The purpose of these editorial guidelines is to help ensure consistent use of style, organization and terminology in all university communications. It is not intended as a complete guide of grammar, punctuation, capitalization or writing style.

A few style guidelines for general editorial use:

Academic degrees—Capitalize abbreviations for degrees and professional designations, placing them only after proper names and separating them with periods, e.g., John Smith, B.A., B.S., Ph.D. Lowercase when degrees are spelled out, e.g., bachelor of arts degree, master of arts degree, master’s degree.

Academic titles—always refer to professors by full name, rank and affiliation (in that order), e.g., Charles Smith, assistant professor of chemistry. Note that the title "Dr." is used only when referring to a medical doctor.

Blue Demons—always uppercase the name of DePaul University’s athletic teams.

Congregation of the Mission—the formal name of the Vincentian religious community, denoted by the uppercase initials C.M. after an individual’s name, e.g., the Rev. John Smith, C.M.

DePaul University—always use the institution’s full name on first reference, spelling out DePaul as one word and capitalizing the "D" and the "P." Reserve the use of shorthand "DePaul" for subsequent references. When using all uppercase letters, leave a space between the "E" and "P," e.g., DE PAUL.

St. Vincent de Paul—the patron saint of DePaul University and the founder of the religious community that established the university, the Vincentians. Note the difference between the spelling of the saint’s surname and university’s name.

Campus names—capitalize the names of the university’s campuses and use in full on first reference, e.g. Loop Campus, Lincoln Park Campus, Rolling Meadows Campus. Lowercase on generic references, e.g. downtown campus, suburban campuses.

Colleges and schools within DePaul—Always use in uppercase and in full on first reference, e.g. College of Commerce. List shorthand acronyms parenthetically in capital letters following School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems (CTI); College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LA&S); and School for New Learning (SNL). Shorthand acronyms are used for subsequent references.

Department names—Always lowercase department names, e.g., psychology department, except when it includes proper nouns, e.g., English department, department of Hispanic studies.

e-mail—lowercase, with hyphen

Internet—always uppercase

intranet—lowercase (same for extranet)

online—lowercase, no hyphen (unless part of a product or technology name, e.g., Course OnLine)

Rev.—courtesy title for priests and ministers, always used on first reference preceded by "the"; the last name, used alone, is acceptable for subsequent references

Tree of Wisdom—The name for DePaul's logo

University buildings—Capitalize the names of campus buildings and use in full on first reference, e.g., Schmitt Academic Center (SAC), McCabe Hall, John T. Richardson Library

URLs—always lowercase, no http:// prefix, e.g., www.depaul.edu

Vincentian—Always uppercase adjective referring to the religious community that founded DePaul University, the Vincentians, or formally the Congregation of the Mission. The term also refers to St. Vincent’s and the university’s philosophy of personal service, social justice and human dignity.

Web—capitalize shorthand for World Wide Web, e.g., Web site, Web page, on the Web

For answers to specific questions related to writing style, DePaul uses the following approved sources, in order of preferred use:

• Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual (latest edition)
• Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (latest edition)
• The Elements of Style, William Strunk and E.B. White (latest edition)