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A

AAU See Association of American Universities.

academic degrees—If mention of degrees is necessary to establish someone’s credentials, the preferred form is to avoid an abbreviation and use instead a phrase such as Sally Ray, who has a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctorate in English.

Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s, master’s.
Use such abbreviations as BA, MA and PhD only when the need to identify many individuals by degree on first reference would make the preferred form cumbersome.
The exception: When identifying MU alumni in a profile or story about them, use this form, set off by commas, after the person’s name: Bill Doe, BS ’95, and Sally Ray, MA ’04. When they have multiple degrees from different years, use this form: Sally Ray, BS ’78, MS ’81. For multiple degrees in the same year, use this form: Bill Doe, BA, BJ ’92.
When used after a name, an academic abbreviation is set off by commas: Bill Doe, PhD, spoke to the class.
Do not precede a name with a courtesy title for an academic degree and follow the name with the abbreviation for the degree in the same reference, as in Dr. Bill Doe, MD.
Do not capitalize degrees unless abbreviated: Bill Doe, MA ’95, serves as president of his local Optimist Club or Bill Doe received a master’s degree in journalism from XYZ College.
See degree abbreviations.

academic divisions—Capitalize all names of MU’s colleges, schools, departments, divisions and centers when using the full, proper name: Department of History, Sinclair School of Nursing, Center for Distance and Independent Study, Career Center, School of Journalism. Lowercase when using informal names: history department, the department, nursing school, the center.

• After the full, formal name of your school, college, office or department appears in a first reference, do not overuse formal name throughout run of copy. Use such second references as school, college, office, department.
• Avoid overusing Mizzou and MU throughout text and especially in such sentences as: Students at MU spend six hours daily in MU’s Memorial Union on the MU campus.
• Here are the proper names of the University’s 19 schools and colleges:
  • School of Accountancy
    
  • College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
    
  • College of Arts and Science
    
  • Trulaske College of Business
    
  • College of Education
    
  • College of Engineering
    
  • Graduate School
    
  • Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs
    
  • School of Health Professions
    
  • College of Human Environmental Sciences
    
  • School of Information Science and Learning Technologies
    
  • School of Journalism
    
  • School of Law
    
  • School of Medicine
  • School of Music
    
  • School of Natural Resources
    
  • Sinclair School of Nursing (see Nursing, School of)
    
  • School of Social Work
    
  • College of Veterinary Medicine

acknowledgment—Not acknowledgement.

acronyms—When helpful, place a commonly used acronym in parentheses after first reference to clarify subsequent uses. Thereafter, use the acronym: MU is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU). The AAU is an elite group of universities nationwide.

• Do not add the acronym if you do not use it later in the text.

addresses—Use abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address, as in 1500 Conley Ave. Spell out when part of a formal street name without a number: Conley Avenue. Lowercase and spell out when used alone or with more than one street: Conley and University avenues.

• Spell out similar words — alley, drive, road, terrace, place. Capitalize them when part of a formal name without a number; lowercase when used alone or with two or more names: Providence and Stewart roads.
• Use figures for address numbers: 9 Morningside Circle.
  
• Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; use figures for 10th and above.
• Abbreviate compass points used to indicate directional ends of a street or quadrants of a city in a numbered address: 222 E. 42nd St., 562 W. 43rd St., 6700 K St. N.W. Do not abbreviate if number is omitted: East 42nd Street, West 43rd Street, K Street Northwest. Note: In Columbia, Mo., the West in West Boulevard is never abbreviated because it is the street name, not a geographical designation: 990 West Blvd. S. or West Boulevard South.
  
• See state names.
• See URL for information on Web addresses.

adjectives/adverbs—In general, delete those that are used as intensifiers such as urgently needed; strongly advise; comparatively small; new record.

• Avoid using very and really.
  

adopt, approve, enact, pass—Amendments, ordinances, resolutions and rules are adopted or approved; bills are passed; laws are enacted.

adviser—Not advisor, unless it is part of a group’s official name.

African-American (noun and adjective)—Use the hyphen in all forms (and in similar constructions, such as Mexican-American). Use of black is preferred.

afterward—Not afterwards.

agricultural economics, agricultural education—Not agriculture economics, agriculture education.

Agricultural Experiment Station—Not agriculture experiment station.

air-conditioned

All-America, All-American— Individual team members may be called All-Americans; use All-America in other applications. He is an All-American. He is an All-America player.

all-around—Not all-round.

all right (adverb)—Never alright.

already (adverb)—Sally already is gone.

all time (noun)—Bill is the greatest of all time.

all-time (adjective)—Enrollment reached an all-time high.

alum(s)—A slang term for alumni, alumnus, alumna, alumnae. Avoid use if possible.

alumni—The plural masculine form, though often used to indicate both male and female graduates as a group: Mizzou alumni return for Homecoming.

• The singular feminine form is alumna: She is an alumna of Mizzou.
• The plural feminine form is alumnae: The three women represented Mizzou alumnae well.
• The singular male form is alumnus: He is an alumnus of Mizzou.
  

alumni association—First reference: Mizzou Alumni Association (name change from MU Alumni Association effective Jan. 1, 2007). Second reference: alumni association or association.

alumni center—First reference: Donald W. Reynolds Alumni Center. Subsequent references: Reynolds Alumni Center, alumni center or center.

American Indian—The preferred term for those in the United States. Do not hyphenate as an adjective: American Indian enrollment, not American-Indian enrollment. When possible, name the actual tribe. Native American is acceptable in quotations or names of organizations.

and/or—A shortcut that can damage a sentence and lead to confusion or ambiguity. Use either word, but not both words in a sentence. If necessary, use an or both phrase: salt or pepper or both.

annual—An event cannot be described as annual until it has been held in at least two successive years.

• Do not use the term first annual. Instead, note that a group plans to sponsor an event annually, or use inaugural. Examples: The group held its inaugural fish fry. The group held its second fish fry. The group held its third annual fish fry.
  

anxious—Do not use as a synonym for eager. Anxious means fearful, apprehensive, worried.

Association of American Universities (AAU)—Founded in 1900. MU became a member in 1908. Member universities are committed to first-rate undergraduate education, pioneering research and outstanding graduate programs. They must meet strict standards for faculty and research funding to qualify for AAU membership. Out of 62 members, 34 are public institutions. MU is the only public AAU member in Missouri.

• See University identification.

athletics—The official name is Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Second reference: athletics department. The department has 20 sports:

• Baseball
• Basketball (men’s)
• Basketball (women’s)
• Cross country (men’s)
• Cross country (women’s)
• Football
• Golf (men’s)
• Golf (women’s)
  
• Gymnastics (women’s)
• Indoor track and field (men’s)
  
• Indoor track and field (women’s)
  
• Outdoor track and field (men’s)
  
• Outdoor track and field (women’s)
  
• Soccer (women’s)
  
• Softball
  
• Swimming and diving (men’s)
  
• Swimming and diving (women’s)
  
• Tennis (women’s)
  
• Volleyball (women’s)
  
• Wrestling
  

attribution—See says, said.

author, co-author—Nouns used for both men and women. Do not change them into verbs as in Bill Doe authored or Bill Doe and Sally Ray co-authored two books. Instead write Bill Doe wrote two books or Bill Doe and Sally Ray have written two books.

a while (noun)—Sally has been a professor for a while.

awhile (adverb)—Sally plans to teach awhile.

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B

backward—Not backwards.

bandleader

best-seller—Hyphenate all uses and forms.

Big Ten, Big 12—Use numerals for Big 12, the athletics conference to which MU belongs (but spell out Big Ten). Do not use Roman numerals. When referring to the former Big Eight, spell out. Don’t hyphenate when used as an adjective: Big Eight Conference, Big 12 Conference.

Black Culture Center—See Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center.

Board of Curators—First reference: University of Missouri Board of Curators. Second reference: UM Board of Curators, board or curators.

• Use singular it is when group acts as a unit or in agreement; use plural they are when group acts as individuals or in disagreement.
  
• See collective nouns.

bookdealer

brand-new

buildings/halls—Capitalize when used with structure’s name: Agriculture Building; Sociology Building; General Classroom Building; Neff Hall; Swallow Hall; Waters Hall; lowercase when used alone: building; hall; residence hall.

Business Loop 70—Spell out. Do not write BL-70.

bylaw

byproduct

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