• Abbreviations using all capital letters are written without periods unless the abbreviation refers to a person or is being used as an adjective (e.g., U.S. Navy)
• Spell out acronyms and other initialized nouns on first reference wherever readers might be unfamiliar with the term

• Use for words to be defined and key words in text
• Use to convey information critical to safety and health

Appointed/elected bodies

• Uppercase when full title is used (e.g., Lethbridge College Board of Governors; but use “board of governors” when used generally)

Buildings/areas

• Capitalize formal building names (e.g. Val Matteotti Gymnasium, Instructional Building)
• Capitalize informal areas whose names have become commonly used (e.g., Centre Core)

Departments

• Capitalize official campus departments (e.g., School of Environmental Sciences)

Directions and seasons

• Use lowercase letters for names of seasons except when referring to an academic semester
• Use lowercase letters for directions, even when accompanied by the name of a province or country

Schools/programs/outcomes/courses/subjects

• Capitalize schools and formal programs (e.g. School of Justice Studies, Interior Design)
• Lowercase program outcomes (e.g., certificate, diploma)
• Capitalize formal courses (e.g., the program includes Construction Estimating)
• Lowercase subjects (e.g., psychology, environmental science)
• Lowercase academic degrees (e.g., doctorate, bachelor’s degree)

Titles

• Capitalize titles when they are listed before a person’s name (e.g., President John Burns, but John Burns, president of the board)
• Lowercase titles such as manager, associate dean, instructor, etc.
• In most cases, titles of two words or more should be placed after names

• In-text citations and reference page listings follow APA style guidelines (7th edition of APA style manual)
• In-text references use author-date system (sources are shown in parentheses directly after the relevant quote or statement)

Dangling modifiers

• Beware words or phrases that modify words not clearly stated in a sentence (e.g., Looking over my shoulder, rain clouds were forming)

Misplaced modifiers

• Keep modifiers close to what they modify (e.g., I wrote him only two letters is the correct placement of only)

Parallelism

• Two or more items given equal consideration in a sentence should be as similar as possible

Pronouns and nouns

• Ensure pronouns always refer clearly to nouns (e.g., My brother is balder than my father, but he has a beard is incorrect because it’s unclear)

Semicolon use

• Use a semicolon, not a comma, to join two complete clauses

Singular verb usage

• Use a singular verb after each, every, everyone, everybody, neither, nobody, and someone

Subject–verb agreement

• Subjects and verbs should agree in number

Subjunctive mood

• Use the subjunctive mood in all statements that are hypothetical (were vs. was)

• Same capitalization style applied to each heading—use headline-style capitalization for Canvas page titles and sentence-style capitalization for headings and subheadings
• Headings at each level use the same grammatical structure (e.g., all noun phrases or all complete sentences)

• Do not use for words to be defined; use boldface text instead
• Use to identify letters used as letters and words used as words
• Use for the titles of books, newspapers, journals, movies, and artworks such as operas and paintings
• Use for the Latin names of species of plants and animals

• Short lists run in-text, especially if list introduction and list items form a complete grammatical sentence
• Set vertically if list requires typographic prominence, is relatively long, or contains items of several levels
• List items should be numbered when they represent steps in a process or when numbering indicates a hierarchy
• If bulleted list items are complete sentences, punctuate them normally
• If list items are not complete sentences, do not use capital letters or closing punctuation
• If list items complete a sentences started in an introductory element and the list items are phrases or sentences with no internal punctuation, no punctuation should be used after each list item and each item begins with a lowercase letter

• Spell out whole numbers under 10, except for mathematical calculations, units of time, ages, money, decimals, and percentages
• Spell out ordinals under 10 (e.g., first, fifth)
• Spell out or use a combination of letters and numerals for numbers greater than six digits (e.g., one million, 2.5 million)
• Use numerals in sequential designations (e.g., page 2, Chapter 9)
• In technical writing, write all numbers used with units of measurement as numerals
• Avoid beginning sentences with numbers; if unavoidable, spell out number
• No comma in four-digit numbers
• No apostrophe in plurals of numerals (e.g., 1930s)
• Monetary amounts are written as follows: $50, $51.03, 53 cents

• Use one space after a period in a sentence
• Use the series comma
• Use a comma to set off introductory phrases and clauses
• Use closed em dashes
• Use en dashes to show ranges in numbers and dates and to form complex compound adjectives

• Should all be numbered and captioned consistently
• Exhibits should be consecutively numbered and clearly referenced in running text
• Figure titles should briefly describe the contents
• Numbering corresponds to cross-referencing
• Captions of all tables in close proximity or containing similar data should be parallel

• Use periods for lowercase abbreviations (e.g., a.m. and p.m.)
• Use noon and midnight, not 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.
• When writing dates use only the number (e.g., June 1 not June 1st)
• Time, date, place is the preferred ordering of elements
• Use from and to when writing out a range of times; otherwise use an en-dash between numerals
• Do not abbreviate days of the week
• Do not abbreviate months when no date is included (e.g. The semester starts in January; the semester starts Jan. 6)
• Do not abbreviate months with five or fewer letters in their names