Communication and Style Guide

Durham Tech Communication and Style Guide	Printable Version
Durham Tech’s Marketing and Communications Department has revised this guide to assist you in producing letters, memos, fliers, reports, email, Internet content, and other written communication for the college. This guide covers some of the most frequently asked questions about grammar, punctuation, capitalization, official names, and formats. Should you have a question about this material or other information not covered, please feel free to call extension 5206. Please note that this guide is not formatted for printing and will be updated online frequently. As you use this guide, please note and use the college’s preferred spellings, titles, and word choices. Your cooperation will help the college present a consistent and unified image to the public and help us accurately convey our mission and goals to those we serve and to those we would like to serve.
Table of Contents
1. Abbreviations
	1.1	Academic degrees and honors
	1.3	Months
	1.4	Names with Jr., Sr., and III
	1.5	Titles preceding name
	1.6	Legislative titles
	1.7	State names
2. Capitalization
	2.1	General
	2.2.	County and counties
	2.3	Departments, offices, and divisions
	2.4	Durham Technical Community College’s official name
	2.5	Boards
	2.6	Facilities
	2.7	Names, titles, and degrees
	2.8	Programs and courses
	2.9	Semesters and seasons
	2.10	State and federal
	2.11	Times (a.m. and p.m.)
	2.12	Trademarks and names of companies
	2.13	Titles
	2.14	Hyphenated words in text headings, memo references, and column headings
3. Hyphenation
	3.1	Clusters of words
	3.2.	Compound nouns
4. Numerals
	4.1	Spelling out numbers
	4.2.	Consistency
	4.3	Days, months, and years
	4.4.	Money
	4.5	Percentages
	4.6	Physical quantities
	4.7	Telephone numbers
	4.8	Times
5. Plurals and Possessives
	5.1	Names
	5.2.	Plurals
	5.3	Irregular plurals
	5.4.	Common errors involving possessives
6. Punctuation
	6.1	Colons
	6.2	Commas
		6.2.a.	In a series
		6.2.b.	After an introductory phrase
		6.2.c.	With semicolons in a series
		6.2.d.	With quotations
		6.2.e.	In dates and headings
	6.3	Parentheses
	6.4.	Punctuation with quotation marks
		6.4.a.	Commas and periods
		6.4.b.	Exclamation points and question marks
		6.4.c.	Semicolons and colons
	6.5	Semicolons
	6.6	Spacing after punctuation
7. Spellings and Word Choices
	7.1	Preferred spellings
	7.2.	Preferred word choices
8. Titles of Works
	8.1	Capitalization
	8.2	Punctuation and format
		8.2.a.	Books, magazines, journals, newspapers, plays, movies, and artwork
		8.2.b.	Poems, short stories, songs, television shows, radio programs, articles, essays, chapters, and individual sections in books
9. Use of the College Logo, Seal, Slogan, and Affirmative Action statement
	9.1	Logo
	9.2	Seal
	9.3	Slogan
		9.3 .a.	In headings and titles
		9.3 .b.	In text
	9.4	Affirmative Action statement
10. Writing Course Descriptions
	10.1	Guidance
	10.2	General Advice
	10.3	Elements of credit course descriptions
	10.4	Considerations for noncredit course descriptions
11. Website and Email Style
	11.1	Spelling preferences
	11.2	Font preferences
	11.3	Page size and length preferences
	11.4	Links and linking to other sites
	11.5	Graphics and photographs
	11.6	Backing up
	11.7	Net etiquette
	11.8	Social websites
	11.9	Email readability
	11.10	Email etiquette
Appendix A: Business Letters
Appendix B: Memos
Appendix C: Telephone Protocol
Appendix D: Format of PowerPoint Presentations

Durham Tech Communication and Style Guide

Durham Tech’s Marketing and Communications Department has revised this guide to assist you in producing letters, memos, fliers, reports, email, Internet content, and other written communication for the college.

This guide covers some of the most frequently asked questions about grammar, punctuation, capitalization, official names, and formats. Should you have a question about this material or other information not covered, please feel free to call extension 5206. Please note that this guide is not formatted for printing and will be updated online frequently.

As you use this guide, please note and use the college’s preferred spellings, titles, and word choices. Your cooperation will help the college present a consistent and unified image to the public and help us accurately convey our mission and goals to those we serve and to those we would like to serve.

Table of Contents

1. Abbreviations

1.1

Academic degrees and honors

1.3

Months

1.4

Names with Jr., Sr., and III

1.5

Titles preceding name

1.6

Legislative titles