These guidelines are working principles that have been adapted for FSI use. The primary references are the Webster’s New World College Dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style.
Contents:
General Guidelines from A to Z ...........................................................................
Highlights:
Abbreviations and Acronyms .........................................................................
Capitalization .................................................................................................
Hyphenation ..................................................................................................
Numbers ........................................................................................................
Stanford-Specific Guidelines
Design specifications .....................................................................................
Style and Usage Guidelines ...........................................................................
Campaign-Specific Guidelines .................................................................
Stanford Glossary ...........................................................................................

A
Abbreviations and acronyms.
 Except in some display situations, spell out these words: and, mathematics, building, percent, professor
 Degrees are abbreviated as follows:
BA, BS, MA, MS, MFA, MEd, MD, PhD (Note: To make PhD plural, substitute
doctoral students.) Avoid using abbreviations in text; use bachelor’s degree, doctorate, etc. Use abbreviations in lists or to denote class affiliation.
 Addresses, cities, and states: o In formal publications, do not abbreviate the names of cities, states, or
Avenue, Street, etc. o In informal or journalistic publications, abbreviate directions (NW, SE);
Avenue, Street, and Boulevard, when used with a numbered address (Ave.,
St., Blvd.); names of cities on second mention (first mention: Los Angeles; second: L.A.); and names of states (using old postal abbreviations, e.g. Calif.,
Nev., etc.). In text, the state reference may be omitted entirely if the city is well-known. Never use two-letter postal abbreviations in text unless in the context of providing a complete mailing address. o In formal letters, the full address should be written out; but, on the envelope and in the address block on the letter, state names may be abbreviated using two-letter postal abbreviations.
 Write the names of all offices and institutions in full before introducing an acronym or abbreviation. Unless the construction is cumbersome (e.g., in the opening lines of a newspaper or magazine article, or press release), follow the first reference to an organization’s name with the abbreviation or acronym in parenthesis.
If the acronym is not going to be used in substitution for the full name in subsequent mentions, it should not be introduced at all. Exception: If the office or institution is better known by its acronym than its full name, introduce the acronym after the full name of the office or institution, whether it will appear again in the text or not.
 Periods are not used in abbreviated names of universities, businesses, or government agencies (e.g., USC, UCLA, MIT, IBM, GM, HP, IRS, CIA, and FBI.) They are also unnecessary in TV, CEO, AIDS, VP, and AFL-CIO. Periods are not needed with era designations, such as AD (“anno Domini”) or the alternate CE (“of the common era”), and
BC (“before Christ”) and the alternate BCE (“before the common era,”). [Note: BC, CE, and
BCE follow the year (e.g., 21 BCE, 30 CE); AD precedes it.]
 Periods are needed in L.A., S.F., D.C., U.K., U.N., and U.S. (Remember, U.S. should only be abbreviated when used as an adjective and not when used as a noun.)
 a.m. and p.m. (not A.M., am, or AM)
 To make an acronym plural, add only an s. John Smith and the other VIPs huddled around the table.
Administration. Lowercase: the Bush administration.

Advisors. Not advisers.
Affect. Affect as a verb means to influence, to have an impact on, or to pretend. Effect as a verb means to bring about. The noun is almost always effect. Affect as a noun means a feeling or emotion, especially as manifested by facial expression or body language.
Age. Use numbers. He is 4 years old; 75-and-over age group; he is a 2-year-old; a 2-year-old boy; 89-year-old
Sally says.
All right. Never alright.
Alphabetization.
 de, Mac, Mc, St., von, etc. should be alphabetized according to normal letter order, that is with de Filipps coming after Davidson and before Diefendorfer; Mac coming after Mable and before Madsen; Mc coming after Mayberry and before Menzies; St. coming after Sokolov and before Sylvester; and von Beyme coming after van Bronkhorst and before Vox.
 Company names. Never alphabetize using the “The” of the company name.
Although. Use although (or though or however), not while, to convey “in spite of the fact that.”
Alumnus, etc. Alumna (singular female); alumnae (plural female); alumnus (singular male or generic);
alumni (plural male or generic); alum (informal singular, best reserved for class notes or in quoted speech) or alums (informal plural, best reserved for class notes or in quoted speech). Never use alum as a plural.
Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. First Amendment, Second Amendment, Fifth
Amendment, etc.
America. When referring to the United States, use United States. America also refers to Canada,
Mexico, South America, etc.
Ampersand (&). Use only when it is part of the entity’s formal name. Do not use otherwise in place of and.
Anticipate, expect. Anticipate means to expect and prepare for something; expect does not include the notion of preparation. They expect a record crowd. They have anticipated it by adding more seats.
Apostrophes.
 Apostrophes should be used with possessive nouns.
 Use to form a plural of a single letter. Do not use to form a plural of a degree or an abbreviation. She earned straight A’s.
 Do not use apostrophes to denote decades. It is 1970s, not 1970’s.
Attribution. When quoting or paraphrasing a speaker, use the present tense: says. Also with other forms of attribution, such as laughs, notes, etc. “He’s always been terribly shy,” notes the performer’s mother.
Exception: If, in the context of quoting the speaker, you specify that the comment was made in the

past, you should use the past tense. In a recent interview, Joe Smith said, “When I was a freshman at
Stanford…”
Awards. Generally capitalize, e.g., Purple Heart, National Merit Scholar, Eagle Scout Award, Academy
Award, Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, MacArthur Fellow. (Note: Nobelist and Nobel laureate.) Also capitalize if you know the exact title, no matter what the award. If not, or if minor award, lowercase, e.g., IBM district 429 salesman of the month award .
B
Bulleted lists.
 If each item in a list of bulleted points is a complete sentence, capitalize the first letter and put a period at the end of each entry, as you would with any sentence.
 If the items in a bulleted list are not sentences, capitalize the first letter and omit the punctuation at the end of each entry.
C
Capitalization.
 There is a general trend toward minimizing capitalization wherever possible. This
“down style” is more graceful on the page and less disruptive to the reader.
However, no comprehensive set of rules in the area of capitalization can be universally applied. The following categories are meant to provide a helpful pattern for writers to follow.
 When used generically or in second mention, the following words are not capitalized: university, department, school, center, institute, campus, college
 Official names of schools, departments, centers, institutes, offices, and commissions are capitalized. Capitalize only when the full official title is used; informal titles should not be capitalized. Stanford University; the university. The School of
Engineering; Stanford’s School of Engineering; the engineering school; the school. Department of
Bioengineering; bioengineering department; bioengineering at Stanford. Bing Overseas Studies
Program; overseas studies.
 Disciplines. o Disciplines are not capitalized unless they are part of an official department or course title: engineering, law, business, education, chemistry. o Disciplines derived from proper names are always capitalized: English,
Spanish, Asian, African-American. o The word Studies is capitalized when capitalized words precede it. American
Studies, Islamic Studies. Also Earth Systems, Earth Sciences.
 Course titles. Capitalize and italicize course names. Do not capitalize fields of study unless they are part of a course name. Do not put quotation marks around either
(e.g., Introduction to the Humanities, the humanities at Stanford).
 The names of academic degrees should be capitalized when following a personal name, whether abbreviated or written in full. Academic degrees should not be

capitalized when referred to in general terms (e.g., doctorate, doctoral candidate, doctorate
in psychology, bachelor’s degree, master of science).
 Academic honors should be lowercase, no italics: summa and magna cum laude, graduated with distinction, honors, etc. Exception: Phi Beta Kappa.
 Academic years, academic quarters, and seasons are always lowercased: freshman,
sophomore, junior, senior; spring quarter
 The official names of gift funds (including scholarships, fellowships, and professorships) are capitalized. Lowercase the where it precedes the name of a fund, except in the following cases:
 When the donor has specifically requested that it be capitalized.
 The has been otherwise officially made part of the proper fund name, as was the case with The Stanford Fund and The Campaign for
Undergraduate Education.
 In lists of funds.
 Geography. o Continents, countries, cities, oceans are capitalized. o Compass points. Lowercase north, south, southwest, northeast, etc. when they indicate direction or location. He flew south. The storm front is moving east. o Lowercase directional words unless they are part of a proper name or needed to designate a politically divided country. Northern Ireland. South Korea. But southern France,
eastern Canada, northern Italy. Local idiosyncrasy: Northern California, Southern California. o Regions of the United States should be capitalized: the South, the Midwest, the
Northeast, the Rust Belt. He went to school in the East. o Common terms should be capitalized. Southern California, Northern California, the Bay
Area, West End (of London). o See Chicago 8.46 through 8.63 for numerous examples, patterns, and variations.
 High-tech words are capitalized or lowercased as follows: internet; World Wide Web,
web, website, webmaster, web manager; e-mail, voicemail; online; homepage.
 Historical periods are capitalized (e.g., the Dark Ages, the High Renaissance).
 Professional titles such as president, provost, dean, director, co-director (but not associate
director, assistant director) and professor are capitalized: o when they immediately precede a name and thus are part of the name
(usually replacing the title holder’s first name) o in lists, where the title follows the name o when the title is used instead of the personal name in introductions or toasts o otherwise, lowercase (such as when following a name or in place of a name). The senator used to be the astronaut John Glenn. …the mathematics professor Mary Sunseri. John Paul
XI, the pope. o See Chicago Manual of Style 8.21 and 8.25-29 for more examples.
 Titles and headings (print). o Capitalize first and last words and all nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, and subordinating conjunctions (if, because, as, that, etc.); all elements of hyphenated compounds; and prepositions that contain five or more letters, or are part of the verb (Making Up for Lost Time). o Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the); coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor), prepositions (save for the exceptions above), and the to in infinitives.

 Titles and headings (web). o Use AP headline style: Capitalize initial word and proper nouns only.
 Common nouns in plural usages should be lowercase. The Socialist and Communist
parties met at Elm and Poplar streets.
Caption style.
 Picture location. When identifying where a picture is in relation to the caption, use parentheses around the direction and roman type within the parentheses, e.g.,
(above), (below).
 Subject identification. If there are two individuals in a photograph and it is clear from the names who is who (i.e., the picture shows a man and a woman, and there is no question which name is a man’s name and which is a woman’s), there is no need to provide directions to the reader. If there are two people in the caption, and it will be unclear who is who without a direction, indicate after the first person named in the caption which person s/he is, e.g., John Doe (left) and Joe Blow discuss . . . If more than two people are pictured, either insert (Left to right) before the caption or
(left to right) within the caption.
 Terminal periods. Captions should only end in periods if they are actual sentences.
Century. Spell out first through ninth, use ordinal numerals thereafter. Leave century in lower case.
21st century. Hyphenate as adjective, 17th-century artist, late-19th-century novel. In publications, do not use superscript for ordinal numbers.
CEO. Does not require periods. Nor do VP, CIO, COO, CFO.
Chair. The term chair should be used to designate the head of an academic department or board, rather than chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson. Chair should be lowercase except:
 When it immediately precedes a name or is part of the fund title.
 In lists, where the title follows the name.
 When the title is used instead of the personal name in introductions or toasts.
Cities, states.
 In formal texts, when a city is mentioned, it should be followed by a comma, the unabbreviated name of the state, and another comma (or period, if the sentence ends at that point).
 In informal texts, when a city is mentioned, it should be followed by a comma, the abbreviated name of the state (use old postal abbreviations, e.g., Calif., Nev., etc), and another comma (or period, if the sentence ends at that point). Exceptions: No need to include states for the following large, well-known cities in the United States:
Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Miami
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
New Orleans

New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Or these foreign cities:
Beijing
Berlin
Djibouti
Geneva
Gibraltar
Guatemala City
Havana
Hong Kong
Pittsburgh
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Antonio
Kuwait
London
Luxembourg
Macau
Mexico City
Monaco
Montreal
Moscow
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington
Panama City
Paris
Quebec
Rome
San Marino
Singapore
Tokyo
Toronto
Jerusalem Ottawa Vatican City
 Never use two-letter postal abbreviations in text unless in the context of providing a complete mailing address.
Class. Capitalize Class when referring to a particular graduating class: Class of 1968, Class of
’68. Otherwise, lowercase.
Class affiliation. For information about how to style degree years that appear after alumni names, see Stanford-specific guidelines: Names in the last section of this document.
Please note that social class years as recorded in PostGrads should always be used when mentioning an individual’s class affiliation.
Class notes, class correspondents, reunions, etc. Do not capitalize in text. Only capitalize when used as the title of a list or section, (e.g. Reunion Committee, as the heading for the committee list).
Co-. Follow Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Generally make one word without a hyphen, unless doing so would lead to misreading, e.g., coworker.
Colons.
 Colons are used to introduce a series or information that expands on the previous statement. They are especially common after the phrase as follows.
 Colons are followed by one space in a sentence.
 Colons should not be used after the verb to be.
 Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the beginning of a complete sentence. His problem: He did not have the brains to know better. Her problem: She
loved Alex Trebek. Their problems: age, incompatibility, and the single TV set between them.
 Colons should be used after the salutation in a formal letter.
Commas.
 Use commas after all words in a series consisting of three or more elements, including the element that precedes and.

 Use commas to separate a series of adjectives equal in rank (meaning that the comma could be replaced by the word and without changing the meaning of the sentence).
 When a conjunction such as and, or, or but joins two clauses that could stand alone as separate sentences, use a comma before the conjunction. They bolted the door, but he was
already inside. Do not use a comma, however, when the subject of the two clauses is the same and is not repeated in the second clause. They bolted the door but forgot to lock
the window.
 Use a comma to introduce and attribute quotations.
 Restrictive (essential) and nonrestrictive (nonessential) phrases. o A restrictive phrase includes information that is critical to the reader’s understanding. It requires no commas. Raymond’s son Sammy is in fourth grade.
(Raymond has more than one son so the name Sammy is essential information). o A nonrestrictive phrase may include helpful information but it is information that is not essential to the reader’s understanding. A nonrestrictive phrase requires commas. Stanford’s provost, John Etchemendy, will
cut the budget. (Stanford has only one provost so Etchemendy’s name is not essential.) Likewise, Dick and his wife, Jane, went to the store. But, Dick and wife
Jane does not require commas.
 Use a comma after a short introductory phrase if the phrase would create confusion or ambiguity of meaning without the comma.
 Use commas before and after an academic degree in a sentence.
 Commas are placed inside quotation marks.
 See also, Dates.
Company names. In the first reference, use a company’s full legal name (as listed in the copyright line on the company’s Web site). In second reference, you may use an informal name. Note: If the company is better known by its acronym than its full name, introduce the acronym in parentheses after the first reference to the full name of the company.
Compare to/compare with. Compare to emphasizes similarities only, while compare with can involve either similarities or differences. To emphasize differences you can also use contrast
with instead of compare.
Comprise vs. compose or constitute. The traditional rule states that the whole comprises the parts and the parts compose the whole. In strict usage: The Union comprises 50 states. Fifty states compose (or
constitute or make up) the Union. If you can substitute the word include for comprise, you’ve used the right word. If not, use compose or constitute. It is incorrect to use of with comprise, as in It is comprised of…; correct usage is It comprises…. Comprising may be used in instances where the words including or
containing could be used: A nation comprising 13 states.
Congressman/woman. Use senator or representative, if possible. If not, use the gender-specific term, if referring to a single individual, and members of Congress, if referring to a group.
Contractions. Should be minimized in formal publications and letters, but they may be kept in direct quotations.

Course titles. Capitalize and italicize the course names. Do not capitalize fields of study unless they are part of a course name. Do not put quotation marks around either, (e.g., Introduction to the
Humanities, the humanities at Stanford).
Courtesy titles. Avoid Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Miss. Do not use Dr. when referring to a person with a
PhD. When it is appropriate to indicate that someone is a medical doctor, do so with an MD after the first usage. Marcus Welby, MD, and then Welby in subsequent references. If the person is a graduate of the Stanford School of Medicine, then it is Marcus Welby, MD ’75.
D
Dangling modifiers. Avoid modifiers that do not refer clearly and logically to some word in the sentence. Dangling modifiers most often occur when the sentence begins with a participial phrase that does not modify the subject of the sentence. The following example comes from Publishers
Weekly: Known for his espionage thrillers, his new novel springs from a lifelong fascination with Russia. The introductory phrase “known for his espionage thrillers” does not modify the subject, “his new novel.” The sentence can be easily fixed. Known for his espionage thrillers, he has written a new novel that springs from his lifelong fascination with Russia.
Dashes.
 Use an em dash (—) for emphasis, to indicate an abrupt change, or with explanatory words or phrases. His favorite poets—Keats, Tennyson, and Wordsworth—had all been
British. He would never forget his favorite teacher—his father. In the latter case, a comma or colon may work just as well. No spaces around em dash.
 Use an en dash (–) between dates, times, reference numbers, or in place of a hyphen in a compound adjective when one of the elements contains two words or a hyphenated word. See Chicago under en dash for examples of all of these usages.
Dates.
 When a day, month, and year are given, the year should be set apart with commas. October
6, 1990, was a good day for the Stanford football team, which defeated Notre Dame.
 Never use ordinal numbers in dates. November 7, 1959. Not November 7th, 1959.
 When a period of time is identified solely by the month and year, no internal punctuation
(comma) is necessary. Hoover’s defeat in November 1932 was overwhelming
 Academic years are designated as follows: 1997–98 (not 1997–1998).
 Fiscal years. fiscal year 1998, FY 1998 (Note: The abbreviation is more commonly used in statistical copy.)
 Spans of years. Use a hyphen (in letters) or an en dash (in publications) with no space on either side (1997–98), or use from/to (from 1997 to 1998). Do not mix these formats (never
from 1997–98). If you use the word from, you must use the word to.
 Decades may be spelled out or expressed in numerals without apostrophes (e.g., the 1980s or
the ’80s, never the ’80’s or the 80’s).

 Centuries. Spell out (in lowercase letters) references to the first through ninth centuries, use numerals for succeeding centuries (e.g., the first century, the 20th century). Hyphenate when used as a modifier (e.g., 18th -century Germany).
 Eras. CE (“of the common era,” is preferable to AD, “anno Domini”) and BCE (“before the common era,” is preferable to BC, “before Christ”). Both CE and BCE follow the year
(e.g., 21 BCE, 30 CE)
Decision making. Two words as a noun, hyphenated as an adjective. Similarly, decision maker.
Degrees.
 BA vs. AB: Most universities, now including Stanford, use BA and MA, rather than AB and
AM.
 No periods: BA, BS, BSc, MA, MBA, MD, MFA, MS, MSc, PhD. Also, DMA (doctor of musical arts), EdD (doctor of education), EdS (educational specialist), Engr (engineer), JD
(doctor of jurisprudence), LLB (bachelor of laws), JM (master of jurisprudence), JSD (doctor of the science of law), LLM (master of laws), JSM (master of the science of law), MLS
(master of legal studies, master of library science), master’s degree, bachelor’s degree, FACS
(fellow, American College of Surgeons).
 Articles with degrees: a BS, an AB, a PhD, an MBA (use a or an as you would if saying the abbreviation of the degree aloud).
 Joint degrees or coterminal degrees: Use a virgule (/) between them, e.g., BA/MA’93.
Departments, divisions, sections, groups, committees, etc. Capitalize if it is the full, official name, otherwise lowercase.
Different. Takes the preposition from, not than.
E
E.g., i.e. E.g., an abbreviation for the Latin exempli gratia, means for example. I.e., an abbreviation for the Latin id est, means that is. I.e. and e.g. may not be used interchangeably.
Earth. Initial cap when referring to planet, even in running text. Also Earth Sciences, Earth Systems.
Either. Use it to mean one or the other, not both. He was willing to accept an offer from either company.
Incorrect: There were lions on either side of the door. Correct: There were lions on each side of the door. There were lions on both sides of the door.
Ellipses.
 When an ellipsis appears at the end of a complete sentence, the sentence should be followed by a total of four periods, with the first one appearing immediately after the final word. …
 When the grammatical sense of the represented text calls for a question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, or colon, the sequence is final word, punctuation mark, regular space and ellipsis. Did we win? … We did! …

 If an ellipsis appears at the end of an incomplete sentence or appears in the middle of a sentence, there should be total of three periods.
 It is not necessary to use ellipsis points at the beginning or end of a quoted phrase, sentence, or longer passage.
e-mail. The word e-mail is hyphenated and lowercase, unless it begins a sentence.
Emeritus, emerita.
 When following the name in text, the emeritus title should appear as follows: John
Smith, PhD, professor emeritus of physics…; Susan Matisoff, associate professor emerita of
Japanese….
 When following the name in a list, the emeritus title should appear as follows: John
Smith, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics; Susan Matisoff, Associate Professor Emerita of
Japanese.
 Emeritus endowed professorships should always be capitalized, whether they appear before or after the name and whether they are in running text or in a list: Barbara
Babcock, Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita; W. Gary Ernst, the Benjamin M. Page
Professor of Earth Sciences, Emeritus.
 When preceding the name and used as part of the name (without the first personal name), the title should be uppercase: Professor Emeritus Doe addressed the audience.
 When preceding the name, not as part of the name but as a descriptive tag, the title should be lowercase: ... the professor emerita Elizabeth Traugott; the professor emeritus John
Doe.
 Act of becoming emeritus: He became emeritus in 2003.
 Professional titles such as president, provost, dean, chair, director, and professor are capitalized: o when they immediately precede a name o otherwise, lowercase. The senator used to be astronaut John Glenn. …mathematics professor
Mary Sunseri. John Paul XI, the pope.
Ensure vs. insure. Ensure means to guarantee or to make sure of something; insure means to take out insurance on something.
Entitled. Means the right to do or have something. Do not use it to mean titled in reference to a book.
Ethnicity, race. See Racial, ethnic identifications.
F
Faculty.
 Faculty is a collective term; it should not be used in the singular to refer to an individual professor (i.e, rather than a faculty, use a faculty member or a professor).

 Most people on this side of the Atlantic consider faculty to be plural for the purposes of verb agreement: the faculty are; not the faculty is.
Fax. Use fax, not FAX.
Fewer, less. Use fewer when the items mentioned can be separated into quantities. Use less for bulk or quantity, when the subject cannot be divided into discreet units. Cal lost to Stanford because the Bears had fewer talented players. Cal also had less experience and team cohesion.
Fractions. One-half, two-thirds, seven-eighths. See also Numbers.
Fulbright fellowships. Just one ‘l’ in Fulbright. Capitalize Fulbright Scholar.
Full-time, part-time. Hyphenate when preceding a noun (e.g., full-time job). Do not hyphenate when the phrase follows a verb. He has a part-time job in the library. She was working full time in the day-care center.
Fundraising, fundraiser. One word as noun and adjective.
G
Geography. See Capitalization for guidelines on capitalizing directions, regions, political entities, etc.
Gender-neutral language. Avoid using language that presents the world with a strictly masculine voice. For example, use chair instead of chairman or chairwoman, firefighter instead of fireman, police officer instead of policeman, representative instead of congressman/woman (where appropriate), mail carrier instead of mailman.
Nonsexist language involves much more than appropriate job descriptions, however. For a full treatment of the issue, consult Rosalie Maggio’s The Bias-Free Word Finder: A Dictionary of
Nondiscriminatory Language.
H
Health care. Two words unless the official name of an institution or program references it differently. Hyphenate as an adjective. The American health-care system.
Hewlett-Packard. HP is also acceptable, though better on second reference. Remember the hyphen when spelling it out.
High-technology and high-tech should be hyphenated when used as an adjective.
The Honorable/Hon. The Honorable may be used before the given name of any judge, justice, elected, or appointed official, but only when the individual’s job title does not precede the name. The Honorable Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States. Never,

the Honorable Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. If the Honorable appears in the middle of a sentence,
the is not capitalized.
The abbreviation Hon. is used before a name when no the precedes the title. With the, such titles should be spelled out. Hon. Roderick M. Hills and the Honorable Roderick M. Hills.
Hyphenation.
 Resolve hyphenation and compounding questions by referring to the Webster’s
New World Dictionary of American English.
 Compound adjectives like upper-division and off-campus are hyphenated when preceding the nouns they modify (first-year student). They are not hyphenated when following variations of to be: She has a full-time job. She is full time.
 -ly words: Do not hyphenate compounds containing an adverb ending in –ly: jointly
hosted event.
 Very should never be hyphenated. She had a very pleasant time.
 Co-, re-, non-, pre-, multi- generally do not require a hyphen. Exceptions should be made to avoid confusion of meaning or misreading.
 Never divide a word before or after a single letter. Not a-gain, e-merge, radi-o, are-a.
 Divide a word that contains a hyphen only at the hyphen. Self-centered, not self-cen-
tered.
 URLs and e-mail addresses. When forced to break a URL or an e-mail address at the end of a line, never introduce a hyphen or allow an application automatically to introduce a hyphen.
I.e., e.g. I.e., an abbreviation for the Latin id est, means that is. E.g., an abbreviation for the Latin
exempli gratia, means for example. I.e. and e.g. may not be used interchangeably.
Imply, infer. Speakers or writers imply through the words they write or speak. Listeners or readers
infer from the words they hear or read.
Initials. Space between initials: J. E. Wallace Sterling.
Internet, intranet. Unless the first word in a sentence, do not capitalize internet, intranet, web, website, e-mail, online, homepage, or voicemail.
Its, it’s.
 Its is a possessive pronoun. (No possessive pronoun—its, hers, his, theirs, or ours—takes an apostrophe.) The team lost its third straight game. The university had its own problems with indirect costs.
 It’s is the contraction of it is. It’s time to go. It’s a dream come true.
L
Lay, lie.

 Lay is the action word (think of it as synonymous with “put”). It takes a direct object. Laid is the form for its past tense and its past participle. Laying is its present participle. Lizzy tried to lay the blame on me. I laid it on you.
 Lie indicates a state of reclining along a horizontal plane. It does not take a direct object. Its past tense is lay. Its present participle is lying. The body will lie in state. He was burnt to a crisp,
because he lay on the beach all day. When lie means to make an untrue statement, the verb forms are lie, lied, and lying.
Less. See Fewer, less.
Like, as. Use like as a preposition to compare nouns and pronouns. It requires an object. Vardell
runs like a pro. The conjunction as is the correct word to introduce clauses. Vardell protects the ball as he should.
May vs. might. May expresses likelihood, while might expresses a stronger sense of doubt.
Me/I. Most frequently abused in speech, in constructions such as, The decision was up to John and I.
One would never say The decision was up to I. Same situation, same pronoun required.
Military branches. The trend is toward lowercasing, which is what Chicago recommends, unless it’s the formal title, e.g., United States Army.
More than. Over is not interchangeable with more than. More than is used with numbers. The Centennial
issue will be more than 290 pages. Over refers to spatial relationships. Rudy is looking over everyone’s shoulder.
Music.
 Capitalize compositions identified by musical form: Symphony in B Major. In subsequent references, lowercase symphony.
 Titles of long musical compositions with distinctive titles are italicized: Messiah. Titles of short compositions and songs are set in Roman type and quoted.
N
Names.
 Nicknames. Use quotation marks around a nickname where it is inserted into a given name, Henry T. “Hank” Greely, Barton H. “Buzz” Thompson, Jr.
 Initials should be separated by a space. E. G. Marshall.
 Jr., Sr. should be set off from the name with a comma and followed by a comma; II,
Numbers.
III, etc. should not.
 For guidelines about the use of Mr., Ms., Mrs., etc. with names, see Courtesy titles.

 When making the choice between spelling out numbers and using numerals, consistency is most important.
 Spell out zero through nine and any of those numbers that precede hundred, thousand, million, and so on. Otherwise use numerals. Likewise spell out ordinal numbers up to ninth (e.g., fifth reunion, 40th reunion).
 If numbers referring to the same category within a paragraph or section
would be treated differently according to the rule above, treat all of them as the highest number in the group would be treated.
 Spell out numbers if they begin a sentence, even when referring to a percentage.
 Use numerals in the following situations: o References to amounts of money are spelled out or expressed in numerals in accord with the rules listed above. If the number is spelled out, so is the unit of currency, and if numerals are used, the symbol $ or ¢ is used. Sums of money that would be cumbersome to express in numerals or to spell out in full may be expressed in units of millions or billions, accompanied by numerals and a dollar sign. Use numerals and the $ in all but casual references or amounts without a specific figure. The budget will be cut by $22
million as dollars keep getting harder to find around campus. For amounts more than
$1 million, use the $ and figures up to two decimal places. $3.25 million. For amounts less than a dollar, use numerals and the word cents written out. The
newspaper was just 35 cents. o In decimals, percentages, dimensions and measurements, ages, and
fractions. The campus was rocked by the 7.1 earthquake. He ran 61.5 miles and cut
his time by 4 percent. 5 feet 10 inches tall o With decisions, rulings, scores, and votes: A 5-to-4 decision. The A’s defeated
the White Sox, 5–4. In all such uses except sports scores, figures are separated by the word to and the hyphen is omitted. See more on sports scores below
(item 7). o Mathematical usage: Multiply by 4, then divide by 6. o With designations of planes, ships, weapons, spacecraft, and vehicles:
Apollo 8. The B-52. An exception is Air Force One, the president’s plane, and its backups. Use Roman numerals when part of a trade name or official designation. Continental Mark I. Spacecraft have migrated from Roman to
Arabic. o With odds, proportions, recipes, and ratios: A 15–1 long shot [en-dash]. 3 parts cement to 1 part water. 3 onions and 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic. A 1-in-3
chance. With sequential designations for rooms, pages, chapters, buildings, models, sizes, positions, scenes, scales, etc.: They were out of sizes 4, 5, and 6.
Somehow, the printer dropped pages 8 through 23. In ordinal figures spell out figures through ninth. He was third in his class. o With sports scores, standings, and standards: 83–78 [en-dash]. A 6-1-2
record. A par 3. In narrative, follow the ten-and-under rules except in yard lines in football: the 2-yard line. o With temperatures, except zero: After days of temperatures in the 40s, the
thermometer dropped to 8 degrees below zero. o With time measurements and calculations: He arrived at 4 p.m., after 8 hours
and 23 minutes on the road. But, if this were expressed in even, half, or quarter

hours, the numbers would be spelled out: He arrived after eight and a half hours
on the road.
 Use Roman numerals: o For lineal designations of persons and animals and in proper names if so specified. King George III. Super Bowl XIV. George Wellington Cabot IV. o With laws or governmental measures. Title IX. o To designate the two world wars. World War II
O
Okay. Use okay rather than OK.
Online. One word. Do not capitalize unless first word in sentence.
Optimum/optimal. Optimum is a noun not an adjective. Use optimal or, better, best if you need an adjective.
P
Parenthesis. When a parenthetical phrase (this is an example) qualifies as a complete sentence, but is dependent on the surrounding material, do not capitalize the first word or end with a period.
Percent. In scientific or statistical copy, use the symbol % for a percentage; in humanistic copy, the word percent is used. Percent takes a singular verb when standing alone or when a singular noun follows an of construction.
Period.
 Spacing after periods: o In publications, one space after periods. o In letters, two spaces after periods.
 Place within quotation marks.
Plurals. To make a single letter plural, add apostrophe s. Stanford professors want the option of giving
students F’s. The Oakland A’s won the pennant three years running. To make an acronym plural, add only the s. Bill Stone and the other VIPs huddled around the table.
Possessives.
 To make a singular word possessive, add ’s (Bob’s house; James’s house; a DC-9’s wing; Paris’s
allure).
 To make a plural word possessive, add ’ (three days’ time; theme houses’ goals).
 Plural words ending in letters other than an s are made possessive by adding ’s (oxen’s
yoke). Common error is in plural possessive of last names (e.g., correct: the Joneses’ house, incorrect: the Jones’s house or the Jones’ house).

 When two people own something jointly, use an apostrophe and an s after the second name: Tom and Bob’s house. When two people each own things separately, use an apostrophe and an s after each name or noun. Our son’s and daughter’s toys. Sting’s and Barney’s hit songs.
Problem solving. Two words as a noun, hyphenated as an adjective.
Professor. Never abbreviate to Prof. or prof.
Professorships. See Emeritus, emerita for emeritus titles.
 If a professor mentioned in a text has a named professorship, the full name of the professorship must accompany his name, either preceding or following the name. In second mention the chair name may be omitted.
 When creating marketing materials for events, be sure to also include named professorships for speakers from other institutions.
 Professorships are “in” and professors are “of.” Hank Greely is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman
Johnson Professor of Law, and he holds the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professorship in Law.
Q
Quotation marks.
 Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks; colons and semicolons always go outside.
 Question marks and exclamation marks go inside quotes, if they refer to the quoted material; otherwise they go outside.
 Close-quote marks. o If a paragraph ends with a quotation that is continued in the next paragraph, do not use close-quote marks at the end of the paragraph if the quoted material constitutes a full sentence. At the end of the quoted material, use close-quote marks. o If a paragraph ends with a quotation that is continued in the next paragraph, use close-quote marks at the end of the paragraph if the quoted material does not constitute a full sentence.
R
Racial, ethnic identifications. Names of racial and ethnic groups, Chicano, Mexican-
American, Hispanic, Latino, Native American, American Indian, tribal affiliations (e.g., Navajo), and
African-American should always be capitalized. Do not capitalize black and white. When selecting an ethnic identification, defer to the way the person or group you are writing about self-identifies. African-American and black are both acceptable, but note that not all blacks are
African-Americans. American Indian and Native American are acceptable. Chicano and Mexican-
American are acceptable. Hispanic and Latino are acceptable (though not all Hispanics or
Latinos are Chicanos). Generally, if you need to identify someone by his or her ethnic background, it is best to be as specific as possible. Navajo is better than Native American. Irish-
American is better than white. Use hyphens in expressions of dual heritage: Japanese-American,

Italian-American. However, if an organization or other entity does not use a hyphen in its name, follow the group’s construction.
Redundancies. In formal writing, try to avoid the following: Combined together. Consensus of opinion.
Current incumbent. First discovered (and first invented and first began). Free gift. In order to. Merged together. Past
history. Set a new record/broke an old record. Totally destroyed. Visible to the eye. In less formal writing, some of these give flavor to expression.
S
Semicolons.
 Use to separate elements in a series that already contains commas, or elements in a series that are somewhat lengthy. Except in these cases, semicolons should not be used to separate incomplete sentences.
 Place outside quotation marks.
Spelling. Resolve spelling, hyphenation, and compounding questions by referring to the
Webster’s New World Dictionary of American English.
Split infinitives. The editors of the Oxford English Dictionary’s U.S. version recently decreed that the judicious use of split infinitives is acceptable, if by splitting the infinitive you are able to avoid an awkward sentence structure.
States. See Abbreviations.
T
Telephone numbers. Area codes should be placed in parentheses, followed by one space and the telephone number. Use hyphens for other divisions. (415) 555-5555. (1-800) 555-5555.
That vs. which.
 Use that for restrictive (essential) clauses that contain critical information. The house that he
described was across the street from the Graduate School of Business. Note: There is no comma preceding that in these clauses.
 Use which for nonrestrictive (nonessential) clauses. The house, which was just across the street
from Stanford Law School, had light-blue siding, white trim, and a large veranda. Note: A comma precedes which at the beginning of these clauses.
Titles, professional. For rules about capitalization of professional titles, see Capitalization.
Titles of works. Use italics for books, movies, newspapers, magazines, ships (planes, trains, spacecraft), plays, operas, symphonies, paintings, photographs, court cases, and TV or radio series.
Use quotation marks for one-time TV or radio shows, book chapters, songs, poems, short stories, lectures, dissertations/theses, lectures, unpublished manuscripts, and magazine or journal articles.

Titles and headings. For information about capitalizing words within titles and headings, see
Capitalization.
U
Underline. Never underline text in material that will be published. If the underline is to indicate the name of a publication, use italics in printed material.
United States. Use United States, not U.S., as a noun. U.S. (with the periods) is fine as an adjective.
We live in the United States, where we are protected by the U.S. Constitution.
University. Capitalize if full name of institution is given, Stanford University (a generally accepted
“formal” abbreviation of The Leland Stanford Junior University.) Per Chicago, lowercase university, if used singly, when referring to Stanford or any other university.
University names.
 University of California system school names should appear as follows: University of California,
Berkeley or (informally) UC Berkeley; University of California, Davis or (informally) UC Davis; etc.
Exception: University of California, Los Angeles or (informally) UCLA.
 The California State University system school names should appear as follows: California State
University, Bakersfield or (informally) CSU Bakersfield. Exceptions: Humboldt State University;
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona or (informally) Cal Poly Pomona; California State
Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo or (informally) Cal Poly; San Diego State University; San
Francisco State University; San Jose State University; Sonoma State University.
 California Institute of Technology or (informally) Caltech
 Massachusetts Institute of Technology or (informally) MIT
 Harvard University; undergraduates earn their degrees from Harvard College; women undergraduates receiving degrees prior to 1972 were graduates of Radcliffe College.
URLs.
 When citing URLs in printed materials, do not include http://.
 Do not use a hyphen to break URLs.
 When a URL ends a sentence, always add the requisite period.
V
Vice president, vice provost. Do not hyphenate.
Voicemail. One word. Do not capitalize unless first word in sentence.
W
Web, World Wide Web, Web site. Capitalize Web and World Wide Web.

Which. See That vs. which .
While. Use when you mean during the same time as; do not use to mean although.
Who vs. whom.
 Who is the word to use when someone is the subject of a sentence, phrase, or clause. Use
who where you could substitute he or she. The woman who taught my class was superb.
 Whom is the word to use when someone is the object of a verb or preposition. Use whom where you could substitute him or her. The woman whom I admired taught my class. She’s the woman to whom I am pointing.
Y
Years. For information about styling alumni class affiliations, see Stanford-specific
guidelines/names. For information about treatment of years in time, see Dates.

(in formation)
DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
Visit http://www.stanford.edu/group/identity/ for downloadable graphics and a recitation of Stanford’s design specifications and usage guidelines.
Color. “Cardinal” red, use PMS 201.
Seal. The official Stanford seal is available for download at the URL above. Everything containing the president’s signature or coming from the president’s office must use the official seal.
STYLE AND USAGE GUIDELINES
Campaign-specific guidelines.
 Campaign. The word campaign is not to be used in documents to be distributed publicly before the official launch of the Stanford Challenge in October 2006.
 Campaign name. The name of the campaign is The Stanford Challenge: Seeking
Solutions and Educating Leaders; but the preferred way to refer to it is The Stanford
Challenge. Note that the word “campaign” is not a part of the title and that The is capitalized. Acceptable campaign name abbreviation: The Challenge.
 Challenges, issues, problems. Use problems sparingly in the context of discussing the work to be undertaken through the initiatives. Challenges and issues will in some cases be a better choice.
 Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary. o The distinction between the adjectives interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and
cross-disciplinary is:
 Interdisciplinary work is like a salad—a combination of different disciplines that come together for a particular purpose, but retain their individual characteristics.
 Multidisciplinary work is like a soup—with the disciplines blending together to make something entirely new (e.g., bioengineering)
 Cross-disciplinary would be used to describe work done, for instance, when someone from one discipline takes a course in another discipline. o To vary descriptions of this type of collaboration in texts, you may wish to use terms such as cooperative, across academic disciplines, team approach, etc.
Names of alumni and friends.
 Class affiliation, degree years. Whenever an individual with a Stanford degree—from any
Stanford school—is mentioned in a publication, his/her Stanford degree(s) and class year(s) should be listed as follows: o Undergraduate degree holder: John Doe, ’47, attended the game. o Advanced degree holder: Jill Doe, JSD ’99, went for broke. o Multiple degree holder: Jimmy Doe, ’75, JSM ’76, took the cake. o Joint degree holder: Julie Doe, JD/MBA ’76, broke the mold.

o Note: If you are using smart quotes, the single quotation mark that appears before a class year, Joe Schmoe, ’72, should be a right-hand quote. o Note: Class affiliations are set off by commas, that is, a comma appears after the name and again after the class year. o Social class year: If a social class year appears in an individual’s PostGrads record, that is the year that should follow the individual’s name to indicate his or her class affiliation.
 Parent affiliation. The Stanford parent affiliation is indicated after any and all other degrees as shown in the following examples. In the case of couples, both of whom are parents, the parent information appears only after the name of the second parent.
Candace, ’68 and Bert Forbes, M.S. ’67 (Parents ’99); Ed and Karen Hsu (Parents ’02, ’06), indicating multiple children’s years without repeating “Parents”; Barbara and Buzz
McCoy, ’58 (Parent ’89), using the singular if only one member of the couple is a
Stanford parent. Please note: Parent affiliation is noted only for parents of children with undergraduate degrees.
 Donor listings: Whenever possible, donors should be consulted and listed as they prefer. Where married donors are listed as a couple (as one entry in a list): o The woman’s name always comes first. o If they have different last names and both are alums, alphabetize by the woman’s last name. o If they have different last names and only one of them is an alum, then alphabetize by the alum’s last name. o If they have different last names and neither one of them is an alum, alphabetize by the woman’s last name.
 Salutations and addresses for couples. o If the man is the only alum, use Dear Harry and Sally. o If the woman is the only alum and has a different last name, her name appears as the first line in the address and the salutation is Dear Sally and
Harry. o If the spouses have different last names, use two lines for their names in the address. (President’s preference.)
STANFORD GLOSSARY
Buildings.
 Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center; may be abbreviated as Arrillaga Alumni Center. (Do not call it “Fran” in any publication or stewardship letter/report.)
 Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation
 Arrillaga Family Sports Center
 Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center (Beckman Center) (Medical Center)
 Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts (formerly the Stanford Art Museum); may be abbreviated as Cantor Arts Center
 James H. Clark Center; abbreviated Clark Center
 Center for Clinical Sciences Research (CCSR) (Medical Center)
 Fairchild Science Building (Fairchild) (Medical Center)

 Falk Cardiovascular Research Building (Falk Center) (Medical Center)
 Ford Center for Sports & Recreation
 Learning and Knowledge Center (LKC) (proposed new Medical Center facility)
 Edmund W. Littlefield Management Center, abbreviated to the Littlefield Management Center (GSB)
 Richard M. Lucas Center for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging (Lucas Center or Lucas
Building) (Medical Center)
 Schwab Residential Center (GSB)
 Stanford Cancer Center (Medical Center)
 Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VA) (Medical Center)
Centers and Institutes.
 Bio-X
 Center for Biomedical Ethics (CBE) (Medical Center)
 Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research (Clayman Institute) (H&S)
 Center for Clinical Immunology at Stanford (CCIS) (Medical Center)
 Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI)
 Center for Immersive and Simulation-based Learning (CISL) (Medical Center)
 the Neuroscience Institute at Stanford (NIS) (Medical Center)
 the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. Do not refer to this as the D-school. (Engineering)
 Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS) (note lowercase i when acronym is used) (H&S)
 Center for Simulation in Medicine (CSim) (Medical Center)
 Stanford Archaeology Center (H&S)
 Stanford Cancer Center (Medical Center)
 Stanford Cardiovascular Institute (Medical Center)
 Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center (Medical Center)
 Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection (ITI) (Medical Center)
 Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (Medical Center)
 Stanford University Medical Center (SUMC) (to include the hospital and the school; never the Stanford University Medical Center)
 Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University; abbreviated as Woods Institute or Woods Institute for the Environment
Departments and Divisions.
 Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (the short form Athletic
Department is preferable to the abbreviation DAPER.)
 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery (NOT cardiology)
 Department of Emergency Medicine (NOT emergency room)
 Department of Medicine (division in parentheses). He is a professor of medicine (cardiovascular medicine) …
 Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences
 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
 Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT)

 Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine
 Division of International Comparative & Area Studies (ICA) (no comma) (H&S)
Hospital(s).
 Stanford Hospital & Clinics (Hospitals and Stanford Hospitals can refer to both Lucile
Packard and SHC)
 Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (Packard Hospital)
Libraries.
 Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR)
Programs.
 Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP)
 Continuing Medical Education (CME) (Medical Center)
 Program in Genetic and Molecular Medicine (PMGM) (Medical Center)
 Global Management Program (GMP) (at the GSB)
 The Barbara and Bowen H. “Buzz” McCoy Program in Ethics in Society (this is the official name, even though the program Web site lists it differently)
 Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) (Medical Center)
 Medical Student Scholars Program (MSSP) (Medical Center)
 Molecular Imaging Program (MIPS) (Medical Center)
 Public Management Program (PMP) (at the GSB)
 Stanford University Medical Media and Information Technology (SUMMIT) (Medical Center)
 Women’s Health @ Stanford (Medical Center)
Schools.
 Graduate School of Business (GSB) or business school (never School of Business without
Graduate)
 School of Earth Sciences
 Stanford School of Education (SUSE)
 School of Engineering
 School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S)
 Stanford Law School (SLS) or law school (never School of Law or the Stanford Law
School)
 School of Medicine
 Stanford University Medical Center (SUMC) (to include the hospital and the school; never the Stanford University Medical Center)
Stanfordiana. Many of these references are only appropriate in informal usage.
 the Axe (the Big Game trophy)
 the Big Game (the football game with Cal)
 Cardinal, the Cardinal (never the Cardinals)
 The Centennial (Stanford’s)
 The Chaparral

 the Claw (fountain in front of the Stanford Bookstore)
 the CoHo (the Coffee House)
 the Dish
 the Dollies (Dollie is the proper singular form)
 the Farm (not The Farm)
 the Foothills
 The Founding Grant
 Founders’ Day (note plural possessive)
 the Honor Code
 HooTow (Hoover Tower)
 the Knoll
 the Mausoleum
 MemAud (official name, Memorial Auditorium)
 MemChu (official name Stanford Memorial Church)
 the Oval
 the Quad (the Main Quadrangle)
 Reunion Homecoming Weekend (RHW)
 the Row
 the Sierra
 The Stanford Band; the Incomparable Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB); the
Band
 the Stanford Bookstore
 the Stanford Golf Course
 student-athletes (avoid referring to them simply as athletes)
 Sunday Flicks (Flicks on second reference)
 tailgate party, tailgater
 Tresidder Union (one s, two ds)
 UGLY (historical nickname for the Meyer Undergraduate Library, which is no longer an undergraduate library; the Alice B. Meyer Library now houses the East Asia Library, technical services staff, Academic Computing, the Language Lab, and 24-hour study rooms)
 the Tree (unofficial mascot, prominent during sporting events)