Writing Style Guide: Names and Titles

Names and Titles

• Always confirm titles and check the spelling of names using the Standard Directory.
• When first referencing someone, include their proper title which should always precede the name.
• Titles are capitalized and include the school level only for teachers below the high school level.
• After the first reference, refer to the person by their last name only.
• Use ASL (American School in London) sparingly, only when the school being referenced is unclear.
• Do not spell out American School in London.
• When first introducing a student, identify them with their full name and year of graduation, applying to all students.
• Make sure the apostrophe indicating graduation year is a closing apostrophe.
• Place the apostrophe after a period if needed, then delete the period.
• Never use Mr./Ms./Mrs./Miss.; instead, use their full name, and thereafter, the last name.
• During interviews, ask for the source's preferred name and pronouns.
• Write out all special titles.

Capitalization

• Headline capitalization follows a downstyle format except for the first letter and specific nouns.
• Capitalize full names of school clubs.
• Leadership roles in relation to school clubs should be capitalized (e.g., President of Mock Trial Club Oskar Doepke ('25)).
• Do not capitalize school subjects, except languages or specific course titles
• Do not capitalize departments except if it is in a title.
• Do not capitalize break times.
• Refer to students by grade using "Grade" with a capital "G" and the number.
• Use the names of events and not the numbers (Senior Sunrise, Freshmen Social).
• Student sources should still be referred to as Grade X
• Do not capitalize rooms in a school building unless they have a specific name.
• Do not capitalize school sports teams, but capitalize JV and JJV.
• For sports teams, the gender should come before the sport type e.g. (girls/boys varsity/JV/JJV [sport]).
• When used as a title, the team name should be followed by "player" or "[co-]captain" e.g. (girls/boys varsity/JV/JJV [sport] [title]).
• Capitalize High School, Middle School, and Lower School when specifically referring to ASL or an ASL student, but not when referring to these divisions generally
• Capitalize names of official school events like Orientation and Junior Games.

Abbreviations

• Write out normally abbreviated words on first reference, then use the abbreviation subsequently.
• Do not put the abbreviation in parentheses after the first reference.
• Abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.
• Do not abbreviate any other months.
• Use "a.m." and "p.m." when indicating times.
• Use periods in two-letter country/organization abbreviations as listed in the AP Stylebook (e.g., U.K., U.S., U.N.).
• Omit a second period if an abbreviation with a period ends a sentence.
• Never use periods in abbreviations in headlines.

Figures

• Spell out numbers up to nine, use figures for 10 and over.
• When writing monetary amounts, use one style consistently.
• Do not start a sentence with a figure; either spell it out or rewrite the sentence.

Punctuation Guide

• The punctuation guide contains all rules for grammatical style to be followed when writing copy.
• Incorrect punctuation indicates bad journalistic style and detracts from the merit and caliber of an article
• Essential for all staff members to adhere to the grammar rules outlined in the stylebook.

Commas

• Use commas to separate all words in a series, except the last two (no Oxford comma).
• Use commas to separate a quotation from the rest of the sentence and place attribution immediately after; commas go inside quotation marks.
• Do not include commas after quotations ending in ? or !

Apostrophes

• The possessive pronoun "its" does not have an apostrophe.
• Use "it's" only as a contraction of "it is".
• Do not use apostrophes to indicate the plural form of APs or ISSTs.
• Do not use apostrophes when the word is used as an adjective describing a team or place.

Quotation Marks

• Alternate between single and double quotation marks for quotes within quotes.
• Start a new paragraph and introduce a new speaker each time there is a change of speaker.

Dash

• Use the em dash (—) instead of the normal dash when using dashes.
• Place spaces on either side of the em dash.
• Do not use an em dash, semicolon, colon, exclamation mark, question mark, or other punctuation that cannot be spoken in a quote.

Ellipses

• Use an ellipsis to indicate the deletion of words, sparingly.
• Do not place ellipses within brackets.
• Include a space on both sides of the ellipsis.
• Use ellipsis to condense information/quotes while maintaining the original's meaning.

Brackets

• Use brackets to insert words into quotes for clarity.
• Use brackets sparingly to maintain the credibility of the source and reporter.

Titles

• Place titles of books, movies, albums, newspapers, magazines, plays, poems, chapters, songs, brochures, pamphlets, etc. in quotation marks.
• Do not italicize titles.
• Use a forward slash when writing lyrics to separate lines in a song.

Spelling and Word Usage

• Avoid simplified forms like "thru" or "'cause"; use formal language outside of quotes.
• Do not add an "s" to forward, backward, or toward, nor an "ly" to second and third.
• Distinguish between alumnus (masculine/singular), alumni (masculine/plural - male and female), alumna (feminine/singular), and alumnae (feminine/plural).
• Use American English spellings
• The correct phrase is "could have," not "could of."
• Place said at the end of an attribution.
• The present tense of the verb to say is rarely used – only under special circumstances is “says” allowed.