Writing style guide

In general, avoid alphabet soup. If acronyms are necessary, on first reference, spell out the full name, followed by a comma and the word“or” with the acronym. The American Occupational Therapy Association, or AOTA.

Abbreviate compass points used to indicate directional ends of a street or quadrants of a city in a numbered address. E., W., S., N. would use periods. NW, SW, NE, SE would not. 13611 NW 1st Lane, Suite 200

When listing an address as part of a complete address with the city, state and zip code, the abbreviations for the state must be used with the zip code. Gainesville, FL 32603

Street, Avenue and Boulevard are only abbreviated when used with numbered addresses. Road and other related causeways such as court, drive, lane, way, etc. aren’t abbreviated. 123 Public Relations Blvd., 12 Brady St., 26 Media Ave., 1 Championship Road.

When writing about decades, do not include an apostrophe. 1920s

Apostrophes and pronouns: Personal pronouns do not include apostrophes. The dog was wagging its tail.

Identify all alumni with the degree program and class year.
The term alumni refers to two or more graduates (groups of male or male and female). Alumnus refers to one male graduate. Alumna refers to one female graduate. Alumnae is plural for two or more female graduates. Examples:

Alumna: feminine singular Jane is an alumna of the college

Alumnus: male singular Jake is an alumnus of the college

Alumnae: feminine plural Jane and Jill are alumnae of the college

Alumni: male and mixed gender plural Jake and Jill are alumni

When quoting a source, place the person’s name ahead of the verb. Smith said, not said Smith.

Outside of proper nouns, such as company names, the symbol & should not be used in place of the word and.

In general, most nouns (and other words) in a sentence are not capitalized. If in doubt, err on the side of not capitalizing. Fields of study are not capitalized.

Capitalize the first word after a colon in a sentence if it is a proper noun, starts a complete sentence or begins a question.

No serial or Oxford comma before the “and” in a simple series.

Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction. I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast.

Use a comma also before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases. The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude.

Also, use a comma before “and” in a compound sentence.

When quoting a source, the period and the comma always go within the quotation marks.

Use full name on first reference and CDC on second reference.

Lowercase when referring to courses and classes. I took psychology class. Uppercase if referring to a specific name of a class or the class uses a proper noun or numeral. I took Psychology 6500.

On first reference, use University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions. UF PHHP is acceptable on second reference.

Magazine and newspaper titles aren’t italicized; just capitalized. For composition titles such as books, journal articles, video games, films, TV shows, works of art, speeches, etc., use quotation marks.

Month, day: Use numerals for days without st, nd, rd or th. Do not separate months and years with a comma. When referencing a month or a month and year without days, spell out all months. No comma is needed between the two. When referencing a complete date — month, day and year — spell out the day of the week and abbreviate the month Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone. January 2016 was a cold month. Jan. 2 was the coldest day of the month. His birthday is May 8. Feb. 14, 2013, was the target date. She testified that it was Friday, Dec. 3, when the crash occurred. For times, use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. Use “to” to separate times in a range: 11:30 a.m. to noon; 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. The event will be held from noon to 4 p.m.

Capitalize the proper names of degrees, such as Master of Public Health. Use lowercase when referring to degrees in general. She has master’s degrees in public health and physical therapy.

For credentials, use periods in degrees with two or three letters, and omit them when there are four or more letters. Ph.D., M.P.H., OTR/L

Do not precede a name with a courtesy title for an academic degree and follow it with the abbreviation for the degree in the same reference. June Jones, Ph.D., not Dr. June Jones, Ph.D. When used after a name, an academic abbreviation is set off by commas. June Jones, Ph.D., spoke at the conference.

Use uppercase for department names, per UF style. Use the word “and” instead of an ampersand in those departments that have the conjunction. Department acronyms are acceptable on second reference in internal communications. PHHP departments include:

Department of Biostatistics
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology
Department of Environmental and Global Health
Department of Epidemiology
Department of Health Services Research, Management and Policy
Department of Occupational Therapy
Department of Physical Therapy
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

E.g.: and I.e.:
Note that both e.g. and i.e. are always followed by a comma and are not italicized. In text, it is preferable to use terms such as “for example” or “that is” rather than abbreviations.

No hyphen.

The long dash (—) is called an em-dash (so called because it is approx. the width of a capital letter M in the typeface being used). Insert a space before and after the em-dash. One of the most common uses of the em-dash is to signal an abrupt change in thought in a sentence. Through her long reign, the queen and her family have adapted — usually skillfully — to the changing taste of the time.

When preceded by “from” in text, use the word “to,” not the en-dash. The event will be held from 9 to 11 am.

Headlines should be in sentence case. Only the first word should be capitalized unless it is an official name of a facility, city or state. The subhead should be treated the same.

Two words unless part of a proper name.

Think of hyphens as an aid to readers’ comprehension. If a hyphen makes the meaning clearer, use it. If it just adds clutter and distraction to the sentence, don’t use it.

Do use a hyphen if it’s needed to make the meaning clear and avoid unintended meanings. small-business owner, better-qualified candidate, little-known song

Hyphenate well- combinations before a noun, but not after. A well-known judge, but the judge is well known.

Don’t capitalize when preceding a name. ….said interim President Albert E. Gator

Its is possessive. It’s is a contraction for it is.

Only capitalize formal titles when they precede an individual’s name. If it falls after, lowercase. Mayor John Appleseed signed the proclamation; John Appleseed, mayor of Leominster, Massachusetts, attended the banquet. Some helpful tips include:

Always check the accuracy of the academic title before publishing. This can easily be done with the college, department or unit’s communicator who will be able to share the most relevant information for that person. Or look at their profile in the UF Health Directory.

Do not assume any faculty member is a full professor. Check with the department if necessary. Sometimes titles reflecting recent appointments or promotions do not immediately appear in campus directories or websites.

Avoid preceding a name with a long title.

When including links in the narrative, avoid copying and pasting in URLs. Instead, incorporate links into the text. Information on tuition costs is available on the College of Public Health and Health Professions website versus Information on tuition costs is available at https://mph.ufl.edu/prospective-students/costs-and-financial-aid/. This improves accessibility for anyone using a screen reader.

Do NOT capitalize majors, programs, specializations or concentrations of study when they are not part of a designated degree. She received a bachelor’s in public health. She majored in neuroscience.

When using a month with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec., and spell out when using alone or with just a year. Hint: The months never abbreviated fall chronologically and are five letters or fewer: March, April, May, June and July. The seasons — winter, spring, summer and fall — are never capitalized.

Write out numbers one through nine; use figures for 10 and above. Jodie bought three apples and 12 kiwis. For percentages, use numerals with “%.” The # can be used on images but No. is preferred for headlines and copy.

One word.

Use dashes between numbers. 000-000-0000

Use third-person language for external communications. The college was the first of its kind situated within an academic health center.

Apostrophes: When writing about decades, do not include an apostrophe. 1920s Personal pronouns do not include apostrophes. The dog was wagging its tail.

Capitalization: In general, most nouns (and other words) in a sentence are not capitalized. If in doubt, err on the side of not capitalizing. Also, fields of study are not capitalized.

Capitalization after colons: Capitalize the first word after a colon in a sentence if it is a proper noun, starts a complete sentence, or begins a question.

Commas: No serial or Oxford comma before the “and” in a simple series. Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction: I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast. Use a comma also before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases. The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude. Also, use a comma before “and” in a compound sentence. When quoting a source, the period and the comma always go within the quotation marks.

The appropriate style for referencing UF’s accreditor’s name is Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Include the abbreviation in parentheses (SACSCOC) following the first reference to the organization in a section. Do not use “SACS.” In accreditation report narratives, use this paragraph description on first reference to UF’s accreditation status:

The University of Florida is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate, baccalaureate, masters, education specialist, and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of the University of Florida.

A concentration area within the Master of Public Health and the Ph.D. in public health. Use lowercase in external communications.

One space between sentences, not two.

Follow AP style when listing states. The names of the 50 U.S. states should be spelled out when used in the body of a story, whether standing alone or in conjunction with a city, town, village or military base.

The terms first-year student, second-year student, third-year student and fourth-year student are preferred by the university administration for freshman, sophomore, junior and senior, respectively, in all uses.

The University of Florida is the institution’s official name and is used on all formal occasions and on first reference. On the second and additional references, “Florida” is recommended. For further references for brevity and limitation of space, “UF” should be used. Do not capitalize common uses of university.

Refers collectively to the UF Health colleges, hospitals, UF Health Physician outpatient practices and the associated facilities and programs. UF Health may be used in the copy when referencing the collective academic health center. Never abbreviate UF Health to UFH.

UF Health should be spelled out as University of Florida Health on the first reference in the text or body copy and may be written as UF Health on subsequent references.

When written as text or body copy, there should always be a space between UF and Health. UF Health versus UFHealth.

View a list of the formal names of UF Health facilities and services.

Use periods in the abbreviation, U.S. within texts. In headlines, it’s US (no periods).

According to AP, “From our perspective, use is always better than utilize. It’s shorter, more conversational and means the same thing.”

Versus should be spelled out. Only in short expressions is versus shortened to vs. cat vs. dog

One word, lowercase.

Websites and URLs:
If you are listing a website address on a printed document or in a digital space, do not use http:// or www. in front of the address. Examples of appropriate uses: ufl.edu and college.ufl.edu. The recommendation is not to use www., but please check to be sure your website functions without this.