Style Guide

The UConn School of Business Style Guide is based on the University's Editorial Guidelines.  These guidelines address:

  • Academic Degrees
  • Alumni
  • Acronyms/Abbreviations
  • Caps
  • Centers and Institutes
  • Degrees and Majors
  • Regional Campuses
  • School/College
  • Titles
  • URLs

Please refer to the University's Editorial Guidelines for all editorial and marketing copy, unless indicated in the following sections.

 

Academic Degrees

  • Please refer to the University's Editorial Guidelines. 
  • Separate multiple degrees with commas (Example: MBA, Ph.D.)
  • See section on acronyms and abbreviations 

Acronymns and Abbreviations

  • Please refer to the University's Editorial Guideline for Schools and College abbreviations.
  • On first reference, spell out full formal name of organization (or other entity), followed by the acronym in parentheses; use the acronym in subsequent references (Exceptions include acronyms such as FBI, DNA, CIA, where the acronym is better known than the full title and can be used at first reference without spelling it out); avoid using acronyms where possible, especially if there are three or fewer references to the organization in the article.
  • Plural forms of acronyms do not require an apostrophe (Example: Ph.D.s, NGOs)

Acronyms specific to the UConn School of Business are listed below.

Full Name Abbreviation
MS in Accounting MSA
MS in Business Analytics & Project Management MSBAPM
MS in Financial Risk Management MSFRM
MS in Human Resource Management MSHRM
Ph.D. in Business Ph.D.
Accounting Certificate Program ACP
Advanced Business Certificate in Business Analytics  
Advanced Business Certificate in Digital Marketing Strategy  
Advanced Business Certificate in Health Care Analytics  
Advanced Business Certificate in Health Care Finance and Insurance  
Advanced Business Certificate in Information Technology Audit  
Advanced Business Certificate in Project Management  
Certificate in Corporate and Regulatory Compliance CCRC
Certificate in Global Risk Management  
Certificate in Long-term Health Care Management  
Healthcare Information Technology HIT
Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities EBV

Note on Certificates: 

  • Do not use "ABC" to refer to advanced business certificates
  • However, "graduate certificate" or "certificate in" may be used. Note the absence of capitalization.

Ages

Always use figures.

Ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun use hyphens.

Examples:  A 5-year-old-boy. The boy is 5 years old. The boy, 7, has a sister, 10.

Alumni

  • Refer to the University's Editorial Guidelines
  • When a UConn alum is mentioned, on first reference his/her name should be followed by:
    • The alum's year of graduation from UConn; a closing apostrophe (') should precede the graduation year (e.g., '98)
    • It the alum is a graduate of a graduate-level program, indicate after the class year (e.g., '02 MBA)
    • Multiple graduation years should e separated by commas (e.g., '98, '02 MBA)
    • When listing alumni years for non-School of Business alums, indicate an undergraduate degree in parentheses as a School/College acronym and a graduate/professional degree as an abbreviation of the degree, without parentheses.   (e.g., '84 (CLAS), '92 MBA)

Board of Directors

“board of directors” (or trustees) should be lower case unless used in formal title – e.g. the UConn Board of Trustees; Larry is on the board of trustees of UConn.

Centers and Institutes

  • Refer to the University's Editorial Guidelines
  • When a shortened form of a UConn center/institute is used on second reference, capitalize the word "Center" or "Institute"

    Example
    : The Center on Aging provides elders with healthy aging advice related to nutrition and disease prevention. The Center also conducts a diverse range of clinical, laboratory, and community-based research efforts.

City/State

Use either the state's full name or the state's postal abbreviation, except for in editorial content.

Editorial Content

Following AP style for city/state abbreviations, only abbreviate names with more than five letters and only if the state accompanies a city. Never abbreviate Alaska or Hawaii. Include a comma after the state unless the state appears at the end of the sentence. (Examples: "She lives in Boca Raton, Fla." and "Fans cheer on the Husky football team during a win over Baylor in Waco, Texas, in September.")

The abbreviations are:
Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., D.C., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kan., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Neb., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.M., N.Y., N.C., N.D., Okla., Ore., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.D., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W. Va., Wis., Wyo.

Hyphenation

Do not capitalize the word following a hyphenation.

Example: Full-time MBA

Dates

Dates are always used with Arabic numbers, not st, th, or nth. (Example: It's June 24, not June 24th.)

Editorial content only:

Abbreviate January, February, August, September, October, November, and December only when used with a specific date, but spell out otherwise. Never abbreviate days of the week. (Example: It's Sept. 24, 1996, but it's September 1996.)

The abbreviations for months are as follows:
January – Jan.
February – Feb.
March – March
April – April
May – May
June – June
July – July
August – Aug.
September – Sept.
October – Oct.
November – Nov.
December – Dec.

Emeritus

Emeritus is a Latin adjective, so the ending changes according to gender and singular/plural: emeritus (singular, male); emerita (singular, female); emeriti (plural, male or both genders); emeritae (plural, female).

Fiscal Year

Capitalize "Fiscal Year" only when associated with a specific year; also, do not use periods in the abbreviation (Examples: "Fiscal Year 2012," "FY 2012," and "this fiscal year")

Fractions

Spell out amounts less than 1 in stories, using hyphens between the words: two-thirds, four-fifths, etc. Use figures for precise amounts larger than 1, converting to decimals whenever practical: 1.25 pieces.

Headlines

  • Capitalize the first letter of all words in headlines, with the exception of prepositions, articles, and conjunctions that are less than four letters long, such as for, but, and, or, nor, a, an, to, and the. Always capitalize the first and last word in the headline, regardless of word length.

    Examples:
    Improving Security for Information Transmitted Online
    Sounds of Music Rise in Phoenix Museum
    The Joy of Artistic Expression

  • Use smart single quotes in headlines of editorial content (Example: 'Arms Race' Targets MRSA)

Numbers

Generally, spell out one through nine; use numerals for the rest. Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence. (Examples: "He wrote five books." or "She sold 15 manuscripts this year." or "Twenty-five students attended the dinner.")

Exceptions to these rules include the following, in which numerals should always be used:

Ages                                                   
Scores
Days of the month                              
Serial numbers
Degrees of temperature                                   
Speeds
Dimensions                                         
Sums of money
House numerals                                  
Time of day
K-12 grades                                        
Time of races
Percentages                                         
Votes
Proportions                                         
Years

Percentages

  • Use figures and spell out "percent" in running copy: 1 percent, 2.5 percent (use decimals, not fractions). For amounts less than 1 percent, precede the decimal with a zero (Example: "The cost of living rose 0.6 percent.")
  • Repeat the unit when there's a range (Examples: "between 20 percent and 30 percent," "from 5 percent to 10 percent")

Phone Numbers

Use hyphens (Example: 860-486-3530)

International numbers should be formatted in the following format: (+1) 860-486-3530

Photos

In editorial content, include photo credits for photographs obtained from external sources. 

Punctuation

  • Use serial comma in lists
  • Use comma with the word "too" to indicate a pause (Example: Competing eats up more than time – it can be pricey, too.)
  • One space after periods
  • One space on either end of em dashes
  • One space on either end of ellipses (Example: "We have fewer than 20 students ... these are important numbers for future students.")
  • No space around hyphens in dates (Example: May 15-26, 2011)
  • Initials: Use periods, but no space, when an individual or organization uses initials instead of a full name (Example: "the A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities")
  • Brackets: Use [ ] for material added to quotes. Example: "She said Coach [Geno Auriemma] was responsible for her success."
  • Semicolons:
    • The semicolon (;) most often bridges two short independent clauses that are related (Example: "My 30th birthday is Tuesday; my friend is taking me out to celebrate on Saturday night.")
    • Semicolons are also used to break up a complex series, when at least one element within the series requires commas. (Example: "I spent my morning vacuuming the bedrooms, living room, and dining room; shopping for okra, persimmons, cream of tartar, and aged Stilton; and picking up Laverne, Fiona, and Aloysius from preschool.")
  • Question marks: The question mark usually goes outside of quotation marks unless the quoted matter is all or part of the question.

    Examples:
    Did you say "thank you"?
    He actually had the nerve to ask, "Is that horrible stench coming from you?"

    • The same rule applies to titles.

      Examples:
      I thought Woody Allen's "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" was hilarious.
      Have you ever seen the movie "Where's Poppa?"?

  • Quotation marks: Single quotes for a quote within a quote; single quotes for a quote within a headline or caption.

Quotes in Editorial Content

In editorial content, allow one attribution per paragraph; separate adjacent quotations by different speakers with an attribution so it is clear that the second quotation is by a different person.

Students

  • When a current UConn undergraduate student is mentioned in a story, on first reference specify the student's anticipated year of graduation (e.g., '14), followed by the acronym for his/her School or College, in parentheses (See Alumni entry for style). If possible, specify the student's major(s) as well. Example: "John Smith '14 (CLAS) is a psychology major who ..."
  • When a current UConn graduate/doctoral student is mentioned in a story, if possible specify the type of degree and the student's field of study. Year of graduation is typically omitted for graduate/doctoral students, unless they are in their final semester and know they will graduate.
    Examples: "Sue Smith, who is pursuing a master's degree in history..."; "... says John Ngunjiri, now a Ph.D. candidate in molecular and cell biology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences ..."

Times

  • Use the word "to" in copy, not a hyphen: "from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.;" only use an en dash in abbreviated copy, such as a calendar item or an invitation: "11 a.m.-2 p.m."
  • Use "noon" and "midnight," not 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. in editorial content.
  • 9 a.m. (not 9:00 a.m.) in editorial content

Titles

  • Titles (books, films, TV shows, lectures):The general guidelines, followed by some examples:
    • Italicize titles of books, journals, and magazines
    • Use quotation marks around titles of TV shows, films, song and album titles, etc. (Examples: the NBC-TV "Today" program; a performance in the Broadway debut of "South Pacific");
    • Use quotation marks around titles of journal articles and unpublished dissertations
    • Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters (Example: "Gone With the Wind")
    • Capitalize an article – the, a, an – or words fewer than four letters only if it is the first or last word in a title (Example: "The Star-Spangled Banner")
    • Use "titled" or "called" rather than "entitled." (Examples: "A presentation titled 'Alliteration in Chaucer's manuscripts,'" or "a book called Moo.")
    •  
  • Titles (people):
    • Capitalize and spell out academic and formal titles preceding a name but lowercase when they follow a name; also on first reference, indicate the School or College with which any UConn professors are affiliated
      • Examples:  "Professor John Smith in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences"; "Jane Smith, professor of accounting in the School of Business"; "U.S. Rep. John Larson"; "Paul Adams, senior vice president of Pratt & Whitney Engineering"
      • Exceptions:
        • Capitalize the title of an endowed chair (Example: "Joe Smith, the Pratt & Whitney Chair of Engineering")
        • Capitalize the title of professors with the Board of Trustees Distinguished Professors designation (Example: "Joseph Renzulli, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of educational psychology")
        • PER SUSAN HERBST: Capitalize "president" in reference to Susan Herbst in all cases (Examples: "President Susan Herbst"; "Herbst is UConn's 15th President")
    • Capitalize a title preceding a name only if it is used as a form of address (Examples:  "Professor John Smith"; "accounting professor Jane Smith"; "assistant professor of management Joe Brown")
    • On subsequent references, use the person's last name only, unless included as part of a quotation
  • Courtesy titles:
    • Do not use "Mr.," "Mrs.," or other courtesy titles, unless included as part of a quotation
    • Exception: Use "Dr." only for physicians and dentists, on first reference only; do not add "MD" or "DMD" after the name (If the physician or dentist is a UConn alum, follow the style outlined in the "Alumni" entry; see Page 2).
  • Titles (UConn courses): Capitalize the main words in the name of the course and do not use quotation marks. (Example: Introduction to LGBT Literature)