Writing Style Guide

Abbreviations:

• Include an unfamiliar abbreviation in parentheses after a proper noun before using it on second reference, especially for external audiences: Business Technology & Service Division (BTS), Institutional Research & Effectiveness (IR&E).
• Abbreviate government titles before a name: Gov. Brad Little, Sen. Dan Johnson.
• Use periods for most two letter abbreviations: U.S., B.A., B.S.

Academic Degrees:

• Use apostrophes in bachelor’s degree and master’s degree; but no apostrophes for Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, or associate degree. A baccalaureate is a college bachelor’s degree. The two terms are interchangeable but bachelor’s degree is preferred.
• Use associate degree, not associates or associate’s degree.
• Use periods when abbreviating degrees. Bachelor of Arts as B.A., and Bachelor of Science as B.S., and Master of Arts as M.A. Use Ph.D.
• Majors: Lowercase in all instances unless a proper noun, such as English major, social work degree, social work major.
• Doctoral is an adjective, doctorate a noun: A person with a doctorate has earned a doctoral degree. Always lowercase.
• Do not precede a name with a courtesy title for an academic degree and follow it with the abbreviation for the degree in the same reference. Dr. John Doe or John Doe, Ph.D., but never Dr. John Doe, Ph.D.

Addresses: Use this format: 500 8th Ave., Lewiston, Idaho 83501

Advisor: The preferred spelling for someone who advises (this is an exception to AP style).

Afterward / backward / forward / toward: These words do not end in “s”

Alma mater: A school, college or university that one has attended (not necessarily graduated from). Plural: alma maters.

Alumni: Use alumni when referring to a group of men and women. Alum is acceptable but not preferred. A woman is an alumna; a man is an alumnus.

Alumni class year: Use degree abbreviation with year after name: Abe Pollin, B.A. ’82, was the chairman of the Foundation.

Ampersand: Use the ampersand symbol (&) when it is part of a name such as Liberal Arts & Sciences and Technical & Industrial. The ampersand should not otherwise be used in place of “and,” except for some accepted abbreviations: B&B, R&B.

Associate degree: Not associates or associate’s degree.

Athletic department: Capitalize when referring to the college’s Athletic Department. The LC State Athletic Department. Lowercase when using it generically. Most colleges have an athletic department.

Bachelor’s degree: Use instead of B.A. or B.S. Do not capitalize unless part of full name Bachelor of Science.

Bookstore: Capitalize when using in official name, lowercase when using generically.

Breakout: One word when used in phrases like breakout space, breakout session, breakout room. Two words with used as a verb. 

Buildings/places (acronyms acceptable on second reference):

• Activity Center (AC)
• Activity Center West (ACW)
• Administration Building (ADM)
• Adult Learning Center
• Art Center (ART)
• Bob and Leona DeArmond Building
• Center for Arts & History (CAH)
• Clark Hall (CLK)
• Clearwater Hall (CLW)
• College Advancement
• College Assistant Migrant Program (CAMP)
• College Place
• Ed Cheff Stadium
• Expedition Hall
• Harbor Center
• Harris Field
• Learning Garden
• Library (LIB)
• Mechanical Technical Building (MTB)
• Meriwether Lewis Hall (MLH)
• Music Building (MSB)
• North Central Idaho Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
• Parrish House (PAR)
• Pi’amkinwaas (PIA)
• President’s Home
• Reid Centennial Hall (RCH)
• Sacajawea Hall (SAC)
• Schweitzer Career & Technical Education Center (STC)
• Silverthorne Theatre
• Spalding Hall (SPH)
• Student Union Building/Center for Student Leadership (SUB/CSL)
• Talkington Hall (TLK)
• Tennis Center (TC)
• Thomas Jefferson Hall (TJH)
• Williams Conference Center (WCC)
• Wittman Complex (WITT)
• Workforce Training (WFT)

Campus: Always lowercase. For example, Lewis-Clark State College campus. LC State Coeur d’Alene is an outreach center and is not to be referred to as a campus.

Campuswide: Follow AP style and use it as one word.

Capitalization:

• In general, avoid unnecessary capitals. Concerning LC State, common second references would include the college, the campus, the institution, and the department.
• Capitalize board and committee if it’s part of the proper title, but lowercase when referring to the board. The LC State Foundation Board is looking for volunteers. The board will meet today.
• Capitalize formal building names and capitalize "room" when listed with its number Room 213; capitalize formal room names, such as Selway River Room.
• Capitalize the formal names of schools, academic departments and divisions of the college. Lowercase names that are flipped or shortened: Office of the President, president’s office.
• See Titles

Cascade Collegiate Conference: This is the conference LC State athletics is a member of. Use the complete title and not Cascade Conference. CCC is acceptable after the first reference.

Chair: Chair is preferred reference and avoid using chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson unless those titles are the official title of the person who holds that position. Capitalize when used before a name, lowercase after a name. Chair of the Business Division Mary Smith, but Mary Smith, chair of the Business Division.

Check-in: Check-in (n. and adj.), check in (v.).

Classified staff/Classified Staff Organization: Always lowercase classified staff. But capitalize when using Classified Staff Organization. CSO is acceptable after first reference.

Coeur d’Alene Center: Always spell out on first reference with no hyphen between LC State and Coeur d’Alene. Lewis-Clark State College Coeur d’Alene Center. After the first reference, LC State Coeur d’Alene is acceptable. Abbreviation CDA is acceptable. Do not abbreviate as CdA. Do not refer to the Coeur d’Alene Center as a campus.

College: Only uppercase when it’s the proper title. Lewis-Clark State College. The college is located in Lewiston, Idaho.

Comma: Use an oxford/serial comma before ‘and’ and ‘or’. Contact Student Affairs for questions regarding admissions, registration, and financial aid. For detailed guidance on comma usage, consult the punctuation section in the back of Webster's New World College Dictionary.

Commencement/graduation: Always lowercase. The college will hold its commencement exercise on May 13. The graduation ceremony at LC State is May 7.

Composition titles: Put titles of creative works such as books, plays, poems, TV shows, songs and movies in quotation marks. Do not use italics. He starred in the movie “Copacabana.” He also wrote his autobiographical book, “Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise.” Do not use italics or quotes for magazines or other reference works such as newspapers, dictionaries, handbooks or software.

Course titles: Official course names should be capitalized. She is registered for the Business and Accounting Methods class. Use a colon between the course name and course number if used together. She is register for Business 365: Business and Accounting Methods.

Coursework: One word per updated AP guidelines (2015). Classwork as well.

Courtesy titles: In news releases, follow AP style and avoid the use of Dr. except in cases of medical doctors. In publications such as newsletters, Dr. is acceptable, but make sure titles are consistent. Use Rev. on first reference when referring to members of the clergy.

COVID-19: Use all caps COVID-19 and coronavirus. The shortened form COVID is acceptable in quotations and if necessary for space in headlines.

Cum laude/magna cum laude: Lowercase.

Curriculum vitae: Spell out on first reference. CV is acceptable on second reference. “Curricula vitae” or “CVs” for plural.

Cybersecurity: Always one word.

Dashes: Use a long dash – also called an em dash – to set off parenthetical information, to bring focus to a list, or to mark a sharp turn in thought. Use a space on both sides of the dash. Hyphens should be used for all other uses, including to show spans of time or dates. The class runs 3-6 p.m.

Data: The word typically takes a singular verb and pronoun form when writing for general audiences and in data journalism contexts: The data is sound. In scientific and academic writing, plural verbs and pronouns are preferred.

Dates: Always spell out months when they stand alone or with a year. Abbreviate when with a date as follows: Jan., Feb., Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. and Dec. Do not abbreviate other months. When saying Aug. 12, always just list the number and without the rd, nd, st, or th. When month, day, and year are used in running text, set off year with commas: The event will be held April 25, 2018, in the Activity Center. Do not use commas when a date includes only a month and year: The last meeting was held in March 2017.

Daylight saving time: It is saving, not savings, and should be lowercase. Abbreviated DST. See also Pacific Standard/Daylight Time and time zones.

Days of the week: Capitalize and always spell out – Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday – unless using them in a tabular format. In tabular format go with the first three letters with periods. Mon., Tue., Wed.

Dean, dean’s list: Capitalize when used in front of a name. Dean Jeff Ober. But lowercase otherwise. Lowercase dean’s list.

Decades, Centuries: List without an apostrophe: 1980s, 1800s.

Degrees:

• Use apostrophes in bachelor’s degree and master’s degree; but no apostrophes for Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, or associate degree. Use periods when abbreviating degrees. Bachelor of Arts as B.A., and Bachelor of Science as B.S., and Master of Arts as M.A. Use Ph.D.
• Majors: Lowercase in all instances unless a proper noun, such as English major, social work degree, social work major, or when using the full degree name Bachelor of Science in Biology.
• Doctoral is an adjective, doctorate a noun: A person with a doctorate has earned a doctoral degree. Always lowercase. Do not use doctorate degree.

Department: Lowercase when used generically: He is the department chair. She is a hospitality management professor. The college has a hospitality management department. Uppercase when using the formal title or referring to the official department. The Department of Hospitality Management. The Hospitality Management program. The terms department, administrative unit, and office may be used interchangeably in informal references unless otherwise noted. Communications & Marketing office, Communications & Marketing department.

Dimensions: Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, etc., to indicate depth, height, length, and width. Hyphenate adjective forms before nouns. He is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, the 5-foot-6-inch man, the basketball team signed a 6-foot-11-inch forward. The car is 17 feet long. The storm left 5 inches of snow.

Directions and regions: Lowercase the terms north, south, northeast, southwest, etc., when they indicate compass direction: He walked north. Capitalize these words when they designate regions: She is from the Midwest.

Divisions (acronym): Always use the ampersand symbol (&) instead of “and” in division titles. Also note the singular “science” is used for Business & Computer Science Division.

• Business & Computer Science Division (BUCS)
• Business Technology & Service Division (BTS)
• Humanities Division (HUM)
• Nursing & Health Sciences Division (NHS)
• Physical, Life, Movement & Sport Sciences Division (PLMSS)
• Social Sciences Division (SS)
• Teacher Education & Mathematics Division (TEAM)
• Technical & Industrial Division (T&I)

Doctor, Dr.: In press releases, follow Associated Press style and avoid the use of Dr. except in cases of medical doctors. In publications such as newsletters, Dr. is acceptable, but make sure titles are consistent.

Doctoral and doctorate: Doctoral is an adjective, doctorate a noun: A person with a doctorate has earned a doctoral degree. Always lowercase. Do not use doctorate degree.

Dormitory/dorm: Do not use these terms. Use residence hall(s) instead.

Double spaces: Begin sentences with a single space. Nowhere in text should double spaces be necessary.

Ed Cheff Stadium: Where LC State plays its baseball games. The field is called Harris Field. The Warriors play at Harris Field in Ed Cheff Stadium.

Email: One word, no hyphen. Lowercase.

Emeritus: An honorary title awarded to select retired faculty members, both male and female. Place after formal title in lowercase. Jane M. Smith, professor emeritus of political science.

Faculty: Use to describe the entire faculty. The faculty is present. The faculty has voted. If talking about individuals who are part of the faculty, faculty members is preferred. Faculty members were in attendance.

Fall semester: Always lowercase fall semester, spring semester, summer semester, including when listed with the year: fall 2021, spring semester 2022.

Fellow/fellowship: Lowercase unless it’s a proper name. He applied for a fellowship. He applied for a Fulbright award.

First-generation: hyphenate when used as a modifier: first-generation college students.

Foreign students: Use international students.

Fractions: Spell out amounts less than one using hyphens between the words; two-third, four-fifths. Use figures for precise amounts larger than one, with a full space between the whole number and the fraction. 1 3/4, 2 5/8.

Full time, full-time: Hyphenate only when used as a compound modifier: He goes to school full time. She has a full-time job.

Fundraiser, fundraising: Always one word.

Government agencies: Capitalize proper names. Lewiston City Council, Idaho Senate, Congress. Lowercase otherwise.

Government titles: Abbreviate and capitalize title before a name, spell out and lowercase otherwise. Sen. Dan Johnson, but Dan Johnson, senator from District 5. Idaho Gov. Brad Little. The governor of Idaho said…

GPA: Use GPA on first reference when used with figures. A 2.5 GPA is required. If spelling out, use a hyphen between words grade and point. Plural form is GPAs.

Grades: Capitalize and use apostrophes for plurals: A grade of B or better is required. I earned A's and B's in school.

Grade level: For high school and younger, hyphenate in combining forms and spell out first through ninth, and use numbers for 10-12. For 10th through 12th grades, also use th after the number. So first-grade student; a 12th-grade pupil, second-grader, ninth-grader, 10th-grader.

Harris Field: The Warrior baseball field is called Harris Field. The Warriors play at Harris Field in Ed Cheff Stadium.

Hashtags: LC State official hashtags include #LCState and #TheWarriorWay

Healthcare: Always one word and lowercase unless part of a title.

Heights: Use numerals and hyphenate adjective forms before nouns. He is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, the 5-foot-6-inch man, the basketball team signed a 6-foot-10-inch forward. The car is 17 feet long. The storm left 5 inches of snow.

High-tech: Always hyphenate.

Home-school: home-school (v.), home schooling (n.), home-schooler (n.), home-schooled (adj.).

Homecoming: Lowercase homecoming, homecoming committee, homecoming parade and homecoming game. Uppercase Homecoming Week as the formal title that includes all events.

Human resources: Lowercase if using generically. HR is acceptable on second reference. LC State’s department is named Human Resource Services and is abbreviated HRS.

Hyphen: Hyphenate inclusive times and dates. Workshop hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. May 13-26. Hyphenate such terms as first-year and second-year when referring to students. See Dashes.

ID card: Acceptable on first reference. All students must have a WarriorOne ID card.

Idaho: Always spell out and never abbreviate.

Idaho State Board of Education: Use Idaho State Board of Education on first reference and then State Board of Education or SBOE on following references. The Office of the State Board of Education, not to be confused with the SBOE, is abbreviated OSBE.

Information Technology: Use on first reference and capitalize when referring to department. IT is then acceptable on subsequent references.

International student: Use instead of foreign student.

Internet: Lowercase internet. To abbreviate wireless internet use Wi-Fi.

Italics: AP style never uses italics in any form. See Composition titles.

Jr.: Abbreviate when part of a name and don’t separate with a comma. Martin Luther King Jr.

K-12: The years of schooling from kindergarten through 12th grade graduation. Pre-K is acceptable for pre-kindergarten.

Kids’ College: Capitalize and use apostrophe.

Kids: Children is preferred (unless talking about goats).

Legislative titles: In first reference use Rep., Reps., Sen. and Sens., as formal titles before one or more names. Spell out and lowercase senator and representative in other uses. In second reference, just refer to the person’s last name without governmental title. Sen. Dan Johnson represents Lewiston and Nez Perce County. Johnson says it’s an honor to do so.

Letter grades: Capitalize and use apostrophes with plurals. The student received four A’s, two B’s and one C.

Lewis-Clark State College: Always spell out the college’s full name on first reference. LC State is strongly preferred on subsequent references, though LC and LCSC are acceptable. Never use periods or hyphens between the letters. Previous school names include:

• 1893 – Lewiston State Normal School
• 1947 – Northern Idaho College of Education
• 1955 – Lewis-Clark Normal School
• 1971 – Lewis-Clark State College

Lewis-Clark State College Coeur d’Alene Center: Always spell out on first reference with no hyphen between College and Coeur d’Alene. After the first reference, LC State Coeur d’Alene is acceptable. Abbreviation CDA is acceptable. Do not abbreviate as CdA. Do not refer to the Coeur d’Alene Center as a campus.

Library: Lowercase unless it’s the proper name. The library at Lewis-Clark State College, but it’s the Lewis-Clark State College Library.

Majors: Lowercase in all instances unless a proper noun, such as English major, social work degree, social work major. See Academic degrees.

Midterm: One word and not hyphenated.

Money: Use figures in references to money: $8.50, $1,400, $50,000, $5 million. A dollar total with no cents is written without the decimal points and zeroes: Admission is $5 on Sunday. LC State will charge $5,025.75 for tuition next year. If money is less than a dollar, then use figure without a decimal point. He will pay 50 cents for the apple and 34 cents for the banana. Use figures with million, billion or trillion in all except casual uses: I'd like to make a billion dollars. But: The nation has 1 million citizens. I need $7 billion. The government ran a deficit of more than $1 trillion. In headlines abbreviations for millions and billions are acceptable: $5M grant, $17.4M trade deficit.

Months: Capitalize the names of months in all uses. The following month abbreviations are acceptable when used with a specific date: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone or with a year alone. Do not use a comma between the month and the year: She was born on Oct. 31, 2018. She graduated in May 2014. All classes held after September 2014. See dates; years.

Multiuse: Without a hyphen. It's multiuse and multipurpose, or multiple-use.

NAIA: Acceptable on all references. Stands for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, which LC State athletics belongs to.

NAIA World Series: First reference to the NAIA national baseball championship, hosted by LC State, should include title sponsor Avista NAIA World Series. Subsequent references may be: NAIA World Series, World Series, and the Series.

Names: Use a person’s first and last name on the first reference, and then last name on each subsequent reference. For informal internal writing, use of first name on second reference is acceptable but not preferred. If there are two people with the same last name, then continue to use first and last names to identify them.

Numbers: In general, spell out numbers one through nine and use figures for 10 and above. Exceptions for spelling out 1-9 are when the number precedes a unit of measure or dimension, referring to ages of a person, event, or thing, addresses, fractions and percentages, temperatures, time, and proper names. He bought four bananas, two apples, and 13 oranges. He used 2 quarts of water in front of his 7-year-old daughter.

Off campus, on campus: The meeting will be held off campus. Hyphenate when it immediately precedes a noun: Students are searching for on-campus housing.

OK: OK, OK'd, OK'ing, OKs. Not okay. Not lowercase.

Office: Lowercase unless it’s a proper noun. The meeting will be held in the professor’s office. The Washington State Office of Public Instruction.

Online: One word. Lowercase.

Pacific Standard/Daylight Time: Abbreviated PST and PDT when listed after times: 3 p.m., PST. If it is used alone, then spell out Pacific Standard Time. It is unnecessary to use PDT or PST for events in the Pacific time zone because the Lewiston and Coeur d’Alene campuses are on Pacific time. Use the time zone that the event will occur in for the audience you want: the conference will be held in Boise at 3 p.m., MST. See Time.

Part time, part-time: Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier: He goes to school part time. She has a part-time job.

Percent: Use the percent sign when paired with a number, with no space: 3.1%, 0.6%. Always use numbers and don’t spell out (a 2019 AP change). Try to avoid using at start of a sentence. If it’s necessary to start a sentence with a percentage, spell out both: Eighty-nine percent of employees…

Ph.D.: Use doctoral degree or doctorate if possible. Doctoral is an adjective, doctorate a noun: A person with a doctorate has earned a doctoral degree or a Ph.D. See academic degrees.

Phone numbers: Format with hyphens 208-792-0000. Do not include 1 before the area code and do not use periods between the numbers. Also do not use parenthesis around the area code. For internal publications, ext. 2222 is acceptable.

Plural proper nouns: Lowercase the common noun element in plural uses. The Snake and Clearwater rivers; the Selway and Clearwater rooms in the Student Union Building.

Possessive pronouns: Use “its” not “theirs” or “ours” to describe something that belongs to the college (or any singular entity). LC State will honor its record number of first-generation students

President: Capitalize when used in front of a president’s name, otherwise lowercase. President Cynthia Pemberton. The president announced today…

Professional staff/Professional Staff Organization: Always lowercase professional staff. But capitalize when using Professional Staff Organization, which is the proper title of the group. PSO is acceptable after first reference.

Professor titles: Capitalize full title before names: Professor of Justice Studies Gene Straughan. Lowercase the word professor before a name when it can be considered an epithet or a describing phrase. They asked a business professor, Jack Smith, for his opinion. Lowercase when used after a name: Jack Smith, professor of business, was asked a question. Do not use the professor rank as a courtesy title on the second reference.

Publications – magazines and newspapers: Capitalize the proper names, lowercase everything else. Do not put in italics or use quotations around the title of the publication. See Composition titles and Quotation marks.

Q&A: Q&A is acceptable to use for question and answer session.

Quotation marks: Use quotation marks for articles, essays, short poems, short stories, songs, chapters in a book, episodes of radio and television programs, lectures, speeches, conferences, symposiums in web writing. Do not use quotations around the names of magazines, newspapers, the Bible, the Quran and other holy books, and books that are catalogs of reference materials. Do not underline or italicize any of the above in web writing.

• The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks. The dash, the semicolon, the colon, the question mark, and the exclamation point go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

Recruiter: Use admissions specialist instead.

Registrar: Capitalize Office of the Registrar and use on first reference. In subsequent and general references, registrar’s office and registrar are lowercase.

Residence hall: not dorm or dormitory.

Room: Capitalize "room" when referring to a room in a building such as Room 213 in the Library or Library, Room 213.

Scholarship: Lowercase unless it’s part of a proper name.

Seasons: In general, do not capitalize: fall 2018 (not fall of 2018). Only capitalize if part of a formal name: LC State Summer Session, Winter Olympics.

Semesters: Do not capitalize: fall semester.

Setup: Setup (n. and adj.), set up (v.).

Shoutout: Shoutout (n.), shout out (v.)

Silverthorne Theatre: It’s Theatre and not Theater.

Sodexo Food Services: Use Sodexo Food Services on first reference and then Sodexo in following references.

State names: The names of the 50 U.S. states should be spelled out when used in the body of a story, whether standing alone or in conjunction with a city, town, village or military base.

Street: Abbreviate only with a numbered address. 500 8th Ave., Lewiston, Idaho 83501

Student-athlete: Lowercase and hyphenate. Student-athletes at LC State are very successful.

Study away/study abroad: LC State calls its program Study Away, not study abroad. Always use Study Away for proper title. If using study-abroad in generic terms, hyphenate.

Telecommute: One word. No hyphen. Telecommuting, telecommuter.

Telephone numbers: Format with hyphens 208-792-0000. Do not include 1 before the area code and do not use periods between the numbers. Also do not use parenthesis around the area code. For internal publications, ext. 2222 is acceptable.

That, which, who, whom: Use who and whom in reference to people and to animals with a name: Andrew is the man who helped answer my service questions. Use that and which in reference to inanimate objects and animals without a name. Use that to refer to an inanimate object and introduce an essential clause: I like to take classes that meet once a week. Use which to introduce a nonessential clause that refers to an inanimate object: The Global Women’s Institute, which was launched in 2011…

Theatre: Due to the spelling of Silverthorne Theatre and the name of LC State’s minor program, use the spelling theatre in all references.

Time: Use periods for a.m. and p.m. Noon or 12 p.m. are both acceptable as is 12 a.m. and midnight. The event runs 9-11 a.m. The event runs 8 a.m.-5 p.m. The event runs 5 p.m.-midnight. The event is at 5 p.m.-12 a.m. Never use the redundant terms 12 midnight or 12 noon.

Time zones: Always use the time zone that the event will occur in for the audience you want. So if the college is having an event in Boise, say the event will be held at 3 p.m., MST (or MDT if daylight time). It is unnecessary to use PDT or PST for events in the Pacific time zone because LC State’s campus and outreach centers are located in Pacific time zones.

Titles: Capitalize and spell out formal titles when they precede a name: President Cynthia Pemberton and Business Division Chair Mary Smith. Lowercase elsewhere: Mary Smith, chair of the Business Division, and Cynthia Pemberton, president at Lewis-Clark State College.

• In press releases, follow Associated Press style and avoid the use of Dr. except in cases of medical doctors. In publications such as newsletters, Dr. is acceptable, but make sure titles are consistent.

University: Lowercase unless it’s part of a proper name. The University of Idaho is older than the university in Pocatello.

United States: Use periods in the abbreviation U.S. within texts. In headlines, it's US (no periods).

URLs: In most cases, the http:// is not necessary, nor is a forward slash (/) at the end. www.lcsc.edu

Veterans: Use the descriptive (not the possessive) form for terms such as veterans benefits, Veterans Day, and Veterans Services. The singular possessive term "veteran's" should be used only when speaking of an individual.

Vice president: Capitalize before a name, otherwise lowercase. Vice President for Student Affairs Andy Hanson. Andy Hanson is the vice president for Student Affairs. VP is acceptable in casual writing. The LC State VP titles contain the word “for” (not “of”): vice president for Academic Affairs, and vice president for Finance and Administration.

Videoconference: One word. No hyphen. Videoconferencing, video chat.   

VIP, VIPs: Acceptable in all uses.

Vitae: Spell out curriculum vitae on first reference. CV is acceptable on second reference. “Curricula vitae” or “CVs” for plural. I have the candidate's curriculum vitae on file. Faculty members’ curricula vitae usually list their published articles.

Warrior OneStop: The proper name for the student resources located in Reid Centennial Hall.

WarriorOne Card: The proper name for LC State’s student ID card.

Warriors: The official nickname of LC State athletic teams. If used as a possessive, it’s Warriors’. Use singular for phrasing such as: Warrior athletics, Warrior basketball, Warrior golf.

WarriorWeb: The name of LC State’s online student portal.

Website, webpage: Use website, webpage, webcam, webcast, and webmaster as one word, but web browser and web address are two words.

• Use www.lcsc.edu in the body of text. Can use lcsc.edu in design.

Workforce: One word, like workbook, workday, workplace, worksheet, workstation, workweek, etc.

Wraparound: One word. No hyphen.

Year: Academic year (AY) and fiscal year (FY) at LC State denote the time period from July 1-June 30. The term calendar year (CY) refers to Jan. 1-Dec. 31. All terms should be listed lowercase: 2020-2021 academic year or fiscal year 2019. Abbreviations are acceptable in reporting and should be listed directly before the year: FY21. If the date is, for example, July 8, 2021, you are in FY22.

Years: use an “s” without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries: the 1980s, the 1800s. Years are the lone exception to the general rule in numerals that a figure is not used to start a sentence: 2009 was a very good year.

Year-end, year-round: Hyphenate.

ZIP code: Run the five digits together without a comma, and do not put a comma between the state name and the zip code. 500 8th Ave., Lewiston, Idaho 83501. If using the words “ZIP code” uppercase all of ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) and lowercase code.