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Online Style Guide

It's All About Consistency
Should I use e-mail or email. Which is correct, Web, WEB, or web? Does it matter if I use a.m. or AM. Is it alumna or alumnus?

If you write for online or print publications, you've likely encountered questions like this. Style guides like this one provide standards to use when you're not sure how a word, abbreviation, or statement should be spelled, capitalized, or punctuated. As our largest and most publicly viewed publication, the Saint Anselm College Web site consists of thousands of individual pages. A style guide provides consistency across our site so Web visitors aren't distracted from our message by variations in style.

Why Use a Style Guide?
A style guide allows multiple content publishers to render their text, images, and colors consistently throughout the Web site in order to minimize distractions to the reader. The two best-known styles for trade publications are Associated Press (AP) and Chicago Manual of Style. Like most institutions, internal preferences lead to a hybrid style that may take from both AP and Chicago. For Web and electronic communication at the college, we largely rely on the Chicago Manual of Style [14th or 15th edition] and Webster's New World College Dictionary. For scholarly research, faculty should use the style guide that is appropriate for their given area of study.

How to Use This Style Guide
This guide is divided into four sections: (1) a general overview of Web style guidelines, (2) writing for the Web, (3) an alphabetical list of style preferences, and (4) style preferences by subject area.

Questions or Comments
Like most style guides, this guide is a work in progress. We continually strive for accuracy and completeness and value feedback or suggestions for additions to this guide. Please contact the Web publishing staff if you think we should add or change something in this guide.

Other Relevant Saint Anselm College Guides and Policies

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Dyan Ciccone, Assistant Director of Web Communications at 656-6184 or dciccone@anselm.edu.

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