Santa Clara University

Capitalize any words longer than three letters.

• Business Dean Announces his Retirement
• Do not use terminal punctuation except for a question mark.
• In Santa Clara Magazine, only an initial cap is used for subheads within stories or sections.

See capitalization.

Lowercase.

When used as part of a formal title of respect, his should be capitalized.

• his holiness
• His Majesty
• His Excellency

Lowercase he, him, his, thee, thou, etc. when used as personal pronouns referring to God.

Do not presume maleness in constructing a sentence that has a generic reference:

• Reporters try to protect their sources

not

• A reporter tries to protect his sources.

Latino(a) is preferred style for reference to a native or inhabitant of Latin America or a person of Latin American heritage living in the United States, but be careful not to apply it indiscriminately. The way ethnicity is described can be a sensitive matter. If possible, consult with the person in question to see what racial reference they prefer.

The preferred form is to use “the pope” or “the pontiff” or to give the individual’s name.

Two words. Lowercase.

For most occasions, SCU Style does not require citing an honorary degree. However in cases where decorum may require a citation, the following format is recommended.

Ex. Joe Smith graduated from SCU in 1985 and received an honorary degree from the University in 2005, thus on first reference:

Joe Smith '85, Hon. '05

Capitalize when referring to SCU's Human Resources department. HR or HR department acceptable on second reference.

End-of-line hyphens: Must have two letters before break, three letters after.

No more than two end-of-line hyphens in a row.

Hyphenate re- words when there are back-to-back e’s:

• re-elect
• re-examine

See dashes.