Editorial Guidelines

If an organization is referenced multiple times, follow the full name with the initials/acronym in parentheses on first mention. After this, the abbreviation may be used alone. Use capital letters, omit periods, and do not space between letters. If the name of the organization is used only once, no parenthetical reference is necessary.

• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)
• Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS)
• Organization of American States (OAS)

When abbreviating years, the last two digits should be preceded by an apostrophe or closed single quotation mark (not an open single quotation mark).

No apostrophe is used with dates, single letters, or plural letters.

• 1890s, 1920s, 1990s
• FTEs, ABCs, CEUs
• Mind your Ps and Qs

Capitalize official names but not parts of a name.

• Department of Mathematics but the department
• Faculty Senate but the senate
• Commencement Committee but the committee
• College of Nursing and Health Innovation but the college

Spell out states when used alone or with a city name. Exception: Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, and other well-known local cities may be used without the state name.

• The CAPPA team worked with Arlington officials on the project.

• For her internship, she traveled to Monroe, Louisiana.

When a sentence includes a series of three or more elements, place a comma before “and” and the last element. (This format is commonly called the serial or oxford comma). Exception: News Center items follow strict AP Style and thus do not use the serial/oxford comma.

• Faculty members represented research from architecture, political science, engineering, nursing, and biology.

When citing degree information for UTA alumni, include the following in a parenthetical after their name: the last two years of the graduation date and degree type, with the most recent degree coming first. If including the degree subject, precede it with a comma.

• Dana Gills (’99 PhD, ’94 MS, Physics; ’92 BS, Mathematics) attended the event.
• Brad Green (’18 BS, Biology) received the honor.

Use No. in running text to denote rankings. In infographics and other graphics, use of # is acceptable.

• The Mavericks were ranked No. 1 during the preseason.

In phone numbers, use hyphens, not periods. Do not offset the area code with parentheses.

• 817-272-2101

In all internal communications, use the five digits of the phone number with a hyphen. Do not use the word extension or the abbreviation ext. in telephone references. In external communications always include the area code.

• 2-2101

Capitalize and use italics for titles of full-length, freestanding works and collections of works. Capitalize and use quotation marks for individual works within those collections and for short works.

• Italicize book titles (A Tale of Two Cities) 
  • But use quotation marks for chapter titles (“The Boy Who Lived” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) 
• Use quotation marks for poems (“The Road Not Taken”), short stories (“The Tell-Tale Heart”), and speeches (“I Have a Dream”) 
• Italicize television show titles (Six Feet Under)  
  • But use quotation marks for episodes (“The Long Way Around” from ER)
• Italicize film titles (Clue) 
• Italicize play titles (Romeo and Juliet) 
• Italicize podcast titles (99% Invisible) 
  • But use quotation marks for episodes (“The Alibi” from Serial) 
• Italicize print publication titles (The New England Journal of Medicine, The Dallas Morning News, Vogue Magazine) 
  • But use no special marks for online publications (U.S. News & World Report, Axios)
  • But use quotation marks for paper or article titles (“Using Expert Knowledge in Solving the Seismic Inverse Problem”)
• Italicize album titles and long musical compositions (Handel’s Messiah)
  • But quotation marks for song titles (“Superstition” from Talking Book) 
• Italicize exhibition titles (Ultimate Dinosaurs) 
  • But use quotation marks for artwork (“The Starry Night”) 
• Italicize video game titles (Call of Duty) 

For course titles, use quotation marks when giving the full name in running text. Do not use quotation marks if the number and area of study are given.

• Accounting 3304, Software Tools
• She is taking “History of Western Civilization.”

In running text and on the cover of publications, use The University of Texas at Arlington on first reference. UTA, UT Arlington, and the University are acceptable on subsequent references and in headlines. Do not use periods within UTA.

Always capitalize The when using the full name of the University.

• The University of Texas at Arlington

When referring to UTA, the word University is capitalized even when used alone. Do not capitalize university when referring to universities in general.

• Mary, a UTA graduate, has fond memories of the University.
• A public university offers an affordable education.

Use The University of Texas System on first reference. UT System or System are acceptable for subsequent references. Do not capitalize system when referring to systems in general.

• UTA is part of the UT System. The System features nine academic universities and six health institutions.
• Public university systems offer excellent educational opportunities.