Ithaca College uses the Chicago Manual of Style to help standardize IC communications and promote an enjoyable reading experience. Some issues are so common that it seemed best to include information on them here.
Note that content published by IC News is exempt from these Chicago Manual standards as news stories follow Associated Press style standards.
Here are a few of the most common Chicago Manual of Style rules or questions:
Use commas to separate all items in a series.
Please follow the directions in steps a, b, and c.
Italics for books and plays; quotation marks for song and poem titles, etc. – exceptions for social media posts that don’t italicize.
In general, longer works (books, magazines, plays) are italicized while shorter works (songs, poems, articles) only use quotation marks.
Spell out numbers one through nine and use numerals for larger numbers. Generally, spell out numbers if they begin a sentence.
(Exceptions include numbers in display type, years, and a combination of numbers and letters, e.g.: 3D, 401(k), 7-Eleven.)
Use cardinal numbers, not ordinals.
No comma is used when only the month and year are used.
Lowercase a.m. and p.m. in running text. Include a space between the numeral and the abbreviation.
When using from to indicate duration, follow it with to .
Don’t use zeros with even hours unless they appear with other half and quarter-hour increments.
Use noon for the midday hour, as it is neither 12 a.m. nor 12 p.m. The most accurate abbreviation for noon is 12 m., but it is seldom used. Midnight is 12 p.m., but using the word rather than the numerals eliminates the possibility of confusion.
Use lowercase for titles with commas to set off the title in running text when they appear before or after a name, unless they may be seen as part of the name or as a form of address or are named professorships.
Official names of courses are initial capped. (Don’t capitalize shortened versions of the official name.)
Data shows that readers prefer active voice. When possible, start sentences with a verb to convey energy.
Do this: Apply to Ithaca College by February 1 at ithaca.edu/apply.
Not this: The Ithaca College application can be found at ithaca.edu/apply. It must be completed by February 1.
One space between sentences is all you ever need. When typewriters were used to create printed text, each letter took up the same amount of space on the page, so two spaces were used between sentences to cue a better separation visually. With the advent of computers and variable width type, two spaces are no longer needed.
Spell out Ithaca College the first time it appears in text. After you’ve spelled out the acronym once, you can use the abbreviated form, IC, or “the college” to refer to IC.
Do not capitalize “college” unless it is part of a formal name. Exceptions may include forms, historical documents, and legal information such as policy manuals.
Alumni (plural) refers to a group of graduates. The term graduate or grad may be substituted for individuals who are alumni. Alum and alums may also be used in informal writing and publications including This Is Ithaca.
Use an apostrophe (’) for abbreviated class years, not a single opening quotation mark (‘). Class years should be included for all IC students and alumni on first reference.
Using “Bomber” to refer to an Ithaca College student is acceptable when the reference is regarding the following:
Note that “Bomber” should not be used in admission publications unless those publications are directed toward students who are part of the college’s athletics program.
Use lowercase for titles in running text when they appear before or after a name, unless they are part of the name or as a form of address. (Once a title has been given, the last name is all that’s needed for subsequent references.)
As at many other colleges and universities, “Dr.” is used to designate the holder of a medical, not an academic, degree. To indicate the possession of a doctorate, the format in the first example below may be used.