CCS follows The Associated Press style with only a few exceptions. Buying the most recent edition of The Associated Press Stylebook can prevent spills down the slipperiest of stylistic slopes.
Exceptions to AP Style
AP style calls for the use of quotations marks for all titles. CCS italicizes the titles of books, movies, television shows, the names of paintings, boats, airplanes and other large stand-alone works and uses quotation marks around the titles of smaller works such as poems, song titles, articles or chapters.
AP style says “home page” is written as two words, but CCS uses “homepage” as the standard form for the primary page of a particular website. CCS continues to follow AP in the use of “website,’ “online” and “email” and in the capitalization of “World Wide Web,” and the “Internet.”
Common stylistic errors
Overcapitalization – Following AP style, CCS does not capitalize academic departments and campus offices unless they contain a proper noun or unless they are part of the official name.
Examples:
The department of history; the purchasing department; the department of English; the Oklahoma State Department of Mines, the office of the president; Office of Natural Resources; the high school, Crossings Christian School.
Capitalize formal titles (those that indicate authority, usually governmental) used before a name. Lowercase titles set off by commas, titles not used with a name and titles that refer to occupation.
Examples:
The headmaster, MacDonald, admonished the students.
With great diplomacy, Headmaster MacDonald cultivated a relationship between CCS and other schools.
The headmaster cultivated a relationship between CCS and other schools.
Students enjoyed Headmaster MacDonald’s speech.
Passive Construction – Active sentence structure places the subject in the subject position. Passive voice lengthens and confuses the sentence by using phrases to move the subject after the verb.
Passive Example:
MacDonald was appointed headmaster by the committee.
Active Example:
The committee appointed MacDonald headmaster.
Passive Example:
The MacDonald study was awarded a $10,000 grant from the OSSAA.
Active Example:
The OSSAA awarded the MacDonald study a $10,000 grant.
Pronoun Reference – Pronoun reference problems occur when the pronouns doesn’t agree in number with the noun it references.
Incorrect:
The department listed a job opening in their accounting office. (the department is singular)
Correct:
The department listed a job opening in its accounting office.
Academic Degrees – Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Doctorate is the preferred term when noting a degree held.
Wayward Modifiers – Place descriptive words and phrases close to the word described to avoid confusion.
Examples:
MacDonald ran after the bus dragging the bag on the pavement.
(Incorrect if MacDonald is dragging the bag, correct if the bus is dragging the bag)
Incorrect:
MacDonald walked to the bus on the cell phone.
Correct:
Talking on the cell phone, MacDonald walked to the bus.
Tips to ease the way
- One space between sentences. We know your typing teacher told you two, but for the purposes of layout, one is enough.
- One thought per paragraph. Longer paragraphs appear to take up entire columns when dropped into a layout.
- Numbers one through nine are spelled out. At 10, they turn into numbers.
- When you use “that,” read the sentence again and imagine it without it. Chances are you don’t need it.
- Don’t be afraid to use contractions. Again, we’re not formal. Contractions help your writing sound conversational, i.e. it makes your “voice” actually sound like one. Communication should be easy to understand.
- Space and attention are limited, so get right to it. And remember the Five W’s – Who, What, When, Where and Why. Your first sentence should tell your reader exactly what to expect from you without history.
- End-of-the-sentence punctuation and commas go inside quotation marks.
- Use commas respectfully. They aren’t really the punctuation for every situation. Sentences do not require several sprinkled about for effect.
- When you start chaining together prepositional phrases at the end of sentences, make sure you really need them.
- Use the ellipsis and dash sparingly. Ellipsis (…) indicates omitted words. The dash (–) indicates an abrupt change or sets off a phrase already dripping in commas.
The best advice after “Consult AP”
Reread your writing aloud. If it’s bad, it’ll sound stilted and artificial. When you finish, if you can, put it aside for a day, then read back through it. Root out words you don’t need, such as redundancies and hyperbole, and delete them.
Basic Tips for a Professional-looking Document
Personal computers give us the tools to create documents with a wide variety of design capabilities, limited only by the software we choose, our proficiency with it, and our design sense and expertise. These guidelines can help get you on the right track.
1. Limit use of fonts.
A document with too many fonts(or typefaces) can look like a jumbled mess. Just because your computer comes with many fonts doesn’t mean you should use them all—or even three or four—in one document. A standard guideline is to limit a document to two fonts, typically a serif font for the body copy and a sans serif font for the title and headings.
Serif—A short line or flourish that completes the strokes of a letter, like the horizontal lines on the top and bottom of a vertical stroke, e.g., F,L, M, P.
Sans serif—Literally, without a serif. This font has no horizontal lines on the vertical strokes, e.g., F, L, M, P.
2. White space is your friend.
A page that’s visually crowded is difficult to read—and chances are it won’t be read at all. Take a look at a magazine or brochure you like. Study the size of the margins, the display copy, the “air” around the graphics, even around headings. This is called white space and it gives your eye a rest on an otherwise busy page.
3. Use headings to aid the reader.
Another way to avoid visually crowding a page is to use headings to break up long, running text. Not only do they help the reader skim to get an idea of the overall content, they introduce periodic white space.
4. Use ragged right paragraphs.
Traditionally, published books used right justification.This means that the text on the right margin is aligned. This is easy to do with most word processors, but that doesn’t mean you need to use it in your documents. Magazines and brochures increasingly use “ragged right,” where the text at the right margin is not aligned. Many find this easier when reading, and it gives a document a friendlier, less formal feel.
5. Use columns to enhance readability.
General belief is that a three-inch column of text is easier to read than if your eye must travel across the page for six inches. Depending on your document, consider using multiple columns. They don’t necessarily need to be the same width. The extra benefit is more white space!