College of Micronesia-FSM Manual of Style

Introduction

This document is a work in progress, based on similar documents at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Alabama. Please see this compilation of online style guides for a full list of sources.

Use this document when writing College of Micronesia - FSM materials for the public.

The most radical thing about this document is its adherence to recent Chicago Manual of Style guidelines that tend to de-capitalize words that you may have been taught to capitalize. The thinking is that since we are a cutting-edge college (not College), we should embrace that latest standards.

This document was originally prepared by Jonathan Gourlay for the 2004 college self-study.

Contents

The contents are listed alphabetically. Click on the letter of the alphabet to go directly to the entries that begin with that letter.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Academic Degrees

Spell out and use the lower case: bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, doctor’s degree or doctorate.

If you prefer to abbreviate degrees, do not use periods to separate the letters: AS, AA, BA, BEd, MA, PhD.

Examples:

Board of Regents

Board of Regents is capitalized when referring to college’s governing body. Individual members are regents. Use BOR or board (lowercase) for second reference. Capitalize regent only as part of the board’s formal name or when used before a name (e.g., Regent Podis Pedrus, Joe Habuchmai is a regent).

Campus Names

The College of Micronesia - FSM has 5 campuses. We don’t usually refer to the campuses by their full name. In fact the official titles are so unwieldy, it is advisable to refrain from their use altogether. "College of Micronesia - FSM/Chuuk" is the official title for Chuuk campus. Yes, the slash is in there too.

Generally, in the first use you would use the full name of the campus (not the official one): “The College of Micronesia – FSM Chuuk campus.” After that, you would write “Chuuk campus.” The “campus” is not capitalized.

Based on UH style guide:

Capitalization

From the University of Alabama style guide:

Keep capitalization to a minimum in all sorts of writing—the more words you capitalize, the more you complicate your text.

Capitalization does not confer prestige or importance—it's what you say about a discipline or program that conveys quality or prestige to the reader.

Chair

Try to use "chair" rather than "chairperson", "chairman", or "chairwoman".

Citation

In general, use MLA style for citation.

Except in the college’s self study. Use citations as follows:

When referring to an ordered list at the end of your standard, put the standard number in brackets [ ] and the reference number in parentheses ( ):

When, as in Standard IV, a single document is cited numerous times, include the citation within the text of the sentence:

The College

Do not capitalize “the college” when referring specifically to the College of Micronesia – FSM.

Use the “the college” in preference to COM-FSM

Committees

“Committee” should be lowercase except as part of a full formal name.

Capitalize the formal names of groups and committees, such as Staff Senate, Student Affairs Committee, Institutional Effectiveness Committee, Education Advisory Council. Use lower case for the words “committee” or “council” when they stand alone.

Classes and Courses

Use lower case when you refer to classes and courses, unless you use the specific (and complete) title or the name carries a proper noun or numeral.

Dates

Don’t use a comma in dates giving only the month and year.

Use two commas to set off the year in dates giving the month, day, and year.

Department or Division

“Department” or "division" is lowercase except as part of a full, formal name.

Use lowercase of the unofficial names of departments:

Email

Use email rather than e-mail.

Italics

Use italics for the titles of reports, books, and magazines.

In the Eligibility Readiness Report, the college reports on its readiness to be eligible.

Numbers

In general, spell out numbers from one to nine and use figures for higher numbers

Online

Use online and offline.

Program Names

Capitalize the full, official names of programs.

For example:

Self-Study

Use the hyphen in self-study.

Standards

When speaking of the four WASC standards, use the word "standard" followed by the roman numeral (I-IV) that refers to the standard. Capitalize "Standard I", "Standard II", etc. The logic being that standards in this case are like titles to chapters of a book.

Students

Refer to our students as “COM-FSM students” or “the college’s students.

“The” Before Initialisms and Acronyms.

Do not use “the” before COM-FSM or WASC.

Titles (Academic and Administrative)

A person’s title is capitalized only when used before the name. When using a capitalized title immediately before the name, try to keep it short. Do not capitalize an occupational designation, only a true title.