College Editorial Guide - Names/Numbers/Punctuation

Names
On first reference, use first and last name. Use last name only on all subsequent references. When it is necessary to distinguish between two people who use the same last name, as with relatives or individuals with common last names, identify them by both first and last name throughout the story.

Numerals
Spell out numbers zero through nine. Use digits for 10 through 999,999 preceded by the appropriate numeral. Beginning with a million, spell out million, billion, trillion, etc. Example: The company shipped 1 million units, but only 780,000 arrived intact. Do not go more than one decimal place when spelling out the magnitude in millions, and two decimal places for billions. Example: $5.1 million. $5,104,300 also is acceptable.

Where describing a range, use “to” rather than a hyphen. Example: There will be 20 to 25 people at the party. Spell out all numerals (except for years) that begin sentences. Example: Twenty units were completely destroyed. 1999 was a very good year.

Always use numerals for the following: addresses, ages (people and animals but not objects), dates, measured quantities, pages. Spell out distances less than 10.

Punctuation and Symbols
Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks. Semicolons and colons always go outside quotation marks. A question mark or exclamation point goes inside the quotation mark when it applies to the quoted material and it goes outside the quotation mark when it applies to the entire sentence.

Use a semicolon to divide a series of items that separate elements of a series when the items also must be set off by commas. Example: Survivors include J.C. Anderson, husband; Matthew Anderson, Mark Anderson and Sarah Smith, children; and Larry Johnson, brother.

Stand-alone cities
In body copy, list the following domestic cities without states:


Symbols
• spell out “percent” (not %)
• spell out “and” (not &)
• A dash (–) is longer than a hyphen (-).

Misc.
• campuswide (no hyphen)
• child care (two words); except as an adjective, then child-care
• firsthand (no hyphen)
• halftime (no hyphen)
• health care (two words)
• Internet (capital “I”)
• master class (two words)
• nonprofit (no hyphen)
• postgraduate (no hyphen)
• postseason (no hyphen)
• premiere (a first performance)
• preprofessional (no hyphen)
• service-learning
• semifinal (no hyphen)
• student-athlete (use a hyphen)
• theatre (house style to stay consistent with Concordia Theatre)
• webcam, webcast, webmaster (one word, no caps)
• practicum (sing.), practicums (plural)
• use single spaces (even after periods)
• Times: 7 p.m. (not 7:00 p.m.); noon (not 12:00 p.m.); midnight (not 12:00 a.m.)

Information For:

current students
faculty and staff		 parents
alumni		 high school students
admitted students