| a.m., p.m. | Always lowercase, with periods. |
| address | Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd., Rd., St., and Dr., etc., only with a numbered address: 2212 10th St.; 202 N. Clifton Ave. Spell out and capitalize when they are part of a formal street name without a number: Kansas Street. |
| Adult Education | Uppercase. |
| advising, counseling | Advising is acceptable in general references to educational planning assistance offered by academic advisors, counselors, faculty advisors, and recruiters. |
| advisor | Preferred spelling uses the –or ending, NOT adviser |
| age | Always use numerals: a 1-year-old child, but the child is 1 year old. The student, 19, has a brother. The student is in his 20s. |
| electronic addresses | Internet, Web, and email addresses should be written all lowercase, unless the address is case sensitive. Examples: www.forum.net (It is not necessary to include http://.) and blowder@austincc.edu. |
| ampersand (&) | Avoid using in body text unless part of a title. |
| associate degree | Singular. Lowercase when using as a general reference. Capitalize the formal names, and use no periods with the abbreviation:
Associate of Applied Science, AAS Associate of Arts, AA Associate of Arts in Teaching, AAT Associate of Science, AS |
| AY | Spell out “academic year” in documents for a general audience |
| baccalaureate | Bachelor’s degree (or bachelor’s degrees for plural) is preferred. |
| Board of Trustees | Uppercase when used as a phrase, but lowercase the board or trustee. Nine people comprise the Austin Community College Board of Trustees. |
| catalog, course schedule, student handbook | ACC publications are lowercase in all references. The preferred spelling of catalog avoids the “ue” ending. |
| chair | The preferred reference instead of chairman, chairwoman, chairperson. Capitalize before a name. |
| childcare | One word unless referring to the Child Care and Development Department. |
| city | Capitalize when referring to the official title of city government, such as City of Austin. |
| class, course, section | Can be used interchangeably to refer to a course section. |
| Closing the Gaps | Capitalize but do not use quotes or italics when referring to the statewide economic initiative to reverse the decline in college participation rates. |
| College Connection | Italicize when referring to the program to deliver college enrollment services directly to area high school campuses. Note there is no “s” on Connection. |
| college | Lowercase except as part of a formal title. Example: The college has seven campuses. |
| collegewide | This term, like most wide compounds, is not hyphenated. |
| comma in a series | Use commas to separate elements in a series, including before the concluding conjunction: He is studying math, English, and history. |
| committees | Capitalize full name of committee: Budget Committee, Health and Wellness Committee, but lowercase second references: The committee met today. Also: Faculty Senate, Administrative Services Council, Student Government Association. |
| Continuing Education | Uppercase. |
| core curriculum | Term should be used only when referring to ACC’s official block of transferable courses. Do not capitalize or put in quotes. |
| co-requisite, prerequisite | Hyphenate co-requisite but not prerequisite. |
| course title | Capitalize. Don't use quotation marks. Put the course abbreviation (all caps) and course number in parentheses: Mechanical Drafting (DFT 1433). |
| courtesy titles | Avoid using such titles as Mr., Mrs., Miss, and Ms. Dr. is acceptable, however. |
| credit hours | Use numerals for credit hours, no matter how small the number. Do not hyphenate when a compound modifier: She has a 3 credit hour class. |
| credit-in-escrow | Hyphenate the term used to describe delayed credit available through ACC’s Tech-Prep Program. |
| data | The word is plural so takes a plural verb: Data indicate improvement. |
| dates | Use numbers without st, nd, rd, or th. Use day of the week, comma, then month, date, comma, and finally year when needed, followed by a comma or other punctuation mark (most often a period). Month-year combinations don't require commas. Use an apostrophe to indicate numbers from a year that are left out (the year '99). There is not an apostrophe before an s (1990s). Separate dates involving spans of time with an en dash (2000-05). |
| days of the week | Capitalize. Avoid abbreviating except in tabular formats, and then use the first three letters but no period. |
| degrees | Initial capitals for complete, official degree names (Associate of Arts). Do not capitalize academic degrees used in a general sense. Note that associate degree does NOT end in 's. Associate degree Bachelor's degree Master's degree Doctoral degree or a doctorate In references to degrees, the word "degree" is never capitalized: She earned her Associate of Arts degree. |
| desktop | Use one word whether referring to a computer monitor or to the top of a desk. |
| disabled, handicapped, impaired | In general, do not describe an individual as disabled or handicapped unless it is clearly pertinent to a story. When such words are used, never use them as modifiers before the noun. RIGHT: The person with disabilities was speaking. WRONG: The disabled person was speaking. |
| dual enrollment, dual credit | Dual enrollment refers to being co-enrolled in more than one educational institution. Dual credit is the term that applies to select courses that are eligible for both high school and college credit (applies to Early College Start students). |
| e.g., i.e. | The abbreviations e.g. and i.e. stand for specific Latin phrases and are not interchangable: e.g. (exempli gratias) is used when the English phrase for example would be appropriate; i.e. (id est) substitutes for the English phrase that is. |
| Early College Start | Capitalize when referring to the program that allows high school students to co-enroll in Austin Community College classes. |
| No hyphen, lowercase "e." | |
| flier | NOT flyer when referring to a handbill. |
| full time/full-time | Hyphenate as a compound modifier. He is a full-time professor who works in the laboratory full time. |
| FY | Spell out "fiscal year" in documents for a general or external audience. |
| GED | Acceptable in all references to General Educational Development. |
| GPA | Accepted acronym for grade point average. Need not spell out on first use. |
| grades | No quotation marks around letter. No italics, no boldface. For plural of any letter grade, use an apostrophe and an s (three A's, two B's, two I's.) |
| healthcare | One word. |
| hearing impaired | "Deaf or hard of hearing" is the preferred phrase. |
| homepage | Use as one word since conventional usage seems to be heading that way, although it is not unorthodox for it to be two words. The college has one homepage, the first page of the site, and other pages are webpages. |
| http:// | Must be included in URLs that DO NOT include www. Example: http://dl.austincc.edu |
| https:// | The "s" indicates a secure server and must be included on web addresses where applicable. |
| Internet | Capitalize. |
| IVC classroom | Classrooms that are equipped for interactive videoconferencing, communications session among several people who are geographically separated. |
| job titles | Capitalize titles of office only when they precede a name; general occupational titles should be lowercase. Example: Dean of Student Services Chris Barelli is in charge, the dean of student services is in a meeting, and Angela Rodriguez, dean of student services, is attending a conference. |
| legislative titles | Use Rep., Reps., Sen., and Sens. as formal titles before one or more names in text. Spell out and lowercase representative and senator in other uses. |
| legislature | Capitalize when preceded by the name of a state: the Texas Legislature. Retain capitalization when the state name is dropped but the reference is specifically to that state's legislature. Lowercase legislature when used generically: No legislature has approved that amendment. |
| lifelong | One word, no hyphen. |
| lists | Numbers vs. bullets: Introduce items in a vertical list with numbers only when the order matters. |
| money | Use the dollar sign: $10, $1,000, $90,000 (not $90 thousand) Use exact figures up to $1 million. On figures more than $1 million, use: $1 million, $2.7 million, $6.28 billion With ranges of amounts, don't drop designators such as million. Example: $8 million to $10 million. |
| months | Capitalize and spell out. In tabular format, use the first three letters of each month without a period. |
| names | On first reference, use the person's full name first, last name, and title. On second reference, use only the last name, without title. |
| No. | Use as the abbreviation for number in conjunction with a figure to indicate position or rank: No. 3 choice. |
| noncredit | One word, no hyphen. |
| numbers | Sentences: Spell out whole numerals below 10; use figures for 10 and above. Oordinals, spell out first through ninth and use figures for 10th and above. Fractions: Use a hyphen when fractions are expressed in words, and use numbers rather than words for mixed numbers. Example: In the survey, one-third of the respondents gave a score of 4½ or better. Ranges: Can be expressed in two ways with a hyphen (300-400) or with the words "from" and "to" (from 300 to 400). WRONG: from 300-400. Ratios: Use figures and hyphens with no spaces. Example: Yamashita used a ratio of 2-to-1 whereas a 5-3 ratio was used by Donaldson. |
| office | Lowercase in general references. Capitalize only when part of a formal title: Student Life Office. |
| online | One word, no hyphen. |
| open-door policy | Policy of admitting all eligible applicants regardless of academic standing. Does not guarantee access to credit classes. |
| orient | NOT orientate. |
| orientation | Preferred term is "information session," "introductory session," or "introduction" unless referring to the collegewide new student orientation program. |
| part time/part-time | Hyphenate as a compound modifier. She works part time. He is a part-time employee. |
| percent | Always spell out; do not use the symbol (%). When showing a range of percentages use the word with both numerals. For example, between 5 percent and 10 percent. |
| phone numbers | Use parentheses around area codes and a period between the prefix and the extension. Example: (541) 463.3000. |
| point of view | First person (I, we, us) and second person (you) are recommended for web pages, marketing publications, and advertising. Third person (he, she, it, one, they) is more formal and is used in most academic and journalistic contexts to create an aura of objectivity. |
| prior to | "Before" is preferred. |
| professor | May be used as a general reference to ACC faculty who teach credit classes. Specific faculty members, both full time and adjunct, should be referred by their specific academic title, such as associate professor or adjunct associate professor, etc. Not acceptable in references to Continuing Education instructors. |
| program | Capitalize when used as an official part of a title. The Sonography Program is one of many healthcare programs. |
| publication titles | Italicize magazine, newspaper, and book titles but do not put in quotation marks. Use quotation marks on magazine article titles and newspaper headlines. |
| room numbers | Use figures and capitalize the word room when used with a figure. Example: The meeting is at the Highland Business Center in Room 202. |
| school districts | Spell out the full name on first reference. For example, Austin Independent School District. When referring to more than one school district, use lowercase when spelling out independent school district. For example, Leander and Manor independent school districts. On second reference use "ISD." |
| semesters, seasons | Lowercase references to seasons, including fall semester, spring semester, and summer semester. |
| session | Instructional periods during a semester that mark the beginning and end of a class. For example, 12-week session. |
| sexist language | Current practice requires masculine pronouns not be used for generic references to non-gender-specific persons. Avoid the problem by pluralizing the reference or eliminating the pronoun whenever possible. |
| spacing | Use a single space after a period and any other punctuation. |
| student ID | Do not capitalize "student" or use periods in general references to the ACC ID. The preferred term is ACC ID. |
| teacher | Do not use when referring to college faculty. Preferred choices are faculty, instructor, or professor. |
| Tech-Prep Program | Capitalize when referring to technical education articulation programs with high schools. |
| time | Use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes. It is not necessary to include zeros in full-hour times. Use a.m. and p.m. without capitals and with periods. Use an - dash with no spaces to depict spans of time. Example: The workshop is 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesday, and there will be a break for lunch from noon-1 p.m. |
| underrepresented | One word. |
| underprepared | One word. |
| United States and U.S. | Spell out when it stands alone; use U.S. when it is a modifier: U.S. Air Force. |
| URL | Capitalize and use without periods when referring to a Universal Resource Locator, the address of a website. |
| web | Lowercase when referring to the World Wide Web. May be used in first and second references, e.g. the web, webmaster, website, webpage. |
| X-ray | The radiological term takes a capital X. |
| ZIP code | A comma is not necessary between the state name and the ZIP code. |
Public Information and College Marketing