Peddie Chronicle
Class Notes Style Guide
Thank you for volunteering for the important task of keeping Peddie and your fellow alumni up to date on the lives of your classmates. Class Notes remain one of the most popular sections of the Peddie Chronicle and we are grateful for your contributions.
The Associated Press Stylebook is the preferred guide for all of Peddie’s published content. While we certainly do not expect you to know the ins and outs of AP Style (that’s our job!), this style guide can serve as a quick reference tool for some of the most frequently asked questions about standardizing punctuation for Class Notes. As always please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Carrie Harrington
Editor, Peddie Chronicle
editor@peddie.org
(609) 944-7612
PERMISSIONS
Class secretaries should make a concerted effort to correspond with classmates to solicit news for Class Notes. Secretaries are not limited to publishing only that information submitted directly by classmates but may relate any relevant information or anecdotes they are made aware of within the bounds of good discretion. All information should be factual and inoffensive.
Published news
Any news that has been printed in a public forum is considered public information and is generally okay to use in your column. However, it is usually a good idea to reach out to that classmate for additional personal comment … and to make sure the news is accurate.
Social media
If you’d like to write about news from a classmate that you learned on social media (not in direct response to a call for news), get permission to publish the news from that classmate before you include in your column.
Weddings and births
Please obtain permission from your classmates before including a wedding or birth announcement in your column. In order to respect individuals’ privacy, it is our policy to wait for the marriages and births to take place before mentioning them in Class Notes.
STYLE
Word limit
Please stay within the 2,000-word limit. Photos with captions are encouraged.
Verb tenses
Please consider the publication date when submitting your notes. Verb tenses should reflect the publication date, not the date that you send them to Peddie.
GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION
Alumna (female singular); alumnus (male singular); alumnae (female plural); alumni (male plural and also used for plural of male and female together)
Do not capitalize unless part of a formal title or department.
Alum is not a person. It is “a potassium aluminum sulfate, or an ammonium aluminum sulfate, used especially as an emetic and as an astringent and styptic.”
a.m., p.m.
Do not capitalize or omit periods.
Academic Degrees
The preferred form is to avoid an abbreviation and instead use a phrase such as: John Jones, who has a doctorate in psychology, will join the faculty. Use B.A., M.A., LL.D., and Ph.D. only when the need to identify many individuals by degree on first reference would make the preferred form cumbersome. Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, but not in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.
Ages
Always use numerals and set off ages with commas. Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun.
The boy, 7, has a sister, 10.
A 5-year-old boy is in the class.
The boy is 5 years old.
Chapel
Use lowercase unless using Ayer Memorial Chapel.
The chapel speaker was very engaging.
The performance took place at Ayer Memorial Chapel.
Class Years
Use a backward apostrophe before the class year. (By typing in two consecutive apostrophes, you can simply delete the first one that faces forward to get the one that faces backward).
Correct: ’19
Incorrect: ‘19
Commas
AP Style does not require the use of the Oxford (or serial) comma. The Oxford comma is the final comma in a list of things. For example:
Please bring me an apple, banana, and a pear.
The Oxford comma comes right after banana. The sentence above written in AP style would look like this:
Please bring me an apple, banana and a pear.
As with all punctuation, clarity is the biggest rule. If omitting a comma could lead to misinterpretation, then use the comma.
Dashes (em dash)
Use dashes to denote an abrupt change in thought in a sentence or an emphatic pause. Put a space on both sides of a dash in all uses. This is the longer dash (“—“) as compared to the shorter en dash (“-“).
Dates
Always use Arabic figures, without st, nd, rd or th.
Email
Lowercase, no hyphen.
Names – Bold
Bold first use of an alumnus/a’s name. Do not bold the name of spouses unless they attended Peddie. Include the class year if outside of your class year. If a possessive is necessary, use this format:
Mike Smith’s son, Mike Jr …
Names – Commas
If the name is the only thing in the world described by the identifier, use a comma before the name. If not, don’t use any commas. When the words “a,” “an” or “some,” or a number, come before the description or name, use a comma.
They ate dinner with their daughter Julie.
(If you have more than one daughter.)
They ate dinner with their daughter, Julie.
(If you have just one daughter.)
They ate dinner with their daughter Julie and her husband, David.
(Julie has only one husband.)
A Peddie alumnus, John Smith, bought the winning lottery ticket.
(“A” appears before the description.)
Numbers
In general, spell out one through nine. Use figures for 10 or above and whenever preceding a unit of measure of referring to ages of people, animals, events or things. Also in all tabular matter, and in statistical and sequential forms.
Periods
Use one space after a period at the end of a sentence, never two.
Phone Numbers
Place the area code within parenthesis. Include a space between the area code and the local prefix.
(609) 944-7500
Photos
Whenever possible include the date, location name and class year of people in the photo.
Regions
In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc., when they indicate compass direction; capitalize these words when they designate regions.
Some examples:
COMPASS DIRECTIONS: He drove west. The cold front is moving east.
REGIONS: A storm system that developed in the Midwest is spreading eastward. It will bring showers to the East Coast by morning and to the entire Northeast by late in the day. Showers and thunderstorms were forecast in the Texas Panhandle. High temperatures will prevail throughout the Western states.
Reunion
The official name of the event is “Reunion Weekend.” Capitalize only “Reunion Weekend” or a particular reunion year.
Reunion Weekend
50th Reunion; 40th Reunion
2019 reunion
reunion
State Abbreviations
Spell out the names of the 50 states when they stand alone. State abbreviations are permissible in Class Notes (where space is at a premium) when a state is listed with a city/town.
The names of eight states are never abbreviated: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.
Following are the state abbreviations. These vary from postal code abbreviations, which are listed in parenthesis.
Ala. (AL) |
Md. (MD) |
N.D. (ND) |
Ariz. (AZ) |
Mass. (MA) |
Okla. (OK) |
Ark. (AR) |
Mich. (MI) |
Ore. (OR) |
Calif. (CA) |
Minn (MN) |
Pa. (PA) |
Colo. (CO) |
Miss. (MS) |
R.I. (RI) |
Conn. (CT) |
Mo. (MO) |
S.C. (SC) |
Del. (DE) |
Mont. (MT) |
S.D. (SD) |
Fla. (FL) |
Neb. (NE) |
Tenn. (TN) |
Ga. (GA) |
Nev. (NV) |
Vt. (VT) |
Ill. (IL) |
N.H. (NH) |
Va. (VA) |
Ind. (IN) |
N.J. (NJ) |
Wash. (WA) |
Kan. (KS) |
N.M. (NM) |
W.Va. (WV) |
Ky. (KY) |
N.Y. (NY) |
Wis. (WI) |
La. (LA) |
N.C. (NC) |
Wyo. (WY) |
Titles
Composition titles
Place quotation marks around the names of book titles, computer and video game titles, movie titles, opera titles, play titles, poem titles, album and song titles, radio and television program titles, and the titles of lectures, speeches and works of art.
EXAMPLES: “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Gone With the Wind,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Time After Time,” the “CBS Evening News,” “This Is Us,” “A Star Is Born,” “Star Wars,” “Game of Thrones.”
Magazine titles
Do not place magazine titles in quotes.
EXAMPLES: Harper’s Magazine, Peddie Chronicle
ACADEMIC BUILDINGS
Annenberg Hall
Annenberg upon second reference
The Admissions Reception Room
Walter H. Annenberg ’27 Library
Annenberg Library or the library upon second reference
The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Science Center
the science center or Annenberg Science Center upon second reference
The Hulsizer Atrium
The Lakeside Terrace
Caspersen History House
the history house upon second reference
Efros Auditorium
Efros on second reference
I. Austin Kelly III ’21 Reading Room
the Kelly Reading Room or the reading room on second reference
Schlosser Presentation Room
Izzo Design Laboratory
Swig Arts Center
Swig upon second reference
The Mariboe Gallery
The Erin M. Price ’99 Choral Room
the choral room or Price Choral Room upon second reference
DORMITORIES
Austen Colgate Hall
Austen Colgate upon second reference
Avery Dormitory
Avery upon second reference
Freda Caspersen Dormitory
Caspersen upon second reference
Coleman Dormitory
Coleman upon second reference
Kerr (North/South) Dormitory
Kerr upon second reference
Mariboe Dormitory
Mariboe upon second reference
The Masters House
Masters upon second reference
The Potter Dorms or Potter (North/South) Dormitory
Potter upon second reference
Roberson Dormitory
Roberson upon second reference
Trask Dormitory
Trask upon second reference
ATHLETIC FACILITIES
Finn M.W. Caspersen Rowing Center
Caspersen Rowing Center or the boat house upon second reference
Peddie Golf Club
the golf club or golf course upon second reference
Ian H. Graham ’50 Athletic Center
Graham Athletic Center or the athletic center upon second reference
Erik B. Hanson ’83 Field House
the field house or Hanson Field House upon second reference
The von Schwerdtner Family Indoor Athletic Facility
the Von Center upon second reference
The Eckert Wrestling Room
Fitness Center
Aquatic Center
The Besler Family Athletic Department Conference Room
The W. Dale Brougher ’40 Lobby
the Brougher Lobby or the lobby on second reference
The Julia M. Croddick ’01 Field Hockey Field
Robert B. Lawson Memorial Track
the track or Lawson Track upon second reference
The Robert Price ’01 Soccer Field
(This is one of six soccer fields, so it is always referred to by its full name.)
Maurice P. Shuman Football Field
Shuman Football Field upon second reference
William M. Thompson ’35 Baseball Field
Thompson Baseball Field upon second reference
John H. Toohey Jr. Pressbox
the Toohey Pressbox or the press box upon second reference
FACULTY HOUSING
Armellino Court
Headmaster’s House
John Plant Drive
Kalomathia House
Kalomathia upon second reference
Octagon House
Octagon upon second reference
Swetland House
Swetland upon second reference
MISCELLANEOUS
Class of 1942 Gate
Located at the corner of S. Main and Ward streets
School name
The Peddie School
Peddie