Writing Style Guide

The LIM College Writing Style Guide was created to help produce materials that reflect a consistent, professional image. This guide is not meant to serve as an all-inclusive reference tool. It should be used in conjunction with other materials, including a dictionary and the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook. Please note, however, that some areas of LIM College writing style, as specified in this document, differ from guidelines in the AP Stylebook. This Style Guide will be updated on an ongoing basis. If you have a suggestion for an addition, change, or correction, or if you have a question that is not addressed in the Style Guide, please contact meredith.finnin@limcollege.edu

Section I: Terms and Language Specific to LIM College

LIM College
Academic Departments
Accrediting Bodies
Degrees
Undergraduate Majors
Graduate Programs
Administrative Offices
Commonly-Used Terms / Terms Specific to LIM College
LIM College Governing / Administrative / Advisory Bodies
LIM College Locations

Section II: General Writing Style

Academic Degrees
   Degrees and Apostrophes
Acronyms
Addresses
Alumni
Bullet Points
Capitalization – Offices and Departments
Class Levels
Committees and Boards
Courses and Programs
Dates
En and Em Dashes
Entitled vs. Titled
Exclamation Point
Faculty, Staff
Hyphen
Internet Terms
Money
Numbers
Spacing
Terms and Semesters
Time
Punctuation
Titles (of publications and media)
United States
Who vs. That

Section I: Terms and Language Specific to LIM College

LIM College
On first reference, use LIM College. For subsequent references, use LIM or the College.
Always capitalize College when you are referring specifically to LIM.

When saying “LIM College,” pronounce each letter of LIM distinctly: “L – I – M” Pronouncing the College’s name as the word “lim” is incorrect.

Use “an” not “a” when characterizing something or someone as being part of LIM College.  
Examples:
Ashley is an LIM College student.
An LIM College education can help you build a successful career.

Academic Departments
Arts and Sciences Department
Business Department
Fashion Merchandising and Marketing Department
Marcuse School of Graduate Studies (houses all graduate-level programs)
Visual Studies Department

Accrediting Bodies
Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)

Degrees
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Master of Professional Studies (MPS)
Master of Science (MS)
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS)
Associate in Applied Science (AAS)
Associate in Occupational Studies (AOS)

Undergraduate Majors
Fashion Management and Leadership (BBA) new for Fall 2024
Fashion Marketing (BBA)
Fashion Media (BS)
Fashion Merchandising (BBA, BPS, AOS)
Fashion Merchandising and Management (AAS)
International Business (BS)
Management (BBA)
The Business of Cannabis (BBA)
The Business of Fashion (BBA)
Visual Studies (BBA)

Graduate Programs
Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in:
-Fashion Marketing
-Fashion Merchandising and Retail Management
-Global Fashion Supply Chain Management (will become an MS in Fall 2024)
-The Business of Cannabis
-The Business of Fashion
Master of Science (MS) in:
-Consumer Analytics
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in:
-Luxury Brand Management (launching Fall 2025)

Pre-College Programs
Spring Fashion Lab
Fall Fashion Lab
LIM Fashion Academy (summer)

 

Administrative Offices
Executive Office
Office of Academic Administration
Office of Academic Advising
Office of Academic Affairs
Office of Accounting
Office of Admissions
Office of Career and Internship Services
Office of Counseling Services
Office of External Relations and Alumni Affairs
Office of Facilities
Office of Graduate Admissions
Office of Housing and Residence Life
Office of Human Resources
Office of Information Technology
Office of International Student Services
Office of Learning Innovation
Office of Marketing and Communications
Office of Online Admissions and Advising
Office of Purchasing
Office of the Registrar
Office of Student Affairs
Office of Student Life
Office of Study Abroad
Office of Student Financial Services
Office of Undergraduate Academic Advising
Office of Undergraduate Admissions

 

Some Commonly-Used Terms Specific to LIM College
Academic Resource Center (includes what was previously the Writing Center and Math Center)
Adrian G. Marcuse Library (or simply the Library after initial reference)
Cross-Cultural Analysis (Winter Break study abroad program)
Color and Materials Research Lab
FashionOpolis
First Year Experience (abbreviated as FYE after first reference)
Instructional Design Studio
The Lexington Line (student-produced online and print publication)
LIM College Alumni Association (or simply Alumni Association)
LIM College Parents Association (or simply Parents Association)
LIM Fashion Education Foundation (abbreviated as LIM FEF after first reference)
myLIM (internal portal for students, faculty and staff)
Senior Co-op
Sophomore Year Experience (SYE after first reference)

 

LIM College Governing / Administrative / Advisory Bodies
Board of Directors
Academic Affairs Council
Faculty Council
Fashion Industry Advisory Board
President's Cabinet
Provost's Council

 

LIM College Locations

Fifth Avenue
545 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10017

Maxwell Hall
216 East 45th St.
New York, NY 10017

Residence Hall:
FOUND Study – Midtown East
569 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10022

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Section II: General Writing Style

 

Academic Degrees
Degree Names and Their Abbreviations
Master of Professional Studies = MPS
Bachelor of Science = BS
Bachelor of Business Administration = BBA
Bachelor of Professional Studies = BPS
Associate in Applied Science = AAS
Associate in Occupational Studies = AOS

Periods are not needed between the letters of these abbreviations. However, if you choose to use periods, please ensure that your entire document is consistent.

 

Degrees and Apostrophes
Since associate degree names contain in instead of of, they do not get apostrophes when you are using the generic term. It is an associate degree, not an associate’s degree or an associate’s.

However, an apostrophe should be used when writing bachelor’s degree, or master’s degree, but not when you are writing out the formal name of the degree.

Examples:
Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Business Administration
a master’s degree, a bachelor’s degree

When referring to multiple degrees, of any type, the word degree should be made plural.

Examples:
Susan holds bachelor’s degrees from Harvard University and Yale University.
Bob earned two associate degrees before pursuing a bachelor’s degree.

 

Acronyms
Spell out upon first use and follow with acronym in parentheses

Example:
The Student Leadership Council (SLC) adopted new bylaws. The SLC will meet again next month to discuss these bylaws.

 

Addresses

Physical/Mailing Addresses
If you are going to abbreviate:
-Avenue = Ave.
-Street = St.
East and West should be written out.

Email addresses should be all lowercase.

Examples:
john.smith@limcollege.edu, graduatestudies@limcollege.edu

 

Alums / Alumni / Alumnae
alum (gender neutral, singular)
alums (gender neutral, plural)
alumnus (male, singular)
alumna (female, singular)
alumnae (female, plural)
alumni (male or male and female, plural)

 

Bullet Points
There is no punctuation (periods, commas, semi-colons) at the end of bulleted lines, except if a line is a complete sentence, in which case a period is added. Do not add the words “and” or “or” before the last bullet in the series.

Example:
Students studying abroad should bring the following items with them:

• passport
• clothing
• adapters for electronic devices
• LIM College ID card

When using bullet points, please keep the construction consistent. If you use words or phrases without a period, keep every bullet point a word or phrase without a period. If you do use complete sentences, use a period and make sure that every bullet point is a complete sentence.

 

Capitalization – Offices and Departments
When referring to the official name of an LIM College office, department, or building (see the LIM website for complete and correct names), capitalize the first letter of each main word.

Examples:
Office of Admissions
Visual Studies Department

 

 

Committees and Boards
Capitalize the names of specific committees and boards.

Examples:
Board of Directors, LIM Fashion Education Foundation Board of Directors, Commencement Committee

However, use lowercase for board and committee when they stand alone.

Example:
Sue arrived very early for Commencement because she was a member of the committee.

 

Courses and Programs
In narrative copy, capitalize names of LIM College courses and programs. However, do not capitalize the words program or series unless it is part of the official name (such as the CEO Speaker Series).

 

Dates
In formal text and correspondence, do not present a date in numerical form, such as 12/12/14 or 12/12/2014. Also, you do not need to add “st,” “nd” or “th” when writing out dates. Commas should be placed after the day of the week (if specified), as well as between the month and the year (if specified). When writing about a particular decade, add an “s” – without an apostrophe – after the numerals.

Examples:
LIM College will be closed from Friday, September 2 through Monday, September 5.
Commencement will be held on May 26, 2015.
the ’70s, the 1990s

 

En Dashes and Em Dashes
An en dash is used to connect values in a range or that are related. Use it to express a "to" relationship.

Examples:
The glossary on pages 31–32 may be helpful for your project.
The New York Jets defeated the New England Patriots 38–35.

To create an en dash in Microsoft Word on a PC, press the Ctrl and minus (-) keys simultaneously.

An em dash, which is longer than an en dash, can be used as a stand-in for a comma, parenthesis or colon to separate out phrases—or even just a word—in a sentence.

Examples:
Against all odds, Ken—usually the slowest runner on the team—won the race.
People in New York City—especially those in Manhattan—walk rapidly.

To create an em-dash in Microsoft Word on a PC, press the Ctrl, Alt and minus (-) keys simultaneously.

 

Entitled vs. Titled
Use the verb entitled when you are writing about the right to do or have something.

Example:
You are entitled to 15 vacation days this year.

The verb titled means the specific name of something.

Example:
Professor Smith’s new book is titled Endless Fashion.

 

Exclamation Point
Please use these sparingly! Try to refrain from using unless you are expressing an emotion that is unusually strong and try not to use more than one exclamation point per paragraph.

 

Faculty, Staff
Use faculty members and staff members to avoid awkward singular constructions.

 

Hyphen
If two or more words that express a single concept are used as an adjective to precede a noun, use a hyphen to link them.

Examples: a full-time job, second-year students

But if these words come after the noun, they probably* don’t need to be hyphenated.

Examples: She works full time. Ashley is finishing her second year at LIM College.

*There are some exceptions to this.
Example: Mario is well-known throughout New York City.

Common words that should/should not be hyphenated:

classmate
classroom
coeducational
coordinate
email
log in (verb)
login (noun)
log on (verb)
log off (noun)
Midtown
on-/off-campus (when used as a single adjective before a noun)
Example: The students live in off-campus housing.
on/off campus (when used as a compound modifier after a noun or as a prepositional phrase.)
Examples: Students who are working on campus are employed by the College. A guest speaker is on campus today.
online
sightseeing
thank you
website

 

Internet Terms
Email
Not: e-mail or E-mail (and should only be capitalized when it begins a sentence or is a field on a form)

internet
Not: Internet

web page
Not: webpage, Web page

website
Not: web site

 

Money
List whole dollar amounts without cents.

Examples:
$1 or $25 (not: $1.00 or $25.00)

 

Numbers
Spell out numbers below 10. Use figures for numbers 10 and above. But if a number below 10 is the first word in a sentence, spell it out.
Example:
LIM College enrolled 425 students and hired nine new faculty members this semester. Two staff members retired last year.
“First” through “ninth” should also be written out. Begin using figures with “10th.”

 

Spacing
Use a single space, not two, after a sentence.

Example:
It is very cold today. I think I will get some hot chocolate this afternoon.

Do not insert a space between initials in a first name.

Example:
J.P. Morgan

 

Terms and Semesters
Capitalize seasons when part of a formal name, such as Spring Break, or when referring to a specific semester, such as Fall 2015. Do not capitalize the seasons when they are not part of a formal construction.

Examples:
fall semester, spring term, summer breeze, winter storm

 

Time
Use figures for time of day except for noon and midnight. Do not capitalize a.m. or p.m. There should be a space after the numbers. If there are no minutes in any of the times, you may provide only the hour:

Examples:
Breakfast will be available from 8 to 10 a.m.
They worked from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Showing zero minutes for all times is also acceptable, as is presenting am and pm without any periods, as long as you are consistent within your entire document. Avoid redundancies such as 11 a.m. in the morning or 11 p.m. at night.

 

Punctuation
Generally speaking, standard punctuation rules should be followed. Most dictionaries and reference websites contain rules for punctuation that can be used for nearly all copy. There are limitless possibilities when it comes to grammatical construction, so it is nearly impossible to spell out rules of punctuation that will be appropriate for every situation. Ease of readability and clarity should be the priority. When in doubt, err on the side of keeping it simple.
The following rules, some taken directly from The AP Stylebook, are included because issues surrounding them frequently arise.

 

Serial Comma
Commas should be used to separate words, phrases and clauses of similar construction used in a series. The serial comma before and or or should also be included.

Examples:
The flag is red, white, and blue.
She is learning about accounting, finance, and marketing.

 

Quotation Marks
Periods and commas go inside closing quotation marks. Dashes, colons, semicolons, question marks and exclamation points go inside closing quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the entire sentence. Use single quotation marks for a quote within a quote.

Examples:
Later that day, Professor Jones said, “I plan to retire at the end of this semester.”
“Will you invite me to your retirement party?” asked Professor Smith.

 

Semicolon
Use semicolons to separate items in a series when those are themselves long, or when they contain material that also must be set off by commas.

Example:
The evaluation team will consist of Bob Smith from Staten Island, NY; Jane Doe from Paramus, NJ; and Sue Jones from Greenwich, CT.

 

Titles (of publications and media)
Italicize titles of books, plays, newspapers, magazines, movies, television programs, exhibits.
Use quotation marks for essays, articles, titles of presentations. For newspapers, follow exact title style. (Google is your friend. Check if The is part of the actual title.)

 

United States
Abbreviate as U.S.
Not: US

 

Who vs. That
Use who in a restrictive (essential) clause when referring to a person.

Examples:
The student who I tutored this afternoon is looking forward to the weekend.
Not: The student that I tutored this afternoon is looking forward to the weekend.
The article that I read this afternoon is very interesting.

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