If you have questions about standards, refer to the Grinnell College AP Stylebook or contact us.
Organizations
- Capitalize “college” if you could substitute “Grinnell College” and not change the meaning.
- Capitalize the formal name of groups like departments, centers, and offices, but do not capitalize informal references. Examples: Institute for Global Engagement and Center for Prairie Studies, but the institute and the center.
People
- Capitalize titles used before a name, such as Professor Charles Cunningham, but not after, as in Charles Cunningham, professor of physics.
- Use Dr. only before the names of those with medical degrees.
For Grinnellians:
- Bold the names of Grinnellians — alumni, staff, faculty, students.
- Include and bold class years after the names of Grinnell students and alumni.
- Replace the century with a curly right (or closing) single quote (’), not a straight quote ('). E.g.: Sarah Purcell ’92
- If more than 95 years ago, use 4 characters — e.g. Hannibal Kershaw 1879.
See also: AP Stylebook entries for titles, academic titles, alumni names, honorary degree references, parents of alumni and current students, courtesy titles
Locations
Buildings
Use full name on first references and shorter name on subsequent references. E.g.:
- first reference: Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center, Room 101
- subsequent reference: Rosenfield Center, Room 101
- don't use JRC 101.
Tip:
Visitors such as guests, prospective students, and parents, as well as new employees and first-year students, will often not recognize abbreviations. Use the names that can be found on the campus map to make it easier for them.
City/State
Set off a state or nation using commas when used with a city. E.g.
- ”The event will take place in Des Moines, Iowa, on Feb. 14, 2022.”
Dates and Times
Times
- a.m. and p.m. (not AM or pm or P.M.)
- an en dash (–) between a range, like Oct. 1–Nov. 15 or 8 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
- no :00 on the hours unless in a table.
- noon and midnight, not 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.
- included time zone if appropriate for the audience
Dates
- Use numerals without nd, th, st, etc.
- When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.
Academic
- Use a 4- and a 2-digit year with an en dash for academic years E.g.: 2022–23
- Do not capitalize semesters. E.g. fall 2022
Dates and Times in Tables
Exceptions to the rules above for tables:
- Use three letter abbreviations for months, without the period (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.)
- Keep the :00
See also: AP Stylebook entries for months, dates, years, and holidays and holy days
Other
Special Characters
- Add space before and after an em dash — as this example shows.
- Do not use a space before or after an en dash, such as 4–5 p.m.
- Use curly quotes ( “ ” ‘ ’ ) instead of straight quotes ( " ' ).
- Avoid the use of ampersands (&) unless they are part of a formal name.
- Do not end a heading or subheading with a colon.
Capitalization
See the rest of this checklist for additional capitalization rules.
- Use title case for headings and subheadings unless they are complete sentences. If they are complete sentences, use sentence case.
- See the AP Stylebook for additional capitalization guidelines.
Abbreviations
See the rest of this checklist for additional rules regarding abbreviations.
- Use care when using abbreviations. Consider your audience and write for the group least likely to understand the abbreviation. (Including prospective or new students, brand new employees, international audiences, first-generation students and their families, etc.)
- In general, when you introduction an abbreviation, especially an acronym or initialism that your audience may not understand, spell it out first and place the initialism or acronym in parentheses behind it. E.g. Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS).
- See the AP Stylebook for additional guidelines.