Style & Mechanics -- Quick Reference

Numbers:

Spell out numbers from zero to ten.

Use numerals for numbers 11 and higher AND in these usages:

Exact amounts of money:   $4 million    $6.50

Decimals, fractions and percentages:   6.9    5 1/2     7 percent

Scores:  The Illini won 10 to 6.

Page and chapter numbers:   page 3    Chapter 9

Dates and addresses:   October 5,  2004       33 Main Street

Time of day:    9:00 a.m. (but spell it out if using the word "o'clock":  nine o'clock)

Data, statistics, measurements & specifications, especially in technical descriptions:

• 2 megabytes (or 2M) of RAM

• 4' by 4' cabinet

• results of 3%, 11% and 99%

Spell out numbers that begin sentences:

• Sixty-eight thousand fans watched Illinois beat Iowa.

Capitals:

DO NOT capitalize:

Titles that follow proper names:

• Joe Miller, physics professor, is chairman of the department.
• Robert Dole, senator from Kansas, ... 
• Don Hays, sales manager, ...
• Mary Smith, president,  ...

BUT do capitalize a formal title if it precedes a person's name:

• Professor Joe Miller
• Senator Robert Dole
• Sales Manager Don Hays
• President Mary Smith

Generic job titles and descriptions, whether or not they precede a person's name:

• veterinarian Kevin Johnson
• Ann Stone, architect
• bank examiner Jay Brown

Compass directions:   south    western     northeast

BUT do capitalize directional words when they designate specific regions:

• voters from the South
• Midwest sales territory
• the Northeast's bitter winters

Seasons and academic terms:    spring    fall quarter    senior year

Terms that designate relationships:

• My aunt will arrive tomorrow.
• The mother quieted the crying child.

But do capitalize the word if it forms part of a name:

• My Aunt Grace will arrive tomorrow.
• I asked Mother to meet me here.

Common nouns used in place of proper nouns:

• an economics course
• our company's annual report

But do capitalize words that are part of titles:   Economics 101     The 2004 Annual Report

And do capitalize words that designate races, nationalities and their languages:  
      African Americans       English 101      the French translation      Latin music

But do not capitalize:   blacks   whites   

Abbreviations:

If you will be using an unfamiliar acronym or abbreviation several times in a document, spell out the term and enclose the abbreviation in parentheses when you refer to it for the first time.

• The Association of Midwest Title Attorneys (AMTA) will host the conference.

Familiar acronyms and abbreviations can be used without spelling out the full titles: 
     IBM   USSR   CIA     JFK   YMCA

Note: In modern usage, periods between the letters are not necessary.

Do not abbreviate the words incorporated, and (&), company or brothers unless the word is part of an official name of a company:

• The printing company is owned by the Miller brothers.
• The Miller Bros. Printing Company submitted the high bid.

Do not abbreviate the following terms if used within sentences in non-technical writing:

Measurements & percentages:

• John is six feet tall (not 6" or 6 ft.).

• 22 percent (not 22%)

Geographical names

• He lives on Washington Boulevard (not Wash. Blvd.)

• She is visiting Hampshire, England. (not Eng.)

Names of days, months and holidays:

• I'll be arriving on October 3.    (not Oct.)

• We'll meet on the first Monday after Christmas.   (not Mon. or Xmas)

Names of people:   Robert Frost (not Robt.)     James Smith (not Jas.)

Labels for divisions in written works:   page 99    Chapter 21   Volume Six    Section II

Italics

Note:  Italic type and underlining mean the same thing. In the past, typewriters usually had just one font, so  underlining was used to tell typesetters to set the words in italic type when formatting the document for publication. Today, with the widespread use of word processors, it's preferable to use italics instead of underlining.

Use italics for titles of works that appear independently (are not part of another publication):

• Books:  Little, Brown Handbook     John Grisham's The Firm    

• Plays:   Romeo & Juliet      Death of a Salesman     

• Pamphlets:   Thomas Paine's Common Sense     How to fill out the Form 1040

• Long poems and musical works:   Paradise Lost     Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro   

• Published speeches:  Lincoln's Gettysburg Address    

• Magazines and newspapers:   Newsweek      Journal of Consumer Behavior     USA Today

• Movies, television shows and videotapes:   Forrest Gump     Law & Order     Sweatin' to the Oldies

• Works of art:   Michelangelo's David

• Major web sites:   WebMD      PriceScan      MSNBC     BizWeb Guide
  But do not italicize if referring to the site by its URL:   Microsoft.com    www.webmd.com

Use quotation marks for other titles, including:

• Short stories:  "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote

• Articles in magazines and newspapers:   "City council approves new tax"

• Articles and documents within web sites:  "Symptoms of diabetes"  

Other terms that should be italicized: 

• Names of ships, aircraft, spacecraft and trains:  Queen Elizabeth 2    Apollo VIII     City of New Orleans

• Foreign words and phrases that are not part of "standard" English:   joie de vivre    
  This includes Latin terms that denote names of species:  Australopithecus     Lepidoptera

• Words (and characters named as words) when you are citing them as words rather than using them for their meaning: 
      The definition of hubris is "arrogance" or "exaggerated self-importance".
      The first syllable is pronounced hyou and the second syllable ends with a hard s sound.