SAMAS
State Automated Management Accounting System
List of Terms: S-Z
Santa Fe College
SFC or the college on second reference.
school
Capitalize when part of a proper name: Public School 3, Madison Elementary School, Doherty Junior High School, Crocker High School, the School of Building Construction.
seasons
Lowercase for fall, winter, spring and summer and all derived words such as springtime. Capitalize only when part of a formal name: Winter Olympics.
semester
Lowercase when not followed by a specific year. Preferred usage for semester is term.
senior
series comma
Do NOT use comma before “and” or “or” in lists of three or more items unless ambiguity would result.
Sexual Assault Recovery Service
SARS on second reference for internal publications.
Shands at UF
Spell out Shands at the University of Florida on first reference, but Shands at UF is acceptable on subsequent references. For new releases distributed outside our primary market area, Shands at UF medical center is acceptable (medical center, teaching and hospital are words that are not part of the formal name). Shands Healthcare is to be used on first reference for the entire Shands system, after which Shands is acceptable on second reference. Shands Healthcare is a private, not-for-profit and affiliated with the University of Florida. Shands Healthcare is the state’s primary system for healthcare referrals; Shands at UF and Shands Jacksonville are the organization’s two academic medical centers. Shands has 13,000 employees; 3,000 volunteers; and a medical staff of 1,500 UF and community physicians.
slander
See libel.
sophomore
Sorority Row
Capitalize
South
As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, the 16-state region is broken into three divisions. The four East South Central states are Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. The eight South Atlantic states are Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. The four West South Central states are Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. There is no official U.S. Census Bureau definition of Southeast.
Southeastern Conference
SEC on second reference.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
SACS or the association on second reference for internal publications. The association on second reference for news releases.
spelling
If the dictionary gives two spellings of a word, use the more preferred or the first example given.
spokesman, spokeswoman
Never spokesperson unless it’s the position related to the Collider Detector at Fermilab.
State University System
SUS on second reference. The 11 universities included in the State University System are:
- Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University in Tallahassee (FAMU)
- Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton (FAU)
- Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers (FGCU)
- Florida International University in Miami (FIU)
- Florida State University in Tallahassee (FSU)
- University of Central Florida in Orlando (UCF)
- University of Florida in Gainesville (UF)
- University of North Florida in Jacksonville (UNF)
- University of South Florida in Tampa (USF)
- University of West Florida in Pensacola (UWF)
- New College of Florida
state, federal
Lowercase state in all references. Capitalize federal as part of corporate or governmental bodies that use the word as part of formal name, lowercase when used as adjective to distinguish from state, county, city, town or private entities: our state universities, federal loans, the state of Florida, state grants, Federal Communications Commission.
states
Spell out when they stand alone. Unless addressing an envelope, abbreviate according to AP Stylebook, NOT postal rules, when listed with a city: Gainesville, Fla., unless giving a full mailing address within a news release: Applications may be mailed to P.O. Box 113075, Gainesville, FL 32611.
student classifications
Do NOT capitalize freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. Do capitalize a class designation: He is a senior communications major. The Senior Class sponsored the lecture. Plural of freshman is freshmen.
Student Government
SG on second reference for internal publications.
Student Health Care Center
SHCC or the infirmary on second reference.
Student Honor Court
SG body that adjudicates cases involving academic honesty codes. Use the court on second reference.
Student Nighttime Auxiliary Patrol
SNAP or the patrol on second reference.
Student Recreation and Fitness Center
SRFC or the center on second reference. The $3.6 million center opened in September 1991.
Student Service Center
Never the HUB.
TeleGator
Precursor to ISIS; telephone registration and information system.
telephone numbers
If a publication is strictly for on-campus use, omit area code: 392-0186; if publication may or will be sent off campus, include area code in parentheses with a space between parenthesis and number: 352-392-0186; if including more than one extension, use a solidus (/) between the numbers: 352-392-0186/0188. When listing an extension within an office, write the number followed by a comma, a space, “ext.” and the number: 352-392-0186, ext. 132.
that
(conjunction) Use the conjunction that to introduce a dependent clause if the sentence sounds or looks awkward without it. See the AP Stylebook for examples.
theatre, theater
Constans Theatre, Department of Theatre, theater major.
though
See although.
time-date-place sequence
For consistency, when giving time, date and location of an event, list as follows: The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. Thursday in Room 212. Note order: time, date, location.
times
Use figures except for noon and midnight: 4 p.m. or 10 a.m. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11 a.m., 3:30 p.m. The word “o’clock” is cumbersome: NOT 4:00 o’clock, which would be redundant; the colon and numbers are short for o’clock. Also avoid redundancies such as 10 a.m. this morning. Time listings with a.m. or p.m. are preferred, except in formal invitations and announcements. The construction 4 o’clock is acceptable, but time listings with a.m. or p.m. are preferred.
titled
See entitled.
titles
See academic titles.
tomorrow
Use only in direct quotations and in phrases that do not refer to a specific day: The world of tomorrow will need additional energy resources. Use the day of the week in other cases.
total, totaled, totaling
The phrase “a total of” often is redundant. It may be used, however, to avoid a figure at the start of a sentence: A total of 650 people were killed in holiday traffic accidents.
toward
Not towards.
trademark
A trademark is a brand, symbol, word, etc., used by a manufacturer or dealer and protected by law to prevent a competitor from using it: AstroTurf, for a type of artificial grass. In general, use a generic equivalent unless the trademark name is essential to the news release. When a trademark is used, capitalize it. The International Trademark Association, located in New York, is a helpful source of information about trademarks.
Training, Research & Education for Environmental Occupations Center
TREEO or the center on second reference.
transfer
Lowercase to categorize students.
trustee
A person to whom another’s property or management of another’s property is entrusted. Do NOT capitalize if used before a name.
trusty
A prison or jail inmate given special, usually outdoor, privileges because he or she can be trusted.
UF Bank
System for appropriating funds to colleges and departments
under way
Two words when describing something in progress; one word when used as adjective: the underway flotilla.
undergraduate
Lowercase to classify students.
United Faculty of Florida
Higher education union. UFF on second reference.
Universal Tracking
System designed to keep undergraduate students on target toward earning their degrees.
university
Lowercase unless in specific title.
University Athletic Association
UAA or the association on second reference.
University of Florida
UF or, as preferred for official correspondence, the university (lowercase) on second reference. Not the UF.
University of Florida Health Science Center
University Police Department
UPD or police department on second reference.
University Press of Florida
Centralized publisher for the 11 state universities.
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Preferred: Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Note: No second ‘l’ in Malcom.)
videocassette, videotape
Note one-word constructions.
Warrington (IV) College of Business, (Alfred C.)
Formerly College of Business Administration. Business college on second reference.
Web site
Two words (an exception to Webster’s New World college Dictionary first listing), and Web page. But webcam, webcast, webmaster.
Web site addresses
In most cases, http:// maybe omitted: www.ufl.edu.
well
See good.
which
Which is the only acceptable pronoun to introduce a non-essential clause that refers to an inanimate object or an animal without a name. The pronoun “which” occasionally may be substituted for “that” in the introduction of an essential clause that refers to an inanimate object or an animal without a name. In general, this use of “which” should appear only when “that” is used as a conjunction to introduce another clause in the same sentence: He said Monday that the part of the army which suffered severe casualties needs reinforcement. See that. Also, use who and whom when referring to people or animals with a name.
Whitney Laboratory for Experimental Marine Biology, (Cornelius Vanderbilt)
Whitney Laboratory acceptable on first reference. UF institute for marine biomedical research and biotechnology, located on the Atlantic coast in the town of Marineland.
World Wide Web
Part of the Internet; Web on second reference.
years
Use figures, without commas: 1986. Use an ’s’ without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries: the 1890s, the 1900s. Years are the lone exception to the general rule in numerals that a figure is not used to start a sentence: 1976 was a very good year.
yesterday
Use only in direct quotations and in phrases that do not refer to a specific day: Yesterday we were young. Use the day of the week in other cases.