A consistent graphic identity and writing style are essential for strengthening communication with the audiences of Harvey Mudd College so there is a clear understanding of the college's mission and goals.

This Editorial Style Guide provides guidelines for writing style, usage and style issues particular to HMC. These standards are for use in all published materials that represent the college to an external audience. The Style Guide follows "The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual" and "Webster's College Dictionary." "The Chicago Manual of Style" is also used as a secondary source for information not supplied in the primary references. The following Style Guide refers to these sources, lists some exceptions to them, and lists words and phrases specific to Harvey Mudd College.

The Office of College Relations oversees the Style Guide and design standards at HMC. Please direct questions or comments to collegerelations@hmc.edu or 909/607-9298.

AABoG
Alumni Association Board of Governors

academic degrees
A bachelor of arts, a bachelor's degree, a master of arts in engineering, a master's, a doctorate in mathematics

He is receiving an M.S. in physics (a B.S., Ph.D., an J.D., etc.)

The word "degree" should not follow a degree abbreviation:
Correct: She has a B.S. in chemistry.
Incorrect: She has a B.S. degree in chemistry.

academic grades
Capitalize (e.g., A, C+, D-). He has three A's and two D's.

academic departments
Capitalize HMC's official department names as follows:
Department of Biology
Department of Chemistry
Computer Science Department
Department of Engineering
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (acceptable informal abbreviation, HSS; not acceptable, HumSoc)
Department of Mathematics
Department of Physics.

The official name is preferable, otherwise, lowercase: The biology department received a grant.

academic majors
Lowercase general references (e.g., physics major)

academic titles
Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as professor, director, chair, etc., when they precede a name. Lowercase elsewhere. Professor Sam Smith. The task was given to department Chair Kelly Wilder.

Professors holding endowed chairs should always be recognized as such: Susan and Bruce Worster Professor of Physics John S. Townsend, instead of simply Professor of Physics John S. Townsend.

addresses
HMC's main address is 301 Platt Boulevard, as of 2005. Our former address (no longer accepted by the post office) was 301 East 12th Street.

Print e-mail addresses all lowercase and do not underline: colrel@hmc.edu

adviser (not advisor)

African American (Black)
Hyphenate when used as an adjective. People of African descent living in the United States. "Black" is an inclusive term for people of African descent, including, but not limited to, people from North and South America, the Caribbean and Africa.

ages
Use whole numbers only, no fractions or decimals. List ages with a comma on both sides: Sally, 12, and Randy, 10, both collect toys.

The department is 3 years old.

aka (no periods–a.k.a.)

alumnus (male singular), alumna (female, singular), alumnae (female, plural), alumni (plural male, or plural to include both male and female). Do not use "alum."

Do not place class year in parentheses or use a comma between name and class year. Keep last name and grad year together in publications (adjust tracking if necessary).

Greg Zindfel '88

Sue Pierce '69. (Period denotes that person attended for at least one semester but did not graduate from HMC, per HMC Office of Development.)

Josh Minkel '77/78 (received a bachelor's and master's degree from HMC. The master's program at HMC was discontinued in 2003.)

Bill Burns '87 and wife, Sally (PZ '75) are joining us. (Abbreviations for The Claremont Colleges—SC, PO, PZ, CMC, CGU, KGI. Used in the HMC Catalogue and when listing a spouse who graduated from there.)

Alumni Association

Alumni Fundd (yes, two d's, per HMC Alumni Office)

Alumni Weekend

a.m., p.m. (include periods. Noon and midnight are neither a.m. nor p.m. Designate as 12 noon or 12 midnight).

among, not amongst

ampersand (&)
Avoid, except where it is part of a company's official title.
Incorrect: Humanities & Social Sciences

apostrophe
In printed documents, use closing ( ’ ), not opening ( ‘ ) single apostrophe in front of the class year. For the web, avoid the use of these special symbols, which do not display in all browsers. Instead, use: Class of '88; Mary Jones '02; She is an alumnus from the '80s.
Don't use apostrophes for figures; just add s: He lived during the 1930s. The airplanes are 747s. Temperatures will be in the high 90s. Look for the size 8s.

Also: Who are the VIPs?
He took the SATs yesterday.

For single letters, use an apostrophe: Her report card contained three A's and five D's. Be on your p's and q's.

ASHMC
Associated Students of Harvey Mudd College

Asian American
People of Asian descent living in the United States, including, but not limited to, people of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino and Nepalese heritage. People from India prefer to be called South Asian. People from Pakistan may prefer to be called West Asian.

awards
Capitalize them: Medal of Honor, Outstanding Alumni Award, etc.

board
Capitalize when an integral part of a proper name: HMC Board of Trustees
The board of trustees met on Sunday.
He is a member of the board.
He serves on the Executive Committee of the board of trustees.

buildings
Use the full name of campus buildings and areas in historical reference materials or for formal occasions.

F.W. Olin Science Center
W.M. Keck Laboratories
Beckman Hall
Norman F. Sprague Memorial Library
Galileo Hall
Parsons Engineering Building
Jacobs Science Center
Hixon Court
Booth Plaza
Thomas-Garrett Hall
Kingston Hall
Braun Liquidambar Mall
Joseph B. Platt Campus Center
Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons
Marks Residence Hall (South Hall)
West Hall
North Hall
Mildred E. Mudd Hall (East Hall)
Ronald and Maxine Linde Activities Center
Garrett House
J.L. Atwood Residence Hall
Frederick and Susan Sontag Residence Hall
Case Residence Hall
Ronald and Maxine Linde Residence Hall

Bulletin, Harvey Mudd College Bulletin or HMC Bulletin; college magazine

catalogue
Harvey Mudd College Catalogue

chair
Instead of chairman, chairwoman or chairperson.

Chicano/Chicana is a term reflecting pride in the indigenous roots of the Mexican-American people. See also, Latino/Latina and Hispanic.

cities and states
Place commas between the city and state and after the state name: He was traveling from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., to St. Louis, Mo., to get to his new job. Some major cities do not require state or country identification.

Never abbreviate Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Abbreviate other state names using Associated Press (AP) style.

The Claremont Colleges ("The" is capitalized)
Five-College, 5-College, 5-Colleges, 5-Cs

Abbreviations for The Claremont Colleges—SC, PO, PZ, CMC, CGU, KGI. Used in the HMC Catalogue and when listing a spouse who graduated from a particular college.

Claremont University Consortium
The central coordinating and support organization for the seven institutions, created in 2000. Previously known as Claremont University Center. Also known as "the Consortium"

class
Capitalize alumni classes: Class of '63 or Class of 1990

Do not capitalize class years: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS)
The intercollegiate athletic program of Harvey Mudd College, Scripps and Claremont McKenna. Women's teams are known as the Athenas, men's as the Stags

Clinic
A nationally recognized program begun at HMC in 1963
HMC Clinic Program, Clinic Program, Clinic fee, Clinic project, Engineering Clinic, Global Clinic, Physics Clinic team; He was a Clinic director; Clinic Director John Smith; Clinics

See also, Projects Day

college names
Harvey Mudd College, HMC for formal uses on first and second reference. "Mudd" when used informally. Do not use Harvey Mudd to refer to the college, as this refers to the man. See also, Mudder.

Spell out in most cases. Well-known abbreviations are acceptable in informal text: Caltech, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC

colon
Do not use colons after headings and subheadings.

When typing, use one space after a colon.

comma
Commas are always placed inside quotation marks. "It is time to go," said Sam.

Using AP Stylebook guidelines, there is no comma at the end of a series before the word "and": She enjoys swimming, singing, eating and driving.

committees
Capitalize official names of committees: Admission Committee, Dormitory Affairs Committee, Executive Committee

Core, Common Core

course, course work
Course names should be capitalized, with no quotes or italics: Introduction to Biology

dashes
Use an en-dash (option-hyphen on Macintosh; Alt+ 0150 on PC); between numbers or dates. Examples: The test will be held Feb. 4–8. Fiscal year 2006–07. Her schedule consists of 15–16 credit hours.

A regular keyboard dash is used for phone numbers and e-mail addresses
(e.g., 909/6-7-7924, students-l@hmc.edu)

Use an em-dash (shift-option-hyphen on Macintosh, Alt+ 0151 on PC) without spaces on either side.

For interruptions in thought: Victor knew the answer—which was rare for him—and raised his hand.

For a series within a phrase: He gave his reasons—safety, security, fear—for locking his door.

dates
Abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Write out March, April, May, June and July. But do not abbreviate months when they stand alone, or with only a year:

The anniversary was Sept. 3, 2002.

She will perform in August 2005.

In formal text and invitations, writing out the date is acceptable.

Use the day of the week with the date for clarification when possible. The lecture will be Friday, June 23, at 8 p.m. in Galileo Hall.

Never add st, nd, rd, or th after the number in a date. Incorrect: June 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 15th, 1st. Correct: June 1, 2, 3, or 15.

Use numerals for centuries (e.g., 18th century). Add a dash when it's used as an adjective (e.g., 21st-century style).

departments
Capitalize academic departments and administrative offices when using the full name, lowercase on second reference.

Department of Engineering (see also academic departments), Office of Institutional Advancement, advancement office; Office of Career Services, career services. Note: Office of Admission (not Admissions)

dollar amounts
Use a dollar sign followed by a numeral. Do not use .00 with dollar values: $500 (not $500.00), $17,200, $8.9 million.

dormitory
Residence hall is preferred when referring to HMC student housing.

dot com, dot-com
She was hired by the dot com last year.
The effects of the dot-com bust have been devastating.

directions
Lowercase when they indicate compass direction: Drive north on Indian Hill to Foothill Blvd.

Capitalize when they designate regions:
They live in Southern California.
He was born in the Lower East Side of New York.
It is the biggest city on the West Coast. (denoting entire region)

It is snowing in the eastern United States.

e-mail

Earth
Capitalize when used as the proper name of the planet: The astronaut returned to Earth.
She planned to move heaven and earth to complete her degree.

ellipses
Use a three-point ellipsis with spaces before and after to indicate deleted text. Use a four-point ellipsis, with a space after but not before, to denote the end of a complete sentence (Option semi-colon for Macintosh, Alt +0133 for PC)

Her speech included discussion about computers, food, staplers, lamps...more topics than one could believe.

He was a man of many talents....

Emeritus (man singular), emerita (woman singular), emeriti (plural, includes both men and women)

ensure means to guarantee. Use insure for references to insurance.

faculty
Use faculty members and staff members to avoid awkward singular constructions.

first come, first served (not first, "serve")

fiscal year
Usually described as a span of years.
They will receive a raise during the 2005/06 fiscal year. OR
The new director will begin sometime during 2008–09.

forward, not forwards

fund raising
Fund raising is challenging.
They are planning a fund-raising event.
We will hire a fund-raiser.

GPA
No periods. Spell out on first reference, grade point average.

grades
Place grades inside quotation marks if used in text.
He earned a "B-" in the chemistry course.

Hispanic
A term grouping all people of Spanish-speaking descent. This is the preferred inclusive term in some regions, especially in the Southwest.

When known, a more specific identification should be used: Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican-American (people of Mexican descent living in the United States).

See also, Chicano/Chicana and Latino/Latina

home page

Honor Code
Lowercase except when preceded by HMC or Harvey Mudd College.
The Harvey Mudd College Honor Code is well-known. She reported the infraction because she was bound by the honor code.

hyphenation, word division (when typing)
At the end of a line, do not break a word following a short vowel (e.g. trans-ition, not transi-tion)
Hyphenations should follow a vowel only if it has a long sound (e.g. communica-tion)
Avoid three or more consecutive end-of-line hyphens.
When jumping to another page, do not hyphenate a word.
Avoid breaking names and class years, dates and numerical units (e.g. $500 million; keep the figure together)

Inc.
Abbreviate and do not precede by a comma

initials
Do not separate with a space: R.C. Cola

Internet
Use http:// only when the address does not begin with www. Otherwise, just begin with www, as in www.hmc.edu

Capitalize Internet and the Web, World Wide Web

Lowercase website, web page, webcast, webmaster

italics
Italicize titles of books, plays, newspapers, magazines, operas, ships, movies, television program titles, paintings, exhibits, record/CD titles, works of art, famous statues and long musical compostions.

Use italics, not all caps or underlining, to highlight an emphasized word: She was absolutely not going to attend.

junior, senior
Abbreviate as Jr. and Sr. and do not precede by a comma: Manny Smith Sr.

Latino/Latina refers to people of Latin American origin. It is an emerging inclusive term for people from North America, Central America, South America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. See also, Chicano/Chicana and Hispanic.

login, logon, logoff

Middle Easterners
An inclusive term referring to people from a region in western Asian and northeast Africa that includes but is not limited to, the nations of the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. The term Arab traditionally referes to a person from the Arabian Peninsula.

Mudder
Capitalize. Refers in particular to alumni and students--but can also refer to faculty and staff--of Harvey Mudd College. The dictionary defines "mudder" as "a race horse that performs especially well on a wet, muddy track."

Native American
Indigenous people who inhabited the Americas and Caribbean prior to the European conquest. Many Native Americans use tribe in referring to their people. Recommended usage is to refer, whenever possible, to a particular pople or nation by name, i.e. Iroquois, Navajo, Maya, Cherokee, Sioux, etc.

9/11
Refers to terrorist events on Sept. 11, 2001.

numbers
Spell out numbers from one to nine, use numerals for all higher numbers. However, spell out a number at the beginning of a sentence.

Use commas with numbers in the thousands. (e.g. 5,234)

Spell out the word "percent," but not the numeral preceding "percent." (e.g. 99 percent, 4 percent). Use the symbol % in charts.

Use numerals for credit hours. (e.g. To be considered a full-time student, you must take 12 semester hours of credit.)

No. 1 is preferred over Number One or #1.

OK (not okay)

online, offline

Pacific Islander
People of the islands in the Pacific Ocean including the three major ethnic groups: Polynesians (Tahitians, Samoans, Hawaiians and others); Micronesians (U.S. Trust Territories, Guam, Wake Island, Bikini and Kwajelin); Melanesians (New Zealand, Australia and the Solomans).

Parents
HMC parents are noted as such by a "P" and the year their student will graduate following their name(s). There are no spaces, nor is there an apostrophe before the year.

Sam and Mary Smith P08 are happy to volunteer.

Parents Weekend (no apostrophe)

period
When typing, use one space after a period.

phone numbers
Acceptable formats: 909/607-6722 or (909) 621-8011
Write extensions as ext. 234, not x234.

Presentation Days (not Presentations Day)

quotes
Quotation marks should be used for titles of poems, short stories, lectures, short musical compositions, song titles, titles of articles within magazines and newspapers, book chapter titles (see also italics).

Place semicolons outside of quotation marks. Place colons outside of quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation itself. Commas and periods always go inside quotation marks.

residence hall
Preferred term when referring to HMC student housing. Use instead of "dormitory."

résumé

reunion
Lowercase "reunion" unless part of an official name: the reunion, the reunion dinner, 50th reunion, 40th Reunion Gift Fund

seasons
Lowercase spring, summer, fall and winter; spring semester; summer 2010

stationary, stationery
To stand still is to be stationary.
Writing paper is stationery.

student/faculty ratio or student-to-faculty ratio

the
Use lowercase "the" except in newspaper or book titles, except where the is the first word and designated by the publication as part of the title (e.g., Los Angeles Times, The New York Times). Another exception, The Claremont Colleges

theater, unless referring to a proper name spelled theatre

times
Use figures except for noon and midnight: 8 a.m., 6 p.m.

Do not write out minutes at the top of the hour (e.g. The meeting lasts from 9–10:15 a.m., not 9:00–10:15 a.m.)

Do not use a.m. or p.m. with 12:00; use 12 noon or 12 midnight.

The word "on" is seldom needed when referring to a time or date. Correct: She arrived Monday, not She arrived on Monday.

titles, people
Capitalize titles when they appear immediately before a proper name.

President Maria Klawe spoke at the event.

Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College, signed the agreement.

The dean agreed with the committee.

titles, works
Books, magazines, newspapers and journals should be italicized: The New York Times, HMC Bulletin

The following should be in quotation marks:
Poems, stories, book chapters, essays
Dissertations
TV programs
Journals
Lectures, speeches, presentation titles
Musical compositions
Movies
Plays
Works of art (paintings, drawings, sculptures)

Course titles are capitalized but not placed in quotations (e.g. Theoretical Mechanics)

24/7, slang for 24 hours a day, seven days a week

United States, spell out when used as a noun; U.S. (adj.)

World Wide Web, website

White
Members of what is considered the majority culture in the United States. While the term Caucasian is commonly used in place of White, neither a common ancestry related to the Caucasus Mountains region, nor an assumption that all whites are culturally or ethnically homogeneous, should be assumed.