Editorial Style Guide

An Overview and Helpful Tips

The Stevens Editorial Style Guide was created to educate and guide communicators, faculty and staff in the use of a universally consistent style for Stevens print, graphic and electronic materials. This style should also be employed by all consultants retained by Stevens.

Stevens Institute of Technology uses The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. While AP style is useful as a framework, Stevens has modified this style where appropriate for university purposes. The following guide explains how Stevens style differs from AP style, and describes how we address certain editorial situations not clearly delineated in AP's Stylebook. Consult the AP Stylebook, available online at www.apstylebook.com, for basic style questions. In cases where Stevens style differs from AP style, the Stevens style takes precedence.

For guidance on voice and tone, refer to the Stevens Brand Guideline.

Here are some helpful tips to follow across all types of content:

  • Capitalize most words in headlines (not articles and prepositions).

  • Capitalize only the first word in subheadings.

  • Always single-space after sentences, never double-space.

  • Do not use periods in photo captions unless the caption is a full grammatical sentence.

  • Do not use the serial comma. For an explanation of the rule and the rare exceptions, please see section 1.7.

  • Avoid excessive use of "internal speak" — phrases commonly utilized within Stevens that may not be understood by those beyond the university community.

For the correct AP and Stevens style versions of some commonly used terms, see section 3.5.

For further questions on style issues, email styleguide@stevens.edu.