Welcome to the University Style Guide!

We first published the Editorial Style Guide in March 1996 to provide consistency among members of our own department and among the many offices throughout the University. We also wanted to advise our clients of the rules we would apply when editing copy submitted to this office.

Many guides to writing style are already available, so why couldn’t we simply choose one of those? As with any organization, certain language conventions are specific to the University of South Carolina. A single document that contains these conventions enables every unit of every campus to properly and consistently represent its parent organization—the University of South Carolina.

As we developed the guide, it also became clear that many grammatical issues arise every day and that a quick reference to these would be helpful. It is important to note that we have not made up rules to suit our personal preferences. For print pieces, we rely on the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) and Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. This style guide, aside from those conventions unique to the University (there's one now!), comprises solutions to the most common problems and questions we encounter in our print pieces; almost all rules are drawn directly from CMOS, and spelling issues from Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary.

With our ever-increasing Web presence, we have been presented new challenges in reconciling differing styles. The AP Stylebook and Libel Manual was created with newspapers, periodicals, and the like in mind, and it is this style that the Office of Media Relations and our own periodicals writers use. Their work feeds many of our Web pages, so much Web information will be in AP style.

Of course, matters of style and usage continue to evolve, and as they do we will continue to review and update the guide. We encourage you to become familiar with the Editorial Style Guide and to apply its rules to any text you write on behalf of the University. Please contact us with your comments or any matters you feel should be addressed in future editions. University Publications is located in the War Memorial Building at the corner of Sumter and Pendleton streets; our phone number is 777-8161.

Click here for the Table of Contents, or use the links on the far left.