Production timeframes
Commencement
Commencement style guide: Award biographies and certificates
capitalization
You should capitalize:
• titles before a person’s name. (Provost Duane Nellis )
• official names of departments, colleges, organizations, centers, institutes. (Department of History, College of Architecture, Planning, and Design)
Don’t capitalize:
• titles after a name. (Dr. Duane Nellis, provost)
• semesters. (fall semester, spring 2005 semester)
• board names when not a proper name. (board of directors)
• majors, specializations, or concentrations of study. (She majored in sociology with a concentration in women’s studies.)
• academic and honorary degrees (bachelor of arts in history, bachelor’s degree in history)
• second references if not using a proper name. (the center, the college, the department, the institution, the board of directors, the physics department)
commas
Use commas to separate items in a series. (The proposal included many important points, including the cost of the project, the main pros and cons, and the merits.)
committees and task forces
Capitalize only complete committee names. Lowercase on second reference and when using general terms. (the committee, curriculum committee)
dates
Place a comma between the day and the year. (April 1, 1992, not April 1 1992)
Do not place a comma between a month and year when no date is given. (April 1992, not April, 1992)
Use only figures to identify a date—don’t add letters to the numerals. (May 23, not May 23rd)
List dates in month/day/year format. (May 23, 1992, not 23 May, 1992)
degrees
Lowercase degree names (bachelor’s degree, bachelor of arts in history)
Use an apostrophe on master’s degree, bachelor’s degree.
Abbreviate as BA, BS, MBA, MS, MA, PhD, etc.
italics
Italicize names of books, newspapers, journals, films, full-length plays, symphonies, operas, ships, and airplanes.
Use quotation marks for titles of articles, poems, songs, one-act plays, TV programs, and sculptures.
Kansas State University
Use full name on first reference in text; on second reference use K-State. Avoid Kansas State or KSU except when they’re part of a proper name.
numbers
Write out numbers one through nine; use figures for numbers 10 and above.
Use numerals for dollar amounts ($5, not five dollars; $12 million, not twelve million dollars)
Use commas in numbers larger than 999. (1,234, not 1234)
semicolons
Use semicolons when the items in a series contain commas. (She’s earned degrees from the College of Agriculture; the College of Architecture, Planning, and Design; and the College of Business Administration.)
states
Spell them out in the text of award biographies. When listing out-of-state hometowns on graduate lists, use state abbreviations.
titles
Use the courtesy title Dr. only when the degree name does not follow the person’s name. (Angela Smith, PhD or Dr. Angela Smith, not Dr. Angela Smith, PhD)
Courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Miss are not used in either first or subsequent references.
university
Lowercase, except in proper names, even when referring to Kansas State University. (The university is known for its Landon Lecture series.)
vice titles
Vice provost, vice president, and other titles are written as two words, unhyphenated, and lowercase except when written before a name. (Vice President for Administration and Finance Tom Rawson answered questions. Tom Rawson, vice president for administration and finance, answered questions.)
years
1992 to 1993 or 1992-1993, not 1992-93.
1920s, not 1920’s
70s, not ‘70s or 70’s
For more information
For a more complete style guide, see http://www.k-state.edu/univpub/UP1styleguide.html.