Editorial Style Guide

Styleguide Contents

A Note on Diversity

As part of the university’s commitment to represent and respect the influences of its culturally and racially diverse student body and faculty, you should always try to communicate using inclusive, rather than exclusive, language. Your communications should be based on the understanding that all people want to be respected and treated as individuals.

Age

Avoid references that make assumptions about age-related abilities (or disabilities) or that presume all university students are between the ages of 18 and 22.

Disability

A disability is a condition that affects an individual, so use “person first” language when referring to people with disabilities: e.g., a woman who uses a wheelchair, visually impaired students. Do not cap blind, deaf, or any other term relating to people with disabilities.

The university provides special accommodations for students with hearing, vision, learning, or physical disabilities.

Gender

The easiest way to avoid the awkward s/he and his/her is to use plurals. If the singular must be used, use both pronouns joined by a conjunction.

Students who feel uncomfortable walking alone on campus at night should contact the Office of Campus Security to arrange for an escort.
If a student feels uncomfortable walking alone on campus at night, he or she should contact the Office of Campus Security to arrange for an escort.

Another alternative, when appropriate, is the second person:

If you ever feel uncomfortable walking alone on campus at night, contact the Office of Campus Security to arrange for an escort.

Although use of the word their is becoming more established and accepted as both a singular and a plural pronoun, try to rewrite copy to avoid using it as a singular pronoun. See the note under Mistakes and Trouble Spots for more information.

Race and Ethnicity

Style ethnic group names of Americans without hyphens. Some of the most common include:

African American
European American
Hispanic American
Native American

Other terms could include:

American Indian (descendants of the original North, South, and Central Americans)
Caucasian (commonly used to refer to anyone with light skin)
Latino/Latina (people of Latin American descent)
people of color (for any non-European Americans and their descendants)

In informal writing, black and white are sometimes used (both as a noun and an adjective) to refer to people of African American and European American descent. However, the terms are not proper nouns and are usually not capitalized.

For the first time in U.S. history, the black–white dichotomy that historically has defined race and ethnicity is being challenged.
The study showed that the incidence of diabetes was greater among elderly blacks than among whites.

Sexual Orientation

Many individuals with a same-sex orientation prefer lesbian or gay over homosexual. Straight is often used to refer to heterosexuals, especially in relation to the gay community.

The Gay–Straight Alliance (GSA) is a student-run organization at UM-Dearborn.

The abbreviation LGBT refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (NOT “transgendered”). Do not use the terms acknowledged, admitted, or avowed in reference to a person’s sexual orientation. Preferable would be “openly,” as in: Barney Frank is an openly gay member of the U.S. Congress.