Consistency of writing style is as important to Louisiana Tech University’s identity as consistency of design. This section is not a comprehensive text but is designed to address some of the diversity of writing style at Louisiana Tech.
The University Communications team uses and recommends The Associated Press Stylebook. There are always some exceptions to the rules; such exceptions are included in this guide as recommended style for use at Tech.
Abbreviation
Use abbreviations sparingly in correspondence or in text material; in all cases, spell out any word when meaning may be obscured by abbreviation.
Clarifying acronyms in parentheses after first use is not necessary: College of Business (COB). Use the acronym without parenthetical clarification if it is expected to be known by the reader, otherwise write out the entire subject of the acronym.
The initials “LTU” should not be used in publications. Instead, use “Louisiana Tech University” on first reference and “Louisiana Tech” or “Tech” in subsequent references. “LA Tech” should be used sparingly in non-athletics publications, primarily in headlines where word economy is important.
Academic degrees
Spell out when possible: bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, doctorate or doctoral degree. Abbreviate specific degrees with periods between the letters: B.A., M.S., Ph.D., J.D., M.D. Three-letter degree abbreviations should not contain periods between letters: MBA, BFA. Set off an abbreviated degree with commas after a full name: Mary Jones, Ph.D., spoke. Refer to a person with a doctoral degree as Dr. on first reference only: Dr. Jane Smith spoke (first reference). Smith spoke (all other references).
Note: Newspapers and other forms of media will remove Dr. before any name unless the person is a medical doctor.
Address
In the inside address of a letter, spell out such words as street, road, or drive, as well as North, East, South, or West. Also spell out the names of states. Note that Tech post office boxes are unique to Ruston, therefore the use of “Tech Station” or “T.S.” is unnecessary.
Please note that the USPS prefers no periods within addresses for post-office boxes.
Address example:
Louisiana Tech University
PO Box 3178
Ruston, Louisiana 71272-0001
Ages
Always use numerical figures.
Alumnae/alumni
Use alumna when referring to one female graduate (alumnae in the plural), and alumnus for one male graduate (alumni in the plural). Use alumni when referring to a group of men and women. Alum is a gender-neutral term for a single graduate. The use of the term graduate is appropriate and accessible for the majority of readers.
Among/between
Among implies a relationship between more than two objects: There is an academic code of honor among the students. Between implies a relationship between two objects: The College of Business divided the scholarship between John Smith and Jane Adams.
Ampersand/and
Use the ampersand (&) for “and” only as part of an official corporate name: Deloitte & Touche.
Annual
Do not use the term “first annual.” An event cannot be described as annual until it has been held in at least two successive years.
Apostrophe
Omit an apostrophe when referring to a decade as a single period of time. Omit an apostrophe if the decade is abbreviated. John attended college in the 50s. He taught in the 1920s.
Apostrophes are used to indicate possession (Mary’s lamb) and not a plural (Mary’s two lambs).
Capitalization
Use uppercase for the proper names of Tech’s academic colleges, schools, divisions, departments, and offices.
Use uppercase to specify programs: Tech’s Professional Aviation program. Use lowercase when non-specific: the aviation program.
Use lowercase for seasons of the year, except when referring to Tech’s academic quarters: The program was held in the spring; the Fall Quarter begins in September.
Use lowercase for first-year students (or freshmen), sophomores, juniors or seniors when referring to individuals. Capitalize names of organized entities: Class of 1920, the Senior Class.
Use lowercase for majors and degrees, including graduate degrees: She is earning a master’s degree in physics. She is a biomedical engineering major. One exception is if the degree contains a proper noun: An English degree.
Capitalize specific course titles only; do not use quotation marks: History of European Political Theory; a course in psychology.
Capitalize university when referring directly to Louisiana Tech University: The University was awarded $12 million by the state legislature to establish a research park. Similarly, capitalize words like college or school when referring directly to a part of Louisiana Tech that has already been referenced in the writing: The College recognized a record number of students with a 4.0 GPA in Spring Quarter.
Commas
Official Louisiana Tech publications and releases have adopted use of the Oxford comma. Place a comma before words like “and” and “or” when listing three or more items: She was interested in majoring in physics, marketing, mathematics, and English.
Composition titles
Italicize the names of books, newspapers, journals, films, full-length plays, symphonies, operas, ships and airplanes. Use quotation marks around articles, poems, songs, one-act plays, television programs and sculptures.
Computer terms
Database, download, email, home page, website, the Internet, online (no dash), World Wide Web or Web, not WWW.
Continual/continuous
Continual means a steady repetition: The merger has been the source of continual litigation. Continuous means uninterrupted, steady, unbroken: All she saw ahead was a continuous stretch of road to Shreveport.
Dates
For days of the month, omit “rd,” “th,” “st,” “nd”: The event is scheduled for August 6.
When abbreviating months, only abbreviate January (Jan.), February (Feb.), August (Aug.), September (Sept.), October (Oct.), November (Nov.), and December (Dec.) with periods and always spell out March, April, May, June, and July.
Emeritae/emeriti
Use emerita when referring to one female retired professor or trustee, and emeritus for one male retired professor or trustee. Use of the plural forms: emeriti when referring to males; emeritae (pronounced E-meri-tee) when referring to females; emeritae/i when referring to males and females.
Hyphens and dashes
Hyphenate part time and full time only when used as adjectives: He is a part-time instructor in the English department. She works full time in the music department.
Don’t hyphenate vice president (or any other compound titles) in any reference.
An en dash (–) is shorter and is used to connect date ranges (1894–1994) or times (2:30–5:30). There are no spaces around an en dash.
An em dash (—) is longer and is used to set off information or create breaks in a sentence. There should be a space on either side of an em dash: Louisiana Tech — located in Ruston, Louisiana — was founded in 1894.
Louisiana Tech University
In first reference always: Louisiana Tech University. Second reference: Louisiana Tech or Tech.
Accepted Usage: Pronunciation – “LAH Tech”
Unaccepted Usage: L.A. Tech Pronunciation – “EL-AYE Tech”
Numbers/numerals
Spell out one to nine; use numerals for 10 and above. Use numerals even for numbers below 10, when indicating the following: age, course credit hours, statistics, ratios, percentages and amounts of money. Use a comma after digits that signify thousands except when referring to temperature, year or SAT score: Tech enrolls more than 12,000 students.
Percent
Spell out percent in text, and always use numerals: Our retention rate is 85 percent.
Preferred spellings and terms
- advisor, not adviser
- catalog, not catalogue or bulletin
- coeducational, not co-educational
- ensure, not insure (except for insurance)
- health care (two words)
- Dogs, not Dawgs, in all instances when referring to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
- “President Jim Henderson” or “Dr. Jim Henderson, president” on first reference. Henderson on subsequent references.
Quotation marks
Set periods and commas inside of quotation marks.
Spacing
Use single spaces between sentences or after colons. In printed material, one space is inserted between sentences.
Telephone numbers
Use periods to save space within the written version of a telephone number. For example:
318.257.1234
1.800.LATECH.1
Time
Use lowercase letters and periods to designate morning or afternoon: 8 a.m., 2 p.m. Double zeroes (8:00) are superfluous and should not be used.
Titles
Capitalize titles only when they appear before a name and are not separated from the name by a comma. Don’t capitalize titles that follow a name. Use lowercase letters for unofficial titles preceding a name: The exhibit featured artist Mary Smith. Use lowercase letters when titles are used without the name: For information, see the registrar. A professor of history will be in attendance.
URL
The Louisiana Tech URL should be written as LATech.edu.