Helpful guidelines for writing

Helpful guidelines for writing
SJR State uses AP Style guidelines to provide a foundation for creating messaging that reflects the College identity. Below are some helpful tips to consider when writing content to promote the SJR State brand. Some exceptions may apply for news, marketing and website content.

College name
St. Johns River State College should be used on first reference. SJR State is acceptable on the second reference. SJRSC is not an acceptable reference for the College. When referring to our college as “the College,” “College” should be capitalized.

District Board of Trustees
St. Johns River State College District Board of Trustees should be used on first reference. The “Board of Trustees” or “the Board” are considered acceptable second references.

Board titles
Use "chair" instead of chairman or chairwoman.

Locations
Do not use PAC, OPC, SAC and WTC for campus locations. Acceptable names of campus locations include:
Palatka Campus
Orange Park Campus
St. Augustine Campus
Workforce Training Center
Florida School of the Arts
Thrasher-Horne Center

People
Always use a person’s full name, first and last, on first reference. Last name only is an acceptable second reference.

Do not precede a name with a courtesy title (like “Dr.”) and then follow it with the abbreviation in the same reference.
Ex: Dr. John Doe or John Doe, Ph.D.

Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. Suffixes like junior are abbreviated and placed after a person’s name with no comma. Ex: John Doe Jr.

Capitalize and spell out formal academic titles only when they proceed a person’s name.
Ex: President Joe H. Pickens, J.D.
Joe H. Pickens, J.D. is the president of St. Johns River State College.

Special terms
Terms: use lowercase for all seasons. Ex: fall 2025

Academic degrees:
Use periods with degrees with two letters; some degrees with three or more letters will not require periods. Some exceptions apply.

Common abbreviations of degrees:
• A.A. (Associate in Arts)
• A.S. (Associate in Science)
• B.A. (Bachelor of Arts)
• B.S. (Bachelor of Science)
• M.A. (Master of Arts)
• M.S. (Master of Science)
• Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
• Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
• J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence)

Degree abbreviations with no periods include BAS, BSN, BFA, MSN or DNP.

Certificate abbreviations should use periods.
Ex: C.C. (Career Certificate) and C.C.C. (College Credit Certificate)

The term “degree” should not be capitalized after the official name.
Ex: He has an A.S. degree.

When referring to degrees in general, the following references should be spelled out and not capitalized.
Ex: associate degree, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree

Other words and acronyms with no periods include:
Ex: GPA, GED, EPI and GI Bill®

Common misspelled words:
• catalog not catalogue
• theater not theatre
• website not web site
• webpage not web page
• email not e-mail
• internet not Internet
• online not Online or on-line
• IT not I.T.
• ID not I.D.
• collegewide not college-wide

Web URLs and email
For SJR State web URLs in written communication, uppercase “SJR” and do not include “www” or “https://.” For email addresses in written communication, uppercase the first letter of the first and last name, and also uppercase “SJR.” For department emails, uppercase each word in the department name.

Website: SJRstate.edu; SJRvikings.com
Email: FirstLast@SJRstate.edu

Telephone numbers
Telephone numbers should be written in the following format with parenthesis.
Ex: (000) 000-0000

Editorial writing standards
Text styles: keep boldface type to a minimum; use bulleted lists to emphasize points; do not use italics; only links should be underlined.

Capitalization:
Headlines should be written in sentence format, and only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalized. Articles (a, an, the) should not be capitalized unless they are part of a proper noun. Conjunctions and prepositions that are fewer than four letters should also not be capitalized.

Punctuation:
Do not double space between two sentences. Use a single space after a period. No spaces are required between the two words and the forward slash.

Limit your use of the ampersand (&) in place of “and” in marketing content.

Do not use commas before a conjunction in a simple series; however, a comma can be used before the terminal conjunction in a complex series, if part of that series also contains a conjunction.

Ex: simple series
Community and Corporate Education at SJR State offers a variety of courses, certifications and programs.

Ex: complex series
SJR State offers a variety of business programs including Accounting, Business Administration, and Risk Management and Insurance.

Numbers:
Spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. For ordinal numbers, spell out first through ninth and use figures for 10 and above when describing order in time or location. Credit hours is an exception and should only use figures.

Ex: The man has five children and 11 grandchildren.
Second base, 10th in a row
The course is 3 credit hours.

When referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion, etc.

Ex: 6 cents, $26.52, $100,200, $8 million

For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range.

Ex: A 20-year-old student; The student is 20 years old; The girl, 10, has a brother, 12; The contest is for 18-year-olds; He is in his 20s.

For numbered addresses, use figures. Abbreviate Avenue (Ave.), Boulevard (Blvd.), and Street (St.), and directional cues when used with a numbered address. Always spell out other words such as alley, drive and road. If the street name or directional cue is used without a numbered address, it should be capitalized and spelled out. If a street name is a number, spell out First through Ninth and use figures for 10th and higher. For the College address, always try to spell out the full address, if space allows.

College Addresses:
Palatka Campus
St. Johns River State College
5001 St. Johns Avenue
Palatka, FL 32177

Orange Park Campus
St. Johns River State College
283 College Drive
Orange Park, FL 32065

St. Augustine Campus
St. Johns River State College
2990 College Drive
St. Augustine, FL 32084

Workforce Training Center
St. Johns River State College
1001 Husson Avenue
Palatka, FL 32177

Florida School of the Arts
Florida School of the Arts
5001 St. Johns Avenue
Palatka, FL 32177

In addresses, follow the AP style abbreviations. Florida is abbreviated as “FL” and the following states are never abbreviated: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. Cities require a comma and state after them.
Ex: Palatka, FL; Orange Park, FL; St. Augustine, FL

Date and times
For dates and years, use figures. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates and use Arabic numerals. Always capitalize months and spell them out. Commas are not necessary if only a month and a year are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the day of the week spelled out in front of the date followed by a comma whenever possible. Use the letter “s” but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing a decade if numerals are left out.

Ex: Classes begin Monday, August 25, 2025; The semester begins in January; The 1800s; the ‘90s

For times, use the exact time in hour and minute format. Do no capitalize p.m. or a.m. and use periods. Spell out noon and midnight. When referencing multiple hours, use a dash in between the hours. If both hours are in the morning or afternoon, only one reference to a.m. or p.m. should be placed at the end of the time.

Ex: 1:00 p.m.; 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.; The event starts at noon.

For questions regarding these guidelines, contact Strategic Communications (ext. 4084).