INTRODUCTION Editorial guidelines have been developed in order to lend consistency
CAIS COMMUNICATION STYLE GUIDELINES
to content presentation in school print and electronic communications including, but not limited to letters from division directors, newsletters, website content, event nametags, event programs, diplomas, event invitations. Chinese American International School adheres to Associated Press (AP) style. Using AP style decreases the likelihood of copy errors. The guide summarizes some of the most frequently raised questions of style in order to offer a quick, but more comprehensive, reference tool. Questions of style, unlike many questions of grammar, usually do not have a “right” or “wrong” answer. Instead, establishing a “preferred” style is helpful so that a consistent presentation can be maintained throughout an array of materials. If a question arises that is not included in this CAIS editorial guideline document, please reference the Associated Press Stylebook. GRAPHIC GUIDELINES Since the power of a strong visual identity can only be realized through consistent application. Please refer to the CAIS brand guidelines document or email the communications office to Lee Heublein-Hsu at l_hsu@cais.org and/or Angel Chang at a_chang@cais.org. EDITORIAL GUIDELINES How to express Chinese American International School in writing FULL, PROPER NAME: Chinese American International School “Chinese American International School” is used as a stand-alone phrase is capitalized when beginning a sentence or when used later in a sentence. WHEN TO USE: The full name must be used the first time the name of the school appears in text. Subsequent references may use “CAIS.” In titles of publications: For the sake of brevity, titles of publications should normally use only the word “CAIS,” rather than the full name of the school. POSSESSIVE: Add an extra “s.” CAIS Communication Style Guidelines 2013-2014 | Page 1
Correct example: CAIS’s dance troupe was founded in 1990. Incorrect example: CAIS’ dance troupe was founded in 1990. Academic grades Spell out all grade levels. First, second, third, fourth, etc. Correct example: Jane Doe, parent of Christie (seventh grade) spent time at the spa yesterday. Mother of two CAIS students Christie, (second grade) and Alvin (sixth grade). Incorrect example: Jane Doe, parent of Christie (7th grade) spent time at the spa yesterday. My 2nd grade student is absent today. Pre-Kindergargten can be written as Pre-K for short. Like Pre-K, Kindergarten is also always capitalized.
Spell out all grade levels: first, second, third, fourth, etc.
Correct example: John Smith is the father of a boy in Pre-K and a girl in Kindergarten. Incorrect example: John Smith is the father of a boy in pre-k and a girl in kindergarten. Incorrect example: My PK student is smart. When listing multiple siblings in a sentence, start with youngest to oldest. Academic years For general use of academic years, use full year with no space between dashes between years. See Alumnus/Alumna/Alumni section for academic year usage with alumnus/alumna/alumni. Correct example: The 2012-2013 school year starts in August. Incorrect example: The 2012-13 school year starts in August.
Pre-Kindergargten can be written as Pre-K for short. Like Pre-K, Kindergarten is also always capitalized.
Alumnus/Alumna/Alumni Expressing alumni in writing. Joe Smith, class of 2011. Joe Smith (2011) Alumnus – male graduate (Also used when the gender is not known.) Alumna – female graduate Alumni – plural; if a group includes both genders, even if there is only one male, the plural form of alumni is used. (For groups of exclusively female graduates, use alumni.) Alum –To be used exclusively in casual settings, never in printed materials. Correct example: Joe Smith, class of 2011, is going to high CAIS Communication Style Guidelines 2013-2014 | Page 2
school in Los Angeles. Correct example: Joe Smith (2011), Sally Wong (2013) and Jake Lu (2013) are all attending UC Davis in the fall. Incorrect example: Joe Smith ’11 is going to high school in Los Angeles. Ampersand (&) Spell out the word “and” unless the ampersand is part of a proper name. Correct example: Barnes & Noble is my favorite bookstore. Incorrect example: The second grade student & his mother came to school today. Capitalization General rule is capitalize sparingly. Lowercase is preferred in modern usage. A. Academic Departments: Capitalize the formal, full names of
Capitalize the formal, full names of academic departments, administrative offices and other formal groups, such as boards or committees.
academic departments, administrative offices and other formal groups, such as boards or committees. Lowercase shortened names or casual references. Always capitalize proper nouns in formal or casual references. Examples: Office of the Head of School, but the dean’s office; the Admission Department, but the admissions office or admissions; the Board of Trustees, but the board. When multiple departments appear in a sentence, lowercase “department” but uppercase the unit names. B. Academic Subjects: Lowercase the names of subject areas in text, unless the name is a proper noun, such as Chinese. Capitalize a subject when used as the name of a specific course. (As academic grades, only Pre-K and Kindergarten should always be capitalized.) Correct example: The study of science and art is a favorite subject area.
Lowercase academic subjects such as science, art and social studies.
Incorrect example: The study of Science and Art is a favorite subject area. C. Colon: Do not capitalize after a colon. Correct example: The head of school likes the following: fruit, salad and meat. Incorrect example: The head of school likes the following: Fruit, salad and meat. CAIS Communication Style Guidelines 2013-2014 | Page 3
D. Hyphenated compounds in titles: Always capitalize the first element. Subsequent elements are capitalized unless they are articles, prepositions, or coordinating conjunctions, or if the first element is a prefix. Examples: Medium-Sized Schools, Non-Chinese Mythology, but Out-of-the-Way Places, Re-creating the World. E. School: Use the word school in lowercase unless it is used as part of a formal complete name such as Chinese American International School. Correct example: The school is located in San Francisco. Incorrect example: The School is located in San Francisco. F. Seasons: Lowercase the four seasons unless used in a title. Example: The fall trimester, but Winter Program. Chinese Characters
Commas in a series: Apple, orange, pear and lemon. Bear, tiger, shark, cheetah and lions. Red, orange and blue.
Use of Chinese characters within an English sentence. Spell out the English word first followed by the Chinese characters in parenthesis, followed by English words. Example: Study, or self cultivation (
) through the Confucian
classics formed the backbone of an official education system. Commas in a series Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series. Correct example: The students, faculty and administration all attended the assembly. Incorrect example: The students, faculty, and administration all attended the assembly. Dashes and Hyphens There are three common dashes of differing lengths used in formatted copy: em dash (—), en dash (-), and hyphen (-). The
Pre-Kindergarten is always with a hyphen as Pre-Kindergarten or Pre-K. It is never PreK or preK.
em dash is the longest, the en dash is half the length of the em dash. The hyphen is the shortest. Use of the em dash and hypen are most common in modern usage. Em dash: Use in most print publications and brochures and online where appropriate to denote an abrupt change in thought or to set off an element added for emphasis or explanation. Example: You are the friend—the only friend—who offered to help on the playground. CAIS Communication Style Guidelines 2013-2014 | Page 4
Date ranges: Use en dash to express date ranges. Example: From January–June we are extremely busy at school. Hyphen: In general, modern usage tends toward the closing of prefixes and of compound words that used to be hyphenated. A hyphen is used after the first of two prefixes or after the first element in a double compound adjective. Example: The Pre-Kindergarten or Pre-K or community-wide
Do not abbreviate the days of the week and months. Bold the entire date when possible.
event. Dates When citing a specific date, it is helpful to the reader to include the day of the week. Do not abbreviate the days of the week and months, and bold the entire date when possible. Do not use a superscript when expressing dates. Correct example: School starts Monday, August 31, 2012. Incorrect example: School starts Mon. Aug. 31st, 2012. Decades The 1990s or the ’90s. Correct example: The 1990s were fun. Incorrect example: The 1990’s were fun. Etc. and et al. Avoid using etc. and et al. in official materials. It is completely possible to construct meaningful sentences without using them. Reserve for informal use such as email. Correct example: Please bring a side dish (salad, soup, snack, etc.) to the school picnic. Italics Using italics for emphasis in regular text should be avoided as much as possible, with the exception of foreign words. Italics are
Italicize foreign words that are spelled out phonetically.
used in the following contexts: Foreign words, titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, reports, films, television programs (specific episodes are in quotation marks). Media websites (newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc.). Follow formatting conventions for print media, almost always italics. It is preferable to indicate when you are referring to the online version of media that also appears in print rather than including CAIS Communication Style Guidelines 2013-2014 | Page 5
the URL. Example: I love reading the New York Times in the morning. Italicize foreign words that are spelled phonetically. Numbers The general rule is to spell out cardinal and ordinal numbers through nine, i.e., zero through nine, and first through ninth. Use numerals for 10 and above, and 10th and above. This may cause a paragraph, or even a sentence, to have both words and numerals for numbers. Correct example: The student had three cats and 11 dogs. Incorrect example: The student had 3 cats and eleven dogs. Percentages are always expressed in numerals, and the word “percent” is spelled out. An exception can be made for tables where the percent sign (%) can be used. Correct example: This year 50 percent of the graduating class is Asian. Incorrect example: This year 50% of the graduating class is Asian. Use numerals in ages: a 12-year-old girl, she is 32 years old Numbers at the beginning of sentences must be spelled out. Correct example: Eighty percent of the class passed.
Numbers: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20... First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th...
Phone numbers Display phone numbers as: 415.123.4567 or 415-123-4567 Correct example: The phone number at school is 415-8656000. Incorrect example: Please call (415)123-4567 or (415) 123-4567 to reach the assistant coach. Pinyin Use of pinyin within an English sentence. Spell out the English word first followed by italicized (see italics) pinyin in parenthesis, followed by English words. Example: A powerful statement of his belief is found in the Han Dynasty Confucian text the Great Learning (Dàxué) which can be found in print.
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Punctuation for abbreviations Spell out campuses and an employee’s title. Correct example: Our Oak Street campus contains two libraries. Incorrect example: Our Oak St. campus contains two libraries. Correct example: Communications Director, Director of Advancement Incorrect example: Dir. of Adv., Comm. Dir. Seasons Lowercase the four seasons unless used in a title. Example: Just before the summer, Pre-K and Kindergarten students perform in a program called the Spring Sing. School divisions School divisions—early childhood, lower school and middle school—should not be capitalized. (As academic grades of the early childhood and lower school divisions, Pre-K and
School divisions—early childhood, lower school and middle school— should not be capitalized. (As academic grades of the early childhood and lower school divisions, Pre-K and Kindergarten, however, should always be capitalized.)
Kindergarten, however, should always be capitalized.) Correct example: The middle school division is taking a trip to the museum today. Incorrect example: The Middle School division is taking a trip to the museum today. Time Use figures except for noon (12:00 p.m.) and midnight (12:00 a.m.). Use :00 if the time is on the hour. An exception may be made in formal invitations. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11:00 a.m., 3:25 p.m. Apply same rule as expressing range of academic years; no space between dashes between times. Expressing time: Correct example: 6:30 p.m. Incorrect example: 6:30 pm, 6:30pm, 6:30PM, 6:30 PM Expressing time ranges: Correct example: 8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Time: 8:05 a.m. 9:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. 12:05 p.m. 2:20 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m.
Incorrect example: 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
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Titles (position or academic) Lowercase titles of person except when used in front of the person’s name as an honorific. Correct example: The head of school and the admission director went to lunch today. Incorrect example: The Head of School and the Admission Director went to lunch today. Correct example: Head of School Sally Smith and Admission Director Dan Jones went to lunch today.
Lowercase titles of person except when used in front of the person’s name as an honorific.
Incorrect example: Sally Smith, head of school, recently took a trip to China. URL treatment Do not underline URLs. Do not format URLs in italics. If you want to draw attention to a URL in a printed piece, consider using bold or a color. For the most part, URLs should be lowercased; check the URL to be sure it is not case-sensitive. When a URL falls at the end of a sentence, it should be followed by a period. It is assumed that it is common knowledge that the period is not part of the URL. Should you wish to emphasize this and your URL is formatted in bold or in a color, then the period should revert to the previous type. www (World Wide Web) Try to avoid using http:// for webpages because it often is not necessary to enter them as part of a URL, and they clutter copy. Rather, state clearly that the address is a web address. Correct example: Please visit cais.org on the web for more information.
Webpages: http://www.cais.org cais.org www.cais.org
Correct example: Please visit www.cais.org for more information.
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PREFERRED VOCABULARLY
A
D database day care: n. and adj.
acknowledgment: use, without the middle e, is
decision-making: adj.
preferred in U.S.
dual language: not bilingual The dual language
affect: see effect, as a verb, means to influence The
program gives students equal time in both the Chinese
construction will affect traffic for many months to
and English language classroom every day.
come. after school: use two words. Example: The after school
E
program at CAIS is robust.
ECD: used internally for early childhood division
alum: f. or m., singular; use very sparingly and never in
effect: see affect, effect, as a verb, means to accom-
formal communications
plish The new head of school effected many changes.
alumna: f., singular Jane is an alumna of CAIS.
as a noun, means result The effect of the donation was
alumnae: f., plural, usually used when referring to
dramatic.
women-focused groups Jane and Mary are alumnae of
CAIS.
enewsletter
alumni: m. or group of men and women, plural The
enrichment class: to describe classes offered through
alumni came back to campus for the event. Jane, Bill and
the Auxiliary Department
six other alumni attended the retreat.
ensure: (see assure, insure) to guarantee Steps were
alumnus: m., singular Bill is an alumnus of CAIS.
taken to ensure accuracy.
assure (see ensure and insure): to make sure or certain He double-checked to assure himself that the answers
F
were correct.
faculty: may be singular or plural for verb agreement;
Auxiliary Department: to describe CAIS after school
use “members of the faculty” if necessary to avoid awk-
program
ward construction CAIS faculty (they) seek solutions
C
for urgent problems. Members of the faculty (they) are organizing the meeting.
catalog: not catalogue
faire/fair The FSA manages the Holiday Faire and the
chair: not chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson
end of the year Ultra Arts Fair.
childcare: n. and adj., use as one word. There is no child-
FAQ: not FAQs for Frequently Asked Questions
care at school during that holiday.
Firedragon: CAIS schoool mascot
CNY: used internally for Chinese New Year
follow-up: n. and adj. preceding a noun
co-chair
follow up: verb
cross-cultural: adj. to describe different cultures or
FSA: short for Family School Alliance
comparison between them The exchange trip to China
full-time: adj. preceding a noun
is not only fun, but it’s also a cross-cultural experience
full time: after a verb
for American students to learn about Chinese culture.
fundraise, fundraiser fundraising: n. and adj. futsal: n. to describe indoor soccer sport, one of the
CAIS Communication Style Guidelines 2013-2014 | Page 9
four major after school sports offered at CAIS
G
N nonprofit (n. and adj.)
Green Team: middle school environment club
O
Members of the Green Team made posters to encour-
on-campus: adj. preceding a noun
age bringing reusable containers for lunch.
on campus: after a verb
H he or she: not he/she, s/he, or (s)he
online on-site: adj. preceding a noun on site: after a verb
his or hers: not his/hers homepage
P
HOS: used internally for Head of School
part-time: adj. preceding a noun
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language
part time: after a verb
I
password podcast
immersion: n. to describe dual language program
pinyin: n. to describe the phonetic way to read Chinese
The four months of language immersion living Shanghai
using the alphabet Young Chinese learners can use pinyin in
really helped me learn more vocabulary.
writing when they can’t remember the Chinese character.
indepenent school: not private school
Pre-K
insure: (see assure, ensure) reserved for insurance, i.e., paid policy.
K
S ShowCAIS: used to describe CAIS’s annual fundraising gala This year’s ShowCAIS highlights opportunities to expand the
Kindergarten: Our youngest students in lower school
school’s technology program for students.
are in Kindergarten.
sign up: v.
L
sign-up: n. and adj. startup (n. and adj.) (fledgling business)
login (adj. and noun) LS (used internally for lower school)
M
U under way: adv. Plans are under way to renovate the school. username
Mass Greeting: used to describe CAIS’s Chinese New Year student performance program Students, teachers,
W
parents and guests are all encouraged to wear red to
webpage
Mass Greeting.
website
MS (used internally for middle school) multimedia multiethnic: not multiracial
CAIS Communication Style Guidelines 2013-2014 | Page 10