Style Guide

This style guide identifies the rules, conventions, usage, and preferred spellings that are commonly used in University of Wisconsin Law School publications. The style guide is intended to provide stylistic consistency by choosing among various correct but alternative rules of spelling, capitalization, hyphenation, punctuation, etc., and by documenting those choices. Stylistic consistency enables writers and editors to work more efficiently, and it helps readers to concentrate on content without being distracted by variations in how rules and conventions are applied from one page to the next and from one publication to another.

We hope that you find this style guide useful. Remember that the guidelines below are not rigid rules and that, like the English language itself, this style guide will change over time. When the guidelines assist you, use them. When they present problems, make judicious but consistently applied exceptions.

Guidelines for formal publications
Gargoyle Magazine

General Style Matters

In general, follow The Associated Press Stylebook and Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Numbers: Spell out the numbers zero through nine; use numerals for 10 and above. Round numbers in text. Similarly, spell out one to nine dollars; use numerals and dollar symbol for larger amounts. For further guidance, see the entries for numbers, dimensions, dollars, percent, and weights.

Capitalization: capitalize prepositions of five or more letters in titles and headings. See the entries for capitalization and composition titles for further guidance.

Use italics rather than quotation marks to introduce technical terms: The term voir dire means

Introduce abbreviations as follows: Legal Education Opportunities (LEO). Note that there are no quotation marks around the abbreviation.

Social media: Follow the AP guidelines, last revised November 2011.

Style Guide (1) ‡

academic degrees

For most references, use law degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree, or doctorate in place of degree abbreviations. Bachelor of arts degree or master of fine arts degree is also acceptable. Use abbreviations only when necessary to distinguish the specific type of degree or when the use of full terms would prove cumbersome, such as in a list: She received her J.D. from Marquette and an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown. He has an M.D. as well as a Ph.D. in biochemistry. Use commonly accepted abbreviations such as J.D., LL.B., LL.M., LL.D., B.A., M.A., M.S., Ph.D., etc. (note the periods). The word degree should not follow a degree abbreviation. See honors concerning terms of academic distinction used with degrees; see majors for referring to degrees in specific subjects.

academic departments

Capitalize name of department and the words department, college, office, and school only when they appear as part of official name. Words such as department can be omitted on second reference, but if the department is still referred to by its official name, it should be capitalized. On the other hand, casual references to a department, where department is used as a descriptor, usually don't need to be capitalized: Department of Political Science; but a political science committee, the political science department. Do not capitalize department names when they are used to indicate the subject a professor teaches: Department of Anthropology, Dave Brown of Anthropology; but Dave Brown, professor of anthropology. Do not capitalize the words college, school, university, or department on second reference: College of Letters and Science, Law School, UW-Madison; but the college, the school, the university.

academic staff

Use only for employees officially designated as academic staff: Members of the academic staff, academic-staff member Jane Black.

Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC)

The executive arm of the Academic Staff Assembly.

academic titles

Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as professor, dean, president, chancellor, professor emeritus, and chairman only when they precede a name; lowercase when used in apposition: Dean Davis; Professor Julian Pleasants. But history professor Julian Pleasants; Julian Pleasants, professor of history; department chair Jon Roosenraad.

Do not capitalize ad hoc epithets that denote a person's duties: photographer Ann Wilson (not Photographer Ann Wilson).

See named professorships for the exception regarding formal named professor titles. See also emeritus.

according to

Use only when citing documents or other nonhuman sources.

acknowledgment

acronyms

Acronyms may be used to refer to an organization on second and subsequent references. In the first reference to the organization, set out the acronym parenthetically: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). If an organization's acronym is widely known, use the acronym for all references: IRS, FBI, CIA, CBS. (For further examples, see specific headings.) In general, use capital letters without periods for acronyms that are composed of the first letter of each word in the official name: NAACP, NLRB. If the acronym is a combination of words, capitalize only the first letter of each word: WiscInfo.

ACT

Acceptable in all references for the college entrance exam American College Test. See also LSAT; SAT.

acting

Always lowercase, but capitalize any formal title if it comes before a name: acting Dean Peter Barry.

addresses

Use street addresses only for off-campus events and for announcements of events to off-campus audiences. Use the abbreviations Ave. , Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Spell them out and capitalize when part of a formal street name without a number: Pennsylvania Avenue .

Lowercase and spell out when used alone or with more than one street name: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania avenues .

All similar words ( alley , drive , road , terrace , etc.) always are spelled out. Capitalize them when part of a formal name without a number; lowercase when used alone or with two or more names.

Always use figures for an address number: 9 Morningside Circle . Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; use figures for 10th and above: 7 Fifth Ave. , 100 21st St.

Abbreviate compass points used to indicate directional ends of a street or quadrants of a city in a numbered address: 222 E. 42nd St., 562 W. 43rd St., 600 K St. NW . Do not abbreviate if the number is omitted: East 42nd Street, West 43rd Street, K Street Northwest . No periods in quadrant abbreviations — NW, SE — unless customary locally.

adjunct

Title used for faculty with limited-term appointments. Although the University uses the term adjunct professor, the Law School does not. Use adjunct, lecturer or member of the adjunct faculty.

admission, admittance

Use admittance for physical entry to a specific place: no admittance to Ogg Hall. Use admission for figurative entry (admission of evidence) or, when physical entry is involved, in the further sense of right or privilege of participation: admission to law school, the price of admission to Mitchell Theatre.

Admissions, admissions office

Acceptable on second reference for the Law School Admissions Office.

Admitted Students Weekend

Use the plural students.

adviser

affect, effect

Each is a verb and a noun. Affect is almost always a verb and effect most often a noun: drugs that affect the nervous system; the effect of drugs on the nervous system; his complaint had no effect on the dean. Effect as a verb means to bring about a change; affect as a noun signifies a feeling or emotion.

afterward

African-American Acceptable for an American black person of African descent. Black is also acceptable. The terms are not necessarily interchangeable. People from Caribbean nations, for example, generally refer to themselves as Caribbean-American . Follow a person's preference. See nationalities and races and race.

agreed-upon

AIDS

all right

Never alright. Hyphenate only as unit modifier: he is an all-right student.

alma mater

ALS

Acceptable in all references to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

although, though

These are often interchangeable. Although is most often the first word of a concessive clause: Although she was tired, she accepted. Though does not always come first: Tired though she was, she accepted. Though is more commonly used to link single words or phrases: wiser though poorer.

alumni association

Acceptable on second reference for the Wisconsin Alumni Association or for alumni associations of specific schools or colleges: the Law School's alumni association. See Wisconsin Alumni Association.

alumnus, alumni, alumna, alumnae

Use alumnus (alumni in the plural) when referring to a man who has attended a school. Use alumna (alumnae in the plural) for similar references to a woman. Use alumni when referring to groups of men and women. In most informal uses, alum is an acceptable alternative. These terms can be used for people who attended and did not graduate.

a.m., p.m.

Amendment

Capitalize when referring to amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Spell out the numbers one through nine; use numerals for 10 and above: Fourth Amendment; 14th Amendment. See also Constitution, U.S.

American College Test

ACT is acceptable on all references.

American Indian

See Native American.

American Indian Studies Program

America's Dairyland

ampersand

Use only as part of an official name (Eli Lilly & Co.) or abbreviation (L&S). Do not use as a substitute for and.

among

See between.

antidiscrimination

antitrust, antitrust law

anybody, any body, anyone, any one

One word for an indefinite reference: anyone can do it. Two words when the emphasis is on singling out one element of a group: any one of them can do it.

armed forces

Armory/Gymnasium

See Red Gym.

articles

Journal articles, stories in a newspaper or magazine, book chapters, and other portions of a published work should be enclosed in quotation marks. See also composition titles.

See like.

Asian-American

Preferred term for Americans of Asian descent. Hyphenate as adjective or noun. As with term African-American, we are following New York Times style, to clearly distinguish Asian from Asian-American.

Asian/Pacific Islander

Asian Pacific-American Law Students Association (APALSA)

assembly

Use assembly on second reference to refer to the Wisconsin State Assembly. If there may be confusion, use state assembly for the state legislative body.

assure, ensure, insure

A person assures (makes promises to, convinces) other persons and ensures (makes certain) that things occur or that events take place. Insure means to establish a contract for insurance of some type. Any predicates beginning with that should be introduced by the verb ensure, if the verb is in the active voice. [Garner, Dictionary of Modern American Usage]

at-will, at will

Hyphenate before noun, not after.

Attorney

Capitalize as title before person's name.

attorney-client

Adjective, as in attorney-client privilege.

attorney fees

Not attorney's fees.

attorney-in-fact

attribution

All opinions, predictions, interpretations, and statements derived from a speaker's expertise should be attributed through direct or indirect quotation to the speaker. In most cases, a form of to say is the best form of attribution; present tense (says) is preferred to past (said). According to should not be used to attribute thoughts to a speaker. See quotations for additional rules on quoting speakers.

audio-visual

bachelor's degree

Use instead of abbreviations for most references. See academic degrees.

back pay

Two words, no hyphen, as noun and adjective.

backup

bad faith

As adjective, two words, no hyphen.

Badgers

Official team name of UW men's and women's athletic teams. Acceptable as a substitute for UW on second reference for athletic teams or athletes: the Badgers host Minnesota, Badger athletes. Do not use to refer to other parts of the university or the state.

Benchers Society

No apostrophe. On second reference, can use Benchers.

benefit

Not benefits as adjective: employee benefit issues.

benefiting, benefited

between, among

Use between to show relationship between two objects; use among when more than two objects are involved.

Big 10

Use Big 10 to refer to the 11 schools that make up the athletic conference by the same name (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, and Wisconsin). Using Big 10 in academic references is acceptable in some cases: Chancellors of Big 10 universities; other schools in the Big 10. However, some UW-Madison peer groups include more than just Big 10 schools (see CIC, for example). Be sure to include other schools if this is the case.

BioStar Initiative

black

Acceptable for quotes or names of organizations. Use African-American for all other references.

Black Law Students Association (BLSA)

black-letter

Board of Regents

A 17-member panel that oversees the UW System. Use UW System Board of Regents on first reference and regents or board on second reference. Regents are appointed by the governor and are led by a president.

book titles

In general, set in italics.

See composition titles.

braille

breach-of-contract

As an adjective, use hyphens.

burden-of-proof

As an adjective, use hyphens.

Bucky Badger

Use only for specific references to the UW's mascot.

buildings

Capitalize official names of campus facilities. On second reference, lowercase when proper name is not used: the Mosse Humanities Building; but the building. Include street addresses only when citing the location of an off-campus event or for an event for off-campus audiences. In some cases, building may be used to prevent confusion with the academic department of the same name; do not capitalize building in these cases (Law School, Law School building), but in most cases building names can stand alone (Grainger Hall, School of Human Ecology).

business, firm names

As of 2014, we no longer include entity type (PC, LLC, etc.); this is inline with common formatting standards. For example, use Smith & Jones, not Smith & Jones, LLC.

The phrase and title “of counsel” is lowercase.

bylaws

by-product

calendar-year

Adjective. Use hyphen.

Camp Randall

Camp Randall, located on campus west of Randall Avenue, was used as a training ground, hospital, and stockade during the Civil War. The university's athletic facilities are located on the site of Camp Randall, along with a park and a memorial arch. Be sure to distinguish Camp Randall Stadium, the UW football stadium, from Camp Randall.

campus

Resist the temptation to use campus as a substitute for UW-Madison. The word is best used where it refers to the physical setting of the university: construction on campus, but not drinking on campus unless you mean within the physical bounds of campus; advising at UW-Madison, but not advising on UW-Madison's campus.

Campus Assistance and Visitors Center (CAVC)

Housed in the Red Gym, the CAVC runs the visitors center, as well as other services such as campus tours, group visits, and information requests. When directing people to its visitor offices, use visitors center.

campuswide

can, may

Can is used to indicate ability to do something, may to ask, grant, or deny permission to do it.

cancelled, cancelling

cannot

capital

Capital is the city in which the seat of government is located. It is also used to describe money, equipment, or property: Capital Square; capital budget; The state capital is Madison. Capitol is the building in which state or federal government is housed. See capitol.

Capital Square

capitalization

In general, avoid unnecessary capital letters. Use a capital letter only if you can justify it by one of the principles listed here. Many words and phrases, including special cases, are listed separately. If there is no relevant listing for a particular word or phrase, consult a dictionary.

Proper nouns: Capitalize nouns that identify a specific person, place, or thing: Heather, Atlanta, Africa.

Proper names: Capitalize common nouns such as party, river, street, west, college, and university when they are an integral part of the full name for a person, place, or thing: Democratic Party, Potomac River, Fleet Street, West Virginia, College of Letters and Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lowercase when they stand alone in subsequent references: the party, the river, the street, the college, the university. In general, capitalize common nouns when used in the plural if they would be capitalized in singular form for all proper names: Mississippi and Missouri Rivers; Mounts McKinley, St. Helens, and Rainier; Main and State Streets; National and Warner Theaters.

Titles: Capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name. Lowercase formal titles when used alone or in constructions that set them off from a name by commas. Governor McCallum, Mayors Giuliani and Dinkins; Tammy Baldwin, congresswoman from Wisconsin.