Identity Guidelines

Editorial Style Guide

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In general, avoid using abbreviations in running text (including the ampersand), except when they are part of official names. While many acronyms and initialisms may be well-known to those of us who attend school at UTSA or work in a particular department on campus, those reading your publication may not be as familiar with terms such as CAB, MAES or FAFSA. So spell them out on first reference—Campus Activities Board, Mexican American Engineers and Scientists, and Free Application for Federal Student Aid. To aid understanding, the abbreviation may be listed in parentheses following the first reference; however, do not list UTSA in brackets following The University of Texas at San Antonio

Abbreviations of degrees, time expressions and countries’ names take periods, with no space between the elements:

M.F.A., B.A., B.S., Ph.D.
a.m., p.m., B.C., A.D.
 U.K., U.S. (USA is an exception)

Use periods and no space when an individual uses initials instead of a first name:

Professor L.J. Shrum, G.V.S. Raju

Acronyms and initialisms for job titles and names of organizations, centers, buildings, forms, tests and assorted other objects are generally spelled without periods:

UTSA, USAA, NASA, FBI, UN, EU
CEO
SAT, TAKS, TOEFL
FAFSA

Acronyms are made plural without apostrophes, unless the last letter of the acronym is an s, in which case an apostrophe is needed:

GREs, SATs, DVDs, SOS’s

Abbreviations having more than one period generally take an ’s to indicate the plural:

M.A.’s, Ph.D.’s

academic degrees
See degrees.

accent marks (diacritical marks)
Words in other languages, and a few adopted into English, sometimes have special marks above or beneath certain letters that provide help in pronunciation or meaning.

On a MacIntosh OS, the option key can be used to create many accent and punctuation marks used in Spanish and other Romance languages:

Option + e, the letter
Option + `, the letter
Option + n, the letter
Option + i, the letter
Option + u, the letter
Option + c or C
Option + shift + ?
Option + !

For PC users, use these keystrokes in Microsoft Word for Windows:

Ctrl + ' , A
Ctrl + ' , E
Ctrl + ' , I
Ctrl + ' , O
Ctrl + ' , U
Ctrl + ' , Shift + E
Ctrl + Shift + ~, N
Ctrl + Shift + ~, Shift + N
Alt + Ctrl + Shift + ?
Alt + Ctrl + Shift + !
Ctrl + Shift + : , U

When accenting personal names, follow the preference of the individual, if known, even though this could result in different spellings of the same last name.

Treviño, Trevino

acknowledgment

addresses
For UTSA mailing addresses, list the department above the name of the university. Use two-letter Postal Service abbreviations only with ZIP codes. See states for nonpostal abbreviations.

The Graduate School
The University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249-1644

College of Public Policy
The University of Texas at San Antonio
501 West Durango Blvd.
San Antonio, TX 78207-4415

adviser/advisor
The preferred spelling is adviser, per AP, Chicago and Webster’s 11th.

afterward
Not afterwards.

alphabetizing
In alphabetizing personal names, an initial comes before any name beginning with the same letter:

A. Tiffany Smith
Andrew Smith
B.D. Smith
Barbara Smith

Alphabetize acronyms letter by letter. Alphabetize numbers at the beginning of the list, before the A’s. Accented or other specially treated letters—such as those with umlauts—should be alphabetized as though unaccented.

For individuals and organizations that share a name, always alphabetize the individuals first:

Tom C. Frost
Frost Bank

For individuals with compound family names, alphabetize them according to the last name; hyphenated names should be treated as one word and alphabetized according to first part.

Patricia Torres Hernandez (alphabetized under H)
Patricia Torres-Hernandez (alphabetized under T)

Personal names containing particles such as de la, di, la, von, van, and saint should be treated on a case-by-case basis and alphabetized according to the individual’s preference, if known.

alumnus, alumni, alumna, alumnae
Note that alumnus is the singular, masculine form; for references to women, use alumna (singular) or alumnae (plural). Alumni may serve as the plural for a group that is composed of men only or of men and women together.

In some uses, alumnus is not gender specific. For example, the UTSA Alumni Association does not change the name of its Alumnus of the Year Award depending on the gender of the recipient.

Alicia C. Treviño was named 2004 Alumnus of the Year.

Anyone who attended The University of Texas at San Antonio is an alumnus or an alumna, even if he or she left without earning a degree.

and
Use & only in official names:

AT&T, Fulbright & Jaworski
NOT the Department of English, Classics & Philosophy

archaeology

athletics
In most cases, use athletics:

UTSA Athletics Feasibility Study, Department of Athletics, Director of Athletics, athletics director

award
Capitalize only as part of the name of the award.