessary to specify what is being discussed or described.  Do not use a comma before “that.”

“Which” is not restrictive and provides supplemental information about something that is already identified. It is always preceded by a comma.

Rule of thumb: if you can tell which thing is being discussed without the which or that clause, use which and a comma; if you can't, use that and no comma.

This and That
Never use “this” or “that” as nouns, as in “This is the way that… .”  Always say this what or that what.  For example, “This mechanism is the way that… .”

Their and They
The words “their” and “they” can only refer to more than one person.  Avoid the common misusage of using “their” and “they” to refer to a person when the person’s gender is not revealed; such use is not proper  For example, do not write, “Each person raised their hand when they wanted to ask a question.”  It should properly be written as follows:  “Each person raised his or her hand to ask a question.”  It may seem awkward to write “his or her,” but it’s more awkward to be regarded as illiterate!

Appendix D: First and subsequent references

First reference
The first reference to a person includes their complete name and title. It does not usually include Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc.  Whenever possible, put the name first, followed by the title.

Second and subsequent references
In second and subsequent references to someone, use his or her last name only.

Exceptions
When communicating internally with a familiar crowd, it is okay to informally refer to the person by first name if it is preferred by that individual or if the speaker has a long-standing relationship to the individual. 

Appendix E: The Chao Center

When referring to The Chao Center in publications or other mediums, be careful about how you explain the center’s relationship to Purdue University. Stuart & Branigin LLP notes “… while The Chao Center was formed to serve Purdue, Purdue does not own or operate it.” The law firm has provided the following guidelines for referring to The Chao Center:
Some examples of appropriate wording:

Some examples of inappropriate wording: 

Appendix F: Legal statements

Nondiscrimination Policy Statement
Purdue University is committed to maintaining a community which recognizes and values the inherent worth and dignity of every person; fosters tolerance, sensitivity, understanding, and mutual respect among its members; and encourages each individual to strive to reach his or her own potential. In pursuit of its goal of academic excellence, the University seeks to develop and nurture diversity. The University believes that diversity among its many members strengthens the institution, stimulates creativity, promotes the exchange of ideas, and enriches campus life.

Purdue University views, evaluates, and treats all persons in any University related activity or circumstance in which they may be involved, solely as individuals on the basis of their own personal abilities, qualifications, and other relevant characteristics.

Purdue University prohibits discrimination against any member of the University community on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin or ancestry, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, disability, or status as a disabled or Vietnam era veteran. The University will conduct its programs, services and activities consistent with applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and orders and in conformance with the procedures and limitations as set forth in Executive Memorandum No. D-1 which provides specific contractual rights and remedies. Additionally, the University promotes the full realization of equal employment opportunity for women, minorities, persons with disabilities and Vietnam era veterans through its affirmative action program.

Title IX/EO Statement
An equal access/equal opportunity university
EA/EOU in capital letters

Affirmative Action Statement
An equal access/equal opportunity/affirmative action university
EA/EO/AAU in capital letters

Appendix G: Styles for correspondence

Letters
The salutation line of a personal letter should end with a colon.  The purpose of the letter should be stated clearly, preferably in first sentence or at least in the first paragraph. Follow with background in subsequent paragraphs. Summarize conclusions or next steps at the end.

Templates
The correct templates for all forms letters and presentations can be found in this directory:
S:\General\FormsandLetterhead\JSV templates

Appendix H: Electronic file naming

Electronic files
Include the name of the project, year, month, and date of the file. Do not include space between the name of the project and the year. Capitalize each word that names the project to differentiate between the words.

Remove old files
Create a subdirectory (folder) named “Old” or “OldStuff” to store old versions of files.  It is preferable to include only the most recent version of a file in the main directory, so that old versions are not mistakenly used and edited.  But for reference, it is sometimes useful to have old versions; but always keep them in an “Old” or “OldStuff” subdirectory.