Rutgers Editorial Style Guide

Commas
Dashes and Hyphens
Hyphenation
Parentheses
Periods and Other Terminal Punctuation
Quotation Marks
Semicolons and Colons

Commas

1. Series or Serial Comma: Use a comma after each element in a series of three or more.

Example: students, faculty, and administration

Exception: No comma before an ampersand (&)

2. Title abbreviations following a person’s name, such as Jr., Sr., Esq., and roman numerals are not set off by commas.

Example: John J. Jones Sr. and John J. Jones III were poor, but John J. Johns Esq. made a lot of money.

3. Use commas to set off a word or phrase in apposition, unless it has an essential identifying function.

Example: My wife, Mary, arrived but my friend John did not.

4. In dates, commas are not used to mark off the month and year. If the day is included, the year is set off by commas before and after.

Examples: The meetings were held in April 1967. The events of April 18, 1775, have been celebrated in song and story.

5. Use commas after both a city and state when both are given.

Example: He lived in Bedford Hills, New York, before moving to Georgia

6. Use a semicolon in lists of names or titles or in other lists that would not be clear if separated by commas only.

Example: Her work combines elements of environmental, civil, and mechanical engineering; human and animal biology; and sociology.

Example: They came from Mendon, Utica, and Point Lookout, New York; Springfield, East Brunswick, and Newark, New Jersey; and Newton, Worcester, and Hull, Massachusetts.

Dashes and Hyphens

There are three common dashes of differing lengths used in typeset copy: em dash (—), en dash (–), and hyphen (-). The em dash is the longest (the width of an uppercase “M” in the typeface and size being used, which is usually also the point size). The en dash is half the length of the em dash. The hyphen is the shortest.

1. Em dash: Use this dash in most print publications and brochures and online where appropriate to denote an abrupt change in thought or to set off an element added for emphasis, explanation, or digression. The em dash should be typeset closed, i.e., with no extra space before or after the dash.

Example: Tens of thousands of previously unknown proteins—revealed to scientists through the mapping of the human genome—may point the way to the discovery of new drugs to treat disease.

2. En dash: The en dash is another option to denote an abrupt change in thought or to set off an element added for emphasis, explanation, or digression. The en dash is more typically used in text prepared for the media and in some online text. The en dash should be typeset open, i.e., with one space before and after the dash.

Example: Tens of thousands of previously unknown proteins – revealed to scientists through the mapping of the human genome – may point the way to the discovery of new drugs to treat disease.

3. An en dash is normally used to separate inclusive dates and numbers. For this use, en dashes should be typeset closed.

Example: May–June, 1964–1970, pages 25–39

In addition, Rutgers uses the en dash in school names and campus names.

Example: Graduate School–Camden, Rutgers–Newark

Hyphenation

1. In general, modern usage tends toward the closing of prefixes and of compound words that used to be hyphenated. First check the style guide you are following. Then check the dictionary. (Also see the Preferred Spellings list.)

2. A hyphen is used after the first of two prefixes or after the first element in a “double” compound adjective.

Example: Macro- and microeconomics, fourth- and fifth-century art (but “established in the fifth century”)

3. Do not hyphenate an adverb ending in “ly” before an adjective.

Example: highly popular musician

4. Compound adjectives where the second adjective ends in “ed” are hyphenated.

Example: good-natured proofreader

5. Other compound adjectives may or may not be hyphenated. Check the dictionary, as many are listed there.

a. Hyphens should definitely be used to avoid ambiguity.

Example: personal-computer program, slow-moving van

b. However, if the meaning of the compound adjective is
a universally understood expression, no hyphen is needed.

Example: the health care system, a high school classroom

c. Other less common expressions are better hyphenated.

Example: joint-degree program, advanced-technology center

6. Use hyphens with nouns that represent different and equally important functions when they form a single expression.

Example: city-state, student-athlete

7. The following prefixes are not hyphenated:

ante
anti
bi
bio
co
counter
extra
infra
inter
intra
macro
meta

micro
mid
mini
multi
neo
non
over
post
pre
pro
proto

pseudo
re
semi
socio
sub
super
supra
trans
ultra
un
under

Exceptions: (a) when the second element is capitalized or is a figure, e.g., mid-July, pre-1960s; (b) when there is a homonym, e.g., recover a lost object, but re-cover a couch; and (c) for clarity, when it creates a strange spelling connection (co-chair, not cochair); when there are repeated vowels, such as anti-intellectual or co-op, although even these frequently are now closed.

8. All “self” compounds are hyphenated except when the addition is a suffix.

Example: self-confident, self-reliant, but selfless and selfish

9. Compounds with “well” are hyphenated before the noun unless the expression carries a modifier. Do not use a hyphen if the compound appears after the verb.

Example: well-intentioned person, but very well known
man. She is well known.

10. Suffixes are rarely hyphenated, unless particularly cumbersome.

Example: statewide, campuswide, universitywide

Parentheses

No punctuation should be used before an opening parenthesis. All punctuation except terminal punctuation should be dropped before a closing parenthesis.

Periods and Other Terminal Punctuation

Between sentences, use only one space after the period, question mark, and exclamation point.

Quotation Marks

1. All punctuation marks except the colon and semicolon are always placed within quotation marks.

2. Use double quotation marks for quoted words, phrases, and sentences that are not set apart in block quotations. Use single quotation marks to enclose quotes within quotes.

Example: “Then, for an encore, he sang ‘Yesterday.’ ”

3. Longer quotations (over three typeset lines) are usually indented and set in smaller type. These block quotations are not enclosed by quotation marks.

Semicolons and Colons

The first word of a sentence following a semicolon or the first word of a sentence or list following a colon within a sentence should be lowercased. Use only one space after a semicolon or colon.