Guidelines

Headlines

Captions

Style

Assistance

Style

U

under way—under way Two words in virtually all uses. One word only when used as an adjective before a noun in a nautical sense: an underway flotilla.

unique—Means one of a kind. Do not use it as a synonym for different, outstanding, unusual, rare or exceptional. Do not use more unique, very unique, most unique, quite unique, rather unique.

University Hospital and Clinics—see Hospital and Clinics, University.

university identification—In all publications, presentations and news releases, the first reference should be University of Missouri. Thereafter, use MU, Mizzou or university (with lowercase u).

• The words University of Missouri must appear on covers of publications directed to external audiences.
  
• Do not use the acronym UMC as a reference to the University of Missouri in Columbia.
  
• Do not use MU or Mizzou in such a way to imply that either refers to the University of Missouri System.
  
• Do not use Missouri University as a reference for either the University of Missouri or the University of Missouri System.
  
• Do not use Columbia campus to refer to the University of Missouri in Columbia.
  
• Write MU without periods, even in headlines. It is not an acronym for Missouri University.
  
• MU is Missouri’s only public member of the Association of American Universities and is classified as research university/very high by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. As such, the word flagship is appropriate for describing MU: Missouri’s flagship institution or Missouri’s flagship university.
  
• MU is also affiliated with the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC). The university was given land-grant status in 1870 under the 1862 Morrill Act, which provided for the donation of public land for institutions to serve the citizens of a state.
  
• See System, University of Missouri.

University of Missouri System—See System, University of Missouri.

Universitywide—The term has been dropped because of its double meaning of reference to both System and campus. University of Missouri System, UM System or University System should be used in references to all four campuses.

upward—Not upwards.

URL—Acceptable in all references for uniform resource locator, a standard
Web address.

• For brevity, omit http:// in URLs. Just use www.missouri.edu, for example. Exception: Include https:// when necessary to identify a secure site.
  
• Try to fit URLs on one line, but when necessary to break, do not break in the middle of a word. Break either before a period (so the reader does not read it as the end of a sentence) or after a slash:
  admissions.missouri.edu
  but
  admissions.missouri.edu/visitus
  
• University policies require all sites (except those of students, staff and faculty) to have an intuitive URL, one without ~. Example: journalism.missouri.edu, not www.missouri.edu/~jour.
  
• Visit webcom.missouri.edu for MU’s Web policies.
  

U.S.—Acceptable as a noun or adjective for United States.

utilize—Avoid using if possible. Write use for simplicity.

V

veterans—Write without an apostrophe in such uses as Veterans Administration, Veterans Day or Veterans of Foreign Wars.

versus—Spell it out in most cases: Bill Doe examined the positive outcomes versus the negative effects.

• Use vs. for sporting events and short expressions: Missouri vs. Kansas, guns vs. butter.
  
• Use v. for court cases: Marbury v. Madison.
  

video game

videotape (noun and verb)

voice mail—Two words.

Vox—Weekly magazine published by the Columbia Missourian. The word magazine is not part of the name.

W

Washington, D.C.

Web—Acceptable in all references to the World Wide Web.

• Uppercase when used alone or as an adjective: Web, Web site, Web page.
  
• Lowercase as a prefix: webcam, webmaster, webzine.
  
• See URL.
  
• Visit webcom.missouri.edu for MU’s Web policies.
  

Web addresses—See URL.

weeklong, weekdays, weeknights

West Boulevard—In Columbia, Mo., the West in West Boulevard is not abbreviated because it is part of the street name, not a geographical designation: 902 West Blvd. S. or West Boulevard South.

whether or not, as to whether—Whether is sufficient in most cases: She wanted to know whether class was cancelled. Whether or not is used to mean in any case: The football team will play whether or not it rains.

White Campus—Campus buildings built with white limestone and located near Memorial Union.

-wide—No hyphen, as in citywide, continentwide, countrywide, industrywide, campuswide, nationwide, statewide, worldwide.

work force

workplace, workstation

World Wide Web—See Web.

Y

year-end (adjective)—Example: The department held year-end festivities.

yearlong (adjective)—Example: The professor announced results of a yearlong study.

year-round (adjective and adverb)—Examples: The year-round hours for the center are 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. The center is open year-round.

years—Use figures without commas: 1975. Use an s without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries: the 1800s, the 1890s. For shortened forms, write ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s. For an academic year, use a medium dash (en dash) and this form: 2006–07.

Z

ZIP codes—Use all-caps ZIP for Zone Improvement Program, but always lowercase the word code. Do not put a comma between state name and the ZIP code: Columbia, MO 65201.

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