Editorial Style Guide

Use the ° mark in headlines and marketing material. The degree symbol may be omitted in body text.

Capitalization of Academic department names

Department names are capitalized when referring specifically to the department, not to the subject matter. 

• Department of Geology.
• She is a geology major.

Shortening of Some Departmental & School Names/Use of Acronyms in Headlines and Upon Second Reference. 

Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology -- Archaeology

French and Francophone Studies -- French

German and German Studies -- German

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences -- GSAS

Graduate School of Social Work -- GSSWSR

Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies -- Classics

Growth and Structure of Cities -- Cities

Latin American, Iberian, and Latina/o Studies -- LAILS

Literatures in English -- English

 Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and North African Studies -- MECAN

Transnational Italian Studies -- Italian

Alumnae/i is preferred over alumnae when referring to a group of graduates. Alums may also be used.

Use alumnae if it is part of an existing name or title such as the Alumnae Bulletin.

Use “scholar-athlete” rather than “student-athlete.”

Use the above formatting when referring to the College's partnerships with Haverford College (Bi-Co) and Swarthmore (Tri-Co).

If writing for a general audience, explanatory text may be needed on first reference.

The Bi-College Consortium between Bryn Mawr College and nearby Haverford College has been a close collaborative relationship for decades, and is commonly known as the Bi-Co.

The Tri-College relationship includes Swarthmore College. Under the Tri-Co, the three schools share an academic calendar and wide cross registration.

Use of BMC should be avoided in any public-facing writing. In headlines and other instances with a character count, try to use Bryn Mawr without "College".   

In accordance with AP Style, when referencing a specific date, such as Jan. 20, 2017, abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. Spell out March, April, May, June, July.

Spell out the days of the week.

Use title case when writing course titles. Do not italicize or use quotation marks.

When referring to a particular class, such as the Class of 2023, capitalize the “C."

When referring to Bryn Mawr College, the word "College" is capitalized (e.g., College libraries).

Undergraduate alumnae/i are commonly identified with their class year (e.g., Cindy Chea '22). If writing an article, include field of study in the body text.

The A.B. undergraduate degree is generally not used unless accompanied by the M.A. (see example below).

Graduate alumnae examples (note comma):

• Jaclyn Lang, A.B./M.A. '09
• JoAnne Fischer, M.S.S. '73
• Dana Becker ’69, M.S.S. ’82, Ph.D. ’91

When limited for space, use terminal degree and note full degree information in the article.

Haverford example:

Dave Barry (HC '69)

M.D./D.O. would follow the same punctuation as Ph.D.

Though most Bryn Mawr professors have doctorates, we generally use the title “Dr.” only for medical doctors.

Exclamation points should be used rarely if at all in anything other than social media posts.

Use lower case for most majors when referring to the subject (“She majored in history”).

Some majors are unique to Bryn Mawr or contain proper nouns. These should be capitalized.

Examples:

Growth and Structure of Cities
Peace, Conflict and Social Justice
Literatures in English
Transnational Italian Studies

Africana Studies
Asian Studies

Note: See Academic Department and School Names for guidelines when referring to the proper name of a department.

The spelling Mawrter is preferred when using the informal term for a member of the Bryn Mawr College community (usually students or alumnae/i), rather than Mawrtyr.

Use last names on second reference on the website and most publications. First name may be used on social media and promotional/admissions material depending upon context.  

We do use the Oxford comma (serial comma). 

Example: Majors at Bryn Mawr include biology, chemistry, and geology.

If someone is in a doctoral program, they are a Ph.D. or doctoral student. When they complete coursework and start dissertation they become a Ph.D. or doctoral candidate.

Do not capitalize unless the title is directly in front of the name. The name of an office or department in a job title should be capitalized. 

Examples:

Professor of Geology Arlo Weil

Professor Arlo Weil, chair of the Department of Geology

Arlo Weil, professor and chair of the Department of Geology

Communications Manager Melissa Scott

Melissa Scott, communications manager

Do not use the generic "Professor". Use assistant professor, associate professor, or professor when appropriate. For readability in an article, place honorific titles at the end of an article. 

Italicize titles of books, newspapers, magazines, plays, operas, films, music albums, etc. (This is a departure from AP Style, which uses quote marks.) In Drupal, use single quotes to denote italics when italics can’t be used.

Italicize exhibition titles.

Italicize TV show titles. Use quote marks for individual episodes.

Italicize podcast and blog titles. Use quote marks for individual episodes or blog posts.

Use quote marks for poems, songs, and individual articles in a publication.

Italicize websites that are essentially online publications.

Should be written without the  “www” since you can identify it as a website by the “.com” “.edu” etc.