IU Editorial Style Guide, Letter T
telephone numbers
See phone numbers.
Use the -re spelling of theatre. This is an exception to the preference in Webster’s.
University Theatre, Department of Theatre and Drama, an evening of theatre
Two exceptions are the IU Ballet Theater and the IU Opera Theater, which use the -er ending in their names.
Use numerals in all cases. We usually omit the colon and zeros for on-the-hour times. Use periods for a.m. and p.m. and lowercase rather than small capitals. Exceptions may be made in more decorative layouts.
9 a.m., 11:15 p.m., 12 noon (or noon), 12 midnight (or midnight), 3–4:30 p.m. or 3 to 4:30 p.m., 9 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
Note that from is used only with to in time expressions.
from 9 a.m. to 12 noon
not: from 9 a.m.–12 noon
Use of o’clock is generally discouraged, but if used, it must be for on-the-hour times only.
4 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the afternoon
(never 4 o’clock p.m.)
As a general rule, personal titles immediately preceding a name are capitalized; those following a name or set off by commas are not. This can vary at the writer’s discretion based on context (such as display type versus running copy).
The latest discovery by Professor John Q. Doe . . .
John Q. Doe, associate professor of geography, has discovered . . .
A professor of geography at IU since 2015, Doe studies . . .
This rule applies not only to academic titles, but also to administrative titles.
Chancellor Terry L. Allison, the chancellor
Allison, who has been chancellor of Indiana University South Bend since 2013, . . .
An exception to this rule is a “named” title.
Ramesh Venkataraman is the Lawrence D. Glaubinger Professor of Business Administration at IU Bloomington.
Do not capitalize a qualifying word that precedes a capitalized title.
Today, staff members honored former Dean of the Faculties Anya Peterson Royce.
Treat references to the Trustees of Indiana University in the same way as other personal titles discussed above.
Our office recently received a visit from Trustee Randall L. Tobias.
Richard Stoner was previously a trustee of the university.
Titles of works always retain the spelling of the original title. Sometimes it is necessary to alter the punctuation of titles for the sake of clarity. For example, a colon may be added between a title and a subtitle.
Herman B Wells’s Being Lucky: Reminiscences and Reflections
Titles and subtitles of published books, pamphlets, proceedings and collections, periodicals, newspapers, and sections of newspapers published separately are set in italics.
Look for the Oxford English Dictionary definition.
An article about her appears in the New York Times Book Review.
Titles of articles and features in periodicals and newspapers, chapter titles, and titles of short stories and essays are set in regular type and enclosed in quotation marks.
I occasionally look at “Elementary Rules of Usage” in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.
Titles of paintings are italicized.
She stared for hours at Picasso’s Guernica.
Titles of long poems that have been published separately and titles of poetry collections are italicized. Titles of short poems are set in regular type and enclosed in quotation marks.
Her favorite T. S. Eliot poems were The Waste Land and “The Journey of the Magi.”
Titles of plays are always italicized. Parts of plays are usually lowercased and set in regular type.
King Lear, act 2
Titles of dissertations and theses, manuscripts in collections, and lectures and papers read at meetings are set in regular type and enclosed in quotation marks. Titles of book-length manuscripts that are under contract to be published may be italicized, but the fact that they are forthcoming should be noted.
Friday’s lecture: “Toward the Remodeling of Ethnomusicology”
Gubar, Susan. Rooms of Our Own (forthcoming).
Titles of movies are italicized. Titles of individual television and radio programs are set in regular type and enclosed in quotation marks, but series titles are italicized.
the movie In & Out
Star Trek’s “The Trouble with Tribbles”
Titles of operas, oratorios, motets, and other long musical compositions are italicized. Titles of songs and other short compositions are set in regular type and enclosed in quotation marks. Longer works with generic titles are set in regular type, but are not enclosed in quotation marks.
Don Giovanni, “Star Dust,” Symphony in C Major, Bach’s B Minor Mass
Do not underline titles of works in printed or electronic publications.
See also quotation marks.
Trustees of Indiana University
When using the article the before the official name in running text, don’t uppercase the t in the. Lowercase the word trustees if used on its own.
The November meeting of the Trustees of Indiana University will be held in Gary.
Three high-profile projects are up for consideration by the trustees.
Board of Trustees is an alternate official name.