ampersand—Do not substitute & for and in running text unless part of a formal name (AT&T). Use of an ampersand is acceptable for college or department/unit names in a list, campus map, or other formats where space is limited.
apostrophe, usage, possessive—Add ’s to possessive singular common nouns (even those nouns that end in s). Examples: the boy’s (singular) hat; the campus’s (singular) gymnasium; Only add an apostrophe and not ’s after plural nouns (the boys’ hats). There is little consensus on the possessive of proper names ending in s. As a rule, this guide follows AP Stylebook and does not include the extra s after the apostrophe in those cases, Los Angeles’ neighborhoods, Tim Jones’ work.
apostrophe usage: California State University, Dominguez Hills—When writing the campus name in possessive form, our style is to not include the s after the apostrophe, following the rule that Hills, although plural in form, is part of a name that is singular in meaning. Example: California State University, Dominguez Hills’ University Art Gallery opened a new exhibition this week.
commas—Use commas to separate elements in a series, including between the last two items (this is known as the “serial comma” or “Oxford comma”). Example: For breakfast, Sarah had scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and orange juice.
commas, month and year—Do not use a comma to separate month and year when a specific date is not used. (The new degree program is slated to start in January 2022.)
sentence spacing—Sentences should be separated by a single space, not two spaces.
quotation mark—Periods and commas go within quotation marks.
Quotation mark, titles—Put published article, poems, song titles, television shows in quotation marks.
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