Editorial Style Guide

APOSTROPHES

Use an apostrophe only to show possession:

"The Rudin Center's funding is up this year."

Do not use an apostrophe to show plural:

"GAs are of great assistance to faculty."

ADDRESS

The following is the correct mailing address for Wagner:

295 Lafayette Street, 2nd Floor

New York, NY 10012

It is not necessary to say "The Puck Building," as this doesn't have meaning to most external audiences.

ADMISSION(S)

"Office of Admissions"

"The student received an offer of admission."

ALUMNI

Use:

  • "Alumna" when referring to one woman.
  • "Alumnus" when referring to one man.
  • "Alumnae" when referring to more than one woman.
  • "Alumni" when referring to more than one man or a group of men and women.
  • The term “alum” or “alums” may also be used as an informal way of referring to graduates.

CAMPUS WIDE

Two words, not one:

“That email was sent campus wide."

Use a hyphen if it’s a modifier:

“The campus-wide distribution was a success."

CAPITAL, CAPITOL

Use capital when referring to the case of a letter.

Use capitol when referring to a building in which a state legislative body meets.

CAPITALIZATION

Capitalize when using full title:

"New York University is located..."

"The College of Arts and Science is sponsoring..."

"The Center for Health and Public Service Research is researching..."

Lower case when not using full title:

"The university is located..."

"The college is sponsoring..."

"The center is researching..."

CHAIRPERSON

Not chairman, chairwoman or chair.

COLLEGES

Capitalize as part of an official name:

"The College of Arts and Science offers..."

Lower case in other instances:

"The college offers..."

COMMAS

Use a comma before the "and" when combining two independent clauses:

"I was laughing, and he was crying."

In a series, use the comma before the "and" (the serial, or Oxford, comma):

"I bought oranges, apples, and butter."

"They looked into funding, research and development, and history."

When using an ampersand instead of the word "and," eliminate the serial comma.

Enjoy cocktails, hors d'oeuvres & celebration

COURSEWORK

One word, not two.

DASH

Use the en dash (–) in place of the word "to," without spaces around it.

"See chapters 13–16."

"There will be 30–50 people there."

Use the em dash (—) instead of commas, parenthesis, or colons to emphasize part of a sentence. Do not use spaces around it.

"She outlined the strategy—one she hoped would secure the peace."

Also use the em dash with phrases like "that is," "namely," and "for example."

"There are simple alternatives to the plastic shopping bag—namely reusable cloth bags and foldable carts."

To create an en dash, type: word-space-hyphen-space-word.

To create an em dash, type: word-hyphen-hyphen-word. Or, hold down Alt and type 0151.

On a Mac, type option dash to create an en dash and option/shift dash to create an em dash.

DATA

Data can be either singular or plural and requires a singular or plural verb accordingly. 

"The data is inaccurate."

"The data have been carefully collected."

DATABASE

One word, not two.

DATES

Use just the number, not the ordinal figure:

"The program will begin on January 1, 2017."

"The class will meet on December 5."

Use an en dash with no spaces when dates are inclusive:

"The conference will take place June 1–10, 2017."

DAYS OF THE WEEK

Never abbreviate in a sentence:

"The program will begin Sunday, January 1, 2017."

DEAN

Capitalize as part of a title:

"NYU Wagner Dean Sherry Glied..."

"At the meeting, Dean Sherry Glied..."

Lower case in other instances:

"Sherry Glied, dean of NYU Wagner..."

DEGREES

Capitalize when referring to a specific degree title or when abbreviating:

"NYU Wagner offers a Master of Public Administration degree."

"NYU offers an MPA degree."

Otherwise, do not capitalize:

"She received a master's degree in public and nonprofit management and policy."

Use an apostrophe when modifying a noun:

John is interested in getting a master's degree in urban planning."

Otherwise, do not use an apostrophe:

"She received a Master of Public Administration."

Never use "master's in".

DEPARTMENT

Always capitalize as part of official title:

"The Department of History is located..."

Lower case in other instances:

"The history department is located..."

"The department is located..."

DIRECTOR

Capitalize as part of a title:

"When Employee Relations Director Bill Smythe arrived..."

Lower case in other instances:

"When Bill Smythe, director of Employee Relations, arrived..."

DOLLARS

Use dollar sign, with no decimal if there are no cents:

"The cost is $12 per person..."

ELLIPSIS

Use to show an omission of words from a quoted sentence. 

"I always try to do my best … however, nobody's perfect."

In the middle of a sentence, type: space, three dots, space. On Mac keyboard, type option semicolon.

EMAIL

No hyphen and lowercase.

EMERITI, EMERITA, EMERITUS

Use emeriti in a plural context:

"Engineering emeriti are designing..."

Use emeritus and emerita in a singular context:

"Joe Smith, professor of geology, emeritus, was appointed to the committee."

"Janet Peters, who was given emerita status in 1991, …"

FACULTY

When conveying the idea of plurality, the verb is plural:

"The faculty are meeting today..."

GOVERNMENTAL TITLES

Can be abbreviated as:

"Gov. Walter J. Hickel..."

"Sen. Joe Smith..."

"Rep. Ann Jones..."

HEALTHCARE

Healthcare is one word.

HYPHENS

Use when separating compound nouns. Do not use spaces around the hyphen.

"My mother-in-law is coming to town."

INSTITUTE

Capitalize when part of official title:

"The Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems..."

Lowercase in other instances:

"The institute..."

MASTER, MASTER'S

Capitalize when referring to an official degree title; otherwise, do not capitalize unless at the beginning of a sentence. Use an apostrophe when modifying a noun, otherwise use no apostrophe. Never use 'master's in'.

"She's getting a Master of Public Administration."

"His master's degree means great job prospects."

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF ...

Should be New York City Department of ___, not City of New York Department of ___.

NONPROFIT

Always nonprofit, never non-profit of not-for-profit.

NYU

Do not use period in between letters. Use only after full name has been used at least once. If possessive, use an apostrophe.

"NYU's enrollment is up."

ON-CAMPUS OR ON CAMPUS

Hyphenate when serving as an adjective describing a noun:

"I want to live in on-campus housing."

Do not hyphenate when serving as a preposition:

"I want to live on campus."

NOTE: Same rules apply with "off-campus" and/or "off campus"

ONLINE

Lowercase, one word, and no hyphen.

PERCENT

Use numerals and spell out percent as one word in formal communications:

"More than 5 percent of the fish were dead."

"Less than 20 percent of the students voted."

SCHOOL

Capitalize when part of official title:

"The School of Law is in Vanderbilt Hall."

Lowercase in other instances:

"The law school is in Vanderbilt Hall."

TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Write with periods, not parenthesis and dashes: 

212.998.7400

TIME OF DAY

Use numerals. Use lowercase "am" and "pm," without periods and without a space:

"The program will start at 9:00am."

"The program will start at 10:30am."

Use an en-dash with no spaces if times are inclusive:

"The conference will be held from 9:00–11:00am."

TITLES

Articles, songs, lectures, unpublished papers, etc. should be capitalized and italicized:

"The choir sang The Palisades after the ceremony."

"He introduced Bill Robinson's lecture, Leading from the Middle."

Awards, recognitions, prizes, and certificates should be capitalized, but not italicized or used with quotation marks:

"She received the New Yorker of the Year Award."

Books, newspapers, newsletters, magazines, movies, radio shows, operas, etc. should be italicized:

"Newsweek quoted the president as saying..."

Committees, conferences conventions, programs, workshops, etc. should be capitalized, but not italicized or used with quotation marks:

"The department is hosting the New York Arts Festival."

"He was appointed to the 2003 International Resources Committee."

For professional titles, capitalize before the name, lowercase after:

"NYU Wagner Dean Sherry Glied"

"Sherry Glied, dean of NYU Wagner."

On second reference, use last name, not title:

"'Orientation was a resounding success,' said Glied."

UNIVERSITY

Capitalize as part of a title:

"The New York University campus is..."

Lowercase in other instances:

"The university campus is..."

VITA, VITAE

Vita is singular and vitae is plural. Use when referring to a biographical sketch, generally in conjunction with "curriculum," especially when the information refers to academic history.

"Her curriculum vita was outstanding."

NYU WAGNER

First reference for external audiences:

New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Second reference, or for internal audiences:

NYU Wagner

We do not use the term "The Wagner School" or just "Wagner."

WEBSITES

Do not use "http://" or "www" when typing a web address. When writing the word "web" or "website," use lowercase and one word. 

"The student found her grades on the class website."

"Visit wagner.nyu.edu for more information."

"Check your financial aid status online at fafsa.ed.gov."

WEB PAGE

Two words, lowercase:

Please send me the url of that web page.

YEARS

No apostrophe:

"In the 1960s NYU continued to grow."