Writing & Style

Nested Applications
StyleGuide_Writing Style

Writing & Style Guides


Writing and Style

These guidelines are intended to promote clarity and consistency in university publications and correspondence. The U.S. Navy and academic institutions across the nation follow standard Associated Press style for official Office of University Communications and university communications. While academic authoring will require a different approach, communications materials may wish to follow standard Navy and university practice.

Letter Spacing

Do not use two or more spaces after a period in printed materials, only one. This is an old practice from the typewriter. Use a space on either side of an em dash.

Ampersands (&)

Use ampersands sparingly and appropriately. They should be avoided unless they are part of a company’s formal name or a commonly used abbreviation. They should never be used in lists, paragraphs or official NPS school, institutes and center names.

Hyphenation

Never break a person’s name or institution name between two lines of type with a hyphen, always make the line break (shift + return) before the hyphen occurs.

Internet Addresses

When Web addresses are copied from a browser URL bar, https:// is automatically placed in front of www, unless the URL does not have a www, please remove the https://.

 

Name Hyphenation in Paragraphs


Name Hyphenation in Paragraphs

Ampersands Usage


Ampersands Usage Image

 

Web Addresses


Web Addresses

 

Common Academic and Defense Terms Usage


Common Academic and Defense Terms Usage Image

 

 

 

Numbers in Text


For numbers in text please use the following guidelines:

  • Spell out numbers from zero to nine and any numbers that begin a sentence.
  • Use digits for numbers 10 and above, course numbers, grade-point averages, unit and monetary values, scores, percentages, compound numbers, and decimal fractions.
  • Use commas with all numbers above 999. (1,000, $25,000, 500,000)
  • For amounts of a million or more use figures when referring to monetary amounts, but spell out for other quantities. ($5 million and five million people)
  • Spell out ordinals through ninth. (third grade, 21st century, 100th anniversary)
  • Use numbers to represent ages, even those under 10.