Talon Stylebook

Talon Writing Style Guide

For all else, check AP Style.

A

adviser not advisor

ACT: ACT in all cases. All caps. No periods. Same for SAT.

B

C

California: State names are always spelled out in the body of an article. Datelines (which we don't use) are different.

Capitalization

• Name of clubs are capitalized if they are specific: Chess Club, marching band, Student Council, Interact Club, choir

• Formal names of committees are capitalized: Campus Improvement Committee

• Internet is always capitalized

• All months and days of the week

• Homecoming if it’s a noun, but not as an adjective: homecoming dance

• JV always – varsity never

• Capitalize names of races and nationalities, but put descriptive adjectives in lower case

• If it’s specific, capitalize all of it: Seven Lakes High School, Columbia Scholastic Press Association 

Class Names: Generally, go with what is published on the course lists. Use Arabic numerals, not Roman numerals.

Eg: English 2, not English II

Class Period: Two words — fourth period, unless class title follows, then hyphenate: fourth-period English

ComedySportz

CIF: Stands for California Interscholastic Federation. Use CIF in all cases. No periods.

D

Dates

• Spell out names of months if they are used alone

• Abbreviate if they are used with a specific date: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.

• Do not abbreviate days of the week

Death

• Follow AP style. Do NOT use euphemisms such as 'passed away'

• Suicide. Use died by suicide NOT committed suicide.

  • In case of suicide, follow editorial policy. We do not report on student suicide per the SPJ code of ethics which states "minimize harm."  This decision is due to possibility of suicidal ideation and copycat suicides which can take place with young people. 

E

Extracurricular (not two words, no hyphen)

Editor-in-Chief (capitalize and hyphenate)

F

Frosh-soph

• Freshman and sophomore combination team. Use hyphen.  The girls’ frosh-soph team . . 

G

GPA: Capitalize, no periods between, don't spell out even in first reference.

Grade level: If using grade number, spell out.  It is best to avoid numbers and use 'freshman,' etc.  When necessary write: Ninth-grade students must take English, math and science. However, it is better to write: Freshman must take English, math and science.

H

half-mast, half-staff:  On ships and at naval stations ashore, flags are flown at half-mast. Elsewhere ashore, flags are flown at half-staff.  

Eg: Dr. Knight asked the flags to be flown half-staff out of respect for the lost officer.

I

J

K

L

M

N

Names 

• All mascots are capitalized

• Capitalize titles: Band President John Smith, Principal

• Do not capitalize grade classifications: freshman Jordan Herrod

• Next mention adults keep their title – students trim to last name

• All women teachers: Use Ms. for title, unless source requests different

• Use the Arabic numeral for grades (with commas) in captions and full spelling in stories: James Moore, grade 9, said. (however, if a caption is all one grade, use the full spelling)

• Club adviser not advisor

Numbers

• Spell out 0-­‐9. Use the digits for 10 or more.

• Use figures for ages, sums of money, time of day, percentages, house numerals, years, days of month, degrees of temperature, proportions, votes, scores, speeds, time of races, dimensions and serial numbers.

• Spell out numbers, no matter how large, when they begin sentences; rephrase the sentence if long numbers are awkward.

  • Exceptions: When starting a sentence with a year, do not write it out. Percents, use numerals.

• Avoid subscripts: 1st, 2nd, 5th   -­‐ spell them out: first, second, fifth

• Hyphenate fractions: one-­fourth

• Avoid unnecessary digits. Use $1, not $1.00; 1 p.m., not 1:00 p.m.

• 9:30 a.m., 10 p.m. midnight (notice the periods with no spaces)

• Grade level: If using grade number, spell out.  It is best to avoid numbers and use 'freshman,' etc.  When necessary write: Ninth-grade students must take English, math and science. However, it is better to write: Freshman must take English, math and science.

O

Oak Park High School 

Full name first time, then Oak Park or OPHS acceptable

Oak Park Unified School District

Full name first time, then 'the district' or OPUSD acceptable

P

Pavilion: Capitalize in all references

Pep Rally: Two words

Percent: 

Class period: Two words — fourth period, unless class title follows, then hyphenate: fourth-period English

Punctuation

• No comma before and in a series: Journalism class is stressful, entertaining and fun.

• Hyphens are used for compound modifiers – two or more words that express a single concept – precedes a noun

• Use a hyphen to link the words unless ending in ly: They are the first-place team. The team is in first place.  

• Em Dash (—) Use to denote an abrupt change in thought in a sentence of an emphatic pause: We will have a party next week – if we finish our deadline.

• Avoid if possible. Only use ellipses to signal that something has been taken from the middle of a quote. Treat as a word. Spaces around, but not in between ( … )

• Use one space after a period

• Never use exclamation points!

• Use the apostrophe after the s in team names: girls’ basketball, boys’ soccer

• If name ends with an s, put apostrophe after, with no additional s. Example: In Schultheis’ class, students work hard.

Q

Quotes

• “This is the first sentence of a quote,” title Firstname Lastname said. “This is the second sentence of the quote.”

• Always use said – ONLY SAID

• Always break a long quote after the first full sentence to include attribution (who said it)

• Name said unless there is a long title: said Katie Moreno, adviser for two years.

R

S

SAT: SAT in all cases. All caps. No periods. Same for ACT.

Student-athlete: hyphenate. AP as well as NCAA use the hyphenated form. So does the Talon.

T

Talon: When using article ‘the,’ use lower-case: the Talon (not The Talon)

Team names: Use apostrophe after team name: boys’ soccer, girls’ basketball, Eagles’ Football, Eagles’ Stadium

Titles

• All mascots are capitalized

• Capitalize titles when before the name: Band President John Smith, Principal

• Do not capitalize grade classifications: freshman Jordan Herrod

• Next mention adults keep their title – students trim to last name

• Club adviser not advisor

U

V

W

Wrote 

• Write “<name> wrote in an email” on first reference, “<name> wrote” on all other references.

• Avoid interviews via text message

X

Y

Z