Writing Guidelines
To promote consistency in its communications, Holy Cross adheres to the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, with certain exceptions that are particular to the College.
For current College data, please refer to the At a Glance.
If you have a question about editorial style, please call the Office of Public Affairs at (508) 793-2419. Following is a frequent-use guide.
academic degrees—Capitalize abbreviations for degrees and professional designations, placing them only after proper names and separating them with periods, e.g., John Smith, A.B. (often B.A. elsewhere for bachelor of arts), B.S., Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S. Lowercase when degrees are spelled out, e.g., bachelor of arts degree in history.
academic titles—Refer to professors and administrators by full name, rank and affiliation (not capitalized, unless a proper noun), e.g., John Smith, professor of biology; Mary Doe, associate professor of English; Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president. Only capitalize titles and affiliations when preceding a name, e.g., Professor John Smith, Associate Director Jane Brown. The title "Dr." is used only when referring to a medical doctor.
academic years—lowercase first-year, sophomore, junior, senior, e.g., senior John Doe, or John Doe ’08.
ALANA—abbreviation for African-Amercian, Latin American, Asian American, Native American.
alumna—singular female graduate.
alumnae—plural female graduates.
alumni—plural male graduates, or male and female graduates collectively.
alumnus—singular male graduate.
a.m./p.m. —lowercase, periods between letters, e.g., 10 a.m. or 10:00 a.m.; noon or midnight, not 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. In time spans, use en dashes and no spaces between times, e.g., 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
baccalaureate—lowercase “b”
Baccalaureate Mass—uppercase “B” and “M”
Board of Trustees—uppercase formal name, but lowercase “the board.”
building names—capitalize the names of the College’s buildings, e.g., Fenwick Hall, Hogan Campus Center, St. Joseph Memorial Chapel, Dinand Library. But lowercase string of halls, e.g., Fenwick, O’Kane and Stein halls.
Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture—no ampersand (&). It is optional to precede Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture with “the,” but do not capitalize, unless it starts a sentence.
central Massachusetts—lowercase “c”
century—lowercase, spelling out numbers less than 10: the first century, the 21st century.
city of Worcester—lowercase “c”
class years—avoid “freshman(men), upperclassman(men)” and instead use first-year student(s), sophomore(s), junior(s), senior(s), or upper-class student(s) when referring to juniors or seniors. Numerically present class years with apostrophe preceding last two digits of year and no comma between last name and class year, e.g., John Smith ’08. In cases of graduates from previous centuries, give full year, e.g., John Smith 1908. Lowercase “c” in “class of” construction, e.g., John Smith, class of 1908.
cocurricular—no hyphen. Cocurricular implies activities or initiatives which are complementary and go hand-in-hand with the curriculum, while extracurricular implies activities which are additional with no particular relationship to the curriculum.
coed, coeducational—no hyphen
College of the Holy Cross—use the institution’s full name on first reference, College of the Holy Cross. The shortened Holy Cross may be used subsequently, or just “the College,” with capital “C.” It is optional to precede College of the Holy Cross with “the,” but do not capitalize, unless it starts a sentence, since “the” is not part of the formal institution name. Never Holy Cross College. Possessive form of Holy Cross is s’, e.g., Holy Cross’ mission statement.
commencement—lowercase
composition titles—put quotation marks around book titles, movie titles, song titles, play titles, poem titles, television program titles, and titles of lectures, speeches and works of art.
dates—spell out months alone or with a year alone, e.g., November; December 2008. Abbreviate months when together with dates (except March, April, May, June, July), e.g., Nov. 7, 2008; June 25, 2008. Do not use ordinals in dates, e.g., Nov. 7, not Nov. 7th. For date spans, use en dash with no spaces between dates, e.g., Dec. 15–20.
department names— Uppercase formal department names, e.g., Department of Biology. Lowercase informal department names, e.g., psychology department, except when it includes proper nouns, e.g., English department.
dollars—for dollar figures equal to or more than one million dollars, present as, e.g., $1 million; $10 billion. For dollar figures less than $1 million present as, e.g., $900,000; $250; $9.99; $4. Do not follow the numerals with the word, dollars.
ellipsis—indicates deletion of one or more words to condense text, constructed with three periods and one space on either … side. If words preceding an ellipsis make a complete sentence, place a period at the end of the complete sentence, followed by a space, followed by three periods. …
em dash—a long dash that separates clauses within a sentence—no space on either side. (To access in Word tool bar, go to Insert, select Symbols, select Special Characters.)
e-mail—lowercase, with hyphen
en dash—a medium dash used to indicate duration, with no spaces on either side, e.g., 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; 7–10 years old; Jan. 3–7. Also used in phone numbers, no spaces on either side, e.g., (508) 793–2300. (To access in Word tool bar, go to Insert, select Symbols, select Special Characters.)
extracurricular—no hyphen. Extracurricular implies activities which are additional with no particular relationship to the curriculum, while cocurricular implies activities or initiatives which are complementary and go hand-in-hand with the curriculum.
Father/Fr. —on second reference, use abbreviated Fr. preceding last name, e.g., Fr. McFarland. On first reference, use abbreviated Rev. for Reverend preceding full name, e.g., Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Use only S.J. (Society of Jesus) preceded by comma on first, full reference.
GPA—grade point average, no periods.
Greater Worcester—uppercase “G”
The Hill—informal nickname for the Holy Cross campus.
hyphen—short dash used to join words and to split words at line breaks.
Internet—uppercase “I”
intranet—lowercase “i”
MA—postal address abbreviation for Massachusetts.
Mass—uppercase “M” for religious service.
Mass.—geographic, non-postal abbreviation for Massachusetts.
months—spell out months alone or with a year alone, e.g., November; December 2008. Abbreviate months when together with dates (except March, April, May, June, July), e.g., Nov. 7, 2008; June 25, 2008. Do not use ordinals in dates, e.g., Nov. 7, not Nov. 7th.
Mount St. James—not Mt. St. James, nor Mt. Saint James, nor Mount Saint James.
nonprofit—no hyphen
numerals—spell out numerals one through nine, use numerals for 10 and above
office names—uppercase in formal form, e.g., Office of Admissions. Lowercase in informal form, e.g., admissions office.
online—lowercase, no hyphen
ordinals—spell out first through ninth, use numerals for 10th and above. Do not use ordinals in dates, e.g., Nov. 10, not Nov. 10th.
parent of student—no comma after last name, one space, then capital “P” and class year that student graduates/graduated without apostrophe and without space, e.g., Jane Doe P08.
percent—spell out when used in body text, e.g., 10 percent; eight percent. Use all numerals and % symbol within tables and graphs.
possessive form of Holy Cross—no s following the apostrophe, e.g., Holy Cross’ mission statement; Holy Cross’ campus is on a hill.
prebusiness—no hyphen
prelaw—no hyphen
premedical—no hyphen
publication names— italicize names of newspapers, magazines and news journals.
Reverend—abbreviate when preceding a name, e.g., Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Subsequent references use abbreviated Fr. McFarland (no S.J.).
seasons—lowercase spring, summer, winter, fall.
S.J. —Use only S.J. (Society of Jesus) preceded by comma on first reference, e.g., Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Subsequent references, e.g., Fr. McFarland.
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel—not St. Joseph’s Chapel.
student-athlete, student-scholar—hyphenate
state of Massachusetts—lowercase in state and commonwealth of constructions: the state of Massachusetts; the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Abbreviation in non-postal form: Mass., e.g., Located in Worcester, Mass., Holy Cross is exclusively undergraduate. Postal address abbreviation: MA
team names—use capital letters in first letters of teams, e.g., Men’s Basketball. If the word “team” is used, do not capitalize the word team itself, e.g., Women’s Cross Country team. Teams that are one gender need not indicate men’s or women’s, e.g., Football team, Field Hockey.
telephone numbers/extensions—area codes in parentheses, e.g., (508) 793-2419; or with out parentheses, e.g., 508-793-2419. Extensions, e.g., x2419.
The Hill—informal nickname for the Holy Cross campus.
upper-class student(s)—indicating junior or senior, with hyphen. Not upperclassman/men, nor upperclasswoman/women.
URLs—lowercase Web site addresses. Unless necessary, no http:// preceding and no underline, e.g., www.holycross.edu. Do underline Web links, e.g., click on Admissions.
Web—capital “W” (shorthand for World Wide Web), e.g., Web site.
www.holycross.edu—no http:// preceding, no underline.
Zip code—for Holy Cross + 4 is 01610-2395