call letters — Use all capitals and hyphens to separate the type of station from the basic call letters: WUWF-FM, WUWF-TV.
Campus Activity Board – Do not use the acronym CAB on second reference; use either the full title or the board.
Campus Alcohol and Drug Information Center
campuswide – No hyphen. Also citywide, countywide, statewide, nationwide, universitywide and worldwide. One word always.
capitalization — In general, avoid unnecessary capitals. When uncertain, consult a dictionary to determine if is a word is a proper noun.
Proper nouns: capitalize nouns that identify a specific person, place or thing: Pensacola, Fla., and Dr. Jay Gould.
Proper names: capitalize common nouns such as river, street, west, college and university when they are an integral part of the full name for a person, place or thing: Escambia River, University Parkway, West Florida, College of Business, University of West Florida. Lowercase when they stand alone in subsequent references: the river, the street, the college, the university. Lowercase names in all plural uses: Main and Palafox streets, Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
Titles: capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name. President John Cavanaugh. Lowercase formal titles when used alone or in constructions that set them off from a name by commas. Morris Marx, president emeritus. See academic titles.
Captain Thunder of the University Marine Patrol — Legendary campus alligator rusticating in the Edward Ball Wildlife Sanctuary, Thompson’s Bayou.
Career Center, Career Services —Career Services is the current title of this office, but Career Center is acceptable as well. Use the center on second reference.
Cashier’s Office
center(s) — Do not abbreviate. Capitalize only as part of a proper name: Eglin Center. For a complete listing, see center names.
Center for Fine and Performing Arts (building 82) — Home of the Division of Fine and Performing Arts, including the Departments of Art, Music and Theatre.
Center on Aging
Center for Business Research and Economic Education (also known as the Haas Center) — Named for the late benefactor Raymond M. Haas.
Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation
Center for University Teaching and Learning
Central Receiving/Stores and Distribution
chair, chairman, chairwoman —Chair is preferred: department chair. Never chairperson unless it is an organization’s formal title for an office.
chambered nautilus – The University of West Florida takes its official emblem from The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes, the American poet, humorist and physician. For the UWF community, the chambered nautilus shell is a living metaphor for the growth and development we strive to attain through our lives, continuously expanding our horizons.
Charter Class — Alumni who graduated in the years 1968 and 1969 are considered members of the Charter Class.
chat room – A Web site at which users can interact in real-time conversations by typing in comments.
Chemistry – Capitalize when referring to the department.
Child Care Center (formally, the Educational Research Center for Child Development).
cities and communities — Capitalize them in all uses. See datelines for guidelines on when they should be followed by a state or a country name. Capitalize official titles, such as West Florida, West Pensacola, or Pensacola Beach, Fla. See directions, regions. Capitalize when part of a formal name: Kansas City, but city of Pensacola.
classes, courses — Lowercase when referring to courses and classes: I took a biology class and a Spanish class. Uppercase if referring to specific name of a class or the class uses a proper noun or numeral: I took Psychology 2000 and Spanish 1000.
Classroom
cleanup – One word.
C.L.O.V.E. — Center for Learning through Organized Volunteer Efforts. C.L.O.V.E is acceptable on second reference in internal publications only. For external publications, use the center on second reference.
clubhouse
Co- — Retain the hyphen when forming nouns, adjectives and verbs that indicate occupation or status: co-author, co-pilot, co-chairman, co-host, co-star, co-owner, co-worker.
Several are exceptions to Webster’s New World in the interests of consistency. Don’t use a hyphen in these combinations: coed, cooperate, coeducation, cooperative, coequal, coordinate, coordination and coexistence.
Cooperate, coordinate and related words are exceptions to the rule that a hyphen is used if a prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel.
For more information and guidance on the use of prefixes, refer to the AP Stylebook.
coach — Capitalize when used before the name of the person who directs an athletic team: Coach Jim Spooner, Baseball Coach Jim Spooner, but the coach said.
Coastal and Estuarine Research — Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Research
collective nouns — The collective nouns faculty and staff should be used in the singular sense: the faculty has yellow parking decals; the staff has green decals.
college(s) — Do not abbreviate. Capitalize only as part of a proper name: College of Arts and Sciences. Also, spell out names on first reference; on second reference use college. Don’t use the acronyms CAS, COPS, COB, etc.
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences Advising Center
College of Business
College of Professional Studies — Formerly the College of Education.
committees, task forces — Capitalize names of specific committees and task forces: Homecoming Committee. See board of directors, board of trustees entry.
Commons — Campus student union building. University of West Florida Commons, University Commons or simply Commons are all acceptable on first reference.
Communication Arts – Capitalize when referring to the department.
Community College Articulation
Community/University Partnerships
compact disc – CD is acceptable on second reference.
company, companies — Don’t use a comma before Inc. or Ltd. Don’t use all capital letter names unless the letters are individually pronounced: CRX, USX. Others should be uppercase and lowercase. See organizations and institutions entry.
compose, comprise — Compose means to create or put together. It commonly is used in both the active and passive voices: She composed a song. The United States is composed of 50 states. The zoo is composed of many animals.
Comprise means to contain, to include all or embrace. It is best used only in the active voice, followed by direct object: The United States comprises 50 states. The jury comprises five men and seven women. The zoo comprises many animals.
composition titles — Apply the guidelines listed here to book titles, movie titles, opera titles, play titles, poem titles, song titles, television program titles and the titles of lectures, speeches and works of art.
Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters:
The Star Spangled Banner. Capitalize an article (the, a, an) or a word of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in a title: Of Mice and Men. Use italics for the names of books, movies, operas, plays, poems, periodicals, television shows and works of art. Titles of songs, lectures, papers and articles should be placed in quotes. The Bible and books that are primarily catalogs or reference material, including almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers, handbooks and similar publications should not be italicized or given any other treatment apart from the necessary capitalization: Encyclopedia Britannica. Translate a foreign title into English unless a work is known to the American public by its foreign name: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, but Camus’ The Stranger (not L’etranger).
Computer Science
Conference Services
Controller
co-op
Counseling Center
coursework
courtesy titles — In general, (outside of standard correspondence) don’t use the courtesy titles Miss, Mr., Mrs., Ms. on first and last names of the person: Betty Ford, Jimmy Carter in regular copy. Don’t use Mr. in any reference unless it is combined with Mrs.: Mr. and Mrs. John Smith or Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
crafter – Use crafter to refer to those who participate in handicrafts: Festival on the Green was full of crafters selling their wares. The word craftsman should only be used to refer to a professional who practices a trade for a living (i,e, a blacksmith or a cabinet maker). Regardless of whether a person depends on the sale of their handicrafts to make a living, craftsman is to be used to refer to the more traditional trades.
Criminal Justice and Legal Studies
currently, presently — Currently means now, presently is in the very near future. The use of both should be avoided.
curriculum — Plural form is curricula.
Curriculum Change Request Office
cutlines — Photo captions. Use parentheses to denote position of persons in cutlines: President John Cavanaugh (center) presents a scholarship check to Janet Jones (left) and Bill Smith (right). By the way, always list people left to right, or if this is impractical, clockwise.