Style Guide for Electronic Communications
Grammar and Spelling
This section of the style guide addresses the handling of some CLA-specific grammar and spelling issues for electronic communications—websites and e-mail. The style used for print materials that CLA produces may differ.
alumni
This style guide uses the masculine version of the plural to refer to both male (alumnus/alumni) and female (alumna/alumnae) graduates.
ampersands (&)
Using ampersands (&) in navigation (links), headings, subheadings, and captions is useful for saving space. However, do not use ampersands in other text unless it is necessary for a proper name, brand or trademark, or other similar phrase.
College of Liberal Arts/CLA/CLA departments
This style manual adopts the recommendations of the University of Minnesota Style Manual, which states:
"Capitalize names of University colleges, divisions, departments, and committees only when using the full official name of the unit (as listed in the department section of the Student-Staff Directory). Exceptions should be made only for shortened unit names that could be confusing in context if not capitalized."ii
Here are some examples specific to the college:
- College of Liberal Arts, the college
- Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, classical and Near Eastern studies department, the department
- Committee on Student Scholastic Standing, student scholastic standing committee, the committee
Here is an example of a possible exception:
- CLA Student Services, Student Services
(Capitalize if there may be some confusion in the context, i.e., if readers could mistake "student services" for generic services and not the unit, CLA Student Services. See the University of Minnesota Style Manual for more information on this kind of exception.)
CLA Advising Web should be capitalized.
CLA NOW (News on Wednesdays) should have all letters capitalized and should be italicized.
CLA Today and CLA Today Online should be italicized.
e-mail
This style guide has adopted the spelling recommended by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.iii
news@cla is all lower-case and italicized.
PDF
This abbreviation for portable document format is capitalized.
"pre" prefix
CLA and the University of Minnesota offer students many preprofessional tracks, a blessing that has caused a curse of spelling inconsistencies.
Following are the recommended spellings for these terms that use the "pre" prefix. Note that some use an en dash instead of a hyphen. An en dash is longer than a hyphen (-) but shorter than a dash (—), which is also called the em dash. You do not need to include a space on either side of an en dash or an em dash. En dashes and em dashes can be created in Microsoft Word and in HTML (HTML code: – or – for en dashes and — or — for em dashes).
- preprofessional
- premed, premedical
- prelaw, prelaw advising
- pre–health sciences, pre–health sciences advising (Note the en dash.)
- pre–veterinary medicine (Note the en dash.)
- pre–K-12 teaching
(The term "K-12 teaching" refers to a professional field that some students prepare for in CLA and in the College of Education and Human Development. To be "pre–K-12 teaching" is to be preparing to transfer to the program to become a licensed teacher. The "pre–K" is not referring to prekindergarten. Note that there is an en dash between "pre" and "K" and a hyphen between "K" and "12.")
If you need help spelling a term that isn’t included in the list above, take the following steps:
- First, consult a dictionary. For spellings of compound terms (with or without prefixes and suffixes) that have become part of the general vocabulary, dictionaries are your best resource.
- If you do not find the term in a dictionary, follow the recommendations of the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, which are as follows:
"Compounds formed with prefixes are normally closed, whether they are nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.
A hyphen should appear:
- before a capitalized word or a numeral, such as sub-Saharan, pre-1950;
- before a compound term, such as non–self-sustaining, pre–Vietnam War (before an open compound, an en dash is used);
- to separate two i's, two a's, and other combinations of letters or syllables that might cause misreading, such as anti-intellectual, extra-alkaline, and pro-life;
- to separate the repeated terms in a double prefix, such as sub-subentry; when a prefix or combining form stands alone, such as over- and underused, macro- and microeconomics."iv
website/webpage
This style manual recommends the lower-case, closed spelling of this term.v
Sources
ii University of Minnesota. University of Minnesota Style Manual 2002.
<http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/style/capitalization.html> (31 May 2004)
iii "e-mail" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2004. <http://www.merriam-webster.com> (21 May 2004)
iv Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, 7.90
v "website" Dictionary.com 2004 <http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=website> (21 May 2004)
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