UUA.org "House" Styles
Unitarian Universalist Association. On first use, spell out the complete three-word name. On second and additional uses, refer to UUA.UUA.org. Always refer to the UUA website as UUA.org, not http://www.uua.org or www.uua.org.
UUA Committees, Congregations, Departments, Programs
On first reference,
use the full name
with the shorthand reference in parentheses, as in: "Lifespan Faith Development
(LFD)." With the exception of "religious education" you may use the acronym on second use. Capitalize staff groups, districts, committees, and program names only when
used in full: "Thomas Jefferson District" or "Tapestry of Faith." Congregation names with Unitarian Universalist in the title should be
abbreviated to UU when space is an issue (for example "First Unitarian
Universalist Church" would be "First UU Church").
Abbreviations. Use abbreviations with care. Use only widely recognized and understood abbreviations, such as: U.S., Ph.D., M.S., NASA. Omit spaces and periods between letters when possible. Don't use apostrophes for plural abbreviations: "Only Ph.D.s are invited to the gathering." With the exception of degrees, do not use abbreviations in headings.
Addresses. Abbreviate the words street, avenue, boulevard if they appear after a numbered address: "50 S. Court St." or "South Court Street."
Acronyms. Spell out an acronym the first time you use it in the body of your page text, and follow it with the acronym in parenthesis, as in: "the Office of International Studies (OIS)." Remember that even internal publications may be read by external audiences. The same acronym in a different context or readership can mean very different things. Don't leave any potential reader in the dark about what you mean. Don't use acronyms in headings. Don't use punctuation in acronyms. Page titles can include acronyms.
a.m. and p.m. Always lower case and include punctuation.
beloved community. Use quotes around this term for first use.
Bible. Capitalize this word when you mean the book used by clergy; use lower case if referring to a favorite source: "Elements of Style is my bible."
Capitalization.
- Capitalize Principles, Purposes, and Sources when referring to specific Unitarian Universalist formulations.
- If you make reference to the Unitarian Universalist Association by referring to "the Association," capitalize it. Use lower case to make generic references to boards, committees, etc.
- Do not capitalize job titles unless they are followed by the person's name.
- Do not capitalize abstractions such as earth, salvation, etc.
Comma.
- Use the serial comma: "apples, oranges, and bananas" rather than "apples, oranges and bananas."
- Place a comma before and after the following, when they appear in the middle of a sentence:
- a year, if it follows a month and a date. Example: I was born on November 9, 1951, in New Haven, Connecticut.
- a state, if it follows a city of county name. Example: I was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on November 9, 1951.
Dashes. Use the en-dash (–) between values; the minus sign (-) as a hyphen to connect words; and the em-dash (—)—with no spaces—inside of text.
Editor in Chief. Refer to this individual as "editor."
First Parish. A parish is another name for a church. Proper use would be "First Parish in Bedford" not "First Parish Church in Bedford."
Gender-Neutral Language. Language can be a major barrier to inclusion and can contribute to unconscious heterosexism. Use of inclusive language is always preferred, where the writer takes care to include examples and activities that include references to the lives of people of all sexual orientations, races, genders, etc. Our Welcoming Congregation handbooks suggest using s/he instead of he/she.
Lay Leader. Not layleader.
Meadville Lombard Theological School. No hyphen or virgule is used in this name.
Months. Don’t abbreviate months when they do not immediately precede a date. Example: "The UUA's annual growth conference occurs in February." If using a date: "The UUA’s annual growth conference begins Feb. 5 and concludes Feb. 9."
Numbers.
- Spell out numbers from one to one hundred and multiples of one hundred. All others should be numerals (units of measure (4 inches), time (3:00 p.m.), page numbers (page 5), percentages (7 percent), money ($63 million), and proportions (3 to 1 odds). If you are referring to military regiments, using numerals and endings including “nd” or “th” is always correct. (Example: "44th Light Cavalry, U.S. Army").
- Spell out a number at the beginning of a sentence and when using approximations: " Eleven people registered for the event."
- Use hyphens (en-dash or minus key) to connect words ending in y to other words, as in: "twenty-five candles."
- Always write years using numbers: "2005 was a very good year."
- Millions, billions: Avoid writing out long numbers (7,000,000,000) and instead use the form "7 million."
- To indicate a decade use an 's': 1960s, 1970s. If you abbreviate the decade, use an apostrophe: 50's, 60's.
Page Titles and Headers. Page titles should be capitalized like book titles.
Spellings.
- email not e-mail
- nonprofit not non-profit
- online not on-line
- Qur'an not Koran.
- website not web site
Starr King School for the Ministry. This theological school does not take the article "the."
State Names. State names are spelled out when they stand alone in text except for D.C. (District of Columbia): "The visitors are from California." When a state name precedes a postal code or follows the name of a city, town, village, or military base within its borders, the state name is abbreviated (use postal abbreviation with no punctuation): Atlanta, GA.
Telephone Numbers. When providing telephone numbers, follow this example: (123) 456-7890.
Titles. Capitalize formal titles immediately before a name: Pope John II, President Clinton, Reverend Sinkford. Titles appearing after a name are almost never capitalized: "William Sinkford is president of the Unitarian Universalist Association."
Use "Rev." instead of "the Rev." When you use the full title, however, it is preceded by "the": "The Reverend William G. Sinkford."
United States. When speaking about the United States, abbreviate as U.S., not US.
UUWorld. There is no article in this periodical title.
UUWorld.org is the proper way to identify the online magazine of the UUA.
Last updated on Monday, November 19, 2007.
