Punctuation

In logos and display text giving the names of BU schools, colleges, centers, institutes, programs, and departments, an & symbol replaces “and”:

• Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre
• Center for Global Health & Development
• Department of Earth & Environment
• Amyloid Treatment & Research Program

In editorial writing, do not use an & symbol in faculty titles or in division and department names:

• the Earth and environment department
• a professor of psychological and brain sciences

In marketing writing such as viewbooks and bulletins, to emphasize the identity of the unit, use the branded proper names of departments and programs:

• Department of Mathematics & Statistics
• MFA in Film & Television Studies Program

Use an ampersand in the name of a company or law firm that uses an ampersand or on a formatted piece when you need the space. Most importantly, be consistent within a piece.

For possessives ending in the letter s, add an apostrophe (not ’s).

• Dr. Jones’ report (not Dr. Jones’s report).

Do not use apostrophes in:

• Barristers Hall
• Farmers Market
• Parents Weekend
• Patriots Day
• Presidents Day
• Veterans Day
• World Leaders Forum

Use apostrophes in:

• Father’s Day
• Mother’s Day
• Founders’ Day
• Lincoln’s Birthday
• Valentine’s Day

A hyphen is the shortest dash (used in compound words and compound adjectives).

• work-related injury
• self-reliant
• up-to-date

Sports scores are written with a hyphen.

• The Terriers won 7-6.

Do not hyphenate words beginning with a prefix:

• multicultural
• codirector
• preexisting condition

See the Chicago Manual of Style hyphenation guide.

An en dash is a little longer, indicating a range between numbers, or as a substitute for from–to.

• The 2021–2022 season was their best yet.
• He studied in London 2018–2019.

An en dash is also used instead of a hyphen in a compound adjective if one of the adjectives is an open compound:

• Pulitzer Prize–winning poet
• Post–Civil War

An em dash is the longest dash, and is used to set off parenthetical matter or for emphasis:

• Michelle Obama draws crowds and the media—from the Times to Vogue—like a rock star.
• Close up the space before or after an en dash or em dash.

Use a colon, sparingly, to introduce additional information or to convey the sense of “as follows.”

In text, typically, use lowercase for the first word after a colon, unless it is a proper name.

When a colon introduces two or more sentences, or introduces speech, or introduces a question, the first word following the colon is capitalized.

Use a serial comma in listing a series of items:

• He plans to travel to Italy, Spain, France, and England.
• The flag is red, white, and blue.

Commas are optional but not required around Jr. and Sr. in proper names, and never used with II or III. However, certain names are traditionally written with the comma:

• Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS’55, Hon.’59)

Omit the comma between seasons or months and year:

• The scholars are expected in January 2022.
• The students will graduate in spring 2022.

Use three spaced periods when indicating a suspended thought or omitted content within a sentence; use four periods and a space to indicate words omitted between sentences.

Omit periods in academic degrees in general text:

• MBA, MD, BA

Omit periods in abbreviations such as US, CEO, but retain them in specific titles of books or publications:

• U.S. News & World Report

When space allows, write out United States when used as a noun, and as initials without periods when used as a modifier:

• The United States has 50 states.
• There are 50 US states.

Write BU without periods (not B.U.).

BC, as in “before Christ”—full caps, no periods.

One letter space (not two) should separate sentences after a period or other punctuation.

Use am and pm in general text (without periods, and omit :00)

• 7 am or 5 pm, not 7:00 am or 5:00 pm
• Use noon instead of 12 pm.