AP Style Cheat Sheet

About the Division of Student Life

AP Style Cheat Sheet for Student Life Communications

91原创 Editorial Style Guide听听91原创 Branding Style Guide (PDF)

Common AP Style Tips:

No serial commas!

EXAMPLE: internships, jobs and volunteer opportunities
NOT: internships, jobs, and volunteer opportunities

Numbers one through nine are written out; 10 and up are digits.

This can be confusing because you can switch between writing out numbers and digits in the same sentence.
- EXAMPLE: There are eight students at the event and 12 employers reviewing resumes.
This applies to precise numbers, which are written as digits. Sentences with figurative numbers are spelled out.
- EXAMPLE: There are thousands of jobs in Handshake
- EXAMPLE: There are currently 39,291 jobs in Handshake
The exception is that when starting a sentence; the number should always be spelled out. To avoid this confusing clause, you can always rewrite the sentence to avoid starting with a number!
- EXAMPLE: Twenty-two employers attended the meetup.

Dates are written numerically and not phonetically.

EXAMPLE: The event is on Thursday, September 14
NOT: September 14th

Times are written as single digits followed by a space and then a.m. or p.m.

EXAMPLE: 5 p.m., 8 a.m., 12 p.m., 11 a.m.
NOT: 5:00p.m., 8AM, 12pm noon, 11:00AM

When writing a range of time, use an en-dash (option+hyphen) and only include the day period on the start time if the event starts in the morning and ends in the afternoon or evening.

EXAMPLE: 5鈥�8 p.m. and 11 a.m.鈥�2 p.m.
NOT: 5 p.m.鈥�8 p.m. or 11鈥�2 p.m.

En-dashes (option+hyphen) are used for ranges of time, dates and academic years.

EXAMPLE: September鈥揘ovember, October 11鈥�12, 2023鈥�2024

Phone numbers are written with dashes in between area code and digits.

EXAMPLE: 302-831-5555
NOT: (302) 831-5555

Em-dashes (option+shift+hyphen) are used for sentence breaks in place of parentheses or colon and semicolon.

EXAMPLE: The students鈥攊ncluding the peer mentors鈥攁re in the lobby.
EXAMPLE: There鈥檚 an event in Perkins鈥攖his is why the parking garage is full.

No double space after sentences. This requires careful review, as Word and Google Docs do not flag this as a typo.

鈥淭oward鈥� is preferred American English spelling vs. 鈥渢owards.鈥�

EXAMPLE: 鈥淭ake a step toward your future self.鈥�
NOT: 鈥淭ake a step towards your future self.鈥�

Websites do not require http, www or the final slash of the website

EXAMPLE: udel.edu/career-center
NOT: /career-center/

Alum is singular for a graduate regardless of gender (and safer for singular use, if you鈥檙e unsure of preferred gender pronouns). Alumni is the plural form for a co-ed group or a group of male graduates.

Alumnus is a singular male graduate.
Alumna is a singular female graduate.
Alumnae is a group of female graduate students.

A list or singular item follows a colon.聽

EXAMPLE: 鈥淭here are two resources available: Canvas and Handshake.

Only a full sentence can follow a semi-colon.鈥�

EXAMPLE: 鈥淓veryone can access the Career Center; students, alumni and employers are all welcome.鈥�
NOT: 鈥淓veryone can access the Career Center; students, alumni and employers.鈥�

Do not capitalize bachelor鈥檚 degree, master鈥檚 degree or doctorate when used in a sentence.

Do not capitalize majors.

Capitalize schools and proper nouns.

鈥淔ollow up鈥� as a verb needs no hyphen.

EXAMPLE: 鈥淓mployers should follow up with students after the fair.鈥�

鈥淔ollow-up鈥� needs a hyphen when used as an adjective

EXAMPLE: 鈥淪end a follow-up email to check in.鈥�

Double quotation marks (鈥渓ike this鈥�) are always used when calling out a word or phrase or quote, and single quotation marks (鈥榣ike this鈥�) are only used when calling out a quotation within a quotation

EXAMPLE: 鈥淲e are bringing the 鈥榟energy鈥� this week to Perkins,鈥� said Heather Tansley.

General Tips:

Include day of the week! Students think in terms of weekday class schedule, so a student may not know if they鈥檙e free on September 14 and forget to check, but they do know that they鈥檙e free on Thursdays after 1 p.m.

Unique 91原创 Style Guide Tips:

91原创 is written out on first reference and referred to as 91原创 on second or the University with a capital U in all other cases. (The University capitalization does not refer to other universities when mentioning other schools.)

Accessibility Tips:

Use left-alignment instead of center-alignment in email copy.

When sharing fliers or images, incorporate alt text to be read by screen readers and repeat any copy written in images or fliers into the body of the email.