• IU Style Guide
• Preferred Spellings & Capitalizations
• Recommended References
• Guide to Hard-Copy Editing

Indiana University Style Guide

O–S

off campus

Hyphenate as an adjective before the noun; otherwise, leave as two words.

Barb has an off-campus job.

but: Barb works off campus.

office names

See addresses and capitalization.

Opera Theater

The IU Opera Theater uses the -er spelling of the word theatre.

See also theatre.

orientation

This term is not capitalized.

part time

Hyphenate as an adjective before the noun; otherwise, leave as two words.

Lisa is a part-time student.

but: Lisa attends classes part time.

Pei, I. M.

I. M. Pei & Partners is the architectural firm that designed the IU Art Museum; note the ampersand (&) in the name and the space between the initials.

See also ampersands.

percent

Write as one word. Spelling out percent is preferred in printed publications although % may be used if space is at a premium, for example, on Web pages or in lists. Unless beginning a sentence, always use numerals in front of the word percent.

a 7 percent solution, not 7 per-cent or 7 per cent or seven percent

but: Seven percent of zero is still zero.

phone numbers

Always call phone numbers listed in your publications or on your Web pages as part of the proofreading process. Use parentheses around the area code or separate the area code with a hyphen. Hyphens are usually used instead of parentheses for toll-free numbers.

(317) 555-3333 or 317-555-3333 or 1-800-555-3333

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place names

See addresses and capitalization.

plurals

Avoid misusing the apostrophe to form plurals. The only nouns that commonly take an ’s in the plural are (1) abbreviations with more than one period, (2) single letters, and (3) acronyms with an S at the end.

M.B.A.’s, R.N.’s

x’s and y’s, A’s and B’s

SOS’s

Otherwise, acronyms, hyphenated coinages, and numbers used as nouns (either spelled out or as numerals) generally take -s (or -es) alone to form the plural.

AIs, W-2s, 747s, FAFSAs, 1980s, hi-fis, follow-ups, at sixes and sevens

Apostrophes are never used to form the plural of any proper noun.

The Herberts will attend.

not: The Herbert’s will attend.

Add -s to make most last names plural. Add -es to those that have endings with sounds such as ch (as in Hatch, but not as in Bach), s, sh, x, and z.

The Joneses will tour Hong Kong.

Like most plural nouns, plural proper nouns have a single apostrophe after the plural ending to indicate possession.

The reception will be at the Herberts’ home, Bryan House.

See also abbreviations and possessives.

possessives

Make singular nouns possessive by adding ’s; make regular plural nouns ending in s possessive by adding only an apostrophe. Plurals lacking an s are treated like singular nouns.

a student’s right, students’ duties, women’s lounge

Certain uninflected singular nouns that look like plurals, such as species and series, are treated like plurals to form the possessive.

The lecture series’ costs will be covered by the department.

When a plural noun ending in s is linked with an entity that doesn’t exactly belong to it, but rather is for it or about it, the apostrophe is not used.

Founders Day (day honoring university founders) Visitors Center (center for visitors)

Many people prefer to add only the apostrophe in spelling (and pronouncing) personal names in which the final s is pronounced like a z (e.g., Dickens’ novels) while others both write and pronounce the additional s (e.g., Dickens’s novels). Since usage varies, just aim for consistency. If a name’s final s is pronounced like an s, add the usual ’s for the possessive (e.g., Ira Glass's radio show).

When forming the possessive of an italicized noun, do not italicize the apostrophe or the s.

Newsweek’s editors

Note also that possessive adjectives (e.g., his, its) and pronouns (e.g., yours, hers, ours, theirs) never have apostrophes, even though possessive nouns always have them. Watch out especially for the common its (possessive) versus it’s (it is) confusion.

Is that Annie’s new car? No, the gray one is ours; hers is the white one.

The sun is out—and it’s so good to feel its warmth again.

We follow the Webster’s preference for the possessive style in references to diseases.

Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease

The IU School of Medicine uses Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, etc., however.

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president

Capitalize only if immediately preceding a person’s name.

President Wylie; Andrew Wylie was the first president of Indiana University.

See also titles of people.

professor

Use the generic term when referring to a faculty member. Check ranks carefully when updating lists. Faculty members are promoted from assistant professor to associate professor and then to professor (sometimes referred to as full professor, but never listed as such). Emeritus or emerita status is granted after retirement to many faculty members.

provost

This title for the top campus official is relatively new to IU. It should be treated in the same way as all other titles of people.

See also titles of people.

quotation marks

In regular text, commas and periods always go inside an end quotation mark (”).

“If it doesn’t matter,” said the sage, “it does not matter.”

Most other punctuation marks, however, go outside the end quotation mark unless they are a part of the material being quoted.

The program will begin with “Feelings”; then we will sing “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?”; after that—don’t we finish with “The Tide Is High”?

Quoted material that runs four lines or longer is usually set as an indented extract (block quotation). Quotation marks are not used with indented extracts unless they occur within the quoted material.

In a publication created by the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching, which she founded, Eileen Bender tells her colleagues, “The secret of good teaching is not to ‘tell,’ but to engage the audience in the process.” Bender has devoted her career to engaging the IU community in the processes of enlightenment, commitment, and action.

When quoting an excerpt that continues for several paragraphs, either indent them all or put a quotation mark at the beginning of each of the quoted paragraphs as well as a quotation mark at the end of the last quoted paragraph.

You can use either quotation marks or italics to set off a word you are discussing or explaining.

No one is certain about the origin of the word “Hoosier.”

No one is certain about the origin of the word Hoosier.

But avoid setting off an informal expression that the reader will already know; either use it without quotes or find a synonym.

The dean’s get-together should be fun.

not: The dean’s “get-together” should be “awesome.”

Use “curly” quotation marks (also known as smart quotes) in your publications in most cases. The “straight” quotation mark ("), also called the double prime, is used for denoting inches.

See also titles of works.

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registrar

Lowercase in informal usage.

registrar’s office, the registrar

Capitalize as part of the official name.

Office of the Registrar

running copy, running text

See display type versus running copy.

Saint (St.)

Abbreviate with place names, such as St. Louis. For personal names, follow the individual’s preference (e.g., Camille Saint-Saëns, Jill St. John).

semicolons

See colons and semicolons.

spacing

People who learned to type on a typewriter were taught to leave two spaces after the punctuation ending a sentence, after the period following each number in a numbered list, and so on. When keyboarding documents on a computer, though, leave only one space between sentences, after the period following a number, after a colon, and in all similar cases. The word processing program will automatically insert enough space to make the passage easy to read.

spring, spring semester, spring term

Lowercase references to seasons and academic periods.

state of Indiana

Lowercase state.

summer, summer session, summer term

Lowercase references to seasons and academic periods.

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