Editorial Style Guide 

Punctuation

Ampersand

Avoid using an ampersand unless it is part of an official title or in Q&A. It should not be used in place of and.

Apostrophes

Make abbreviations plural by adding “s” only. No apostrophe is needed.

• D.O.s
• IDs

No apostrophe is needed for decades: 1990s, but ’90s. Make sure the smart quote punctuation is facing outward — ‘90s is incorrect.

For possessives, follow these guidelines:

• Plural nouns not ending in s: Add an apostrophe-s — the alumni’s contributions, women’s rights.
• Plural nouns ending in s: Add only an apostrophe — the students’ questions, the professors’ discussion.
• Singular nouns not ending in s: Add an apostrophe-s — the student’s car, the cafeteria’s menu.
• Singular common nouns ending in s: Add an apostrophe-s — the witness’s statement, the boss’s instructions.
• Singular proper nouns ending in s: Add only an apostrophe — Achilles’ heel, Ross’ score, Dickens’ novels.

Do not use an apostrophe to indicate plurals, including the plurals of acronyms and abbreviations, unless confusion would result without the apostrophe, as in the first two examples:

• There are five s’s in that word.
• She received straight A’s.
• There are five 5s in that number.
• There were five Ph.D.s in last year’s class.
• Five NGOs were represented at the conference.

Apostrophes are required for bachelor’s degree and master’s degree.

Among DMU’s donor recognition groups, use President’s Society and Founders Society.

Bullet Points

Within a bulleted list, a complete sentence should have closing punctuation. For phrases or single items, no punctuation is needed. Use parallel construction throughout the list, using the same part of speech (noun, verb, etc.) and same verb tense. If one bullet point is a complete sentence, make all the points full sentences. Always uppercase the first word in a bullet.

Colons

Use a colon to introduce a series or a list, especially a list preceded by a complete sentence ending in as follows or the following. Usually, however, a colon is not needed after including in a sentence.

Use a colon to introduce an explanatory phrase or sentence. Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence.

• Conference participants should bring the following items: a laptop computer, notebook and business cards.
• You will have all the necessary equipment, including a laptop, monitor and desk phone.
• The dean was clear in her decision: Students must not be overburdened by bureaucracy if they are to enjoy a fulfilling educational experience.

Commas

Do not use the serial, or Oxford, comma, unless needed for clarification. In a series of three or more items, place commas after each item except the one immediately before the conjunction:

• She was a teaching assistant for anatomy, surgery and osteopathic manual medicine.

If items in the series contain commas themselves, use semicolons between all items:

• The three sisters’ birthdays are June 8, 1994; Aug. 19, 1997; and Oct. 5, 2001.

Do not use commas before and after Jr., Sr. and the designations I, II, III and IV in a person’s name:

• David Smith Jr. graduated from the university 30 years before his son, David Smith III.

No comma is needed between a month and a year. Commas are required before and after a year when month, date and year are used.

Set off a date in commas when it is preceded by the day of the week.

• She began the program in August 2018 and completed it in May 2022.
• She began the program on Aug. 1, 2018, and completed it on May 24, 2022.
• She began classes Tuesday, Aug. 1, on the new West Des Moines campus.

When referencing a city and state in a sentence, place commas after the city and after the state if in the middle of a sentence:

• She grew up in Webster City, Iowa, and attended Drake University.

Ellipsis

Use the three-dot sequence to indicate that something has been omitted from a sentence or passage. Include a space before and after the dot sequence. If a sentence ends (or is cut off) right before the ellipsis, leave in the punctuation that would have completed the sentence.

• “I felt a sense of accomplishment … yet I knew a greater challenge was ahead,” the speaker said.
• As the saying goes: “When in Rome … .”

Em Dashes and En Dashes

The en dash (–) and the em dash (—) are sometimes called short and long dashes, respectively. Em dashes are used to signal abrupt change; as one option to set off a series within a phrase; and before attribution to an author or composer in some formats. AP style calls for a space on both sides of an em dash in all uses.

The em dash is most easily typed using a keyboard shortcut:

• PC: alt + control + hyphen
• Mac: option + shift + hyphen

AP style does not use en dashes.

Hyphens (See Also Full Time, Part Time; Numbers)

Most questions about whether to hyphenate can be readily answered by consulting the dictionary. In general, the fewer hyphens, the better. Compound adjectives that precede nouns should be hyphenated when necessary to avoid ambiguity.

Use hyphens in compound adjectives to avoid misreading, such as “small-business owner.” However, “health care” is not hyphenated when used as an adjective.

Use hyphens for ranges, such as Jan. 1-4. Do not use spaces around the hyphen.

Do not use a hyphen in a compound modifier that begins with an adverb ending in ly:

• She is a highly respected physician assistant.

Periods

Place periods inside quotation marks.

Place a period inside parentheses if the enclosed text is a complete sentence. If not, place the period outside:

• (The case involved a 60-year-old woman with high blood pressure.)
• We chose to analyze the other case (we knew we’d be tested on the condition).

Use periods in abbreviations of most degrees. See also Degrees and Designations.

Do not use periods in acronyms unless they stand for an academic degree such as D.O., M.S., Ph.D.

Paragraph Style

Prefered paragraph style in print or digital materials is flush left, rag right with no hyphens.

Quotation Marks

Periods, semicolons and commas should always be included inside quotation marks. A question mark should be included only when it is associated with the quote; do not use a comma after the question mark in a quote. Convert quotations and apostrophes to smart quotes.

• “DMU has a great reputation,” she said.
• “Where is the Innovation building?” he asked.
• Did you hear Muscle Energy perform “I Want to Thank You”?

Put quotation marks around the names of books, journals and other publications, movies, plays, poems, albums, songs, radio and television programs, lectures, speeches and works of art except the Bible, the Quran and other holy books and books that are primarily catalogs of reference material, including almanacs, dictionaries, encyclopedias and similar publications.

NOTE: As an exception to AP style, DMU Magazine italicizes the names of books, journals and other publications.

Widowed Words

At the end of a paragraph, if there is a single word containing fewer than seven letters in the last line, the preference is to adjust the line endings to pull down another word in that last line

A seven or more character single word is acceptable as the last single line in a paragraph

NOTE: This does not apply to web pages with responsive layouts.