AP Style

A 

Academic Degrees: Put an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. (The degree belongs to the bachelor or master.) Even when shortened to bachelor’s and master’s (no “degree” afterward), use the apostrophe. Use periods in abbreviations (B.A., 
M.A., Ph.D.).
Adviser: Not advisor 
Alma Mater: Do not italicize 
Alumna: Feminine singular 
Alumnae: Feminine plural 
Alumni: Masculine plural, but use for group of men and women 
Alumnus: Masculine singular 
Alums: More than one of either gender 
Area Code: Use hyphen: 580-332-8000 
Athletic Facilities:

• Chickasaw Plaza
• Elvan George Athletic Building
• Intramural/Practice Fields
• Ken Turner Baseball Field
• Kerr Activities Center (Informally may be referred to as “the Dome” or “Kerr Dome,” but never referred to as “the Gold Dome.”)
• Kinesiology Building
• Koi Ishto Stadium
• Mayhue Tennis Courts
• McBride Gym
• Norris Field
• Oscar Parker Tennis Courts
• Pat O’Neal Strength & Conditioning Center
• Soccer Field
• Softball Field
• Tommy Hewett M.D. Wellness Center

B

Baccalaureate: Capitalize the ceremony, but not the degree Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree: Or use B.F.A., not Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Bachelor of Science 
Degree: Or use B.S., not Bachelor’s of Science 
Building and Other Location Names:

• Administration Building
• Ataloa Theatre (note the spelling of “theatre”)
• Bill S. Cole University Center
• Chalmers Herman Theatre
• Chickasaw Business & Conference Center
• Chokka-Chaffa’ Hall
• Danley Hall
• Dorothy I. Summers Theatre (note the spelling of “theatre”)
• ECU Bookstore
• ECU Child Development Center
• Education Building
• Faust Hall Auditorium
• Fentem Hall
• Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center
• Harland C. Stonecipher School of Business
• Horace Mann Building
• Kathryn P. Boswell Memorial Chapel
• Lanoy Education Building
• Linscheid Library
• Memorial Student Union
• Physical and Environmental Science Center
• Physical Plant
• Raymond Estep Multimedia Center
• Science Hall
• Stanley P. Wagner Ballroom
• Sterling L. Williams Foundation and Alumni Center
• Taff Dining Hall

See “A” for Athletic Facilities 
See “R” for Residence Halls 

C

Chair: (noun) Not chairman, chairwoman or chairperson 
Classes: Do not capitalize (freshman, sophomore) 
College of Education and Psychology 
College of Health and Sciences 
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 
Commas: Don’t use a comma before the “and” in a series of three or more items unless necessary to avoid confusion. 
Commencement: Capitalize 
Courtesy Titles: Don’t use “Mrs.” or “Mr.” Do not use “Dr.” after first reference. 

D 

Days or Dates: Spell out days of the week and months and capitalize. Use time/day/date sequence (e.g., 7 p.m Monday, Aug 3rd, in the University Center).
Decades: Use numerals with no apostrophe (e.g., the 1960s)
Department Names: Capitalize (e.g., Department of Psychology) 
Dimensions: Use figures for all numbers that indicate height, weight, width, etc., even for numbers less than 10 (e.g., The book weighs 2 pounds.) 
Doctoral Degree, Doctorate: The terms are interchangeable 
Download 
DVD: Acceptable for all digital video disk 

E

East Central University: Or ECU (not “East Central”) 
Emeriti: Do not italicize 
Emeritus: Masculine singular 
Emeriti: Masculine plural 
Emerita: Feminine singular 
Emeritae: Feminine plural 
Esports or esports: Not e-sports or eSports

F

Freshman/Freshmen: freshman when referring to one student; freshmen when referring to a group of students 

G 

GED: Acceptable on all references to Oklahoma’s General Educational Development Certificate 
GPA: On second reference for grade-point average, no 
periods 

H 

Halftime 
Homepage 
Housing Buildings:

• Briles Hall
• Chokka-Choffa’ Hall
• Pontotoc Hall
• Pesagi Hall
• Knight Hall
• Stadium Apartments
• Tiger Commons

Hyphen: Hyphenate adjectival phrases formed by adjective and a noun preceding the noun modified (e.g., first-year student). Phrases formed by an adverb ending in -ly and an adjective are not hyphened. 

I 

Inc.: Do not precede it with a comma 
It’s, its: “It’s” is a contraction that means “it is” or it has. “Its” means “belonging to it.” 

J 

Jr., Sr.: Do not set off by commas (e.g., John Smith Jr.) 

M 

Master of Arts Degree: Not Master’s of Arts 
Master of Education: Not Master’s of Education 
Master of Science Degree: Not Master’s of Science Men’s and/or Women’s Sports: Use the apostrophe. Do not use “Lady Tigers.” 
Miles: Use figures in dimensions, formulas and speeds. For distances, spell out numbers under 10 unless the number is fractional, in which case use numerals 
Months: Never abbreviate months when they do not immediately precede a date. When the name of a month immediately precedes a date, abbreviate it – but only if the month’s name is six letters or longer (e.g., We were married on Aug. 6 last year. We were 
divorced March 5, 2014.). 

N 

Names and Titles: Titles for faculty, staff and students are used after the person’s name (not capitalized) and look like this:
- Jane Smith, Bromide junior
- Dr. Jeffrey Gibson, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs
Numbers: Spell out numbers from one through nine. Use numerals for 10 and above. Do not use the abbreviations th, rd or nd with numerals or dates. (Exception is centuries, e.g., 21st Century.) 

O

Once a Tiger: “Once a Tiger, Always a Tiger!” 

R

Residence Halls:

• Briles Hall
• Chokka-Choffa’ Hall
• Pontotoc Hall
• Pesagi Hall
• Knight Hall
• Stadium Apartments
• Tiger Commons

P

Period: Use a single space after the period at the end of a sentence. Do not put a space between initials (e.g., C.J. not C. J.).
Phone Numbers: Write phone numbers without parentheses (e.g., 580-332-8000). 
Physical Plant 
P.O. Box: At ECU, we use PMB. 
Plurals: Note the rule that when you form the plural of a proper noun that ends in a “y” you usually add an “s” as in Kennedys, Grammys, Emmys. 

S

Scholastic Assessment Test: The new name of the Scholastic Achievement Test. SAT remains acceptable
Schools: 

• Harland C. Stonecipher
• School of Business (or SSB, not SOB)
• School of Fine Arts
• School of Graduate Studies
• School of Nursing

State Names: Spell out all names of states in sentences. Use postal abbreviations only in addresses that contain zip codes. Place comma between the city and state name, and another after the state name, unless at the end of a sentence (e.g., She traveled from San 
Diego, California, to go to school in Ada, Oklahoma.). 

T

Temperature: Use figures unless the temperature is zero. 
Titles, Academic and Professional: Capitalize titles when they appear before the name; lowercase when they come after (e.g., Provost Jeffrey Gibson or Dr. Jeffrey Gibson, ECU provost). Do not capitalize when they stand alone. 
Titles, Books, Plays, Music: Italicize names of books, newspapers, journals, films, plays, symphonies, titled art works, operas, ships, spacecraft and airplanes. Use “quotation marks” around the titles of articles, poems, songs, one-act plays, television or radio programs, series of books and sculptures. 
Theatre: Theatres on campus use this spelling. 
Time of Day: 11 a.m., noon or midnight (not 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.), 3 p.m. 

U 

United States: Abbreviate it as “U.S.” only as an adjective before a noun, otherwise spell out 
University: Capitalize when referring to ECU specifically; otherwise, do not capitalize. 

V 

Vice President: No hyphen 

W-Z

Website, Web Page 
www: World Wide Web