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Policies and Procedures

Chapter 1: Organization and Administration

Chapter 2: Student Affairs

Chapter 3: Educational Services

Chapter 4: Human Resources

Chapter 5: Administration

Chapter 6: Physical Plant Operations

Chapter 7: Business Affairs

Chapter 8: College Relations

Policies and Procedures

PROCEDURE 1A.4/12 - Communication Style Sheet
for Policy 1A.4

Anoka-Ramsey Community College Style Sheet
For Aid in Writing, Typing, and Proofreading

Guidelines

1. The name of our institution is hyphenated: Anoka-Ramsey Community College. The exception is in the stylized logo where all four parts of the name are run together and the symbol (or mark) is included.
2. Color and B/W versions of the college logo can be accessed at the college’s internal web site at http://www.ar.cc.mn.us/intranet . When printing the log, please adhere to the guidelines found in the Visual Standards Guidebook available from the PR and Marketing Office. Following is an example of the college’s logo:
   
   
3. Abbreviation of our name: ARCC. This is not hyphenated; periods and/or slash marks are not used.
4. Names of our buildings are capitalized:
   

   Business/Nursing	Humanities	Student Center
   College Services	Library	Technology
   Fine Arts	Performing Arts Center	Training and Development Center
   Gymnasium	Science

5. Titles:
   1. Official and department titles are capitalized when we refer to specific persons or titles on our campus. Those of others generally are not. For example:
      Correct:

      Our President is Patrick Johns.

      Anoka-Ramsey Community College’s Dean of Educational Services will be there.

      If you enroll in our Accounting Program, these are the requirements.

      In general, a college president is responsible for setting campus policy.

   2. Fall Semester (not Fall semester) when referring to a specific semester and definitely when using the year, as in Fall Semester 2002. Summer Session I, II (not summer school.)
   3. Specific titles of other agencies are also capitalized. These are correct:
      
      

      Coon Rapids Fire Department	Anoka-Hennepin District No. 11
      Anoka Technical College	Coon Rapids Athletic Association

      
      
      
      
      
      Titles used just before names are also capitalized, such as President Johns and Dean Holland.
6. Academic subjects and degrees:
   1. Capitalize titles of specific courses, but do not capitalize general subjects, except those referring to a language:
      
      Marge took Biology 1101 last year; this year she needs another biology course and one in English.
      
   2. Academic degrees are generally not capitalized:
      
      Bob thought he’d never earn his associate in arts degree, but he’s gone on to earn a bachelor’s. (Note the appropriate apostrophe in bachelor’s.)
      He earned an AA degree.

1. Spelling
   
   The following are correct and/or preferred:
   

   a lot (always two words)	acknowledgment	all right (not alright)
   employee (not employe)	harassment	catalog
   judgment	commitment	coursework (one word)

   
   
   
2. Capitalization:
   1. When in doubt, do not capitalize.
   2. Capitalize major words in a title.
      1. In a title, capitalize the first word of a hyphenated compound. As a rule, capitalize the word following the hyphen if it is a noun or proper adjective or if it is equal in importance to the first word:
         
         

         Long-Range Plan	Student Handbook	Lower Level College Services
         Annual Report	Board Office
         Room 203	Sino-American Treaty

         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
      2. Short prepositions and articles are not capitalized within titles:
         Follow-up Report Report on Enrollment Activities with Ten or More Participants
      3. The following are not capitalized: history class, college, academic year, noon, holiday, seasons, faculty, counselor, teacher, instructor, coach, secretary, faculty secretary, administrator, etc.
         
         metro area (when followed by a noun, it is hyphenated: metro-area college)
         employee (unless used in contacts in legal terms)
         state of Minnesota (unless used in a legal document or as an employer)
         contract (unless used in the name of a specific contract: MSCF Contract)
         
3. Punctuation:
   1. Apostrophe:
      1. “It’s” is used only when it is the abbreviation of “it is” or “it has.” Example: “It’s too soon for its daily recharging.”
      2. Men’s, women’s, three years’ experience, etc. in possessives.
      3. For plurals of letters such as Fs, and of numbers such as 2s, see The Gregg Reference Manual
   2. Hyphens
      1. Compound adjectives: up-to-date records, part-time work, full-time students, long-range plan, on-campus classes, off-campus classes, two-story building, three-credit class. (Use no hyphens in sentences like “The report was up to date.” The following is correct: full- and part-time students)
      2. Use in nouns beginning with the prefix “self”: self-esteem, self-defense.
      3. No hyphen is needed in postsecondary, audiovisual, recordkeeping, bookkeeping.
      4. Use in numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine.
   3. Quotation Marks
      In all cases, commas and periods go inside the quotation marks: The package was marked “Handle with Care.” The play is “Dancing at Lughnasa,” directed by Jack Bibee.
   4. Commas
      Not needed in March 2001. Needed when the day is given: “March 19, 2002, was the date.” Needed when using “etc.” “That comes in different styles, colors, etc., and you may order until Wednesday.”
4. Numbers:
   The game is September 10, not 10th unless you write “10th of September.” He came in first, not 1st.
5. Grammar: Use of his/her/their. (See The Gregg Reference Manual.)
6. Abbreviations, initials:
   
   

   etc.	p.m. (not P.M. or PM)	pc (photo copy)	BN (Business/Nursing)
   c (copy)	No. (number)	p. (one page)	H 121 (not H121)
   vs. (versus)	pp. (two or more pages)	Rm 203	Ph.D. (no space)

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Frequent mistakes or misuses:
   1. Splitting an infinitive (to + verb) should be avoided, e.g., “He intended to write the letter correctly.”
   2. Specific words.

      percent (not per cent)	audiovisual (one word)
      eager (as opposed to anxious)	less (with things that cannot be counted) “less funding”
      orient (not orientate)	fewer (with things that can be counted) “fewer students”

      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      Bad is an adjective, badly is an adverb: “I feel bad (not badly) that he was badly injured.”

Miscellaneous

1. ARCC names and titles such as follows:
   College Advisory Committee (not Community or Citizen’s Advisory Board athletic fields (not play fields)
   Minnesota State Colleges and Universities division coordinator (not director)
2. Course – a series of instructional classes dealing with a subject. (Usually used when we refer to credit classes) – “The English course is for freshmen.”
   Class – may be used instead of “course,” although we usually use it to refer to one class meeting.
3. At the end of a letter, type the secretary’s initials in lower case. The writer of the memo should already have his/her name in a signature section.
4. Write 12 noon or 12:00 noon, not 12 p.m. or a.m. Noon is not capitalized.
5. Numbers ten and under are written out. Numbers eleven and over are numerals, unless they begin a sentence.

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History:

For Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) policies and procedures, go to www.mnscu.edu/Policies/PolicyIndex.html

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