The editorial style manual for Berry College’s print and electronic marketing materials is The Associated Press Stylebook. A summary of the Associated Press Stylebook’s rules covering some of the most frequently encountered style issues is presented here. For a more thorough explanation, please refer to the print version of the stylebook, which is available through Berry’s bookstore.
The following links provide Berry-specific information, including names of campus buildings and the proper way of referring to Berry's schools
alumni – more than one graduate, group is either all male or a mixture of male and female
alumnus – one male graduate
alumna – one female graduate
alumnae – more than one graduate, all female
catalog, not catalogue
emerita, emeritus, emeriti
fundraising (one word in all instances)
percent, not per cent
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website
World Wide Web
the Internet
an intranet
online (one word, no hyphen)
email (capitalize as Email if first word of sentence)
database, input, log on, home page
Do not put http:// before Web addresses: www.berry.edu
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Lowercase office and department names unless the full official name is used:
The Department of Biology is active in research.
The biology department is active in research.
For job titles: Always lowercase unless a formal title immediately precedes a name:
Berry College President Stephen R. Briggs said …
Stephen R. Briggs , Berry’s president, said …
For academic degrees:
Lowercase bachelor’s, master’s, education specialist unless full name of degree is given.
John is pursuing a bachelor’s degree with a major in history.
Sue graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology.
Use doctoral degree or doctorate, but never doctorate degree.
Lowercase fall semester, spring semester, summer term.
Lowercase freshman, sophomore, junior and senior.
Lowercase names of majors and minors; exceptions are for names derived from proper nouns: English, French, German.
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Do not use “th” with numerals: July 4, not July 4th
Do not use comma or “of” between month and year: July 2004, not July of 2004
Use a comma after the specific date when the year is given: Jan. 13, 1902
Set the year off in commas in a sentence when full date is given:
Jan. 13, 1902, is the date of Berry’s founding.
Spell out months unless a specific date is given:
Thanksgiving is in November.
Christmas Day is on Dec. 25.
Acceptable abbreviations for months are: January – Jan.
February – Feb.
August – Aug.
September – Sept.
October – Oct.
November – Nov.
December – Dec.
Do not abbreviate March, April, May, June or July.
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Use hyphens within phone numbers; do not include a 1- with 800 numbers:
706-232-5374
In general, write out numbers less than 10 and use numerals for numbers 10 or greater:
Berry has four schools and approximately 2,000 students.
Common exceptions include using numerals for ages, percents and rations as well as with millions and billions ($9 million).
When referring to decades, do not use an apostrophe.
The 1980s were a prosperous time for the family.
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Abbreviate state names if a city name is also given. Use the following state abbreviations instead of postal abbreviations within text. Postal abbreviations should only be used with full addresses, including ZIP codes.
Alabama – Ala.
Arizona – Ariz.
Arkansas – Ark.
California – Calif.
Colorado – Colo.
Connecticut – Conn.
Delaware – Del.
Florida – Fla.
Georgia – Ga.
Illinois – Ill.
Indiana – Ind.
Kansas – Kan.
Kentucky – Ky.
Louisiana – La.
Maryland – Md.
Massachusetts – Mass.
Michigan – Mich.
Minnesota – Minn.
Mississippi – Miss.
Missouri – Mo.
Montana – Mont.
Nebraska – Neb.
Nevada – Nev.
New Hampshire – N.H.
New Jersey – N.J.
New Mexico – N.M.
New York – N.Y.
North Carolina – N.C.
North Dakota – N.D.
Oklahoma – Okla.
Oregon – Ore.
Pennsylvania – Pa.
Rhode Island – R.I.
South Carolina – S.C.
South Dakota – S.D.
Tennessee – Tenn.
Vermont – Vt.
Virginia – Va.
Washington – Wash.
West Virginia – W.Va.
Wisconsin – Wis.
Wyoming – Wyo.
Do not abbreviate Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas or Utah.
If both city and state names are given, set the state off in commas:
Rome, Ga., is home to Berry College.
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Use commas around a name when it is restrictive (there is only one person in the category):
Her husband, Bob, is … [not using the comma implies that the woman has more than one husband and you are only talking about the one named Bob.]
Their daughter Susan will attend Berry in the fall. [there is more than one daughter in the family; you are speaking of the one named Susan.]
Their 10-year-old daughter, Susan, is in fourth grade. [Susan is their only 10-year-old daughter.]
Do not use a comma before Jr., III, etc.: Bob Smith Jr. is a freshman.
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Campus Buildings
Berry College Elementary School
Berry College Middle School
Chapels:
Berry College Chapel
Frost Chapel
Barnwell Chapel
Note, there is no such thing as “Memorial Chapel”
the Cook Building
E.H. Young Theatre (in Blackstone Hall)
Ford Auditorium, the Ford Buildings, the Ford Complex, Ford Dining Hall, the Ford Quadrangle
Green Hall
Gunby Equine Center
Hermann Hall
the House o’ Dreams
Krannert Center
Laughlin Building
Lavender Mountain
Main Campus
Memorial Library
the Moon Building, Moon Gallery
Mountain Campus
Oak Hill and The Martha Berry Museum (capitalize The)
Possum Trot
Richards Gym or Roy Richards Memorial Gymnasium (not Richard’s Gym)
the Rollins Ruminant Research Center
the Science Building
Stephen J. Cage Athletic and Recreation Center (the Cage)
the WinShape Centre
the WinShape Retreat Centre (at the Normandy Buildings)
For history of campus buildings, consult Berry Trails.
Schools within the College
On first reference:
the Campbell School of Business
the Charter School of Education and Human Sciences
the Evans School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences
On subsequent references, the writer may refer to a particular school as “the school” unless other schools within the college are mentioned in the same text. To avoid confusion, always refer to Berry as “the college” not as “the school.” Following are preferred forms for shortening school names:
the Campbell School
the Charter School
the Evans School
the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences
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