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class="wsu-c-article-header" > <h1 class="wsu-c-article-header__title">Punctuation and abbreviations</h1> <div class="wsu-c-article-header__subtitle"> WSU Editorial Style Guide </div> </header> <h2 class="wsu-c-heading" > Serial commas </h2> <p class=""><strong>Use a comma before “and” and “or” in a series.</strong></p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>Entering students will be required to take placement tests in English, mathematics, and a foreign language.</li><li>He prefers to eat bananas, apples, or grapes.</li></ul> <hr class="wsu-c-separator" /> <h2 class="wsu-c-heading" > Commas in names </h2> <p class=""><strong>Do not use a comma before Jr., Sr., II, III, IV, etc. in names.</strong></p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>John H. Jones Jr. presented the guest lecture.</li></ul> <hr class="wsu-c-separator" /> <h2 class="wsu-c-heading" > Commas in dates </h2> <p class=""><strong>Dates are punctuated month, day, year, followed by a comma.</strong></p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>“May 12, 2009, was the date set for commencement.”</li><li>If using only the month and year, there is no comma: “Commencement was held in May 2010.”</li></ul> <hr class="wsu-c-separator" /> <h2 class="wsu-c-heading" > Commas in cities, states, or countries </h2> <p class=""><strong>When referring to a city and state within a sentence, precede and follow the state with commas.</strong></p> <p class=""><strong>The same rule applies for city and country.</strong></p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>The plane landed in Pullman, Washington, this morning.</li><li>The students were studying abroad in London, England, this fall.</li></ul> <hr class="wsu-c-separator" /> <h2 class="wsu-c-heading" > Quotations and punctuation </h2> <p class=""><strong>Quotation marks are placed outside commas and periods and inside semicolons and colons.</strong></p> <p class=""><strong>Question marks and exclamation points are placed inside quotation marks if they are part of the quote and outside if they are not.</strong></p> <p class=""><strong>Items in quotation marks</strong></p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>article titles</li><li>direct quotes</li><li>parts of books</li><li>song titles</li><li>short poems</li><li>television and radio programs</li></ul> <p class=""><strong>Items in italics</strong></p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>book titles</li><li>periodical titles (magazines, etc.)</li><li>newspaper titles</li><li>pamphlets</li><li>proceedings</li><li>movie titles</li><li>works of art</li><li>operas and other long musical compositions</li></ul> <hr class="wsu-c-separator" /> <h2 class="wsu-c-heading" > Acronyms </h2> <p class=""><strong>Acronyms should be all caps, with no periods and no spaces.</strong></p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>GPA</li><li>NASA</li><li>NSF</li><li>ID cards</li></ul> <hr class="wsu-c-separator" /> <h2 class="wsu-c-heading" > Degree and major format </h2> <p class=""><strong>Formatting degrees and majors in text should be: (’year degree major).</strong></p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>“Jane Doe (’05 BA Crim. Jus.) donated to the College of Arts and Sciences.”</li></ul> <p class="">The degree (BA or BS) may be left off in some circumstances, but always list graduate degrees.</p> <p class="">Only list graduation year and degree for WSU alumni.</p> <p class="">The major is capitalized within the parentheses (different from running text).</p> <p class="">Degree is not necessarily always known, so year and major can be left within parentheses.</p> <p class="">If there are multiple degrees, separate with commas.</p> <ul class="wsu-m-list--separated"><li>Jane Doe (’05 BA Crim. 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