Editorial Style Guide

Like our other brand guidelines, our Editorial Style Guide ensures that we as a university speak with one voice.

The goal of any style manual is to foster consistency between and within the institution’s printed and electronic communications, so the institution presents itself more coherently and professionally. We recommend this style guide as a tool to help your office, department, or college achieve the same professional and coherent voice.

On this page:

About the Editorial Style Guide

This style guide was prepared by the editors of the Office of Marketing. It is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to style or grammar; instead, it outlines some general rules and addresses some common grammatical problems to help promote consistency, accuracy, and correctness in university publications and electronic communications. Users of this style guide are strongly encouraged to consult the reference sources listed under “Reference Books.”

Many of the entries and corresponding examples are taken from the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition © 1969, 1982, 1993, 2003 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission of the University of Chicago Press.

Newsroom articles and other materials distributed to the media by the Office of Communications follow AP Style as outlined in The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual ©2014 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission of The Associated Press.

The Office of Marketing largely follows the Chicago Manual of Style, with occasional modifications, some of which are derived from the AP Stylebook.

The goal of any style manual is to foster consistency between and within the institution’s printed and electronic communications, so the institution presents itself more coherently and professionally. We recommend this style guide as a tool to help your office, department, or college achieve the same professional and coherent voice.

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

Generally speaking, abbreviations require periods, while acronyms do not have periods. Abbreviations may be used more freely in tables or charts, advertising, or websites.

Unfamiliar Abbreviations or Acronyms

When unfamiliar abbreviations or acronyms appear in running text (e.g., when referring to an organization with a cumbersome name), first use the full written version, followed by the acronym or abbreviation in parentheses. After that, you may use the acronym or abbreviation.

Example:
Katharyn was elected to be a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) for five years. She is one of three BZA members whose terms expire this year.

Common Acronyms

Wright State University uses many acronyms whose full spelling is not necessary.

• GPA for grade point average
• RSVP for répondez s’il vous plâit
• CPA for Certified Public Accountant

Common Abbreviations

These abbreviations also don’t require a spelled-out explanation.

• U.S. for the United States when used as an adjective (e.g., U.S. trade sanctions).
• U.S.A., U.N., and U.K.

Exception: EU (without periods) for the European Union

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Affirmative Action Statements

Wright State's affirmative action statements are covered under the university's non-discrimination policy.

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Buildings and Facilities

The following are the proper names and abbreviations of campus buildings and facilities. The abbreviations in the left column are designated by the Office of Budget, Planning, and Resource Analysis for its space inventory and utilization system, and used by the registrar for class registration. The codes, reflected on official campus maps, cannot be changed by individual offices or departments.

Dayton Campus

Lake Campus

• AN: Andrews Hall
• DH: Dwyer Hall (includes James F. Dicke Hall, which is an addition to Dwyer Hall)
• TL: Trenary Lab (includes the Learning Center, formerly known as the Lake Campus Library)

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Capitalization

Capitalize sparingly! As a rule, only capitalize proper nouns (formal or official names of things), and don’t capitalize common nouns (generic references to things). When in doubt, do not capitalize.

You Should Capitalize:

• Months and days of the week.
  • Example: This year my birthday, March 3, was on a Thursday.
     
• Semester names (but not the four seasons on their own).
  • Example: Spring Semester 2019 ends, ironically, in early spring.
     
• Titles are capitalized when they precede a person’s name and thus become part of the proper name (but are lowercased alone, or when used generically).
  • Example: City Manager Connie Landeu led the meeting. The mayor did not attend.
     
• Wright State University named or distinguished professorships are always capitalized, whether the title precedes a name or not.
  • Example: Professor Paul Lockhart is Wright State’s Brage Golding Distinguished Professor of Research.
     
• University, college, school, department, campus: capitalize only when part of a formal name; otherwise, lowercase.
  • Example: Wright State University, Raj Soin College of Business, Department of Social Work, Lake Campus instead of the school, the business college, social work department.
     
• The words Army, Navy, and Air Force, when referring to United States armed forces, whether or not preceded by the letters U.S.
   
• Geographical regions of the country, but not points of the compass.
  • Example: Some people consider the South to be anything south of the Ohio River.
     
• Capitalize the name Wright in Wright brothers, but not the word brothers.

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Copyright Notice and Trademarks

• The copyright notice must contain the copyright symbol © or the word copyright, along with the date of the first year of publication and the name of the owner of the copyright.
  
  © 2019 Michelle Street
  All rights reserved
  
  Copyright 2019, Michelle Street
  All rights reserved
   
• The ® or ™ symbols are used in the following ways:
   
  • ® (Registered Trademark) is used only with trademark names that have been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or the trademark offices of other countries.
     
  • ™ (Trademark) is used with trademark names that are claimed by a company but not registered.
     
• For Wright State copy, the ® or ™ symbols only need to be used when the product is being mentioned for profit-making purposes.
   
• Use trademark names as a proper adjective and follow with the type of product it names; don’t treat the product name as a noun itself.
  • Example: Jane Smith buys Kleenex® tissues when they’re on sale.

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Degree Names, Abbreviations, and Informal References

This is a non-exhaustive list of some of Wright State’s most common academic degrees as they should appear spelled out, abbreviated, and in informal references. Some colleges offer other bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Formal Name of Degree	Abbreviation	Informal Reference
Associate of Arts	A.A.	associate degree
Associate of Science	A.S.	associate degree
Associate of Technical Study	A.T.S.	associate degree
Bachelor of Arts	B.A.	bachelor’s degree
Bachelor of Science	B.S.	bachelor’s degree
Bachelor of Fine Arts	B.F.A.	bachelor’s degree
Bachelor of Music	B.M.	bachelor’s degree
Bachelor of Science in Business	B.S.B.	bachelor’s degree
Bachelor of Science in Education	B.S.Ed.	bachelor’s degree
Bachelor of Science in Nursing	B.S.N.	bachelor’s degree
Master of Accountancy	M.Acc.	master’s degree
Master of Arts	M.A.	master’s degree
Master of Science	M.S.	master’s degree
Master of Business Administration	M.B.A.	master’s degree
Master of Education	M.Ed.	master’s degree
Master of Humanities	M.Hum.	master’s degree
Master of Music	M.M.	master’s degree
Master of Public Administration	M.P.A.	master’s degree
Master of Public Health	M.P.H.	master’s degree
Master of Rehabilitation Counseling	M.R.C.	master’s degree
Master of Science in Engineering	M.S.E.	master’s degree
Master of Public Health	M.P.H.	master’s degree
Master of Science in Teaching	M.S.T.	master’s degree
Educational Specialist	Ed.S.	post-master’s degree
Doctor of Education	Ed.D.	doctorate
Doctor of Medicine	M.D.	doctorate
Doctor of Nursing Practice	D.N.P.	doctorate
Doctor of Philosophy	Ph.D.	doctorate
Doctor of Psychology	Psy.D.	doctorate

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Dollar Amounts

• Dollar amounts are written with the dollar sign. If writing an even dollar amount in a normal sentence, it is not necessary to include .00.
  • Example: The three items were $4.99 each plus tax, but they rounded my bill off to just $15 even.
     
• For large sums in the millions or billions, use the dollar sign, but spell out the words million and billion.
  • Example: The corporation earned $17.9 million over the past three years.
     
• In tables or figures columns, it is better to use the same style for all amounts.
  • Example:
    The tickets plus shipping and handling cost:
    $30.00
    S&H: $3.99
    Total $33.99
     
• Amounts that are less than $1 can be written with the word “cents.”
  • Example: I ended up with only 35 cents left in my pocket.

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Inclusive Language

Text representing Wright State University should avoid gendered terms:

Exclusive Terms	Alternative Terms
chairman	chair
freshman	first-year student
layman	average person, layperson, nonspecialist
man/mankind	humanity, human beings, people, humankind
man-hours	worker hours, work hours, labor hours, staff hours, personnel hours
man-made	manufactured, synthetic, artificial
manpower	workforce, human power, labor, staff power
spokesman	spokesperson, official, representative

Text representing Wright State University should also avoid wording that reinforces stereotypes about people with disabilities. A rule of thumb is: See the person, not the disability.

Stereotype Wording	Alternative Terms
suffers, invalid, victim	a person who has…
the deaf	persons who are deaf persons who are hearing impaired
the blind	persons who are blind persons who are visually impaired
in a wheelchair confined to a wheelchair wheelchair-bound	uses a wheelchair, wheelchair user
afflicted, crippled	a person with a disability a person who is physically limited

If you are using the formal title of the act, refer to it as the Workmen’s Compensation Act. If referring to it generically, refer to it as workers’ compensation.

According to the Workmen’s Compensation Act, people who are injured at work can receive some financial compensation while unable to work. (However, note that Ohio has a Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.)

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Internet Terms

The Wright State Web Team uses the spelling and usage of the following:

• email
• homepage—the initial or first page of a website
• HTML—an acronym for hypertext markup language
• HTTP—an acronym for hypertext transport protocol
• HTTPS—an acronym for hypertext transport protocol secure
• internet
• online
• URL—an acronym for Universal Resource Locator, the computer or web address of a World Wide Web page
• web address—If a web address falls at the end of a sentence, rewrite the sentence. “URL” is another name used for “web address.”
• web page—two words
• website—one word, lowercase
• wright.edu—don’t use www or an ending slash (/) for a web address

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Lists—Numbers and Bullets

Consistency is the key to good lists. All items in a list (bulleted or numbered) should have parallel construction (i.e., single words, phrases, or whole sentences), with verbs in the same form in each list (e.g., come, explore, discover; or coming, exploring, discovering), and punctuated consistently. The following are some of the most common situations and how to address them.

Complete sentences: Capitalize and punctuate as a sentence.

Example:
Facts About Wright State

1. Basketball is one of seven sports the university sponsors for men.
2. Most campus buildings are connected by a unique tunnel system.

Finishing a sentence: When the lists complete a sentence started in the introductory sentence, uppercase the first word of each bullet and punctuate the end.

Example:
Once admitted to the university, future students should:

• Check out housing options online.
• Schedule a math placement test.
• Sign up for an orientation session.

Phrases or sentence fragments: Capitalize each listed item and do not punctuate at the end.

Example:
The committee is responsible for the following projects:

1. The orientation of new students
2. The production of a new catalog
3. The implementation of the new departmental requirements

Lists in which all items together form a sentence: Sometimes all items in the list complete a sentence together. In that case, end the items with a semicolon; end the second-to-last item with a semicolon and “and”; and end the last item with a period.

Example:
After careful investigation, the police determined that:

1. Johnson was guilty;
2. Miller was complicit; and
3. the two business partners were guilty of theft.

Lists in advertising: an exception: Advertising sometimes demands more flexibility in aesthetics. Therefore, in print or web advertising, billboards, etc., it is permissible to simplify lists, and use aesthetics that just “look right.”

Example:
Topics Include:

• Maximizing results
• Preventing injuries
• 6 rules for safety

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Mail

The words zip code are usually lowercase.

• United States Postal Service regulations regarding bulk mail and business reply mail are very exacting. Wright Print Center, 066 Student Union, ext. 5784, has current information on U.S. Postal Service regulations for preparing mail for special mailing categories. The Office of Marketing strongly recommends that any office or department on campus using bulk or business reply mail first consult with the Wright Print Center.
   
• Campus addresses and return addresses should not include specific room numbers and campus buildings because the United States Postal Service’s scanning technology can misread room numbers and buildings as part of the street address and send mail to the wrong location. This includes office mail and marketing materials listing contact information (if printed or electronic marketing materials are going to list the campus location, it must be separated from the postal mailing address.) The mail center will ensure that incoming mail is delivered to the right office or department. Therefore, address mail coming to or from Wright State University’s Dayton Campus as follows:
  
  Office/Department/College
  Wright State University
  3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy.
  Dayton, OH 45435

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Musical Terms in Publications

• Use italics for titles of long musical compositions like operas and musicals; use quotes around titles of individual songs or short compositions.
  • Example: “Sunrise, Sunset” is a favorite from A Fiddler on the Roof.
     
• Descriptive titles enclosed in parentheses follow the same italic or quote rule.
  • Example: Symphony no. 41 (Jupiter); the Jupiter symphony
  • Example: Air with Variations (“The Harmonious Blacksmith”) from Handel’s Suite no. 5 in E
     
• In programs, listings of the titles of musical scores, overtures, etc., are typically done in regular type. Larger works may be in italics when a song or short piece is being performed from that larger work.
  • Example: What I Did for Love .................. Marvin Hamlisch from A Chorus Line

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Numbers

• Spell out numbers one through nine; use numerals for numbers 10 and above.
  • Example: He and his friend ordered five cheeseburgers, four sodas, and one milkshake.
  • Example: The football team’s order included 30 plates of spaghetti and 75 breadsticks.
     
• The same rules apply for ordinal numbers (numbers that denote order in a series).
  • Example: Medals were given to runners who came in first, second, and third place.
  • Example: Welcome to the 21st century!
     
• NOTE: in ordinal numbers using numerals, never set “st,” “nd,” “rd,” or “th” in superscript.
  • Example: 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th (not 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th)
     
• Days of the month are not set in ordinal numbers.
  • Example: Let’s see how hot it gets by June 21. (not June 21st)

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Programs, Certificates, Majors, Minors, Fields of Study

Generally, capitalization depends on whether the reference is to a proper name of a program or informal reference to it.

• Programs’ formal names are capitalized, but informal references are lowercased. The exception is if the subject contains a proper name, such as a language name or name of a country, continent, etc.
  • Example: She decided to become a Spanish major, with a minor in international trade.
  • Example: His favorite field is African American studies.
     
• Certificate program names are capitalized, but not the words certificate or program.
  • Example: The African American and Gender Experience in Education certificate program examines the distinctive social, educational, familial, and racial dynamics shaping the worldviews and struggles of African Americans.
     
• Major and minors are lowercased unless the subject is a formal name, like a foreign language.
  • Example: She decided to become a Spanish major, with a minor in international trade.
     
• Fields of study are lowercased unless the subject is a formal name.
  • Example: She chose to major in anthropology with a minor in war and society.

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Punctuation

This section makes no attempt to exhaustively address punctuation rules, but rather addresses some recurring problems commonly encountered by the Office of Marketing’s writers and editors.

Apostrophes

• When abbreviating years of college classes, be sure to use a true apostrophe (which points downward), not an opening single quotation mark (which points upward).
  • Example:
    Wrong: Class of ‘19
    Right: Class of ’19
     
  • Bachelor’s, master’s, and doctor’s degrees should always use an apostrophe-s (never an s-apostrophe).
    Example: The new transfer student has already earned three master’s degrees (not masters’ degrees).
     
• An exception is an associate degree (which has no apostrophe-s).
  • Example: She has two associate degrees, but now is working toward a bachelor’s degree.
     
• When abbreviating years or decades, use an apostrophe to replace the “19-” or “20-”. Do not use an apostrophe before the “s” to form a plural.
  • Example: He was born in the 1980s, but has a fondness for ’60s music.
     
• Do use apostrophes to form the plurals of abbreviations with periods and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
  • Example:
    Ph.D.’s
    p’s and q’s

Commas

• Use a comma before the and or in a series of three or more items, which is often called a serial comma or Oxford comma. (Note that this style is consistent with the Chicago Manual of Style, but varies from Associated Press style.)
  • Example: Students at the event will see student organization tables, a climbing wall, food wagons, and a live band.
     
• Countries or states that follow cities should be followed by a comma unless the word ends a sentence.
  • Example: Dayton, Ohio, is the birthplace of aviation.
  • Example: We went to Paris, France, and London, England.
     
• Commas should precede and follow the year when the month, day, and year are used internally in sentences.
  • Example: The conferences were held on Tuesday, December 13, 2008, and Saturday, January 11, 2009.
     
• Do not place a comma between the month and year when the day is not mentioned.
  • Example: The conferences were held in December 2008 and January 2009.
     
• Commas do not need to precede and follow Jr. and Sr. in proper names unless it is the strong preference of the people named (e.g., in a list of donors’ names). Roman numerals with names are never set off by commas.
  • Example: The John W. Berry Sr. Room is located in the Wright State University Nutter Center.
  • Example: Victor P. Robinson III is now in charge of the company.

Hyphenation

When in doubt, don’t hyphenate.

• Do not hyphenate words beginning with non, except with proper nouns.
   
• Do not hyphenate with the prefixes pre, post, co, semi, anti, sub, etc., and nouns or adjectives, except proper nouns, but avoid duplicated vowels or triple consonants.
  • Example: Predoctoral, postsecondary, cocurricular, nontechnical, nonprofit, substandard
  • Exceptions: co-worker, co-op (but cooperative), Pre-College Program, non-German
     
• Do not hyphenate African American.
  • Example: She found the African and African American Studies program stimulated her interest in history and foreign affairs.
     
• Do not use a hyphen between an adverb ending in -ly and an adjective.
  • Example: fully developed program
     
• Hyphenate part-time and full-time used as adjectives before nouns they modify, but do not hyphenate part time and full time when modifying verbs.
  • Example: She is a full-time student.
  • Example: He works full time at the university.
     
• Do hyphenate first-year students.
   
• Do hyphenate service-learning.

Periods

• Countries such as the U.S.A. and U.K. are abbreviated with periods. However, note that the European Union is generally abbreviated EU, without periods.
• Abbreviations of degrees such as B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. should be capitalized and written with periods and no spaces.

Quotation Marks

• Set periods and commas inside quotations marks; set colons, semicolons, exclamation points, and question marks outside quotation marks unless they are actually part of the quote.
  • Example: She said, “I’ll be right back,” then left to find the manager.
  • Example: They call Judge Winston “the Hangman”; I wouldn’t expect leniency.
  • Example: Have you heard the proverb, “Do not climb the hill until you reach it”?
  • Example: The child exclaimed, “I can’t wait until Christmas!”
     
• Use single quotation marks for quotations printed within other quotations.
  • Example: 
    “Lay on, Macduff,
    And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’”
     
• Use single quotation marks in headlines.
  • Example: President Says ‘Enough Taxes!’

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Room Names and Numbers

Room names and "Room" should be capitalized with the building name preceding. Whether it is accompanied by a building abbreviation and room number is dependent on the audience. Outside audiences may not be familiar with only room names and having a building name and room number would be helpful. When using a room number, use a comma after the room name, a space, and then the number and building abbreviation (with a space in between). 

• Student Union Apollo Room, 160 SU

If there is no room number designation, the room should be written as:

• Student Union Apollo Room

Not all rooms require numbers such as the Student Union Apollo Room, Student Union Atrium, Nutter Center Berry Room, Millett Atrium, Union Market, and Creative Arts Center Galleries.

When not using a common room name, such as an office or meeting space, numbers precede the building name. Do not use the word room with the room number. If there is a letter in the number (common in office suites), the letter follows the number with no space.

• 160 Student Union
• 210A Medical Sciences

Note: East (E) and West (W) no longer need to be used when indicating spaces in the Student Union.

Room names should not be used in campus mailing addresses.

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Spaces

• Use only one space between sentences or after punctuation such as colons and question marks; do not use two spaces.
• Do not add spaces before or after en or em dashes.

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Telephone Numbers

The following formats are accepted by the university:

• 937-775-3232 or 937.775.3232 ext. 3098
• 1-937-775-3232
• FAX 937-775-3235 x3092
• Toll-free 1-800-555-3487

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Time of Day

• Times before midday are designated with a.m. Times after midday are designated p.m. Keep a space between the number and the a.m. or p.m. If the a.m. or p.m. ends the sentence, do not add an extra period at the end. If the time given is on the hour, you may omit the :00.
  • Example: The seminar started at 9 a.m. and ended at 4:30 p.m.
     
• The time 12:00 is neither a.m. nor p.m. Use “noon” and “midnight” instead.
  • Example: The final morning breakout session went from 11 a.m. to noon.

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Titles

Titles of Persons

• In running text, capitalize titles of persons when they immediately precede a name (i.e., used as part of the name). Lowercase titles of persons when they follow a name.
  • Example: The conference will feature President Rowdy Raider as the main speaker.
  • Example: Rowdy Raider, president of Wright State University, is the featured speaker for this year’s conference.
     
• Avoid using long titles before the names of people.
  • Example: John H. Hard, superintendent of public instruction, NOT Superintendent of Public Instruction John H. Hard
     
• However, titles used with other qualifying information (and therefore are not part of a title) are lowercase.
  • Example: Wright State University’s president, Rowdy Raider, is this year’s featured speaker. (The name is used in apposition to the title; i.e., there is only one president of Wright State, so the name is not necessary to understand the meaning of the sentence.)
  • Special note: If you wish to capitalize the title, rewrite the sentence so that the title is a part of the name.
    • Example: President Rowdy Raider, Wright State University, is the featured speaker.
       
• Avoid using courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., and Ms. On citing a person for the first time, cite their academic degree and thereafter refer to them by their last name.
  • Example: Ronald Grant, M.D., is an expert on tropical diseases. Grant’s lecture is free and open to the public.
     
• Use the title Dr. when referring to a doctor of medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine in formal contexts.
   
• Apply the title professor only before the name of a staff member of a professional rank: professor, associate professor, or assistant professor. Do not qualify the title professor with associate or assistant before a person’s name, but do qualify it after the name.
  • Example: Professor Samuel Jones
  • Example: Samuel Jones, associate professor of biology
     
• Capitalize names and main words in distinguished professorships.
  • Example: Cyrus Harding, Frederick A. White Distinguished Professor of Service and professor of environmental geoscience
     
• The title Honorable is spelled out if preceded by the word the. In other instances, the title is abbreviated when used with the full name.
  • Example: Hon. Frank Hawkins

Titles of Works/Headlines

• All words in the titles of books, plays, lectures, musical compositions, etc., except articles, conjunctions, and prepositions. Always capitalize the first word of a title or head, even if it is an article, a conjunction, or a preposition.
  • Example: The Man Who Came to Breakfast
  • Example: On the Response of the Timoshenko Beam to a Gaussian Stochastic Process
     
• Do not change the spelling (including hyphenation) of original titles of works. Capitalization and punctuation may be changed for style purposes.
   
• In headlines, use single quotation marks instead of double quotation marks.
• Titles of the following works are italicized:
  
  books
  plays
  essays
  official titles of class schedules
  journals
  official titles of catalogs
  magazines
  long musical compositions
  movies
  radio programs and series titles
  newspapers
  sculptures
  pamphlets
  television programs and series
  paintings
   
• Titles of these works are set off by quotation marks:
  
  poems
  songs
  short stories
  titles of book series
  chapters in books
  magazine or journal articles
  radio and television series episode titles
  manuscripts in collections
  dissertations and theses
  lectures and papers read at meetings
  parts of volumes (chapters, titles of papers, etc.).
   
• Capitalize the initial letters of the following types of words when used in titles of works:
  
  the first word in the title
  the last word in the title
  nouns
  pronouns
  adjectives
  verbs
  adverbs
  subordinate conjunctions (e.g., as, because, before, if, since, though, when, while)
   
• Lowercase the following types of words, except when they appear as the first or last word or when they follow a colon in the title or a heading.
  
  articles (a, an, the)
  coordinate conjunctions (and, or, for)
  prepositions
  to in infinitives
  Death of a Salesman Debuts
  Traveling Through Time Is Possible Says Researcher
  President to Arrive on Monday
   
• Capitalize the first element of hyphenated compounds. The second element should be capitalized if it is a noun or proper adjective. The second element should not be capitalized if it is a participle that modifies the first element or if both elements together comprise a single word.
  
  Examples:
  Eighteenth-Century Literature
  Self-actualizing Experience
  Re-creating
  Non–French-speaking People
  Middle-sized City
  Twenty-five People

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Wright Brothers

Only capitalize the name Wright in the Wright brothers. Do not capitalize "brothers."

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Wright State University

• Wright State University should be used for the first reference. Wright State may be used thereafter.
   
• Do not refer to Wright State University as WSU
   
• Do not capitalize university when it appears alone.
  • Example: The university will sponsor tomorrow’s event.
     
• Wright State University has two campuses: the Dayton Campus, 8 miles northeast of downtown Dayton, Ohio; and the Wright State University–Lake Campus, Wright State’s branch campus between St. Marys and Celina, Ohio. It can be referred to by the simpler name Lake Campus. Do not refer to the Dayton campus as the main campus. Do not capitalize the word campus when used alone or generically, as in "branch campus" or "the campus."
  • Example: Wright State University’s Dayton Campus is known for its accessibility.
  • Example: The Lake Campus, Wright State’s branch campus, is located next to Grand Lake St. Marys.
• The Lake Campus’s address should appear as follows:
  
  Wright State University–Lake Campus
  7600 Lake Campus Dr.
  Celina, Ohio 45822-2952
   
• When referring to the Wright State University Child Development Center, Wright State University must appear in the title.

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Wright State University General Copy

This copy has been approved and should be used whenever possible in official university publications. If you use the complete version of this copy, you may use or if you need to use only a portion of the copy, use the first paragraph, then choose from the rest of the copy as needed for your intended audience.

About Wright State University

Revised June 2022

Named after Dayton's early aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright, Wright State University continues their tradition of innovation. A rich and dynamic community of nearly 120,000 alumni and more than 10,000 current students on two campuses, Wright State’s mission is to empower all students to excel in their lives and chosen careers through integrated learning, research, innovation, and experience.

Located 8 miles northeast of downtown Dayton, Ohio, and adjacent to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Wright State is an accredited state university with an impressive range of study. The university offers more than 300 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and professional degrees, including a Doctorate of Medicine (M.D.) through the Boonshoft School of Medicine. Most classes are small and taught by fully affiliated faculty members. A Carnegie classified research university, the faculty is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of knowledge, as well as applying it to real problems. Students gain hands-on experience through a variety of community-based programs, cooperative education, internships, service-learning, and research projects.

The university’s state-of-the-art facilities are situated on a beautiful 634-acre wooded setting, and most academic buildings are connected by an internationally acclaimed underground tunnel system.

Wright State is a national leader in serving students with disabilities. The campus is one of the most accessible in the United States and provides accommodations to students with all types of physical, learning, and psychological needs. In addition to the accessible underground tunnel system, the campus features a first-of-its-kind service dog park, a personal assistance program, adapted campus recreation programs, and an adaptive technology center.

Wright State has been designated a top military-friendly school by multiple publications and has been named a Collegiate Purple Star campus. Its Veteran and Military Center delivers high-quality services and helps veterans connect with other students.

The University Libraries—including the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library, the Lake Campus Library and Technology Center, the Student Technology Assistance Center, the Charles and Renate Frydman Educational Resource Center, the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center, and Special Collections and Archives—are electronically linked through the OhioLINK system to holdings of other major academic libraries in Ohio and to a wide range of databases for research. The Dunbar Library is home to one of the world’s most complete collections of the Wright brothers’ papers and memorabilia, and features an ever-growing number of collections that can now be viewed digitally.

More than 160 student clubs and organizations give vibrancy to campus life, enhancing academic, cultural, leadership, service, and social opportunities. Wright State offers 14 NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic programs, and many students participate in intramural sports and sport clubs. The Wright State University Nutter Center, an 11,200-seat entertainment and sports complex, and other recreational facilities are available to students on a daily basis, including fitness centers, outdoor fitness trails, disc golf, and the Rinzler Student Sports Complex.

The 103-acre regional campus, Wright State University–Lake Campus, is located on the shore of Grand Lake St. Marys between Celina and St. Marys, Ohio. The expanding campus serves more than 1,000 students, offering a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, many of which can be completed in their entirety at the Lake Campus. Students can enjoy the convenience and beauty of townhouse-style living on the lake in the spacious campus housing.

Whether preparing students to take their place in our ever-changing world, conducting research that can improve lives, or partnering with local communities and businesses, Wright State University is making an impact and transforming lives, locally and globally.

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References

• For style guidelines, refer to The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, published by the University of Chicago Press. For items not found in The Chicago Manual, use Words into Type, published by Prentice-Hall.
• The dictionary used as the standard is Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, published by G. and C. Merriam.
• Webster’s New World Speller/Divider, in addition to the word division rules from The Chicago Manual of Style, is used as the criterion for word breaks.
• The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, Fowler’s Modern English Usage, published by Oxford University Press, and American Usage and Style, the Consensus, by Roy H. Copperud, published by Van Nostrand Reinhold, are used as references for grammar and style.
• Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary is the standard for medical terms.
• Wright State University Identity Standards Manual, published by the Office of Communications and Marketing, is the standard for the use of Wright State University's official identity marks.
• The Associated Press Stylebook, revised edition, is the standard for sports and journalistic writing.
• For help with trademarks, contact the International Trademark Association, 655 Third Avenue, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10017-5617 USA; (212) 642-1700, www.inta.org

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