A college’s written publications and communications should reflect the institution’s mission, vision and values. Our writing style is a key element of our brand and identity. SUNY Broome’s Marketing and Communications (MarCom) Department developed a writing style guide to promote consistency and professionalism throughout marketing materials and publications.
As a community college, it is critical that our communications are designed with inclusion and equity in mind. All nonacademic publications from the College should embrace a clear, consistent writing style that can be easily understood by all stakeholders. Non-academic publications include, but are not limited to: messages from administration, printed publications, admissions communications, website content, and policies and procedures.
SUNY Broome’s style guide was designed using the Associated Press Style Guide as a foundation. Please refer to the current AP Stylebook for any topics not covered in this guide.
A
a.m. / p.m. / time
Note use of lowercase and periods.
Use noon instead of 12 p.m.; use midnight instead of 12 a.m.
The correct abbreviation for morning times is a.m.
The correct abbreviation for afternoon and evening times is p.m.
Use a colon to separate hours from minutes (8:45 a.m., 11:30 p.m.)
Don’t use zeros for even hours (7 a.m. not 7:00 a.m.)
The order when combining time with date and place is: time, date, place. [10 a.m. Wednesday, June 20, at the Decker Health Science Center]
abbreviations/acronyms
Use abbreviations for well-known organizations. Examples: FBI, NASA, IRS, NFL. For other organizations, spell it out on the first mention, then use abbreviations for subsequent mentions. Use your best judgment. If the general public is unlikely to recognize an abbreviation, then don’t use it.
academic degrees
With the exception of the alumni section of campus publications, spell out names of degrees. (Justin Miller received his associate degree in Chemical Dependency Counseling.) Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree and master’s degree, but there is no possessive in associate degree, nor is there a possessive when using Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science, etc.
Names of degrees are lowercased when referring to them generically (associate degree in criminal justice, bachelor’s degree in business) and capitalized when referring to a specific, formal degree/degree program. (Associate of Science in Dental Hygiene, Master of Art in Teaching)
Use abbreviations such as MA, MS, Ph.D. only when spelling out the names of the degrees would be cumbersome. When used after a name, set off these abbreviations with commas. Example: Dr. Tony Hawkins, Ph.D., is the new president of SUNY Broome.
academic departments
Capitalize official department names in running text. References using shortened or unofficial names should be lowercase. For example: SUNY Broome is proud of its Nursing Department.
academic majors and minors
Lowercase all majors and minors, except those incorporating proper nouns. (He has a major in history and a minor in African-American studies.)
addresses
For numbered addresses, always use figures. Abbreviate Ave., Blvd., and St. and directional cues when used with a numbered address. Always spell out other words such as alley, drive and road. If the street name or directional cue is used without a numbered address, it should be capitalized and spelled out. If a street name is a number, spell out First through Ninth and use figures for 10th and higher. Examples of correctly formatted addresses: 907 Front St, Binghamton, NY 13905, 78 Exchange St.,
ages
For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range. Examples: A 19-year-old student. The student is 24 years old. The student, 21, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 16-year-olds. She is in her 40s.
African American, Black
Both terms are acceptable, but not always interchangeable. For example, Black individuals from Jamaica would likely not describe themselves as African American, but may refer to themselves as Jamaican Americans. Use the term preferred by the individual or group you are writing about, if they share a preference. Do not hyphenate African American. Hyphenate compounds with name fragments: Afro-American, Indo-European.
alumni
singular vs. plural:
One man is an alumnus. Men plural: Alumni.
One woman is an alumna. Women plural: Alumnae.
A group of men and women are alumni.
Avoid the casual reference to “alum.”
When a SUNY Broome alum is mentioned in a story, on first reference, their name should be followed by:
Whenever possible, include the alum’s major/program and graduation year after their name, in parentheses. Example: Sammy L. Davis (CJPO ‘96) or Sammy L. Davis (‘96.)
B
Black
Capitalize the adjective Black when it describes people, culture, or race. Black is a broader term than African American as it may include people from Africa, the Caribbean, and elsewhere. When ethnicity is relevant, ask the individual or group which identifier they use. Do not capitalize person of color, people of color, or students of color.
books, periodicals, reference works, and Other Types of Compositions
Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art. Examples: Charles Dickens published his best-known book, “Oliver Twist” in 1838. The students sang “The National Anthem” before the soccer game.
Do not use quotations around the names of magazines, newspapers, the Bible or books that are catalogs of reference materials. Examples: The New York Times first reported the story. He reads the Bible every morning.
Do not underline or italicize any of the above.
Bulleted lists
- Use the bulleted-list style for information that is in random order (as opposed to numbered lists).
- Use circular bullets rather than dashes to introduce individual sections of a list.
- Put a space between the bullet and the first word of each item in the list. Capitalize the first word following the dash or bullet. Begin bulleted statements with capital letters.
- Use periods at the end of each sentence in a bulleted list. Use no punctuation at the end of a single word or single phrase. Do not use semicolons or commas.
- Use parallel construction for all lines in a bulleted list: Start with the same part of speech (noun, verb, etc.), use the same verb tense, and use all sentences or all single words or phrases.
C
campus
Do not capitalize.
campus buildings
Campus/school building names and their abbreviations should match those listed on the SUNY Broome Campus Map. To specify locations, give the building abbreviation and room number with a hyphen in between. (DH-201)
collegewide
There is no hyphen. Similarly: campuswide, statewide, nationwide, worldwide.
Commencement
Always capitalize when referring to SUNY Broome’s Commencement (graduation). The word graduation may be used when describing the event, but the official name for the ceremony itself is Commencement. Graduation should not be used in an uppercase fashion.
COVID-19
Use the term COVID-19 when referring specifically to the disease: COVID-19 treatments, COVID-19 patients, COVID-19 deaths, recovering from COVID-19.
D
dashes
En-dashes (-) should be reserved for durations and compound verb hyphens. Em dashes (—) have a space before and after and can be used as an interjection, an aside, or a pause.
The organization’s priority is to provide need-based grants-in-aid programs. The Foundation had revenues of more than $6 million this past year — and most was reinvested in our students. Andy, the 11-year-old boy, was happy to hear the good news — he had waited all week.
dates, months, years, days of the week
For dates and years, use figures. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates, and use Arabic figures. Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.
Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. Examples: Classes begin Aug. 28. The college was founded on Aug. 1, 1946. The spring semester begins in January. The 1900s. The ’80s.
When referring to an event that occurred the day prior to when the article will appear, do not use the word yesterday. Instead, use the day of the week. Capitalize days of the week, but do not abbreviate. When an event occurs more than seven days before or after the current date, use the month and a figure.
dormitory/dorm
Avoid these terms. Refer to SUNY Broome’s residence as Student Village.
E
Capitalize the e only when the word is used at the beginning of a sentence or on a form.
There is no hyphen.
email addresses
If used at the end of a sentence, end email addresses with whatever punctuation mark is appropriate for the sentence.
G
grade-point average
Spell out on first reference, but GPA is acceptable on subsequent references. Note use of hyphen when spelled out.
H
headlines
Capitalize the first letter of all words in headlines, with the exception of prepositions, articles, and conjunctions that are less than four letters long, such as for, but, and, or, nor, a, an, to, and the.
Hornets
SUNY Broome’s athletic teams (regardless of gender) are called the Hornets (plural).
Stinger the Hornet is SUNY Broome’s official mascot.
Individual students or alumni may be referred to as Hornets, in a general sense, whether or not they do or did participate in athletics at the College.
I
Indigenous
Capitalize this term used to refer to original inhabitants of a place.
interim/acting
When an individual is filling in for an administrator who is temporarily on leave, the correct title is acting. When an individual is filling in during the search for a permanent replacement, the correct title is interim.
N
names
Always use a person’s first and last name the first time they are mentioned in a story. Use last names only on second and subsequent references. Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.
NYS
Avoid using NYS; use New York state instead.
Note: state shouldn’t be capitalized unless it is part of a specific title. Examples: New York State Department of Health; a New York state initiative
numbers
Generally, spell out one through nine; use numerals for the rest. Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence. Examples: “She read three books.” or “He went to 10 concerts this year.” or “Ninety-two students attended the ceremony.”
Exceptions to these rules include the following, in which numerals should always be used:
Ages
Scores
Days of the month
Serial numbers
Degrees of temperature
Speeds
Dimensions
Sums of money
House numerals
Time of day
K-12 grades
Time of races
Percentages
Votes
Proportions
Years
P
percent
In all applications, use the percent symbol (%) rather than spelling out percent. Example: enrollment increased 9%
phone numbers
Use hyphens. Example: 607-778-5654
punctuation
As with all punctuation, clarity is the biggest rule. If a comma does not help make clear what is being said, it should not be there. If omitting a comma could lead to confusion or misinterpretation, then use the comma.
Use one space after periods, one space on either end of an em dash, one space on either end of ellipses.
No space around en dashes in dates (Example: June 19-21, 2024)
Initials: Use periods, but no space, when an individual or organization uses initials instead of a full name
R
Rave Alert
SUNY Broome’s emergency alert messaging system.
S
spelling/style
3D
advisor
African American – Do not hyphenate as a noun and adjective. This is not interchangeable with Black (see Black entry above)
internet – lowercase
theater – Spell with an “er” in generic references to a theater; for proper names of specific theaters, follow the spelling for the official name of the theater
BROOME Alumni Magazine – The title of the College’s alumni magazine will appear as BROOME Alumni Magazine in all running copy
U.S. – An acceptable abbreviation as a noun or adjective for “United States”
Washington, D.C.
website – “the web,” lowercase
For other questions regarding spelling, refer to the most recent version of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary
SUNY Broome’s name
Refer to the College as SUNY Broome Community College or SUNY Broome on first reference. You may use either the College (note the capitalization) or Broome on subsequent references. When using Broome in communications, it must be clear to the reader that it is referring to the College, and not the county. Do not refer to SUNY Broome as ‘BCC’.
SUNY
This abbreviation for State University of New York should be spelled out for external publications on first reference, but is acceptable on second reference. Don’t use periods or spaces.
states
Follow AP Style: spell out all
Students
When a current SUNY Broome student is mentioned in a story, on first reference specify the student’s anticipated year of graduation in parentheses. Example: Ariana Michitti (’25)
If possible, specify the student’s major or program as well. Example: Arianna Michitti (DH ’25)
STEM, STEAM
For STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), spell out on first or second reference. STEAM (adds “art”), spell out on first reference (not as familiar to audiences).
U
University
Capitalize names of all individual universities (Examples: University of Connecticut, Binghamton University, Syracuse University) Use university when referring to universities in general. Example: Binghamton University is a public university. Use universities when referring to two or more institutions together.
