Dakota State University Writer's Style Guide

• Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree and master’s degree, but no possessive in Bachelor of Science or Master of Science. There is no possessive in associate degree or Associate of Science. Use doctorate when using the generic form.
• Do not capitalize the full names of our academic degree programs. 
  • Erin Anderson received her baccalaureate in digital arts & design.
• Do not capitalize generic forms such as baccalaureate or doctorate. Lowercase and use an apostrophe s for adjective forms such as master’s degree. When referring to more than one degree, add s only to degree (bachelor’s and master’s remain singular). 
  • bachelor’s degree or baccalaureate degree
  • master’s degrees
  • bachelor’s and master’s degrees
  • doctorate, doctoral degree
• Do capitalize the full degree name, Bachelor of Science, or Master of Arts, when used as a formal title. 
• Doctoral or postdoctoral are the adjective form; doctorate or postdoctorate are nouns (and postdoctorate and postdoctoral are one word, no hyphen). 
  • He received his doctorate at DSU.
    • Not: He received his doctoral at DSU. 
  • She did her postdoctoral research at DSU.
    • Not: She did her postdoctorate research at DSU.
• The word degree should not follow a specific degree, whether spelled out or abbreviated. 
  
  • She has an AA in general studies.
    • Not: She has an AA degree in General Studies.
• Capitalize generalized degree abbreviations, without spaces, and do not use periods, as in Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Master of Business Administration (MBA). This differs from the AP Stylebook but matches common usage. The following degrees are offered at DSU:
  • Associate of Science (AS)
  • Associate of Arts (AA)
  • Bachelor of General Studies (BGS)
  • Bachelor of Science (BS)
  • Bachelor of Science in Education (BSE)
  • Master of Science (MS) 
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• When abbreviating a specific master’s degree, you may leave out the periods when abbreviating the whole degree name (differs from the AP Stylebook but matches common usage). 
  • Master of Science in Analytics (MSA)
  • Master of Science in Applied Computer Science (MSACS)
  • Master of Science in Educational Technology (MSET)
  • Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI)
  • Master of Science in Information Assurance (MSIA)
  • Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS)
  • When abbreviating any specific doctoral degree, DO lowercase the h.
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems (PhDIS).
  • Doctor of Science in Cyber Defense (PhDCD).
• Form plurals of degree abbreviations by adding an s, no apostrophe. “More than 50 BSs were awarded yesterday.”  
• If mention of degrees is necessary to establish someone's credentials, the preferred form is to avoid an abbreviation and use instead a phrase such as: David DeJong, who has a doctorate in educational leadership. Do not include courtesy titles such as Dr., Mr., or Rev. before a name when a degree designation is used after the name.

• Consider the audience when referring to Dakota State University departments. Capitalize names of colleges, divisions, departments and committees only when using the official name.
  
  • The Department of Graduate Studies; the graduate studies department (shortened version)

• Capitalize academic titles such as Professor, Dean, President, and Professor Emeritus when they precede a name. Also, when used before names, capitalize words that are part of the title such as Department President or Associate Professor. Lowercase formal titles, descriptors, and modifiers used after a name and set them off with commas. 
  
  • Dakota State University Provost Rebecca Hoey will attend the ceremony.
  • Rebecca Hoey, provost of Dakota State University, will attend the ceremony.
  • College of Arts & Sciences Dean Stacey Berry signed the paper.
  • Stacey Berry, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, signed the paper.
• A formal title or an academic degree may be used in first reference when necessary to establish credentials, but not in the same reference. 
  
  • President José-Marie Griffiths or José-Marie Griffiths, Ph.D.
    • Not: President José-Marie Griffiths, Ph.D.
• Do not hyphenate vice president. 
• In academia, it is vice president for Student Affairs (or appropriate department) not vice president of Student Affairs. 

• Spell out the organization’s full name on first reference. You may follow the name with the acronym in parentheses, such as Small Business Association (SBA).
• Always use the acronym for SAT/ACT
• Form the plural of an acronym by adding a lowercase s. Do not use an apostrophe unless possessive, such as EMTs, not EMT’s.
• When each letter is pronounced in most acronyms, capitalize every letter. Capitalize only the first letter in most acronyms with more than six letters. Exceptions to these guidelines may exist with the DSU Madison Cyber Labs institutes. For example, it is DSU Classics Institute, but the PATRIOT Lab, or CybHER®.
• Leave out periods in most acronyms unless the result would spell an unrelated word.
• Do not use "the" before acronyms pronounced as words instead of letter by letter: OSHA, CAD. 
• Dakota State has two affiliated organizations, DARC and DSU-SOAR. Both are acronyms, so use all caps, and SOAR is spelled with a dash. DARC is the DSU Applied Research Corporation, to administer research partners and projects with the Applied Research Lab. DSU-SOAR stands for Strategic Outreach Agile Responsive; it is a non-profit corporation administered by a Board of Directors. Its purpose is to develop and provide cyber and related education programs to individuals outside of the traditional credit bearing and post-secondary degree granting environment (such as certificates and badges) and to maintain and operate economic development initiatives that support the teaching, research, or service mission of the university.
• The Power Cyber Lab℠ is often shortened to PCL in common conversation but should not be abbreviated in official communication.

AP style uses adviser, but if listed as an official title per the State of South Dakota, advisor is appropriate. See “academic advisor” below for additional style recommendations.

As is common in higher education and following the recommendation of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), advisor is appropriate and should be used when using the term 'academic advisor,’ describing a faculty or staff member assigned to a student for advising purposes.

• Use the singular form when referring to the admission process. Use the plural form when referring to the university office.
  
  • The Office of Admissions helps students with the admission process.

• Use alumna for a woman who graduated from a school, alumnae for a group of women.
• Use alumnus for a man, alumni for a group of men or a group of men and women.
• Try to refrain from using the term alum, as alum is a spice.
• Alumni status also is granted to those who attended Dakota State University for two semesters but did not complete a degree.
• When listing alumni information, state the individual’s name, the major and/or degree abbreviation, and the year of graduation. There is no comma between the degree and year. Enclose majors with parentheses, if used. In some instances, it may be necessary to specify the century.
  
  • Jena Martin ‘05 (Business)
  • Gene Wockenfuss ‘83 (Education)
  • Helen Smith 1902, or Helen Smith 2002.

These morning and afternoon designations are technically abbreviations for ante meridiem (before noon) and post meridiem (after noon) so should include the periods and use the lowercase.

Avoid redundancies such as 6 p.m. tonight. If a.m. or p.m. occurs at the end of a sentence, use only one period at the end.

It is preferred that 'and' be spelled out. However, the ampersand (&) also is acceptable in all uses. For consistency, 'and' is used on university stationery, business cards, news releases, body copy and unit-specific wordmarks unless otherwise requested.

To mirror our logos, use the & in place of and with DSU colleges and majors, such as College of Arts & Sciences, or Digital Arts & Design majors.

The correct title of the DSU department is Department of Athletics (plural). The 2018 proposed plan for the department is Master Athletics Plan (MAP).

The title Athletics Director should be capitalized when used before a name.

Capitalize Trojans when referring to athletic teams or players. 

It is the Captains Club and Champions Lounge (attributive form with no apostrophe) but the President’s Suite.

Upon first reference, use the official name of the campus buildings, rooms, and facilities with initial capital letters. After the first reference, do not capitalize general terms, such as residence hall, center, laboratory, or building if the full name is not used.

Campus buildings and properties

• 8-Plexes
• The 2-1-2
• Athletics Events Center (the building)
• The Beacom Institute of Technology
  • This includes the PowerCyber℠ Lab, which is often shortened to PCL in common conversation but should not be abbreviated in official communication.
• Beacom PREMIER Complex
  • This includes the entire athletics complex, with the events center, the football and soccer fields, etc. The athletics events center building does not yet have a name). Rooms inside the building include the Champions Lounge, the Captains Club, and the President’s Suite.
• Beadle Hall
• Blankley Field (the physical football field)
• Brian Kern Family Stadium (the physical football stadium)
• Community Center
• Courtyard Hall
• Dakota Prairie Playhouse
  • Not “the Dakota Prairie Playhouse,” although “the” may be added before the name for grammatical purposes
• Dale E. Kringen Alumni & Foundation Center
• Dan Beacom Track & Field
• DSU Fieldhouse
  • Fieldhouse is one word, and "the" is not part of the proper name, but may be added before the name for grammatical purposes
• East Hall
• Emry Hall
• Entrepreneurial Building
  • Formerly the Heartland Building. The building is not the Paulson Center; the Paulson Center is an organization housed IN the Entrepreneurial Building
• DSU Fieldhouse
• Girton Honors House
• Gray House
• Habeger Science Center
• Heston Hall
• Higbie Hall
• Madison Cyber Labs, or MadLabs^®
  • The nickname MadLabs is a registered trademark, so it needs the superscript® at the end. The full name, Madison Cyber Labs, is not trademarked. Individual labs are not trademarked, except for CybHER^®.
  • On second and subsequent references the ® can be removed.
• Karl E. Mundt Library
• Kennedy Center
• Lake County Museum
  • Smith Zimmermann Museum prior to August 2021
• Learning Engagement Center
• Lowry Hall
• Residence Village
• Richardson Hall
• President’s House
• Trojan Center (TC)
  • Spell out Trojan Center on the first reference. TC may be used on the second reference. For subsequent references, the generic term student center maybe be used. This also applies to Tunheim Classroom Building or TCB, and LEC.
  • Locations in the TC include:
    • Marketplace
    • Bits ‘N Bytes
    • Queue
    • TC Underground
  • Tunheim Classroom Building (TCB), and the Straatmeyer Auditorium
  • Tyrell Physical Plant
  • Zimmermann Hall

When referring to all of Dakota State University, use university, not campus.

Capitalize the full, official titles of DSU organizations or colleges. Do not capitalize semesters or recurring events.

• DSU Student Association Senate
• DSU Photography Club
• College of Arts & Sciences
• fall 2014 commencement
• homecoming

Do not capitalize University when used alone.

Do capitalize the full, official department, college, and office names if used as a formal and official title; lower case if it is used in a general sense.

• College of Arts & Sciences
• The arts & sciences college
• Marketing & Communications Department
• The marketing department
• NOTE: it is The Beacom College of Computer & Cyber Sciences, with a capital "The". The official name of the DSU bookstore is Trojan Zone.

• Professor Andrew Anderson
• Andrew Anderson, professor

CoEX -- The official name of the program is the Dakota State University Center of Excellence in Computer Information Systems. This is an option for a minor for students of all majors. (This is different from the University’s distinctions with the NSA and DHS, which are Centers of Academic Excellence, or CAEs.) 

The collective nouns "faculty," and "staff" and "Trojans" are singular nouns. If you wish to use plural construction use "faculty members" or "members of the faculty."

• The faculty is represented by Faculty Senate.
• The College of Arts & Science’s faculty members are dedicated researchers.

When using the proper name of a college, capitalize it. When using only the general term college or using college as a second reference, lowercase it.

• The College of Education & Human Performance is housed in the Kennedy Center.
• The college is housed in the Kennedy Center.

Dakota State’s four degree-granting colleges

• College of Arts & Sciences
• College of Education & Human Performance
• College of Business and Information Systems
• The Beacom College of Computer & Cyber Sciences

Dakota State’s non-degree-granting colleges

• Graduate School
• Governors Cyber Academy

Use commas to separate elements of a series, including a comma before the conjunction (the Oxford comma). This is a departure from the AP style guide, which does not utilize the Oxford comma except when needed for clarity.

• The American flag is red, white, and blue.
• General Cy finished the championship game with 18 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
• DSU's faculty includes Stacy Anderson, instructor, Andy Behrends, assistant professor, and Thomas Jones, professor.
• General Cy finished the championship game with 18 points, six rebounds, and three assists, and was named Most Valuable Player for the tournament.

Capitalize, but don't use quotation marks.

• Mathematics 101; History of Journalism

Same goes for course sections

• Education 495, Section 1; Political Science 456, Section 80.

Use one word to refer to the concept of cybersecurity. Two exceptions are the cyber-ethics focus of the DSU Classics Institute, and the 2022 cyber-research initiative (Cyber 27).

CybHER^® is an outreach program that focuses on introducing girls to the cyber sciences, and so the HER in the name is capitalized. It is also a registered trademark, so use the superscripted ® on the first reference in a press release or web feature.

The preferred way to refer to Dakota State University is by the full name; Dakota State University. The full name should always be used on first reference; however, Dakota State or DSU may be used in publication for variety or when space is limited.  After the first use, university may be used alone, lowercase.

Dakota State is a university, not a college. There are four colleges that make up our university, along with Graduate Programs.

Dakota State University may also be referenced using a former name, when talking about past events. Use the college’s official name at the time, indicating as appropriate this was the University’s name at the time. 

1881 – 1901 – Dakota Normal School or Madison State Normal; Sometimes called Dakota State Normal or State Normal

1902 – 1920 – Madison State Normal School

1921 – 1923 – Eastern State Normal School

1924 – 1927 – Eastern State Teachers College (not official)

1928 – 1946 – Eastern State Teachers College (official)

1947 – 1963 – General Beadle State Teachers College

1964 – 1968 – General Beadle State College

1969 – 1988 – Dakota State College

1989 – present – Dakota State University

Capitalize the names of months in all uses. Abbreviate January (Jan.), February (Feb.), August (Aug.), September (Sept.), October (Oct.) November (Nov.), and December (Dec.) when used with a specific date. Spell out March, April, May, June and July. No abbreviation should be used when a month is used with only a year. In certain marketing materials, such as invitations, the month can be written out.

When using the month, day and year, set off the year with commas. DO NOT use a comma when there is no date, as in March 2024, and do not separate the month with “of,” as in March of 2024. No comma is needed between time and date, either.

• Dec. 21, 2024
• December 2024
• Final exams are from 1-4 p.m. on Dec. 21, 2024, and then winter break begins.
• Winter break starts in December 2024

Avoid using a slash (called a virgule) or hyphens with numerals to give dates, especially if your readers could confuse the order of the day and month: 2/11/94, 11-16-1993. 

Including the year is not always necessary in documents with a limited shelf life; however, noting the month and year of publication in an inconspicuous place may be useful.

Do not follow numerals used with dates by nd, rd, st, or th.

• Christmas Day is December 25, not December 25th. 

Use figures, and spell out "inches," "feet" and "yards" for depth, height, length and width. Hyphenate dimensions when used as adjectives before nouns. While numerals below 10 are typically spelled out, it is appropriate to use numerals for measurements.

• Dixie is 6 feet 1 inch tall.
• The tunnel is 8 feet long.
• The 5-foot, 7-inch center is the shortest player on the court

In the world of disability services, try to use person-first language, such as “I am a woman with a disability,” as opposed to identity-first language, such as “I am disabled, queer, and Latinx.” However, it may depend on how the person identifies themselves. This website offers suggestions for various disabilities.

Use residence hall.

Spaces around an ellipsis, e.g., "This is important … so we're moving fast."

Acceptable in all references for electronic mail. 

Use hyphen with other e- terms: e-books, e-business, e-brochure, e-commerce.

Emeritus is added after titles of people who have retired but retained their rank.

The shorter en dash (–) is used to mark ranges and with the meaning to in phrases such as “Dover–Calais crossing.” The longer em dash (—) is used to separate extra information or mark a break in a sentence. Use one space before and one space after the em dash. 

The official DSU athletics team name is Esports. Use Esports at the beginning of a sentence; when referring to the general term, use esports as designated in the AP Stylebook.

Exclamation points are often overused. Use this thought as a guide: In your lifetime, you get three. Use them wisely.

one word

All one word with no hyphen

Office of Financial Aid is the official name

Dakota State University’s mascot is named General Cyber, with General Cy appropriate for shortened usage.

Governors Cyber Academy is used in the attributive form. Do not use Governor’s Cyber Academy, or Governors’ Cyber Academy. Shorten to Cyber Academy, not GCA, and not The Cyber Academy unless at the beginning of a sentence.

Handicapped parking is no longer considered appropriate terminology. Use accessible parking.

For consistency and ease of use, use "healthcare" as one word in all instances. While the AP Stylebook may recommend hyphenating "healthcare" when used as a modifier (e.g., "health-care professional"), this one-word usage matches industry preference that is increasingly popular.

As an adjective, use high-tech or high-technology.

As a noun, use high tech or high technology. It's never hi-tech or hi tech.

It is more appropriate to use emerging technology when used in context with Dakota State University.

Academic Honors

Undergraduate full-time students may be designated for the President’s Academic Honors List.

Graduation Honors

Dakota State recognizes graduation honors by an honor’s designation at graduation.

Baccalaureate degrees received the following designations: summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude. These designations are used lowercase. 

Use lowercase.

Use one word as nouns, two words as verbs

• Have you been told your login yet?
• She was told to log on to her computer.
• He logged in to the database program.
• Everyone was logging off the network. 

Verb use is more common. Log in and log on are interchangeable; so are log off and log out. 

When discussing DSU academics in general, use the term “programs of study.”

When speaking about a particular student or alumni, the term “major” is appropriate and should be lowercase. Uppercase can be used for majors when they are languages, such as English major.

• John Doe is a physics major.
• John Doe is an English major.

See AP for reference

Capitalize the names of months in all uses. Abbreviate January (Jan.), February (Feb.), August (Aug.), September (Sept.), October (Oct.) November (Nov.), and December (Dec.) when used with a specific date. Spell out March, April, May, June and July. No abbreviation should be used when a month is used with only a year. In certain marketing materials, such as invitations, the month can be written out.

When using the month, day and year, set off the year with commas. DO NOT use a comma when there is no date, as in March 2024, and do not separate the month with “of,” as in March of 2024.

• Dec. 21, 2024
• December 2024

While both are now accepted by AP, more than is preferred.

Use a person’s full name on first reference. On second reference, use the person’s last name (no title). Should two persons have the same last name within a document, continue using the full name of those individuals.

Spell out numbers under nine. Use numerals for 10 and above. In graphs and charts, numerals may be used. Don’t start a sentence with numerals except for calendar years or numeral and letter combinations.

• Dakota State University nominated six student-athletes for all-conference awards.
• Dakota State University nominated 14 student-athletes for all-conference awards.
• Sixty-five percent of students are South Dakota residents.
  • NOT 65% of students are South Dakota residents. 
• 1992 was a good year.
• 401(k) plans are offered.

Hyphenate and use lowercase.

Use lowercase and do not hyphenate.

Use noon or midnight, not 12 p.m. or 12 a.m.

Hyphenate when used as an adjective, but not when used as an adverb.

• She lives in off-campus housing.
• He lives on campus. 

Use lowercase and do not hyphenate. 

When referring to people, use the word who, not that.

• The students who developed the program have been featured on KELO.
  • NOT The students that developed the program have been featured on KELO. 

The percent symbol (%) is acceptable in charts and graphics and in the text when a number is associated with it. Write out the word percent in text when it stands alone. 

President José-Marie Griffiths (Yoh-say Marie Griffiths). It is important to include the accent in the first name of the President. This can be done on a PC with Insert/Symbol/é or Alt + 0233, or on a Mac with Option/e + e.

Spell out Office of the President on first reference. On second reference, the office or the president's office is acceptable. The Office of the President is in Heston Hall and is the top administrative unit at the university.

Spell out Office of the Provost on first reference. On second reference, the office or the provost’s office is acceptable. The Office of the Provost is in Heston Hall and is the top academic unit at the university.

The titles of specific programs are capitalized. Titles of academic programs are not capitalized but capitalize words that are proper nouns. Avoid abbreviations of programs.

• AI Sweden Program, Student Mentored Research Initiative Program
• computer science program, Biology program, digital content creation program

Punctuation should fall inside quote marks, not outside. Placing periods, etc. outside quotation marks is the British style; in the United States they are placed inside quotes. 

• “Dakota State is a world-class university.”  NOT “Dakota State is a world-class university”.

The preferred term in higher education settings is residence hall and should be used in place of dorm, or dormitory.

The preferred term in higher education settings is residence hall and should be used in place of dorm, or dormitory.

Learning Engagement Center, Room 034

Resume, résumé, or resumé are all grammatically correct, however, resumé is the least common. 

Use the past-tense form of said with quotes and comments. Also, it is recommended to use said most frequently, although stated, shared, or explained, can be used on occasion for a little variety. Avoid other verbs, such as hope, feel, believe, think, claimed, admitted, exclaimed, proclaimed, etc.

Do not capitalize even when citing a specific year or term.

• fall 2012
• spring semester 2009
• fall semester
• next spring

Dakota State University is part of the South Dakota Board of Regents system, which is made up of eight institutions (six public universities, and two special schools serving special K-12 populations, and the deaf and the blind/visually impaired services).

On first reference, spell out in full and capitalize, South Dakota Board of Regents. Thereafter, Board of Regents is acceptable.  SDBOR or BOR is also acceptable after first use of the full name.

It is standard practice to use only one space between sentences.

Spell out state names in the body of a story, whether they appear alone or with a city, town, village, or military base. 

Use abbreviations for state names in datelines, photo captions, lists, tables, editor's notes, and credit lines (zip code abbreviations in parenthesis): Ala. (AL), Ariz. (AZ), Ark. (AR), Calif. (CA), Colo. (CO), Conn. (CT), Del. (DE), Fla. (FL), Ga. (GA), Ill. (IL), Ind. (IN), Kan. (KS), Ky. (KY), La. (LA), Md. (MD), Mass. (MA), Mich. (MI), Minn. (MN), Miss. (MS), Mo. (MO), Mont. (MT), Neb. (NE), Nev. (NV), N.H. (NH), N.J. (NJ), N.M. (NM), N.Y. (NY), N.C. (NC), N.D. (ND), Okla. (OK), Ore. (OR), Pa. (PA), R.I. (RI), S.C. (SC), S.D. (SD), Tenn. (TN), Vt. (VT), Va. (VA), Wash. (WA), W.Va. (WV), Wis. (WI), Wyo. (WY).

The names of eight states are never abbreviated: Alaska (AK), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Iowa (IA), Maine (ME), Ohio (OH), Texas (TX) and Utah (UT). Also: District of Columbia (DC).

No state name is necessary if it is the same as the dateline. This also applies to newspapers cited in a story.

Use New York state when necessary to distinguish the state from New York City. Use state of Washington or Washington state when necessary to distinguish the state from the District of Columbia.

When used in a sentence, student-athlete is hyphenated and lowercase.

Do not capitalize freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate, transfer or first-year student, unless part of a formal title.

Subscript the rd, th, etc. in rankings, placements, such as 3_rd place, 4_th place. These are called ordinals.

Do not sub-, or superscript dates (see dates above), such as October 3^rd or March 4th.

Superscript the service mark (^℠), trademark (^™) and registered trademark (^®) symbols when necessary. The circled R (^®) can only be used once your good or service has been successfully registered, but the SM (^℠) and TM (^™) symbols can be used for common law protection while your application is pending.

One word, no hyphen, similar to citywide, universitywide, and campuswide.

Use dashes, not periods, such as 888-DSU-9988. Parentheses around the area code (first three digits) are not necessary. Also, the “1” as in 1-800-DSU-9988 is not necessary.

Following AP style, use theater unless named.

• DSU Theatre

While Associated Press (AP) style restricts the use of "Dr." to medical doctors, our organization/publication allows the use of "Dr." for individuals with both medical and academic doctoral degrees (such as a Ph.D.), though it is also appropriate to list their doctoral degree and omit Dr. as a precursor.

• Edward Jenner, MD for first reference and Dr. Edward Jenner on second reference.
• Marie Curie, Ph.D. for first reference and Dr. Marie Curie on second reference.

Note: When using "Dr." for someone with an academic doctoral degree, it is helpful to specify their field of study or specialty in the first or second reference.

Uppercase official titles that precede name, e.g., President José-Marie Griffiths or Professor Mark Spanier, but not descriptive titles such as professor of artificial intelligence Mark Spanier. Use lowercase after the name: Yong Wang, associate dean

The T is capitalized.

Use lowercase and periods for a.m., p.m., as they are abbreviations. In Latin, a.m. stands for ante meridiem, or "before noon," and p.m. stands for post meridiem, or "after noon."

Use numerals except for 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. For these use noon and midnight.

Times on the hour do not use zeros, so 7 a.m. and never 7:00 a.m.

Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 2:15 p.m. 

To give ranges of time use a simple dash, or “to.” Office hours are 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3-5 p.m., or 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m. 

Avoid redundancies such as 12 noon or 12 midnight and 8:30 a.m. this morning or 8:30 p.m. Monday night. Instead, use noon, midnight, 8 a.m. today, 8:30 p.m. Monday.

The construction 2 o'clock in the afternoon is acceptable for formal invitations but should not be used in text of other documents.

Trojan Days is the official name for Dakota State University’s homecoming celebration.

Dakota State University’s official athletics nickname is the Trojans, as a collective noun. It is appropriate, in certain circumstances, to use the singular Trojan when describing a sport, such as Trojan Football. In most instances, however, Trojans should be used.

Use university lowercase, although Dakota State University should always be capitalized.

One word, no hyphen, similar to citywide, systemwide, and campuswide.

Voicemail is one word.

Website is one word along with other terms such as webcam, webcast and webmaster.