General

• Never use two spaces after a period.

• Follow AP style with respect to commas in a series, e.g.:

  • CORRECT: “He is majoring in English, biology and Spanish.”

  • INCORRECT: “She is taking art history, biology, and math this semester.”

• Do not use ampersands in body text unless referencing a page or program title in which an ampersand originally appears.

• “Email,” not “e-mail.”

• "Toward," not "towards."

• "Forward," not "forwards."

• "Afterward," not "afterwards."

• "Well-being," not "wellbeing."

• "Health care," not "healthcare."

• "Day care," not "daycare."

• Cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude are not italicized.

Politics / DC

• The correct punctuation of the nation’s capital is “Washington, DC”

• When using terms related to policy: “policymaker,” “policymaking”

Dates, Times and Numbers

• Use the following formats for times: “4-5 p.m.” / “2:30 a.m.-5 p.m.” / “4:30-5:30 p.m.”

• Use the following formats for dates: “Sept. 1, 2017” / “September 2017” / “Thursday, Sept. 2, 2017”

• Never use suffixes with dates: e.g., “Oct. 3^rd”

• Never use parentheses with phone numbers.

  • CORRECT: 512-XXX-XXXX

  • INCORRECT: (512) XXX-XXXX

• Always spell out numbers one through nine—use numerals from 10 on. Also use numerals whenever preceding a unit of measure or referring to ages of people, animals, events or things.

Bulleted and Numbered Lists

• Bulleted and numbered lists should be used when appropriate to make information more scannable for the reader.

• If the text after a bullet or number is a complete sentence, punctuate with a period.

• If the text after a bullet or number is a phrase, do not punctuate

Emphasis

• Do not use bold or italics in headings, and use very sparingly in body copy.

• Do not use exclamation points unless in a quote.

• Do not use underlining to indicate emphasis.