Editorial Style Guide

When referencing one of the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges, spell out the entire college name in the first instance followed by its initialism, for example, Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC). From then on, you can use the abbreviated college campus name or its initialism (for example, Estrella Mountain or EMCC).

• “Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC) was founded in 1985.:
• "Chandler-Gilbert’s mascot is the coyote.”

When colleges are listed in a table, just use the college campus name (e.g., Paradise Valley) and be sure to name the column “College.”

School names do not include the article “The” (capital “T”) as part of their name (“The Mesa Community College is located…” would be incorrect).

However, you may use “the” when the school name is used as a modifier for another word

• "The Mesa Community College bookstore will be closed on the holiday.”

In marketing communications, Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is generally referred to as Maricopa Community Colleges. Treat Maricopa Community Colleges as a singular noun.

• “Maricopa Community Colleges provides quality education.”
• “Maricopa Community Colleges is accessible to all students.”

Notes

Do not use MCCCD on marketing content or material for prospective students—Use Maricopa Community Colleges.

Never abbreviate Maricopa Community Colleges as MCC (this refers to Mesa Community College).

When forming the possessive for Maricopa Community Colleges, even though it is a singular noun, it is in the plural form, so only add an apostrophe, not an apostrophe (s) -’s.

• “Maricopa Community Colleges’ student population…”

Do not use plural agreement. “Maricopa Community Colleges are…” would be incorrect (see the next bullet for further clarification).

Do not use the definite article “the” in front of “Maricopa Community Colleges” when referring to the singular entity. The exception would be when referencing all the colleges as a collection of individual schools. In that case, use “the Maricopa Community Colleges” (as a plural noun). General reference to “colleges” should be lowercase.

• “Maricopa Community Colleges is proud to introduce its newest certifications.”
• “The 10 Maricopa Community Colleges are gathering to celebrate…”
• “The Colleges provide accessible, quality education to the community.”
• “If you choose one of our 10 community colleges, your tuition costs will be less.”

Another way to reference the Maricopa Community Colleges entity is to include the word “system.”

Precede it with “the” when referencing the system.

• "The Maricopa Community Colleges system is one of the largest....”

Use sparingly and with approval, as the word “system” may not be appropriate or wanted in all communications.

It should also be used as a singular noun.

• “The Maricopa Community Colleges system is dedicated to student success.”
• “The Maricopa Community Colleges system fosters student success.”

Maricopa County Community College District is the legal entity name. The full legal name must be used in legal applications and in national news coverage.

Use the official name rarely, if at all, in marketing copy (use Maricopa Community Colleges instead).

On the first reference, use the entire official name followed by the initialism (MCCCD) in parentheses, which is used thereafter.

• “Today, Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) announced…"
• "MCCCD will continue to provide…”

It should be used as a singular noun with respective verb agreement.

• “Maricopa County Community College District is committed to preparing students for the workforce.”

It’s okay to use “the District” (capital D) when referring specifically to MCCCD, but use “districtwide” (no “the” and lowercase) when referring to something across the entire district, including all the colleges.

• “During February, districtwide celebrations…”

Both are types of abbreviations formed from the initial letters of other words. However, an acronym is pronounced as a word (NASA), whereas with an initialism, the separate letters are pronounced (FBI).

Spell out the full name followed by its acronym or initialism when it’s first used, then use the abbreviation for all other instances.

• “Arizona Women in Higher Education (AWHE) hosted their annual conference June 2-3, 2016."
• "Many women are proud to be part of AWHE.”

The rule of thumb is if a commonly understood abbreviation appears in the dictionary, you do not need to use the full name on first use.

• “NASA selected four educators to participate in the program.”

Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree and master's degree, but do not use the possessive in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science. Also, do not use the the possessive form when using the term “associate degree.”

The terms “associate degree,” “bachelor’s degree,” “master’s degree,” and “doctorate” are lowercase.

• B.A.
• B.S.
• M.A. or M.S.
• Ph.D.

Note: Some Ph.D. faculty members prefer “Dr.”

• “Dr. Maria Arcadia-Smith has devoted her career to education.”

Some groups/initiatives/programs have special abbreviations or naming standards.

• Achieving a College Education Program (ACE) or Adults Achieving a College Education (Adult ACE)
• Kids College (Estrella Mountain summer programs for kids; no apostrophe needed because the kids don’t own the college)
• MaricopaNursing
• TRiO/TRiO Upward Bound/TRiO Student Support Services (or TRiO SSS on subsequent mentions)

An academic program is defined as any combination of courses and requirements leading to a degree, certificate, major, or academic track.

A program provides a specific constituent group with academic support, supplemental or alternative curricular and non-curricular activities, privileges, special access, scholarships, and/or distinguished recognition. Programs do not receive awards. Examples of group-based programs include Honors, Hoop of Learning, and Dual Enrollment.

Apply is used when referring to the act of initially gaining admittance to the Maricopa Community Colleges system as a student.

• “Apply to be a student at one of our colleges within Maricopa Community Colleges.”

Enroll is used when referring to the act of becoming a student at a specific college. The student must have already applied before enrolling.

• “Once your application is approved, you can enroll at Phoenix College.”

Register refers to signing up for classes. The student must already be enrolled at their college prior to registering for their courses.

• “Students enrolled at Phoenix College can register for an accounting class.”

Degrees and Certificates refer to formal documents that prove a student successfully completed an academic program. Awards can also refer to degrees or certificates either individually or when they are being referenced together as a catchall.

• “He received an award in biology.”
• “The English Department offers awards in creative writing.”

Award is also used as a verb when referring to the act of giving or bestowing a degree or certificate.

• “John was awarded an associate degree in psychology.”
• “You will be awarded with a certificate in Art: Drawing.”

These words are not interchangeable. A certificate is evidence of completing an academic program of study, while a certification is a professional credential earned through a professional program or assessment, and proves the recipient meets industry standards.

Our colleges offer certificates. They do not offer certifications, but often prepare students to test for them through other organizations.

Use the word class fees when describing additional fees required for a class, separate from tuition.

While both words have the same meaning, only use the word tuition when writing content; using the word college fees is not permitted.

Spell out the event’s full title on its first reference. If the group holding the event has an acronym or initialism, use the full name on the first reference and then use the abbreviation from then on..

• “The conference of the International Consortium for Educational and Economic Development (ICEED)..."
• "Members of ICEED from across the US, Canada, and Mexico...”

ID (not I.D.) Capitalize ID, with no periods or spaces, eg, Student ID (identification card).

R.S.V.P. (do not use: RSVP, rsvp or r.s.v.p.) Do not include “please” with this. Instead, write, “R.S.V.P. by calling...” or “Please respond by calling...”

For ages, always use figures.

• "The girl, 8, has a brother, 11."

If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated.

• "The contest is for 18-year-olds."

Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range.

• "He is in his 20s."

Never underline titles. Underlined text that appears online could be mistaken for links.

Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, movies, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches, and works of art (except the Bible and books that are primarily catalogs of reference material, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica)

• Author Porter Shreve read from his new book, “When the White House Was Ours.”
• They sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.
• “Gone With the Wind,” NBC’s “Today Show”
• The Bible and the Gospel of John

Do not use quotations around the names of magazines, newspapers, the Bible, or books that are catalogs of reference materials.

• The Washington Post first reported the story.
• He reads the Bible every morning.

Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.

• Translate a foreign title into English, unless the American public knows the work by its foreign name. Rousseau’s “War,” not Rousseau’s “La Guerre.”
• Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”

Capitalize “The” in the publication name if that is part of the official name.

• "The author of The Times spoke today."

Lowercase “the” before names if listing several publications, some of which use “the” as part of the name and some of which do not.

• Time
• Newsweek
• the Washington Post
• the New York Times

5 cents, $1.05, $650,000, $2.45 million

300 Canadian dollars = C$300 or Can$300

5 (euro) cents, €1.05, €650,000, €2.45 million

Always use Arabic figures, without st, nd, rd or th.

When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.

• "Fall Open House will be held on Oct. 8."

When a phrase lists only a month and year, do not separate the month and the year with commas.

• "The new website will launch in December 2027."

When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas.

• "January 15, 2008, was the first day of the semester."

Do not use an apostrophe between the year and the s.

• "The 1960s..."

Lowercase cardinal directions (north, south, northeast, northern, etc.) when they indicate compass direction.

• "The cold front is moving east."

Capitalize cardinal directions when they designate U.S. regions.

• "A storm system that developed in the West is spreading eastward."

With names of countries, lowercase cardinal directions unless they are part of a proper name or are used in the proper name.

• "northern France," "western United States," "South Korea"

With states and cities, lowercase compass points when they describe a section of a state or city.

• "western Massachusetts," "southern Atlanta"

Capitalize compass points when used in denoting widely known sections.

• "Southern California," "Manhattan’s Lower East Side"

Geographical terms that are considered proper names are capitalized. Lowercase descriptive adjectives that are not part of a recognized name.

• Capitalize “Valley of the Sun” or “the Valley” when referring to the metro Phoenix area.
• "West Valley" as a location; "west valley" as a descriptor.

Use the street address and city, but not the state and zip code in school addresses for events, articles, etc.

Capitalize “Greater Southwest.”

Capitalize “Earth” when used as the name of one of the planets (as you would the other planets, such as Mercury, Venus, etc.). Use lowercase in instances where the word means or refers to something else.

• “The Earth is one of the planets in our solar system.”
• “They planted the seeds in some earth.”
• “She is down to earth.”

Generally:

• Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
• The first word after a colon is always capitalized (in headlines only).
• Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the) and prepositions (for, to, with), unless the word is essential to the headline. For example, “He Came to the House Only To Be Criticized” (in this case, “To” is part of a verb phrase (to be) and is a principle word).
• Verbs are capped as the first word of the headline or if it is a principal word where the rule is to cap principal words. For example, per AP, both of the following are correct: “Dying to be thin” or “Dying To Be Thin.”
• Do not use full sentences as a title.

E terms

• "e-book"
• "e-business"
• "e-marketing"
• "e-reader"
• "email" (not e-mail, not Email)

Terms

• "home page"
• "internet"
• "web" (lowercase in all circumstances)
• "web page" (two words)
• "web-based" (hyphenated—not web based, Web-based, or Web based)
• "webcam" (one word, lowercase)
• "webmaster" (one word, lowercase)
• "website" (one word, lowercase)
• "Wi-Fi" (hyphenated, both caps—not WiFi, wifi or Wi-fi
• "log in" (verb)
• "login" (noun)
• "log on" (verb)
• "logon" (noun)
• "online" (not on-line or On-line)

Spell out the numbers one through nine. Use Arabic numerals for 10 and up. Always use Arabic numerals for ages and percentages, even for numbers less than 10.

• "One through nine..."
• “The Board voted six to three for more funding.”
• "10+"
• “They picked 75 apples today at the fair.”

Spell out numbers that start a sentence. If the result is awkward, reconfigure the sentence.

• “Seventy-five students attended the symposium yesterday.”
• “Yesterday, 635 seniors were awarded degrees.”

The exception to this rule is a sentence that begins with a calendar year. Calendar year is numerical.

• “2007 was a record-breaking year for fundraising.”

Use Roman numerals for wars, monarchs, and Popes.

• "World War II, King George VI, Pope John XXIII..."

In the case of proper names, use words or numerals according to the organization’s practice.

• "3M, Twentieth Century Fund, Big Ten..."

Academic credits are always expressed in numerals.

• “This is a 3-credit course.”
• “The major requires a total of 36 credits.”

The preferred form for listing telephone numbers is the following: 480-968-7666, ext. 169.

Spell out “percent”; never use the symbol %.

• “The grant is 100 percent funded by…”

The possessive case of singular nouns is formed by the addition of an “apostrophe s” (’s). The possessive case of plural nouns is formed by the addition of an apostrophe only. This applies to proper nouns and common nouns.

• “Chandler-Gilbert Community College’s English program.”

Nouns that are singular in meaning that end in “s” but take the plural form, like Maricopa Community Colleges and United States, only add an apostrophe to form the possessive.

• "Maricopa Community Colleges’ student body"
• "The United States’ diplomatic efforts"

Single or multiple letters used as words and numbers (whether spelled out or in figures) form the plural by adding “s."

• "IOUs"
• "VCRs"
• "the 1900s"

Abbreviations ending with a period form the plural using “s” (no apostrophe).

• "Ph.D.s"
• "M.D.s"
• "Psy.D.s"

Capitalize racial and ethnic identifiers such as Black, Latino, Asian American, and Native American.

“Black” should only be lowercase when referring to a color, not a person.

Capitalize “Indigenous” when referring to original inhabitants of a place.

• "The Maricopa Community Colleges is committed to providing our Indigenous community with the tools to succeed."

Lowercase seasons, as well as derivatives like “wintertime,” unless part of a formal name.

• "the Winter Olympics"
• "Fall semester" (cap season only when referring to a particular semester)
• “In the summer, she plans on taking swimming lessons.”

Compound times are hyphenated.

• "35-minute test"
• "The test took 35 minutes."

Spell out noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use :00.

• "1 p.m., 3:30 a.m."
• "9 to 11 a.m." (morning only hours) or "9 a.m. to 11 p.m." (morning to evening hours)

O’clock is acceptable, but time listings with a.m. or p.m. (with periods) are preferred in the United States.

• "4 p.m." vs. "4 o’clock"

An en-dash can be used instead of “to.”

"9–11 a.m."

As a noun, use United States.

• “Brandeis is one of the youngest private research universities in the United States.”

As an adjective, use U.S. (no spaces).

“A U.S. senator will speak at Brandeis tomorrow.”

Spell out the names of the states when they appear alone and in the body of stories.

• “The governor of Massachusetts was re-elected.”

Use the following state abbreviations:

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

Never abbreviate the following states:

• Alaska
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Iowa
• Maine
• Ohio
• Texas
• Utah

Abbreviate the names of states when they appear with the name of a city, town, village or military base.

• "Waltham, Mass."
• "Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass."

Also use state abbreviations for the following:

• Datelines
• Lists
• Agate
• Tabular material
• Non-publishable editor's notes
• Credit lines
• Photo captions
• Short-form listings of party affiliation (e.g., D-Ala., R-Mont.)

State is lowercase.

• "the state of Arizona”

Capitalize course names, i.e., the titles of courses.

• "Anthropology 101: The Human Experience"

Do not italicize course titles or put quotation marks around them.

Subject names are not capitalized.

• “Our biology graduates”
• “the softball team”

Use language that is more inviting and less daunting for the target audience regarding the basic and overall process of attending and taking classes at Maricopa Community Colleges.

Use “enroll” for the basic process of being admitted to Maricopa Community Colleges. This is more inclusive and seems easier to do. Avoid “apply” or “applying,” which connotes the possibility of not getting admitted.

Only use “apply” for special programs or processes where a student must go through some kind of application process.

• “You must apply for nursing since it is a special grant-funded program.”
• “Apply for financial aid and scholarships.”

Use “register” when referring to adding classes.

• “Now that you have enrolled at Maricopa Community Colleges, you can register for classes.”

Capitalize the name of the event.

• "Sanford Institute Football Tournament"

Capitalize special program names.

• "Dual Enrollment high school program"
• "Dual Enrollment courses"

Use double quotes only in rare instances for clarity (not single quotes, unless needed for a quote within a quote).

• Phoenix College's "Dumpster Dive" To Determine How Much Trash is Recyclable
• Glendale CC to Participate in Free National "Teach-In" on Climate Change

Capitalize the entire name of the office, department, team/group, committee, etc.

• "Maricopa Community Colleges Governing Board"

Do not use italics or quotes for/around department names.

If words like “office," “department," or “division” are part of that group name, also capitalize that word.

• "Office of the Chancellor"

Use “and” and not “&” in a department/office name.

• "Marketing and Communications," not "Marketing & Communications"

For position titles, including faculty positions, use capitalization for the positions.

• "the Chancellor"
• "Chancellor Steven Gonzales"
• "Suzie Smith, Lecturer in English, Mesa Community College"

Following AP style, do not use honorifics (Mr., Mrs.). List someone’s full name on first reference and then use his or her last name.

• “Dan Smith is a student at MCC. Smith received a scholarship...”

AP Style does not use a serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma), bu Maricopa does. The serial comma is used after the last item in a list of three or more items, before “and” or “or."

• “In order to begin coursework, students will need to apply, enroll, and register for classes.”

Here is the preferred spelling for the following:

• Maricopa Nursing (not MaricopaNursing)
• Advisor (not adviser)
• Lifelong (not life-long)
• District-wide (not districtwide)
• Healthcare (not health care)
• Theater (not theatre). Use “theatre” if it is part of the official name. 
  • “The theater has many great plays.”
  • “The Hertzberg Theatre is producing Shakespeare’s plays.”
  • “Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft” area of study
  • “Technical Theatre”, CCL degree
    Note: Only the titles should have this spelling, other references within the course descriptions/degrees should be “theater.”

Introduce a bulleted list with a phrase that makes the list read like a continuous, flowing sentence.

Use parallel construction for each item in the list.

Here is a noun list:

"If awarded, the scholarship will cover the cost of:

• Tuition
• Books
• Supplies"

And a Call to Action (CTA) list:

"At Maricopa Community Colleges, you can participate in a variety of activities:

• Get involved with community projects
• Join the softball team
• Write for the school newspaper"

At the end of the phrase introducing the list, use a colon.

In front of each item, or to introduce each item, use a bullet.

Capitalize each item at the beginning.

Do not add punctuation at the end of each line, including after the last item in the list.

Sub-bullets are okay to use, but indent and use an open circle.

Use a numbered list when referring to steps or items that need to be numbered. Example:

"Enrollment has four steps:

1. Get admitted
2. Take placement tests
3. Register for courses
4. Pay tuition and fees"

Use a single space after a period.

Try to avoid really long sentences. Restructure to avoid cumbersome sentences or concepts. Also avoid too many conjunctions (and, or, but).

• Got
• That
• Which
• More
• Even
• Here
• In addition

Use concise transitions, i.e., instead of “in addition,” use “additionally.”

Use “however” sparingly.

If it would change the meaning to throw out a clause, you need a “that.” Do all cars use hybrid technology? No. So you would say, "Cars that have hybrid technology get great gas mileage."

Is every leaf green? No. So you would say, "Leaves that are green contain chlorophyll."

It would change the meaning to throw out the clause in those examples, so you need a “that.”

Also note the clause isn't surrounded by commas. Restrictive clauses usually aren't set off by commas.

That

Use “that” when the information you are including in the sentence limits or restricts the subject.

• "Gems that sparkle often elicit forgiveness."
  The words “that sparkle” restrict the kind of gems you are talking about. Without them, the meaning of the sentence would change.

Use “that” to describe a singular inanimate object or animal without a specific name.

Use “that” for essential clauses that are important to the meaning of the sentence.

• “I remember the day that I met my future wife.”

Which

If the phrase you want to include can be left off without changing the meaning of the sentence, use “which.” You can think of the phrase as additional information.

• “Diamonds, which are expensive, often elicit forgiveness.”

These phrases are usually set off by commas.

• “There was an earthquake in China, which is bad news.”

Use “which” when referring to plural inanimate objects or animals without names.

Use “which” for nonessential clauses where the pronoun is not necessary.

• “The team, which won the championship last year, begins their 2025 season next month.”

Don’t use “which” in reference to people. People should be “who.”

Who

Use “who” when it functions as the subject performing the action.

• “That’s the student who wrote the award-winning essay.”

Tip: If you’re unsure, replace “who” with “he/she/they” and see if it makes sense with the verb.

• “He wrote the award-winning essay.”

Whom

Use “whom” when it functions as an object receiving the action.

• “Whom do you like best?”

Tip: If you’re unsure, replace “whom” with “him/her/them” and see if it makes sense with the verb.

• “Do you like her best?”

When a describing word precedes the noun it modifies, it should be one word, unhyphenated (e.g., leftover pasta). When it follows the noun it modifies, it is usually two words.

• "There’s some pasta left over."

Sometimes, the unhyphenated word also can work as a noun.

• "We’re having leftovers."

Other Examples

backup/back up—One word as a noun or adjective referring to an accumulation or a form of support.

• “The sink overflowed because of all the backup.”
• “Chief, call for backup.”
  Two words as a verb.
• “Please back up when you are in line to give people room.”

giveaway/give away—One word as a noun, two words as a verb.

leftover/left over—One word as a noun, two as a verb.

makeup/make up—One word as a noun meaning composition or construction.

• “the patient’s psychological makeup”
  Also one word as a noun meaning cosmetics.
• “Young women often wear makeup.”
  Two words when a verb.
• “Please make up your mind about this.”

pickup/pick up—Whether you are talking about a truck, a UPS man fetching a package you want delivered, or succeeding with a romantic prospect, the noun is one word and the verb two.

• “The pickup truck was overflowing with boxes.”
• “Please pick up your trash.”

signoff/sign off—One word as a noun, two as a verb.

• “She gave us a signoff before going out of town.”
• “The boss will need to sign off on these documents.”

workout/work out—One word as a noun, two as a verb.

• “He likes to fit a workout into his schedule a few times a week.”
• “Please work out this problem with your coworkers.”

Do not add “or not” after “whether” in the following instances.

• When the whether clause is the object of a verb:
  • “She wonders whether the teacher will attend.” (the clause is the object of wonders)
• When the clause is the object of a preposition:
  • “The teacher will base his decision on whether the car has been repaired.” (the clause is the object of on)
• When the clause is the subject of the sentence: 
  • Whether the car will be ready depends on the mechanic.” (the clause is the subject of depends)

But do add “or not” after “whether” if:

• The clause modifies a verb:
  • “They will play tomorrow whether or not it rains.” (the clause modifies play)

Garner’s Modern American Usage says “or not” is only necessary when the phrase “whether or not” means “regardless of whether.”

Do not use the ampersand symbol (&) as a substitute for "and"—even in headlines and subheads. The exception would be if it is part of a company’s name (Johnson & Johnson) or terms such as Q&A and R&B.

For singular common nouns ending in s, add 's.

• "the hostess's invitation"
• "the witness's answer"

For plural nouns ending in “s,” add only an apostrophe.

• "the students' grades"
• "states' rights"

For singular proper names ending in “s,” use only an apostrophe.

• "Brandeis’ mission"

For singular proper names ending in “s” sounds such as x, ce, and z, use 's.

• "Marx's theories"

For plurals of a single letter, add 's.

• "She received all A's this semester."

For plurals of multiple letters, do not use an apostrophe.

• "VCRs were replaced by DVD players."

Do not use 's for plurals of numbers.

• "the 1960s"

Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence.

• “She promised this: The team will go to nationals this year. But: There were three issues with the project: expense, time, and feasibility.”

Colons go outside quotation marks unless they are part of the quoted material.

• “We are the Millennials”: Can we find a better definition of generational differences?"

Maricopa Community Colleges deviates from AP style by using a serial (or Oxford) comma.

• “Boston, Newton, and Cambridge are great cities.”

Use a comma to set off a person's hometown and age.

• “John Smith, Newton, was accepted to Brandeis.”
• “Jane Smith, 22, graduated yesterday.”

Avoid overuse of commas in web and marketing copy. If a sentence becomes too complex, simplify it through restructuring or break it into multiple sentences.

Use the em dash to expand on a thought or place emphasis on one.

• "Maricopa Community Colleges prepares you for success—whether you’re working toward a degree, building on your existing skillset, or enriching your life by learning a new craft or skill."

Use a hyphen for compound adjectives before the noun.

• "well-known student"
• "full-time job"
• "20-year sentence"

Do not use a hyphen when the compound modifier occurs after the verb.

• “The student was well known.”
• “She worked full time.”
• “He was sentenced to 20 years.”

Do not use a hyphen with compounds formed by an adverb ending in -ly plus an adjective, whether it’s before or after the noun.

• “The owner was a smartly dressed man.”

Insert a hyphen if the -ly word is not an adverb.

• “They prepare family-sized meals.”

Place a period outside a closing parenthesis if the material inside is not a sentence. If the material is an independent complete sentence, place the period inside the parentheses.

Use a single space after the period at the end of a sentence.

Do not put a space between initials.

• "C.S. Lewis"
• "J.K. Rowling"

To avoid using back-to-back parentheses, use a semicolon.

• Change “...has harmful outcomes (such as PTSD) (Rodgers & Freed, 2022)” to “...has many outcomes (such as PTSD; Rodgers & Freed, 2022).”

All punctuation marks except the colon and semicolon are always placed within quotation marks.

In dialogue, each person’s words are placed in a separate paragraph, with quotation marks at the beginning and end of each person’s speech.

Periods and commas always go within quotation marks.

Dashes, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation points go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted material. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

Use single marks for quotes within quotes.

• Smith said, "She told me, ‘I wish I had been accepted to Brandeis.'"

Application field and form names always go in quotation marks.

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Generally, avoid the use of semicolons in web and marketing copy.