The Metropolitan Style Guide
Associated Press (A.P.) style
Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition: As a rule, use first spelling listed
Submissions due on 20th of month for following issue; Microsoft Word
Article Format paragraph format, 3 space indents, justified on both sides
Specifications:
Body Copy 10 pt Galliard justified (submissions can be in Times New Roman)
Captions and Photo Credits 8 pt Book Antiqua right justified; Photo Credits italicized and follow Caption
Continued from 12 pt bold ITC Officina Sans Book left justified
Continued to 10 pt Galliard right justified
Headlines 28 pt bold ITC Officina Sans Book centered
“Metropolitan State University Student Newspaper” Helvetica 12 pt loose tracking
“Published monthly in...” 9 pt Times New Roman
Quote of the Month Kaufmann
Sub Headlines 16 pt bold ITC Officina Sans Book centered
The Metropolitan logo Trajan
Bylines 10 pt Italic Galliard BT left justified
Pull Quotes 30 pt Italic Galliard BT centered
Quick Reference (a-z):
Acronyms use after initial spelled-out reference: College of Arts and Sciences (CAS); Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU);Student Executive Council (SEC); University of Minnesota (U of M)
Campus Class and Event Locations cap first letter: Minneapolis Campus; St. Paul and Midway Campuses; New Main; Room L104
Colons always followed by one space.
Composition Titles italicize titles of books, magazines, newspapers, plays, movies and exhibits; quotation marks around titles of articles, songs, chapters (in books), speeches and radio/television programs
Dates Use figures without letters in dates: April 1, not April 1st
Degrees when spelled out always lowercase: master of arts, bachelor’s degree, graduate program; when abbreviated always capitalize, no spaces: A.A., B.A., B.S., M.B.A, Ph.D.
E-mail
Email and Web addresses in italics, unless surrounding sentence is in italics, then it is written out. Do not include http://
Emdash connects continuing sentences/thoughts (“He went to the store—at least that’s what he told us.”) No spaces.
Endash connects times of day (12:30 p.m.–1:00 p.m.) No spaces.
Fields of Study lowercase (psychology, nursing, etc.)
Fractions “three-fourths,” and “one-half;” not ¾ and ½
g.p.a. for grade point average
Gender substitute gender-neutral all-inclusive phrasing: his or her, one’s education; not “my” or “your” education
Internet (capped I)
intranet (lowercase i)
JPEG or any other file reference (all uppercase)
Metropolitan State University initial reference written out; use “Metropolitan State” on subsequent references. No other abbreviations acceptable.
Money $10, not $10.00; 60 cents; $2,000 (not $2000)
Months Spell names of months out when used alone or with a year alone (“August” or “August 2004”); abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. (“Jan. 2”) when used with a specific date
Net (capped N)
Numbers one through nine spelled out; numbers 10 and up numeral form
percent (not %)
résumé
St. Paul, Minn. (other state references are the same, Detroit, Mich.; Madison, Wis.). St. Paul opposed to Saint Paul, unless written out as part of a name (The Saint Paul Foundation)
Time use a.m./p.m.; use noon or midnight, not 12 a.m. or 12 p.m., connect times of day with endash (noon–1:00 p.m.)
United States written out on first reference, unless used as an adjective (US Post Office); abbreviate subsequent references with no periods.
University use when referring to the university (“Our university offers a diverse array of services.")
Web (capped W)
Web site (capped W)
Years 1960s abbreviated to ’60s, not 60’s
Miscellaneous:
- Laserdisc, but hard disk (or disk)
- President Susan A. Cole, but Susan A. Cole, president
- “That is,” “and so on,” “for example,” and “such as;” not “i.e.” “etc.” “e.g.”
Article Length
All news and feature articles should be approximately 500-1500 words. We do not compensate for any article fewer than 350 words. The editors reserve the right to edit and/or reorganize any articles as they see fit.
Last updated: 1/28/2009