Identity Guidelines

Editorial Style Guide

S

Saint (St.)
Abbreviate with place names and saints, such as St. Louis, St. Matthew, St. Mary’s University.
For personal names, follow the individual’s preference:

Camille Saint-Saens, Jill St. John

Schedule of Classes

seasons
Lowercase the names of seasons unless they are part of a formal name or designate an issue of a periodical:

Winter Olympic Games
It is in the Fall 2003 issue of Sombrilla.
He graduated in the fall semester.
The doctoral program in anthropology began in spring 2007.

semesters
Lowercase references to semesters:

the spring 2002 semester

semicolon

See commas.

Social Security Number
If it needs to be abbreviated, use SSN.

South Central Texas region

South Texas

Southwest, southwestern
Uppercase southwest when used as part of a proper name or to designate a region. But in general, when referring to cities and states, the preferred form is to lowercase compass points only when they describe a section of the state or city (per AP).

The storm system developed in the Southwest.
The scholarship is for students from southwestern Texas.

spaces
Use one space, not two, at the end of every sentence. Use one space after a colon.

Spanish words
Italicize on first reference only, unless the word is in common usage for your publication’s audience. This is largely a question of editorial judgment. See also foreign words and phrases.

states
Spell out the names of the 50 states when they stand alone in text.

Abbreviate the state name in conjunction with the name of a city, county, town, village or military base. The names of eight states are never abbreviated: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.

NOTE: Texas normally is not added to city names in publications, however, because UTSA publications have an international audience, including the state is allowed.

Students from El Paso, Texas, can qualify for the scholarship.

Place one comma between the city and the state name and another comma after the state name, unless ending a sentence:

She was born in Nashville, Tenn.
She graduated from a school in Texas.
She now lives in Austin, Texas, but is moving to Florida.

The state abbreviations are
Ala.
Ariz.
Ark.
Calif.
Colo.
Conn.
Del.
Fla.
Ga.
Ill.
Ind.
Kan.
Ky.
La.
Md.
Mass.
Mich.
Minn.
Miss.
Mo.
Mont.
Neb.
Nev.
N.H.
N.J.
N.M.
N.Y.
N.C.
N.D.
Okla.
Ore.
Pa.
R.I.
S.C.
S.D.
Tenn.
Texas
Vt.
Va.
Wash.
W.Va.
Wis.
Wyo.

syllabus, syllabuses