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Linfield Accreditation Self-Study:
Style and Format Guide
(For Use with Standard Two)
References to College
Linfield College:
This reference will be understood to refer to the college in its totality; the combined
entities of McMinnville Campus, Portland Campus, and Division of Continuing
Education. Do not use this term to refer to the McMinnville Campus or to any segment
of the college, but only to the whole institution.
The College:
This is considered an informal reference. Please do not capitalize “the college”. When
using this phrase, the accepted meaning entails the entire institution, the combined
entities of McMinnville Campus, Portland Campus, and Division of Continuing
Education. When referring to something less than the whole of the college, make the
most specific description you can make – the McMinnville Campus, the Portland
Campus, the Salem location of the Division of Continuing Education. (see below for
references to offices, departments, divisions, etc.)
Important Definitions

Table: a visual display of information, including a data table, chart or graph that
is directly relevant to textual narrative and is inserted into the narrative (see
below for visual display formatting).

Attachment: A required table, chart, graph, or policy statement that is, in a
general way, relevant to a particular chapter, collected at the end of a chapter.

Appendix: A required table, chart, graph, or policy statement that is relevant to
more than one chapter and collected at the back of the self study.

Exhibit: A required or suggested report, policy guide, handbook, study, or other
document collected in the exhibit room during the site visit.
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General Formatting
All text should be in Microsoft Word 2003 or later, with as little formatting as possible.
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Margins: All text to be left-justified. The text will be two column, while some
portions of the report will be one column.
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Font: Times New Roman, 12-point. Italics for book titles; quotation marks (“The
Sinking of the Titanic”) for article titles. Avoid using bold-face and underlining.
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Text: Text for all sections should begin two spaces down from any heading. All
text should be single spaced. Do not indent the beginning of each paragraph.
Include a space between each paragraph. Use no footnotes or endnotes; refer to
sources, tables, attachments, or appendices within the text by using parentheses.
Use no footers.

Do not include header or footer numbering or other identifying page markings.
These will need to be put on the document once it is fully compiled and not
before.
Writing Conventions

In general, do not use acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols. It is much easier
in the final editing to have the whole phrase and then insert a standard
abbreviation (a simple find and replace) than to have to guess what an
abbreviation or symbol means or to reconcile a wide variety of abbreviations.
Internal Linfield acronyms should also generally be avoided since the
accreditors will not be familiar with Linfield jargon. In addition, please avoid
discipline specific acronyms (for example, APA can be either the American
Psychological Association or the American Philosophical Association). Some
acceptable acronyms include widely recognized abbreviations external to the
college (for example, SAT, TOEFL).

Standardized department titles: Use “Department of Political Science” rather
than “Political Science Department” and “Office of Financial Aid” rather than
“Financial Aid Office.”

Degrees: please use only and consistently these abbreviations: B.A., B.S.,
M.Ed., M.S., M.F.A., B.S.N., M.S.N., Ph.D., D. Phil., J.D., Ed.D or D.Ed.
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
Capitalize:
o Formal full names (e.g., Department of Economics; Linfield-Good
Samaritan School of Nursing; Linfield College; The Trustees of
Linfield College, etc.);
o building names (e.g., Walker Hall; Nicholson Library);
o professional titles only when with a proper name (e.g., President
Thomas L. Hellie);
o degree names (e.g., Bachelor of Arts);
o division names (e.g., Science Division);
o standing administrative or faculty committees (e.g., Faculty Executive
Committee);
o formal scholarships and awards (e.g., Peterson Scholarship, Housley
Award);
o formal titles of documents or publications (e.g., Bylaws of Linfield
College; Linfield College Bulletin)

Do not capitalize:
o informal references to disciplines (e.g., mathematics, sociology);
o informal references to buildings or places (e.g., the library, the
residence halls, the college, the department);
o informal references to persons or groups (e.g., the president, the
nursing faculty, the department, the trustees);
o informal references to documents or publications (e.g., the college
bylaws, the catalog, the student newspaper)

Dates:
o Consistently spell out months in full (e.g.; “January 2007 to February
2008”). Refer to academic years as “the 2006-07 academic year”
(abbreviate as AY 06-07);
o Refer to fiscal years as “the 2007-08 fiscal year” (abbreviate as FY 0708);
o Write out full dates as follows: “January 13, 2007”;
o when full date is included in a sentence, separate the year by commas
(e.g.; “Passing the Faculty Assembly on April 16, 2007, the revisions
to the Linfield Curriculum are now in place.”);
o When only the month and year is used, do not separate with a comma
(e.g., “Passing the Faculty Assembly in April 2007, the Linfield
Curriculum revisions are now in place.”)

Spell out the word “percent” in text; use the symbol (“%”) only in tables and
columns (e.g., “For first-year students entering in 2005, the retention rate into
the sophomore year was 85 percent.”); in a table comparing the rate from one
year to the next, the 2005 entering class would be listed at “85%”)
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
Numbers: Spell out numbers, “one” through “ten.” Use Arabic numerals for
others: 11 through 1,341…

Commas in series: Please use a comma before the “and” or “or” in a series of
three or more elements (e.g., “Five departments make up the Science
Division: biology, chemistry, computing science, mathematics, and physics.”
Table and Charts
The accreditors are expecting an evidence-rich, analytical study with good data to support
Linfield’s assertions that standards are met. Straightforward tables, charts, and graphs
will support the analysis. Keep all visual presentations simple, clear, and focused on
answering the question or illuminating the point in the narrative. Unnecessary or overly
complicated visuals will distract from the message.
Please supply an electronic original copy of all tables, charts, and graphs in Excel 2003 or
later. Where it is helpful to construct the narrative, go ahead and place the table, chart, or
graph in the text, but please provide a separate file as well (named according to the
standard and element where the charts are used (for example: 3.A).
The following formats and conventions will help produce a visually consistent and clear
final document.
Table and Chart Formatting

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Name tables “standard-element-‘Table’-number” (for example: 2.B Table 1)
Name charts and graphs “standard-element-‘Figure’-number” (for example: 3.D
Figure 2).
Align the title of the table or chart at the center. Bold the title.
The title of the table or figure must briefly and accurately describe the
information presented and begin with the name (for example: 2.C Table 1
Number of degrees granted by program for the last 3 years).
If there is a specific data source or explanatory notes about the data, list the source
at the bottom of the table or chart, left-justified (“Source:”).
Use a white background and no outer border .
If a key is needed, place it in the upper right of the chart or graph. Do not put a
border around the key.
Table and Chart Conventions
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


Have an organizing principle to arrange the information (time, size, date…).
Place the table or chart after the narrative that refers to it.
Be consistent in the wording used in the narrative and in the table, chart, or graph.
Avoid the use of 3-D charts unless the third dimension actually means something.
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Except where decimals indicate meaningful differences, use round numbers.
Arrange time from oldest (past/present) on the left to newest (present/future) on
the right.
Use patterns and shades that are clearly distinct when copied. The self-study will
be a black and white printed document, though it will likely also be adapted to
other media (CD, web, etc.).
If charts are presented side by side for comparison purposes (pie charts, for
example), maintain similar conventions in each chart.
Minimize clutter. Use only necessary elements.
Conventions adapted from Bers, T.H., & Seybert, J. (1999). Effective Reporting.
Tallahassee, FL: The Association for Institutional Research.
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Sample table:
4.A Table 1 Faculty by Gender and Rank, Fall 2006
Men
Women
All
Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Professor
34
49%
21
29%
55
39%
Associate
17
24%
26
36%
43
30%
Assistant
16
23%
20
28%
36
25%
Instructor
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Visiting Associate
Visiting Assistant
Visiting Instructor
0
3
0
70
0%
4%
0%
100%
Source: Institutional Data, 2006
Sample figure:
3.D Figure 1
Residency of students
International
4%
Out-ofstate
(US)
42%
In-state
54%
0
3
2
72
0%
4%
3%
100%
0
6
2
142
0%
4%
1%
100%