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STYLE SHEET
VISITOMETER © 1999-2009, CyberIndee |
For consistency that helps readers, CyberIndee contributors are asked to follow the dicta of the following style sheet. Fundamentally, the style follows Associated Press preferences. © 1999-2009, CyberIndee
abbreviations
Readability studies suggest abbreviations should be minimal. The preferred second-reference to WSU, for example, is "the university" or "Winona State." In the same spirit, try "the bureau" for the FBI.
academic disciplines
To maintain a conversational tone, shortened forms of academic disciplines are favored in most situations: English lit, masscom, math.
addresses
Abbreviate "St." and "Ave." with addresses, but not otherwise: 468 W. 6th St. but W. 6th Street without a specific address.
addresses often in campus news
all caps
Please avoid all-cap non-abbreviations. Make it Time magazine, not TIME magazine.
broadcast stations
Generally it's best to identify a station by its call letters. If the brand name is relevant to a story, introduce it secondarily: KQAL, which brands itself as "Your Radio Alternative"; KAGE-FM, which markets itself as "Classic Country." Be sure to indicate the kind of station: WKBT-TV, KWNO-FM, WCCO-AM, television station KTTC. Good mobilization information for readers includes frequencies: KQAL, which broadcasts at 89.5 FM; television station; KKTC, which broadcasts on over-air Channel 5; KSTP television, which is carried on Channel 73 on the Hiawatha Broadcast cable system.
Bulls-Eye Beer Hall
Use the hyphen. The owners go with at least three spelling variations, but we'll stick with Bulls-Eye until they remove the hyphen from the neon sign out front.
capitalization
We use a downstyle that favors lower-case for words on which style sheet preferences vary: Winona State University is the university with a lower-case "u."
college branches
The dizzying variations that have developed for branch campuses impede communication. To help speed readers through stories, use this form with a hyphen: University of California-Los Angeles, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State University-Mankato. Try to avoid second references abbreviations with terms like "the university" and "the campus." If you must abbreviate: UCLA, MSU-Mankato, UM-Duluth.
dash
If your keyboard does not have dash, use two hyphens. Use a single space at both ends of the dash. A hyphen has no space fore or aft. The m dash and n dash used by some magazines are books are not part of news style.
days
Always spell out: Wednesday.
e-mail
With hyphen.
italics
Not covered in AP style. Don't use. Books, chapters, movies, television programs, songs are in double quotes: "Gone With the Wind," "Saving Private Ryan," "I Cain't Get No Satisfaction." Regular newscasts are an exception: NBC Nightly News. Magazines are capped: Newsweek, Time, Ladies' Home Journal, Rolling Stone.
months
Spell out except for specific dates: November but Nov. 23.
names
For a conversational tone and to avoid officiousness and pomposity, we generally prefer to call people as their friends and associates do: Hank Jeffers rather than Henry F. Jeffers.
numerals
Please spell one to nine and use numerals for 10 and more. Use a comma in four-digit numbers: 2,340. Please spell out any number that begins a sentence.
newspapers
Avoid the capped "The" affectation: the New York Times, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Winonan.
on-line
With hyphen.
ordinals
Follow the same rule as for numerals: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, nine, 10th, 11th, 103rd, 202nd.
percent
One word: 17 percent. The sign % is an option for headlines.
place names
These are frequently misspelled place names at Winoan State:
states
Use AP abbreviations for states with city or county: Smith, of Rochester, Minn., was graduated in 1935. He died in Trempeleau, County, Wis. Note that a comma is used between cities and abbreviated states, and also after the state. Use postal abbreviations only in mailing addresses: Maxine Rushford, Postal Box 48, Crookston MN 55876. In postal addresses, skip commas between city, state and zip code.
St. Mary's University
Follow AP preference and abbreviate the word
Saint when referring to a specific saint or an institution using the saint's name. This applies even if the institution prefers the word Saint to be spelled out. We cannot follow affectations of this sort, any more than we would use all-caps for TIME magazine, as Henry Luce would have it to make Time stand out in a list.
telephone
Put the area code in parentheses: (612) 687-3142.
-re
Please no Frenchified spellings like "theatre." Make it "theater."
streets
Some north-south streets in central Winona have names and numbers:
web addresses
Take care to avoid having them end a sentence, which results in an ambiguous period -- or is it dot? Putting web addresses in parenthesis usually works.
World Wide Web
First and second references are fine as "web." The internet also is lowercase.
STYLE SHEET
For CyberIndee contributors
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The CyberIndee serves Winona State University masscom students as a reference resource and as a digest of campus news.
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