AA&D STYLE GUIDE Harvard University AA&D Marketing and Communications CONTENTS About This Guide 2 Numbers 12–14 Abbreviations 3 Addresses Spelled or Abbreviated? Beginning a Sentence Periods in Abbreviations Centuries and Decades Place Names Direct Discourse Titles Before Names Millions and Billions Academic Honors 4 Money Advisor 4 Multiple Numbers in a Sentence Alumni 4 Ordinal Numbers Campaign 4 Parts of a Publication Company Names 4 Percentages Composition Titles 5 Phone Numbers 14 Course Titles 5 Possessives 14 Degrees 5–8 Punctuation 14–17 University-Wide Publications Apostrophes in Plurals FAS Publications Capitalization After a Colon GSAS Degrees Commas in Dates Current Students Commas in Pairs Honorary Degrees Commas in a Series Non-Degrees Ellipses Non-Graduates Em Dashes Parents En Dashes Couples Space After a Period Widows and Widowers Reunions 17 Faculty Degrees States and Cities 17 Degrees in Prose Stand-Alone Cities Emails and URLs 8 Washington, D.C. Fellowships 9 Time of Day (a.m./p.m.) 18 Foreign Words 9 Noon and Midnight Harvard Proper Nouns 9–10 Zeros in Times American Repertory Theater Titles and Names 18–19 Alan M. Garber Titles in Apposition Drew Gilpin Faust Professor Michael D. Smith Emeritus Schools Chair Headline-Style Capitalization 11 Dr. House Renewal 11 Social Titles Hyphenated Words 11–12 Resources 20 Hyphenated Compounds Appendix A: Hyphenation Guide in Titles and Headlines Appendix B: Proofreading Marks Jr. and Sr. 12 Appendix C: Digital Guidelines 1 ABOUT THIS GUIDE AA&D Marketing and Communications uses The Chicago Manual of Style as its style guide of choice—with certain exceptions and additions, which are detailed in this guide. Chicago is prevalent in scholarly publishing, and is used by several key partners at Harvard, including Mass Hall, Harvard Magazine, and many teams within AA&D. Comprehensive and highly technical, Chicago is the best fit for AA&D’s content and audience. For anything not listed in the AA&D Style Guide (or for further explanation of many of the style rules listed in this guide), consult Chicago. Where AA&D style and Chicago style disagree, follow AA&D style. This guide comprises editorial style best practices recommended by AA&D Marketing and Communications; however, to quote the first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style: “Rules and regulations such as these, in the nature of the case, cannot be endowed with the fixity of rock-ribbed law. They are meant for the average case, and must be applied with a certain degree of elasticity.” In other words, exceptions may be called for in certain instances and should be considered on a case-by-case basis. For questions about anything in this guide or about AA&D style in general, contact Ben Aaronson, marketing communications editor/writer, at [email protected]. Special thanks to Whitney Espich and Ed Perlmutter for their assistance in putting together this guide. 2 ________________________________________ Abbreviations For a more detailed guide to abbreviations, see chapter 10 in The Chicago Manual of Style. Note: Where AA&D style and Chicago style disagree, follow AA&D style. Spelled or Abbreviated? Spell proper names in full at first reference and give the abbreviation in parentheses. The abbreviation alone may be used in subsequent reference. Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Harvard Business School (HBS) However, if an abbreviation is more common than the spelled name, use the abbreviation alone (e.g., CIA, HMO, IBM, NFL, YMCA). Also see Company Names and States and Cities. Periods in Abbreviations Use periods with abbreviations that end in a lowercase letter (etc., e.g., i.e., a.k.a., a.m., p.m., Ms., Dr.), except for academic degrees (e.g., MDiv, MArch). Use periods in initials in a personal name (e.g., J. K. Rowling, W. E. B. Dubois), but do not use periods for an entire name replaced by initials (e.g., JFK, FDR). Do not use periods with most abbreviations that appear in full capitals, even if lowercase letters appear within the abbreviation (e.g., VP, CEO, MD, PhD), with the following exceptions: A.R.T., D.C., U.K., U.S. Place Names Spell out terms such as Fort and Mount in place names (e.g., Fort Lauderdale, Mount Fuji). Always spell out Mount in Mount Auburn Street. Saint is more commonly abbreviated in place names (e.g., St. Paul, St. Louis). Titles Before Names Many civil or military titles preceding a full name may be abbreviated. Preceding a surname alone, however, they should be spelled out. Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Senator Warren Gen. Martin E. Dempsey; General Dempsey The abbreviations Rev. and Hon. are used before a full name when the does not precede the title. When preceded by the, such titles should be spelled out. Rev. Sam Portaro; the Reverend Sam Portaro Hon. Henry M. Brown; the Honorable Henry M. Brown 3 ________________________________________ Academic Honors Set cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude in roman (not italics) and do not set off with commas. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in history. ________________________________________ Advisor Use advisor, not adviser. Note: The Advising Programs Office prefers adviser, so an exception may be appropriate for content focused on College advising. ________________________________________ Alumni In the singular, use alumnus for a man, alumna for a woman. In the plural, use alumni for an all-male group, alumnae for an all-female group. For a mixed-gender group, it is generally acceptable to use alumni, but alumni/ae (or alumni and alumnae) may be used to emphasize alumnae. Avoid the informal alum or alums. Anyone who attended Harvard, even for one term, receives alumni status. Always use present tense to refer to the Harvard connection. He is in the Class of 1985. (Not: He was in the Class of 1985.) Jack and Susan are classmates. (Not: Jack and Susan were classmates.) When referring to Harvard classes, use the form Class of XXXX. When preceded by Harvard and Radcliffe or Harvard College, classes are listed differently depending on the class year, as follows: 1962 and earlier: Harvard and Radcliffe Classes of XXXX 1963–1999: Harvard and Radcliffe Class of XXXX 2000 and later: Harvard College Class of XXXX (or Harvard Class of XXXX in College publications) ________________________________________ Campaign Capitalize The as part of The Harvard Campaign or The Harvard Campaign for Arts and Sciences. Always capitalize Campaign in reference to the current Campaign. ________________________________________ Company Names In running text, company names are best given in their full forms on first reference. It should be noted that some full forms include ampersands and abbreviations. If in doubt, check the company’s website. Such elements as Inc., Ltd., & Co., and LLC may be omitted unless relevant to the context. Where included, do not set these elements off with commas, even if the company does. 4 When the precedes the name of a company (or institution, organization, etc.) in running text, it may be lowercased, even if the is part of the official title. For more, see sections 6.48, 8.69, and 10.23 in The Chicago Manual of Style. ________________________________________ Composition Titles Use italics for the titles of books, periodicals, pamphlets and reports, long poems, plays, movies, TV and radio programs (but episodes in quotation marks), blogs (but blog entries in quotation marks), works of art, operas, musicals, albums, and other long musical compositions. Use quotation marks for the titles of articles, parts of a book, essays and short stories, short poems, and songs. When newspapers and periodicals are mentioned in text, an initial the, even if part of the official title, is lowercased (unless it begins a sentence) and not italicized (e.g., the Harvard Crimson, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal). For more, see sections 8.161–8.195 in The Chicago Manual of Style. ________________________________________ Course Titles Capitalize course titles; use quotation marks around the descriptive title but not the area of study/course number. Computer Science 50 (CS50): “Introduction to Computer Science I” Engineering Sciences 21 (ES21): “The Innovators’ Practice” ________________________________________ Degrees The following guidelines represent a standard approach to formatting various Harvard degree designations. Formatting may vary across clients and publications, particularly in donor lists, which tend to follow donor preference. University-Wide Publications List each Harvard degree (do not use periods in abbreviations) followed by the year, typically the last two digits preceded by a “smart” apostrophe (e.g., AB ’08, not AB 2008); if there is any ambiguity about the century, use all four digits (e.g., AB 1908). Leave a space between the degree and year. Do not use a comma between the name and the first degree, but do use a comma before each subsequent degree. List degrees in chronological order (alphabetical order for degrees in the same year). John J. Moon AB ’89, PhD ’94 Nicholas J. Sakellariadis AB ’73, JD ’77, MBA ’77 5 Do not list non-Harvard degrees unless specifically requested. When listed, set off with commas and do not include the year (unlike Harvard degrees). Annette Burke, MD (MD is non-Harvard degree) Ming Tsuang, MD, PhD, AM ’87 (only AM is Harvard degree) FAS Publications Follow the same formatting as University-Wide Publications, but do not list the degree earned (AB/SB) for College alumni, only the class year. John J. Moon ’89, PhD ’94 (omit AB) Some FAS publications also omit non-FAS degrees. Nicholas J. Sakellariadis ’73 (omit AB and non-FAS degrees) GSAS Degrees Only list the terminal degree—do not list an AM or SM for alumni with a PhD. John J. Moon ’89, PhD ’94 (omit AM ’93 since PhD is terminal degree) Ann Bennett Spence AM ’69 (include AM since it is terminal degree) Current Students List current undergrads with their class year alone (no AB/SB).