(Updated August 2004)

The Publications Office uses as its primary references The Associated Press Stylebook and Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th edition). In addition, we refer to The Chicago Manual of Style as a secondary source for information not supplied in the primary references. The following guide draws from these sources, lists some exceptions to them, and also lists some words and phrases specific to Swarthmore College.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

academic degrees
a bachelor of arts, a bachelor’s degree, a master of fine arts, an M.F.A., a master’s (Note: The possessive pronoun—her doctorate—is not used.)
She has a bachelor (or master) of arts degree in English literature.
He is getting a master’s in dance. (Note: Not “his” master’s)
She has nearly completed an M.S. in mechanical engineering. (M.A., Ph.D., LL.D., etc.)

Honorary degree recipients:

nonalumni: Gilbert Kalish H’36
alumni: indicate only the earned degree, not the honorary degree: Eugene Lang ’38

academic grades
Capitalize and use roman typeface (e.g., A, B+).

academic majors
Lowercase general references (e.g., biology major).

accent marks
Follow first listing in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th edition): cliché, protégé(e), résumé.

acronyms
Spell out for first citation and follow with acronym in parentheses:
The Council on Educational Policy (CEP) adopted new procedures. The CEP paved the way for improved policies.

The following are some student groups or national organizations with campus chapters. Spell out the complete title for the first reference with the acronym following in parentheses; for subsequent references, use only the acronym without parentheses. For the titles of additional student groups, see Swarthmore’s student activities page at www.swarthmore.edu/students/activities/clubs-cultural.htm.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Deshi: Swarthmore South Asian Association (DESHI)
Dialogue for Peace Initiative (DPI)
Hispanic Organization for Latin American Awareness (HOLA)
Im Tirtzu: Zionists for a Two-State Solution (Im Tirtzu)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Model United Nations (Model U.N.)
MULTI (an organization for students of mixed ethnic or racial heritage)
Muslim Students Association (MSA) (Note: students, plural)
Native American Student Organization (NASA)
Students of Caribbean Ancestry (SOCA)
Swarthmore African-American Student Society (SASS) (Note: hyphen in this title to follow group’s Web site, but African American elsewhere as noun and adjective—no hyphen—unless following a particular title style)
Swarthmore African Students Association (SASA)
Swarthmore Asian Organization (SAO)
Swarthmore International Relations Organization (SIRO)
Swarthmore Progressive Action Committee (SPAC)
Tri-College Outdoor Orientation Program (TROOP)

addresses (see also cities and states)
postal

Spell out Avenue, Street, and Boulevard.
Delete commas between city and state when zip code is used.
Use only one space between state and zip code.
Print e-mail addresses as all lowercase: cbrevar1@swarthmore.edu.

World Wide Web

Do not alter uppercase and lowercase; Web is case sensitive.

adviser (not advisor), but translator, supervisor

ages
Use numerals: His daughter is 3 years old. (whole numbers—no fractions or decimals)

a.k.a.

alumnus (male, singular), alumna (female, singular), alumnae (female, plural), alumni (male or male and female, plural)
Alumni Association
Alumni Banquet
Alumni Collection, Collection
Alumni College, Alumni College Abroad, alumni trip
Alumni Council (but council)
Alumni Day
Alumni Fund, Annual Fund
Alumni Weekend
parade, the (Alumni Weekend)

a.m., p.m.

apostrophe
Use with possessives: five years’ worth, Agnes’ book

With the letter s:
Add ’s to singular common nouns unless the next word starts with an s: the boss’s office, the boss’ staff.
Use apostrophe alone following proper names ending with an “s”: Agnes’ home.
Use before class years: ’87 (shift-option-] on a Macintosh).

the Board of Managers, Board, Manager, Young Alumni Manager, capitalize only when referring to Swarthmore

buildings
Use official campus map (found at the back of the course catalog) for proper building names

Bulletin, Swarthmore College Bulletin; alumni magazine (note: not Alumni Bulletin)

catalog (not catalogue), the more commonly used name for the issue of the Swarthmore College Bulletin listing courses and departmental information

Center City Philadelphia

cities and states
Familiar abbreviations are acceptable in Class Notes and informal text: LA, NYC.

Spell out state names when referring to the state alone:
She lived in Arizona.
These eight states are never abbreviated in text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah.
Abbreviate the other 42 states after the name of a city:

She moved from Phoenix, Ariz., to Ames, Iowa. (note comma following “Ariz.”)

Use postal abbreviations (IA, PA, CT, MS) only when giving a complete address including zip code:
Bonnie Miller has moved to 814 Sunnyside Drive, Phoenix AZ 70123. (Note: Comma omitted following city)

class

Generally lowercase: class dinner, class officers, the class, class reunion
Exceptions: the Class of ’27, Class Notes (when referring to the section in the Bulletin)

Do not capitalize class years: freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior.

Collection, First Collection, Last Collection

colleges and universities (see also Swarthmore, Swarthmoreans)
Familiar abbreviations are acceptable in Class Notes and informal text: NYU, UCLA, UMass, U. of Pa. or UPenn.
Universities with several campuses are denoted with an en-dash (see dashes) as follows: SUNY-Stony Brook, UC-Davis.

Unless part of a proper name (Williams College), “college” is capitalized only when referring to Swarthmore and preceded by “the”:
He returned to the College for his 20th reunion.

commas
adjectives
Use a comma between adjectives if the word “and” works equally well:
a smart, diverse student body.
Don’t use a comma between adjectives if you can’t replace it with the word “and”:
the old gray mare.

ages
List ages with a comma on both sides:
Eileen, 17, and Ellen, 15, both play soccer.

clauses
Use a comma to separate clauses in a sentence only if each clause has a subject and a verb:
John is teaching religion, and he hopes to do so again next year.
John is teaching religion and hopes to do so again next year.

dates
Use commas before and after the year in a full date: April 1, 1993, was a Monday.
Don’t use a comma when there’s only a month and year: the May 1996 Bulletin.

essential clauses, nonessential clauses
The AP Stylebook has a useful section on the use of commas with essential and nonessential clauses and phrases; in summary, nonessential clauses (i.e., those with extra information) must be set off by commas, and essential clauses (i.e., those with required information) must not be set off by commas:

Tom’s friend Chris was his best man. (Because Tom has more than one friend, “Chris” is essential and is not set off by commas.)
His wife, Elizabeth, is a lawyer. (He has only one wife, so giving her name is nonessential.)
Note:In casual writing, the possessive may be omitted, in which case the commas are omitted as well: Wife Elizabeth is a lawyer.

introductory phrases
Use a comma following all introductory phrases.

quotes
Use a comma to introduce a quote of one full sentence: Mary asserted, “He was not here at the time.”
Use a colon to introduce quotes of more than one sentence.
No comma is needed to introduce a partial quote: Mary asserted that he was “not here at the time.”
A comma is used instead of a period when attribution follows a complete sentence: “He was not here at the time,” asserted Mary.
Commas are always placed inside quotation marks.

serial comma
Use a comma before the conjunction: Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford (Note: This Swarthmore style preference is an exception to The Associated Press Stylebook.)

suffixes
Don’t use commas before or after Jr. or Sr.: John Smith Jr. ’50, John Smith Sr. ’20.
Avoid construction using M.D. after name.

course, honors, the Course Program, the Honors Program

course or seminar names should be capitalized, not in quotes or italics

cross-country (noun, adj.)

dashes
An en-dash (option-hyphen on a Macintosh) is used:
between numbers or dates (1996-1997)
in university names where there is more than one campus
(UC-Berkeley [see colleges and universities])
in compound adjectives with one element consisting of two words
(Pennsylvania-New Jersey area)
in words with a double hyphen (non-self-governing)

An em-dash (shift-option-hyphen on a Macintosh) is used when a dash is desired (e.g., for an abrupt shift in a sentence) without spaces on either side:

“The frozen turkey was the murder weapon—but you know that, don’t you?”

dates
Abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec., and write out March, April, May, June, and July.

Do not abbreviate months when they stand alone or with a year alone:
She gave her first performance on Aug. 3, and her next will be in February 1997. (Note: Not Aug. 3rd)

In formal text and alumni event invitations, months may be written out, even if with a specific date.

When announcing upcoming events, it is useful to include the day of the week:

The lecture will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. in Kohlberg Hall. (Note: Comma follows 23)

decision making (noun), decision-making (adj.)

departments, academic and administrative
Departments, divisions, offices, and programs are capitalized only when full name is used: Chemistry Department, Alumni Office, Education Program, the Division of the Humanities, psychology, economics, development (see also titles)

dimensions: 3- to 7-inch layer, 2- by 4-foot rectangle

directions
In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, when they indicate compass direction:
Drive east on I-80 until you cross the Mississippi.
Capitalize when they designate regions:
A storm system that developed in the Midwest is heading eastward.

DuPont Science Building

Elderhostel

ellipses
A three-point ellipsis, with a space before and after but not between points, is used midsentence to indicate deleted text. A four-point ellipsis, with a space after but not before, is used to denote the end of a complete sentence:

The weather forecasters predicted rain tomorrow ... and a warm and sunny weekend.
“Good morning.... Our first item is a sales report,” read the director’s memo.

emeritus, emerita, emeriti
Samuel Clark, professor emeritus of history
Professor Emerita Helen North

faculty, staff
Use faculty members and staff members to avoid awkward singular constructions.

Garnet, the, referring to sports teams, singular

The Garnet Letter (development newsletter)

Garnet Sage, an alumnus or alumna whose class graduated 50 or more years ago; Supreme Sage, president of the 50th reunion class

gray, not grey

Halcyon, student yearbook

honors, course, the Honors Program, the Course Program, high honors, highest honors

hyphen
Never hyphenate adverbs ending in “ly” and adjectives: the newly elected president
Do not hyphenate African American, Korean American, Mexican American, when used as nouns or adjectives.


Do not hyphenate:
freelance (in accordance with Webster’s)
policy maker

Do hyphenate:
Anglo-American
cross-country team (adj.)
decision-making (adj.) (But: No hyphen as noun)
need-blind admissions policy
part-time (adj.) (He has a part-time job. But: He works part time.)
policy-making (adj.) (But: No hyphen as noun)

Inc.
Abbreviate and do not precede by comma

italics
Italicize titles of books, plays, newspapers, magazines, operas, ships, movies, television program titles, paintings, exhibits, record titles, works of art, famous statues, and long musical compositions

Italicize foreign words if they don’t appear in the regular part of the dictionary

Italicize apostrophe “s” (The Bulletin’s editors ...)

junior, senior
Abbreviate as Jr. and Sr., and do not precede by a comma: Edward Borer Jr. ’80

Kendal at Longwood, Kendal and Crosslands

law school, lower case unless part of an official school name

medical school, lower case unless part of an official school name

meetinghouse, monthly meeting, Friends meeting, Friends Meetinghouse

millennium (lowercase and note double l and double n)

newspapers: follow exact title style (check if The is part of actual title for each one)

Delaware County Daily Times (The is not part of title)
The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Inquirer
The New York Times, the Times
The New Yorker
The Phoenix
The Washington Post
The Village Voice, the Voice

non
Refer to dictionary; most words with this prefix don’t have a hyphen: nonacademic, nonprofit.

numbers
Spell out whole numbers below 10, and use figures for 10 and above.

Spell out first through ninth, use figures for 10th and above: the first victory, the 21st century

Spell out when beginning sentences: Three hundred students attended Last Collection.

Use figures for times, measurements, decimals, fractions, percentages, sports scores, and ages:
3 ounces, 3.5, 3 percent, final score was 5-2, the child was 5 years old.

OK (not okay)

Parents Weekend (no apostrophe)

The Phoenix, student newspaper

pre
Do not hyphenate as prefix (premed, preseason), unless followed by a word beginning with e:
pre-eminent, pre-empt.

post
Close up prefix (postgraduate, postwar).

punctuation
Refer to “A Guide to Punctuation” in The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual

Quaker form of address
According to Mary Ellen Grafflin Chijioke ’67: “The traditional Quaker practice is to use a person’s full name in place of titles, for example, in formal relationships and in documents like minutes. Just how full depended on what the user knew and what the person preferred. Married women did tend to keep their maiden names as a middle name, so that the most frequent form of a full name for a married woman was first name, maiden name, married name. Inclusion of the maiden name was also a matter of identification: Given the requirement of intermarriage and the tendency to re-use the same names within a family, there were an awful lot of people with the same first and last names.

“In the abstract one might hear, ‘This Friend speaks my mind,’ but it was not normal to use ‘Friend’ as a title, e.g., ‘Friend Brown.’

“The refusal to use titles was linked to the same testimony as the refusal of doffing one’s hat to superiors or of rising for judges: Such displays of honor fed pride in the recipient. Early Quakers always leveled down, not up!”

Swarthmore College has tended to keep this aspect of Quaker tradition, in part, because of the practicality of using maiden names for identification among classmates who knew each other before they were married, although generally the full name is used only on first reference.

If you wish to use a Quaker-styled salutation in a letter, the following form may be used:

Anne Brooke Smith ’37
123 Main Street
Warrenton VA 12345

Dear Anne Smith,

Quaker matchbox

quotes
Capitalize first word of a quote unless it’s midsentence, and precede by a comma (if the quote is one sentence or less) or a colon (if the quote is longer than one sentence).

Use quotation marks for titles of poems, short stories, lectures, short musical compositions, song titles, titles of articles within magazines and newspapers, book chapter titles, and dance titles (see also italics)

reunion
Lowercase reunion:
the reunion, class reunion, reunion dinner, reunion plans, 50th reunion

But: Fiftieth-Reunion Gift Fund (because it’s a specific fund)

seasons
Lowercase spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Swarthmore, Swarthmoreans
Always write out in formal text (Swat, Swatties, S’more, and S’moreans OK in Class Notes but discouraged in formal writing).

theater, unless referring to a specific name or Swarthmore’s Theatre Studies Dept.

till (not ’till), acceptable for “until”

times
Use figures except for noon and midnight: 9 a.m., 10 p.m.

titles
Capitalize titles only when they appear immediately before a proper name:
Professor Bernard Saffran visited the class.
Alfred H. Bloom, president of Swarthmore College, addressed the nervous parents.
The president held open office hours.

Courtesy titles (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss) are generally not used (see Quaker form of address)

United States (noun) U.S. (adj.); United Nations (noun) U.N. (adj.)

Ville, the, referring to the borough of Swarthmore

CLASS NOTES STYLE GUIDELINES

Names of classmates and other alumni
Boldface the name of every classmate or other alumna/us. Initial cap names; do not use all caps.

Delete middle initial unless to differentiate between two class members with the same name.

The first time an alumna is mentioned, give the first name, maiden name, and married name (if applicable):

Elizabeth Mullins Jones
Give the first name and last name of a man:
Frank Jones
Together:
Frank and Elizabeth Mullins Jones

Continue to boldface each time the name is used.

Nicknames can be put in quotation marks, if the formal name also appears:
Elenor “Muffin” Reid (for first citation) and Muffin Reid (for subsequent citations).
Note: Don’t assume that a college nickname is still acceptable unless you know firsthand from an alumnus/a that it is.

For alumni who are not classmates, always provide the appropriate class year: Phineas Finn ’37. Do not put class year in parentheses or use a comma between name and class year.

Hugo and Carol Pray Churchill (same class)
Frank ’43 and Carol Jones Oates (spouse in different class)
Mitzi and Peter Fodlaw (spouse not an alum)
Frank and Elenor Wood Costello’s [’67] daughter (use brackets when possessive is followed by class year)

Abbreviations
Assn. (written out if lowercase)
Dept. (written out if lowercase)
U. for University when it is part of a name of an institution

Capitalization
Dept. (written out if lowercase) capitalize academic departments and similar formal titles (e.g., at hospital, research corporation)

Lowercase “the” except in newspapers or books

Use lowercase italics for emphasis rather than all caps, boldface, or underline.

Cities
Abbreviating LA, NYC, Philly is fine; DC is OK when used alone. (But: Washington, D.C.)

Dates
Add year to dates unless it’s in the 11 months preceding publication date of the magazine.

C

café (acute accent)
Caltech
canceled (v)
capital letters after colon if complete sentence follows
caravanning
catalog (n)
catch-up (n)
Catholic Church
CD titles—italics
childbearing (n)
childrearing (n)
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
the Children’s Seashore House (lowercase “the” per Web page)
Christology
circa
22,000 circulation
city of Philadelphia (but Kansas City)
class-action (adj); class action (n)
class agent
Classes of 1959 and 1961
Class of ’93
Class Notes (but notes)
class scholar
CLRA = Carnegie Lake Rowing Assn.
co (prefix closed up with no hyphen or space except when forming nouns, adjectives, and verbs that indicate occupation or status: co-author, co-chair)
Co.
Cobbs, Susan (former Dean of Swarthmore)
Cold War (AP)
commas - None used to show possession if there is no possessive pronoun: Son David and wife Diana
- But comma before and after when possessive pronoun used:
Her husband, Dave; whose husband, Richard,
A son, Jim, (Note: Commas are used for one son; no commas if more than one.)
Marmee’s daughter Marilyn (Marmee has more than one daughter)
David, his wife, Claire, and their three sons. . . (no ;)
Jane; her husband, Brad; and children Tessa, 5, and Sam, 2. . .
Commencement (capitalize)
Commerce Dept.
Committee title—capitalize
commons (lowercase)
Communist Party (communist elsewhere)
Company name: no Inc. afterward (AP preference)
Computing Center (at Swarthmore)
9th Congressional District
consumer price index (lowercase)
co-owned
copyedit (v); copyedited (adj); copy editor (n)
Cornell Science Library
Corp.
council (Alumni Council)
course titles: caps, no quotes
course work (n)
Crosslands
cross section (n); cross-section (adj)
cruise line (n, adj)
Crum Woods
cutthroat (n)
cyberart

D

dance titles (roman with quotes)
database
dates:Feb. 14, 1987
spring 1996
October 1996
April 3-5
May/June issue
1950s (’50s OK)
1945-67
2002-2003
The Daily Gazette
DC (alone)
Dean Bond Rose Garden
Democratic Party
Department of Family Practice Medicine (cap in general) but department for general reference
the Depression (n)
district court (general reference)
Division titles—cap
Down Under
Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children (per Web)
DuPont Company; du Pont = family name
D uPont Science Building

E

Elderhostel
ellipses:Closed at end of sentence with space at the end (after fourth period)
If within a sentence: total ... count (space on either side of three periods)
e-mail (lowercase e and hyphen)
No engagements or pregnancies listed in Class Notes; marriages and birth announcements OK
Enlightenment
et al.
no etc. (use “and so forth”)
exhibition titles—italicize

fax (lowercase)
federal
fellow of the American Psychological Assn.
fieldwork (n)
Filipino citizens v. ... (italicize legal case titles)
financial aid (n, adj)
first
first-come, first-served (a)
fixed income (adj) (annual report)
folk festival
food-processing (adj); food processing (n)
foreign-language (adj); foreign language (n)
Fort Lauderdale
freelance (n, v, adj)
Friend (capital for Quaker ref.)
Friends Healthcare at Home
Friends Meetinghouse
Fulbright scholar (n)
fund-raiser (n); fund-raising (n) (hyphen per Webster’s)

G

Garnet Sage—alum of 50 or more years ago
genus—italicize
get-together (n)
grades: fifth grade; sixth-grader
grade school (n, adj)
graduate school of
granddaughter
grands (OK in Class Notes)
grassroots (adj)
Great Depression (n)
great-grandparents (n)
great-grands (n)
Group titles (music)—cap, no quotes

H

hair dryer (n)
Halcyon (italicize)
half-time (adj, adv)
health care (n, adj)
heavyweight (adj)
Hewlett Packard (no hyphen)
high school (n, adj)
hole-in-one (n)
Holocaust
homemaker (n); homemaking (n) (per Webster’s)
home birthing (n)
home schooling (n)
honors, honors major; Honors Program
Hon. William Caldwell

I

ice-skating (n); ice-skater (n); ice-skate (v)
iMac (n)
no Inc. after company name (AP preference) (no comma before if used)
, including (comma before)
Ingleneuk (Swarthmore restaurant)
in-house (adj)
IT = information technology Italian Renaissance (n)
italiano (adj)

J

jack-of-all-trades (n)
Jr. (no comma before)
Junior 8 division

K

Kazakhstan
Kendal at Longwood; Kendal at Oberlin
kilometers (spell out)

L

lakefront (adj)
land-cruise (adj)
land use (n, adj)
law school (lowercase general reference; capitalize in formal titles: University of
Pennsylvania Law School)
lawsuit (v. in title)
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Studies
life income (adj)
Life magazine
lifestyle
lifetime
Light (capitalize Quaker reference)
like (suffix closed up; no hyphen or space before)
listserv; listservs (pl)
LLP (no periods)
Lockheed Martin (no hyphen)
long-range planning
long-standing (adj)
longtime (adj)
lookout (n, adj)
LPAC

M

an M.A.
mail-order (adj); mail order (n)
a Marine (individual)
the Marines (AP style)
Marine Corps
U.S. Marines
Masters (running competition) (no ’)
The Meaning of Swarthmore (roman for campaign title)
med school
Michael’s College Pharmacy
micro (prefix closed up; no hyphen or space after)
mid (prefix closed up; no hyphen or space after)
millennium (double l and double n)
mini (prefix closed up) but mini-reunion
MIT (no periods)
monthly meeting
movie titles—italicize
Mt. McKinley
mud slides
music—quotes and roman for short pieces; italics for long ones
musician-in-residence (n)

N

names: Cindy White Lohr (1st mention), Cindy Lohr (2nd mention)
John Nason Garden (behind Trotter)
naval aviator
the Navy
need-blind (adj)
the Net
Netherlands, the (lowercase)
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
The New Yorker
The New York Times (capitalize and italicize “The” if included in actual newspaper title, but Delaware County Daily Times)
New York state
nirvana
No. 3
North, Helen: Centennial Professor Emerita of Classics
notes (general reference to Class Notes)
numbers: (1)..., (2)..., and (3) (not letters)
1950s 1945-1967
’39ers
1,000 (comma)
60 percent
14,000 feet
17,000 alumni
22,000 circulation
from 10 to 20 (but 10-20 OK in parentheses)
7 pounds
14 ounces 8 to 10 a.m.
5 minutes
6 hours/5 minutes
2 1/2 weeks
3 months
6 years
11 months preceding issue date of magazine—don’t use year in Class Notes
7 miles
4 acres
6 feet
fifth grade
four million
NW (abbreviate Northwest in address but no comma before and no periods)

O

ob-gyn
OK (not okay)
old-timer (n)
on-line (always hyphenate)

P

paintings (italics)
papermaking (n)
Parrish Parlors
part-time (adj); part time (predicate adj)
passed away (OK vs. died)
peacekeeping (n)
Pearson Hall
Pearson-Hall Theatre
Pennswood Village
PEO = Philanthropic Educational Organization
60 percent (were)
Itzhak Perlman
The Phoenix
phone numbers: (757) 229-0089 (parentheses around area code)
Pig Iron Theatre Co.
play titles—italics
policy maker (n); policy making (n); policy-making (adj);
possessives:Agnes’ book
Son David and wife Diana (no comma without possessive pronoun)
Her husband, Dave,
A son, Jim,
Marmee’s daughter Marilyn
post (prefix closed up)
“Postcards from ’63” (quotes)
postdocs
post-technical
powerboat
pre-50th-reunion classes
presently—change to currently
printmaking (n)
Procter & Gamble (ampersand per company title style)
professor emeritus (lowercase for general reference)
program (general reference), Honors Program, Education Program, M.A. program (lowercase)
public interest (n, adj)
PSA = prostate-specific antigen

Q

The Quadrangle (capitalize “The” per retirement community title style)
Quebec (no accent)

R

RCA Corporation (became GE)
re (prefix closed up)
Read-Aloud Delaware (literary group that reads to preschool children)
real world (n, no quotes)
real-world (adj)
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
reelect (v)
reexamine (v)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (n)
residents’ association
retarded—change to: developmentally disabled
reunion committee (n)
the Rev. (before name)
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Rotary Foundation; Rotary scholar
round-robin (n, adj)

S

Sage—alum of 50 or more years ago
SAIS = Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
SAT = Scholastic Assessment Test
School District (part of title)
Schuylkill River
science center (lowercase)
Scott Amphitheater (not Scott Outdoor Auditorium)
Scripture
secondhand (adj)
semester at sea program
semi (prefix closed up)
send-off (n)
sequence: (1)..., (2)..., and (3) (not letters)
sight-seeing (n)
sing-along (n)
Smith Corona
snail mail
Son David and wife Diana (no commas without possessive pronoun)
song titles—roman with quotes
soon-to-be-departing (adj)
South in addresses
special-needs (adj)
spreadsheet (n)
squirreled (v)
start-up (n)
State Dept.
state names—abbreviate in Class Notes; spell out in features
state of Connecticut
stepfather; stepfamily; stepgrandchildren
Stott scholars
such as (no comma before)
sunroom (n)
super (prefix closed up) Swarthmore’s Board of Managers (but the Swarthmore Board of Managers)
Swarthmore College Abroad
Swarthmore Weekly News
SWIL = Swarthmore Warders of Imaginative Literature

T

tai chi master
Tarble in Clothier (no hyphens)
Teamsters Union Terry Shane Teaching Garden Theatre Studies
think tank (n) (no hyphen per Webster’s)
tidbit (n)
A paper titled ... (no comma before quotes)
Tour del Sol
toward (preposition: no s at end)
trade-off (n)
T-shirt (n)
turnout
TV titles - italic

U

UC-Berkeley
Ultimate Frisbee
Underhill Music Library
United Nations (n); U.N. (adj)
United States (n); U.S. (adj)
Upper East Side
U.S. attorney
U.S.-Indochina Reconciliation Team
U.S. News & World Report (ampersand per title style)
U.S.S.R.
UVA med school

V

vice president (n)
Ville (n)

W

wait-listed (v)
War Years Reunion
Washington, D.C.
watercolor
Web master
Web site (n)
WEFA = Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates
welfare (lowercase)
whiz
wordplay (n)
workbook
workforce (n, adj)
workout (n, adj)
World War II
worldwide (adj) (also nationwide, campuswide)
World Wide Web; the Web

X

Xmas (no hyphen)

Y

Y2K = year 2000 (but discouraged)
yearlong
Yearly Friends Meeting; yearly meeting
year-round (adj, predicate adj)
years: 2002-2003

Z

zero-population (adj)

DO use boldface and italics where appropriate. (Don’t underline classmates’ names.)

DO use the tab key to indent paragraphs (rather than spacing in or setting the indent in the ruler).

DO use “smart quotes” (i.e., “  ” and ‘ ’ instead of “ “ and ‘ ‘) if your program has them (but don’t worry if it doesn’t). If you use them, the apostrophe or single closed quote should be used before class years (e.g., John Doe ’54).

DO put your name and address (including e-mail, if you have it) at the top of page 1 only (for Class Notes).

DO double-space with 2-inch margins all around.

DON’T put two spaces between sentences or after a colon; just use one.

DON’T use hard returns except at the end of a paragraph.