Be Known at Oregon's Christian University

Marketing Communications

Style Guide Q-Z

Style Guide

Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Hint: Use [Ctrl] + [F] to quickly find a word or phrase within this page.

Q

Quaker

Religious Society of Friends. Quaker is acceptable informal use in all references.

quality

Do not use alone in a neutral sense, as in a quality program. Add modifier: top quality, poor quality.

quotation marks

Commas and periods go inside quotation marks; colons and semicolons outside; and question marks and exclamation points inside or outside, depending on whether they are part of the quoted material.

R

Religious Society of Friends

Full name of denomination commonly known as Quakers. George Fox, founder.

résumé

Preferred usage is with two acute accents.

Ron Gregory Atrium

The atrium in EHS is to be referred to as the Ron Gregory Atrium.

Rose Festival

Annual event in downtown Portland.

R.S.V.P.

Abbreviation retains periods.

S

Salem Center

scholarships

See full name of scholarships in GFU catalogs. Capitalize formal names. Lowercase award, fellowship, scholarship when referring to more than one of them (the John J.Doe and Jane A. Jones scholarships).

semester hours

Use figures: 6 hours, 6 credits (overrides under-10-spell-out rule).

Senior Salute

Sponsored by the alumni office, this annual half-day event for seniors begins with lunch with George Fox administrators and is followed by seminars dealing with real-life issues, such as balancing a checkbook, pursuing graduate school, buying a home, insurance needs, etc.

Serve Day

Annual event held the second Wednesday of fall semester when classes are cancelled, offices closed, and the whole GFU community participates in service projects around the community.

serve/service trips

Lowercase when referring in general to serve or service trips, but capitalize actual events such as May Serve, June Serve, Spring Serve, and Winter Serve.

Social Security number

Capitalize Social Security but not number.

spring break, spring, spring semester

Lowercase all seasons.

Spring Serve

A weeklong service trip during spring break week in which students reach communities for Christ.

Sr.

See "names."

state

Spell out when name stands alone. Use AP abbreviations (below in parentheses) when used with the name of a city in text. Use two-letter postal codes in addresses:

(Alaska) AK
(Ala.) AL
(Ariz.) AZ
(Ark.) AR
(Calif.) CA
(Colo.) CO
(Conn.) CT
(Del.) DE
(Fla.) FL
(Ga.) GA
(Hawaii) HI
(Idaho) ID
(Ill.) IL		 (Ind.) IN
(Iowa) IA
(Kan.) KS
(Ky.) KY
(La.) LA
(Md.) MD
(Mass.) MA
(Maine) ME
(Mich.) MI
(Minn.) MN
(Miss.) MS
(Mo.) MO
(Mont.) MT		 (N.C.) NC
(Neb.) NE
(Nev.) NV
(N.H.) NH
(N.J.) NJ
(N.M.) NM
(N.Y.) NY
(N.D.) ND
(Ohio) OH
(Okla.) OK
(Ore.) OR
(Pa.) PA
(R.I.) RI		 (S.C.) SC
(S.D.) SD
(Tenn.) TN
(Texas) TX
(Utah) UT
(Vt.) VT
(Va.) VA
(Wash.) WA
(W.Va.) WV
(Wis.) WI
(Wyo.) WY

statement of faith

Lowercase, as it represents a generic, commonly known type of document.

Student Employment Program

Replaces FWS (Federal Work-Study).

summa cum laude

With highest distinction. Lowercase.

summer, summer semester

Lowercase all seasons.

Sunday school

Capitalize only Sunday.

syllabi or syllabuses (pl.) syllabus (s.)

T

telephone numbers

GFU style is no parentheses around area codes; hyphen between numbers: 503-538-8383.

temperature

See "numerals."

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Undergraduate program. Capitalize formal name of program, but lowercase (except English) when used as a subject or course name.

that

As a subordinating conjunction, omit when possible: The job position that I wanted had already been filled.

theater

Use this spelling when referring to film or cinema.

Theatre

Use this spelling when referring to the program on campus, George Fox productions and in reference to stage productions. The stage/theatre industry in general is very attached to the -re spelling.

Tilikum Center for Retreats and Outdoor Ministries, or Tilikum Retreat Center

Official name of University-owned retreat center seven miles northwest of Newberg that offers camping and other programs to the community.

time

Use numerals. For even hours, drop the colon and zeros, e.g. 5 p.m. Exception: formal invitations.
Time ranges: Separate with en dash: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; 9-11 p.m. (no need to repeat a.m./p.m. if the same)
a.m.= ante meridiem (before noon)
p.m.= post meridiem (after noon)
midnight = 12 p.m.
noon (not 12 noon)

titles

Capitalize and spell out formal titles only when they PRECEDE name: President David H. Brandt; but David H. Brandt, president; the president of the student government; the president is hosting a luncheon today.

TOEFL

Test of English as a Foreign Language.

trademarks

Capitalize. Symbols (®) are not needed in running text.

Trail Blazers

Two words with space between. Full name is Portland Trail Blazers.

U

underway

One word

university

Lowercase when not used as a proper noun.

University Repertory Theatre (URT)

Name of university's theatre program.

university-wide

Considered too cumbersome by The Chicago Manual of Style without hyphen.

U.S. News & World Report

Title is in italics. Magazine is not part of name, so it is lowercased, if used. Retain ampersand instead of substituting the word and. Retain space between U.S. and News.

U.S. Postal Service

Abbreviation is USPS, as per government website.

V

versus/vs./v.

Examples: Bruins vs. Bobcats (sports); Jones v. New York (legal); This option versus that one.

vita (s.) vitae (pl.)

W

Web page, website, World Wide Web, the Web

See "computer terms."

website

weights

See "numerals."

Western Evangelical Seminary

Precursor of George Fox Evangelical Seminary, merged with George Fox College in 1996 to form George Fox University.

Western School of Evangelical Religion

Began in 1947; precursor of Western Evangelical Seminary, renamed in 1951.

Willamette River

Formed by junction of forks in Lane County, flows north into Columbia River near Portland.

Willamette Valley

Region extending from Eugene to Portland through which the Willamette River flows.

The Wineskin

George Fox literary publication. Title is in italics.

winter

Lowercase all seasons.

Winter Serve

A weeklong service trip during the last week of Christmas break during which students reach communities for Christ.

women

Refer to females in college as women; in high school, as girls.

Wood-Mar Auditorium, Wood-Mar Hall

Named after two women, Amanda Woodward and Evangeline Martin, this building is spelled correctly with a hyphen and capital M.

Word

Capitalize when used as a reference to Jesus as the Word of God.

word of God

Lowercase when referring to the Bible (based on Scripture itself ).

words as words

When referring to a word as the word or term itself in running text, it is italicized: Hot means cool.

workers' compensation

Lowercase and plural possessive.

[Federal] Work-Study (FWS)

As per federal government website. GFU now uses the name Student Employment Program to describe its federally subsidized work options.

XYZ

years

Use dashes to connect consecutive academic years (1994-95)

Use "to" and "from" to group years (e.g., He worked at George Fox from 1994 to 1996; World War II lasted from 1938 to 1945).
This rule does not apply to list formats, for which a dash is used to delineate a time period (e.g., Joe Blough, Editor, 1994-97).

ZIP code

ZIP is an abbreviation for Zoning Improvement Plan, so it is all caps.