EOU Style Guide

As an institution of higher education, it is critical that all written materials produced and utilized by Eastern Oregon University be professionally executed and presented. Writing for the general public is different than writing for collegiate publications or research journals.

Media, marketing, web and publication writing should be oriented toward a general audience and follow the guidelines listed below, which are based on The Associated Press Stylebook, The Chicago Manual of Style and Wired Style.

Click this link to view institutional guidelines for logos, colors, fonts and other graphic elements: EOU Graphic Standards Guide

Eastern Oregon University

Refer to Eastern Oregon University by its full name on first reference.

On subsequent references, use EOU, not EO or E.O.U. Avoid referring to Eastern Oregon University as Eastern.

Capitalize University when in direct reference to Eastern Oregon University and addressing internal audiences.

Schools

College of Education

College of Business

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

College of Science, Technology, Math and Health Science

Buildings

Use official building names in all titles, photo descriptions and upon first reference in stories, releases and letters: Ackerman Hall, Alikut Hall, Badgley Hall, Community Stadium, Daugherty Hall, Dorion Hall East/Dorion Hall West, Eocene Courts, Gilbert Events Center, Hoke Union Building, Inlow Hall, KEOL Radio Station, Loso Hall, McKenzie Theatre, North Hall, Pierce Library, Quinn Coliseum, Student Health/Counseling Center, Zabel Hall.

Titles

Name of an individual is followed with complete appropriate title upon first reference: Richard Chaves, co-President of Eastern Oregon University.

Use name, title format whenever possible. Capitalize titles when they occur before a name: David Allen, assistant professor of mathematics; Assistant Professor of Mathematics David Allen.

Political titles: Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.)

For students, include class status at time of publication: Joe Student, a junior from Burns…

For alumni, include a comma and the abbreviated year after name: Joe Graduate, ’82.

Academic degrees

Capitalization of degrees should match the registrar’s official degree list.

Capitalize official degree titles: Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.

When the discipline listed with the degree is not part of the official degree name, it is not capitalized: Bachelor of Arts in mass communication, Master of Arts in counseling.

Do not capitalize in general reference: master’s degree, bachelor’s degree, associate degree, doctoral degree or doctorate.

Use “master’s degree” or “bachelor’s degree” over abbreviations in general reference. When necessary, abbreviate degrees with periods: Ph.D., M.A., B.A.

The word “degree” is never capitalized when referring to academic degrees.

Cyberspace

Format email addresses as name@host.domain: yourname@eou.edu or yourname@hotmail.com.

Delete http:// and www. before URLs and web addresses: Visit eou.edu/marketing for more information.

internet, not Internet

email, not e-mail

website, online

Dates and times

Spell out the month if used alone or with year: last September, January 1993.

Abbreviate if followed by the date: Jan. 12, 1993 or Oct. 28. Do not use the -st, -nd, -rd, or -th endings on numerals.

Note that not all months are abbreviated: Jan., Feb., March, April, May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.

Drop the extra zeros on the hour and include a.m. or p.m.: 1 p.m. or 3:30 p.m.

Include time zone when needed for clarity and for audiences outside of Pacific Standard Time: 9 a.m. PST.

Cities and states

Use Associated Press abbreviations when listed with a city: St. Paul, Minn.; Boulder, Colo.

Always spell out Iowa, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Ohio, Texas and Utah.

Do not include the state for Oregon cities: The choir toured high schools in Prineville during winter break. Theatre students went to Thousand Oaks, Calif., to perform.

Quotations

Commas introduce quotations of a sentence or a phrase. Colons introduce quotes of more than one sentence.

Punctuation marks always go inside quotation marks.

Speakers introduce quotes in the past tense (said, not says): “We held the Spring Symposium in Loso Hall at EOU,” said Tom Insko, EOU president.

The Oxford Comma

Commas separate series of simple items and no comma precedes the final item of a simple series: scholarships, financial aid and loans.

A comma may separate the final items of a complex series in order to avoid confusion: apply for scholarships by Feb. 1, visit the Financial Aid Office regularly, and arrange for any necessary loans.

Use semicolons to separate individual items with comma separations: Dallas, Texas; Seattle, Wash.; and Miami, Fla.

Sports

Student-athlete, not student/athlete

There are no “Lady Mountaineers.”

Teams are plural and possessive: men’s basketball, women’s wrestling

Reference position, name, year and hometown when identifying student-athletes: Right tackle Jason Follett (Sr., Hermiston)

Numbers, events, publications, pronouns and common words

Spell out numbers below 10 and when they occur at the beginning of a sentence. Exceptions to this rule include dates, ages, times and currency: $5, 8 years old, seven miles, 45 students, three days, Nov. 6, nine years, 10th grade, Fourth Street, 3414 Adams Avenue.

Use dots or hyphens for telephone numbers: 800-541-3475 or 541.962.3740.

Use quotation marks around titles of books, plays, movies and other publications. Capitalize reference book titles: “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Encyclopedia Britannica, “Pippin.”

Avoid using gender pronouns, especially when you do not know an individual’s preferred terms. Use the individual’s last name whenever possible, and rework the sentence as needed.

Percent, not %; unless in graph or chart

Advisor, not adviser

Powwow, not Pow Wow

Updated October 2017