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Mechanics

Although italics are generally preferred, you may use underlining in place of italics. Whichever method you choose, be consistent throughout your document. Italics (or underlining) are used in the following instances:

1. Use italics for words used as words.

In this report, the word operator will refer to any individual who is in charge of the equipment, regardless of that individual’s certification.

2. Use italics to indicate titles of long works (books, manuals, and so on), periodicals and newspapers, long films, long plays, and long musical works.

See Houghton’s Civil Engineering Today.

We subscribe to the Wall Street Journal.

Note that the is not italicized or capitalized when the title is used in a sentence.

NOTE: The MLA style guide recommends that the names of websites be italicized.

The Library of Congress maintains Thomas, an excellent site for legislative information.

3. Use italics to indicate the names of ships, trains, and airplanes.

The shipment is expected to arrive next week on the Penguin.

4. Use italics to set off foreign expressions that have not become fully assimilated into English.

Grace’s joie de vivre makes her an engaging presenter.

Check a dictionary to determine whether a foreign expression has become assimilated.

5. Use italics to emphasize words or phrases.

Do not press the red button.

Some style guides advocate using angle brackets around URLs in print documents to set them off from the text.

Our survey included a close look at three online news sites: the New York Times <www.nytimes.com>, the Washington Post <www.washingtonpost.com>, and CNN <www.cnn.com>.

You may want to check with your instructor or organization before following this recommendation.

Hyphens are used in the following instances:

1. Use hyphens to form compound adjectives that precede nouns.

general-purpose register

meat-eating dinosaur

chain-driven saw

NOTE: Hyphens are not used after adverbs that end in -ly.

newly acquired terminal

Also note that hyphens are not used when the compound adjective follows the noun:

The Woodchuck saw is chain driven.

Many organizations have their own policy about hyphenating compound adjectives. Check to see if your organization has a policy.

2. Use hyphens to form some compound nouns.

once-over

go-between

NOTE: There is a trend away from hyphenating compound nouns (vice president, photomicroscope, drawbridge); check your dictionary for proper spelling.

3. Use hyphens to form fractions and compound numbers.

one-half

fifty-six

4. Use hyphens to attach some prefixes and suffixes.

post-1945

president-elect

5. Use hyphens to divide a word at the end of a line.

We will meet in the pavil-

ion in one hour.

Whenever possible, however, avoid such line breaks; they slow the reader down. Even when your word processor is determining the line breaks, you may have to check the dictionary occasionally to make sure a word has been divided between syllables. If you need to break a URL at the end of a line, do not add a hyphen. Instead, break the URL before a single slash or before a period:

<http://www.stc.org/

ethical.asp>

Ways of handling numbers vary considerably. Therefore, in choosing between words and numerals, consult your organization’s style guide. Many organizations observe the following guidelines:

1. Technical quantities of any size are expressed in numerals, especially if a unit of measurement is included.

3 feet  43,219 square miles

12 grams  36 hectares

2. Nontechnical quantities of fewer than 10 are expressed in words.

three persons

six whales

3. Nontechnical quantities of 10 or more are expressed in numerals.

300 persons

12 whales

4. Approximations are written out.

approximately ten thousand people

about two million trees

5. Round numbers over nine million are expressed in a combination of words and numerals.

14 million light-years

$64 billion

6. Decimals are expressed in numerals.

3.14

1,013.065

Decimals of less than one should be preceded by a zero:

0.146

0.006

7. Fractions are written out, unless they are linked to units of measurement.

two-thirds of the members

3½ hp

8. Time of day is expressed in numerals if A.M. or P.M. is used; otherwise, it is written out.

6:10 A.M.

six o’clock

the nine-thirty train

9. Page numbers and figure and table numbers are expressed in numerals.

Figure 1

Table 13

page 261

10. Back-to-back numbers are written using a combination of words and numerals.

six 3-inch screws

fourteen 12-foot ladders

3,012 five-piece starter units

In general, the quantity linked to a unit of measurement should be expressed with the numeral. If the nontechnical quantity would be cumbersome in words, however, use the numeral for it instead.

11. Numbers in legal contracts or in documents intended for international readers should be represented in both words and numerals.

thirty-seven thousand dollars ($37,000)

five (5) relays

12. Street addresses may require both words and numerals.

3801 Fifteenth Street

Special Cases

• A number at the beginning of a sentence should be spelled out:

Thirty-seven acres was the size of the lot.

Many writers would revise the sentence to avoid spelling out the number:

The lot was 37 acres.

• Within a sentence, numbers with the same unit of measurement should be expressed consistently in either numerals or words:

• In general, months should not be expressed as numbers. In the United States, 3/7/15 means March 7, 2015; in many other countries, it means July 3, 2015. The following forms, in which the months are written out, are preferable:

March 7, 2015

7 March 2015

Abbreviations save time and space, but you should use them carefully because your readers may not understand them. Many companies and professional organizations provide lists of approved abbreviations.

Analyze your audience to determine whether and how to abbreviate. If your readers include a general audience unfamiliar with your field, either write out the technical terms or attach a list of abbreviations. If you are new to an organization or are publishing in a field for the first time, find out which abbreviations are commonly used. If for any reason you are unsure about a term, write it out.

The following are general guidelines about abbreviations:

1. When an unfamiliar abbreviation is introduced for the first time, the full term should be given, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. In subsequent references, the abbreviation may be used alone. For long works, the full term and its abbreviation may be written out at the start of major units, such as chapters.

The heart of the new system is the self-loading cartridge (SLC).

The liquid crystal display (LCD) is your control center.

2. To form the plural of an abbreviation, an s is added, either with or without an apostrophe, depending on the style used by your organization.

GNP’s or GNPs

PhD’s or PhDs

Abbreviations for most units of measurement do not take plurals:

10 in.

3 qt

3. Most abbreviations in scientific writing are not followed by periods.

lb

cos

dc

If an abbreviation can be confused with another word, however, a period should be used:

in.

Fig.

4. If no number is used with a unit of measurement, an abbreviation should not be used.

For the most part, the conventions of capitalization in general writing apply in technical communication:

1. Proper nouns, titles, trade names, places, languages, religions, and organizations should be capitalized.

William Rusham

Director of Personnel

Quick-Fix Erasers

Bethesda, Maryland

Italian

Methodism

Society for Technical Communication

In some organizations, job titles are not capitalized unless they refer to specific people.

Alfred Loggins, Director of Personnel, is interested in being considered for vice president of marketing.

2. Headings and labels should be capitalized.

A Proposal To Implement the Wilkins Conversion System

Mitosis

Table 3

Section One

The Problem

Rate of Inflation, 2002–2012

Figure 6