Editing Guidelines

Modern Language Association (MLA)

For Purchase

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (9th edition)The MLA Style Sheet

Purchase books through Bookshop.org.

Online Resources

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) MLA Formatting and Style Guide

Writing Guide

These guidelines are designed to help English Honor Societies members prepare copy for English Honor Societies publications (print and digital). They are intended to ensure consistency of style, and are based on the most current Modern Language Association MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers as well as on organizational preference. In any circumstance where this guide does not provide enough information, members should defer to the most recent MLA guidelines. The following quick reference provides preferences and examples for frequently occurring inconsistencies.

Abbreviations

As a general rule, abbreviations made up of lowercase letters should have a period after each letter, without spaces between letters: e.g., i.e. For abbreviations made up of predominately capital letters, use neither periods after letters nor spaces between letters: BC, NJ, US, DVD, PhD.

Degrees

Abbreviate whenever possible: MA, BA, MFA, MBA, PhD.
Capitalize all majors and minors; use lowercase for general reference.

Examples

She has a BA in English with minors in Creative Writing and Secondary Education.
He has an MA in Mass Communication with an emphasis in digital publishing.
The position requires a bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Schools

Spell out the names of colleges and universities.

Example

He is pursuing a BA in English at Tennessee State University.

States

Use the two-letter ZIP Code style to abbreviate states when used with a city or town.
Note: Use two commas to set off the name of a state when it follows the name of a city.

Example

David Rodriguez, a junior at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL, is pursuing a BA in English.

Time

Use a.m. and p.m. (with periods) to designate time.

Example

The program is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Capitalization

Awards

Capitalize the full official name. Do not capitalize award when plural or standing alone.

Examples

They won the Student Leadership Award.
They announced the Student Leadership and Outstanding Advisor awards.
The award recognizes outstanding service at the local level.

Board

Capitalize all references to the ΣΤΔ Board of Directors.

Examples

The management of the Society is vested in the Board of Directors.
A Board meeting is always scheduled immediately preceding or during the annual convention.
All Board members are expected to attend; attendance is optional for non-Board members.

Central Office

Always capitalize Central Office (CO).

Chapter

Capitalize chapter when part of a ΣΤΔ chapter’s name.

Examples

She is a member of the Omega Xi Chapter at Spelman College.
She is a member of the chapter at Spelman College.

Class

Do not capitalize freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, undergraduate, or graduate.

Committees

Capitalize the full official name. Do not capitalize the noun when plural or standing alone.

Examples

The Student Leadership Committee provides the students’ voice within the Society.
He spoke to the Executive and Service committees.
The committee chair will send a meeting notice.

Common Reader

Capitalize all references to a specific common reader once it has been selected.

Examples

Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward, is the Common Reader for 2026.
Next year’s common reader will be announced in the spring.

Constitution

Always capitalize references to the ΣΤΔ Constitution and Bylaws.

Examples

Any member may initiate a proposed amendment or addition to the Constitution.
One of the charges of the Strategic Planning Committee is to recommend constitutional revisions.

Convention

Capitalize when immediately preceded by English Honor Societies, a date, or city.
(Note: Only the international event is referred to as a convention; regional events are referred to as conferences.)

Examples

The theme of the Pittsburgh Convention was One of Ours.
The English Honor Societies 2027 Convention will be held in Milwaukee.
The 2026 Annual Convention will be in New Orleans.
Consider submitting a paper for the convention in New Orleans.
Check the convention website for additional information.
The annual convention is the English Honor Societies’ signature event.

Convention Chair

Capitalize chair when immediately preceded by convention.

Examples

The Convention Chair establishes the theme and selects the keynote speakers.
The chair of the convention establishes the theme and selects the keynote speakers.

Degrees/Programs

Capitalize all degree and program names.

Examples

They are an English Education Major at Minot State University.
They also are pursuing a Minor in Women’s Studies.
He is a student in the Creative Writing program at Chadron State College.

Departments

Capitalize department names.

Examples

The Department of English is located in the Arts & Sciences Building.
Applications are available in the English Department.

Regions

Capitalize region when part of a ΣΤΔ region’s name (i.e., Eastern Region, Far Western Region, High Plains Region, Midwestern Region, Southern Region, and Southwestern Region).

Examples

The Southwestern Region held a conference in October 2021.
Each region is encouraged to hold a conference during the fall session of the academic year. Join the Eastern Region’s Instagram account to stay informed.
Join your region’s Instagram account to stay informed.

Capitalize such words as Midwesterner and Southerner (referring to people in a region). Several famous Southerners were featured in the article.

Examples

Welcome fellow Midwesterners!
Back home in Texas, he was reminded of how good it felt to be a Southwesterner.

Scholarships

Capitalize the full official name. Do not capitalize scholarship when plural or standing alone.

Examples

He won the Study Abroad Scholarship.
They announced the winners of the Junior, Senior, and Graduate scholarships.
Sigma Tau Delta offers a variety of scholarship opportunities.

Seasons

Do not capitalize unless part of a title.

Examples

Elections take place at the annual spring convention.
The fall 2023 Board meeting will be held in Denver.

Society

Capitalize when used in place of English Honor Societies, Sigma Tau Delta, or Sigma Kappa Delta; do not capitalize a general reference that does not replace the title of our organization.

Examples

The official motto of the Society, identified by its initials, is Sincerity, Truth, Design.
The Society strongly encourages local chapters to plan and participate in social service activities. Stay abreast of Society activities by reading Footnotes, our email newsletter.
We have developed into a society that increasingly interacts with the wider academic community.

Titles/general

When titles precede a name, use capitalization.

Example

The discussion will be led by Professor Carl White.

When titles follow a name or stand alone, use lowercase.

Example

Carl White, professor of English history, will lead the discussion.

Titles/ΣΤΔ

Always capitalize ΣΤΔ Board positions: President, Vice President/President-Elect, Immediate Past President, Secretary/Treasurer, Historian, Regent, Student Advisor (SA); and the plurals: Officers, Regents, and Student Advisors.

Always capitalize ΣΤΔ Central Office (CO) positions: Executive Director, Director of National English Honor Society and ELA Honor Society, Director of Society Operations, Director of Marketing and Technology, Director of Technology, Program Coordinator, Event Planner, Membership Specialist, Nonprofit Administrator.

Always capitalize the singular and plural forms of ΣΤΔ student-related positions: Student Representative (SR), Associate Student Representative (ASR), and Alumni Representative (AR).

Always capitalize the singular and plural forms of ΣΤΔ chapter positions: Chapter Advisor (and all variations, e.g., Faculty Advisor, Lead Advisor, Advisor), Chapter Administrator, and chapter officer positions.

Examples

Jean Smith, Chapter Advisor of the Alpha Phi Omega Chapter, was recognized for 15 years of service.
Include a cover letter signed by the Chapter Advisor (or sent from the Advisor’s email address).
She is very involved in Sigma Tau Delta as President of her local Theta Zeta Chapter.

Always capitalize Sponsorship, Student Leaders, and Student Leadership in relation to sponsored events.

Examples

The Student Leadership group sponsors several events at the convention.

The use of “Sigma Tau Deltans” to reference Sigma Tau Delta members is acceptable.

Comma

In a series

MLA style includes the use of the serial/Oxford comma before the conjunction. Use commas to separate words, phrases, and clauses in a series.

Example

The 2026 Convention will feature student papers, workshops, and a number of outstanding guest speakers.

Publications

Use a comma after title, followed by the author.

Example

This year’s Common Reader is Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward.

Computer and Internet Terms

One word: online, email, website, webpage (lowercase)

Dates

Punctuation

Use two commas to set off the year when it follows the month and day.

Example

The meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 5, 2025, has been cancelled.

Do not use a comma between month and year or season and year.

Examples

The January 2021 issue has been archived.
They graduated in spring 2022.

Sequence

Use month-day-year format.

Example

Submissions must be completed by November 11, 2025.

Graphics

ΣΤΔ Identity

Graphic standards, including logo formats and guidelines, are posted on the website. As the need arises to update chapter materials in print and on websites, we ask chapters to adopt and incorporate these graphic elements. Images are available in many formats. Instructions on appropriate typography and colors are also included.

Money

Use of figures

In general, use figures to express amounts of money.

Example

Tickets are $7.50 each.

You may spell out infrequent references to money if the amount can be written in three words or less (e.g., five dollars, ten thousand dollars).

Example

He was down to his last five dollars.

Whole dollars

Do not add a decimal point and zeros for whole dollar amounts, unless listed in a series or if they are in a column format.

Examples

Tickets are $7.50 each or two for $14.
The committee suggested several pricing options: $7.50, $7.75, or $8.00

Under a dollar

For amounts under a dollar, use figures with the word cents.

Example

A small coffee is 99 cents.

Large amounts

Large amounts of money may be expressed in both figures and words.

Example

The original cost of the building was $4.5 million.

Numbers

Figure style

Spell out numbers that can be written in one or two words and represent other numbers by numerals. Always spell out numbers that begin a sentence.

Example

One, thirty-six, one hundred, fifteen hundred, 2 1/2, 101, 137, 1,275.
Twenty-two students were awarded scholarships this year.

For infrequent use of numbers, you may spell out numbers if they can be written in one or two words (ten, ninety-nine, one hundred, six million).

Related numbers

Express in the same style.

Example

He reported that 8 of 12 chapters were represented.

Four-digit

Use a comma ($3,000).

Plurals

Do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of a number (1990s; temperatures in the 90s).

Principles of Inclusive Language

Pronouns

Use singular they to refer to a specific person whose gender is unknown or not relevant to the context.

Always follow the personal pronoun of individuals when an individual’s pronouns are known.

Identity

Make references to identity relevant. Consider whether terms that specify a subject’s ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, or economic or social status are meaningful to the context.

Reword Gender-specific terms for gender neutrality. Avoid using man to mean human beings, humankind, humanity, or people.

Avoid negatively judging other’s experiences. When writing about a person who has a disability or health condition or who has experienced trauma, avoid descriptions like suffers from, afflicted with, prisoner of, or victim of.

LGBTQ+

Sigma Tau Delta uses LGBTQ+ as the standard acronym to indicate gender and sexual identity inclusivity. Our choice of this acronym is consistent with usage by the Trevor Project, the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG, the National Association of LGBTQ+ Bar Associations, and other important organizations. Exceptions to this standard might arise when referring to programs described by our donors or partners.

Publication Titles

Italics

Italicize the names of books, plays, poems published as books, pamphlets, newsletters, and periodicals (newspapers, magazines, and journals).

Quotation marks

Use quotation marks for the titles of articles, essays, stories, and poems published within larger works.

Sentence Spacing

General rule

Use one space after the punctuation at the end of a sentence.

Sigma Tau Delta

General reference

Spell out Sigma Tau Delta; do not use the acronym STD.
The Greek letters (Symbol font) ΣΤΔ or Society may also be used.

International

Since Sigma Tau Delta is an international organization, when referring to events or activities use “Society level” rather than “national level.”

Publications

Footnotes
Sigma Tau Delta Rectangle; after the first reference, Rectangle is acceptable
Sigma Tau Delta Review; after the first reference, Review is acceptable

Word Preferences

Alum

A Gender neutral graduate from a particular school.

Example

Alex Miller is an alum of Florida State University.

Alumna

A female graduate from a particular school.

Example

Jane Smith is an alumna of Florida State University.

Alumni

The plural of alumna/alumnus.

Example

Jane Smith and Bill Jones are alumni of Florida State University.

Alumnus

A male graduate from a particular school.

Example

Bill Jones is an alumnus of Florida State University.

Conference

Regional events are referred to as conferences.

Example

The Southwestern Region held a conference in October 2024.

Convention

The annual Society-wide event is referred to as a convention.

Example

The English Honor Societies 2027 Convention will be held in Milwaukee.

Nonfiction

Always write nonfiction as one word with no hyphen.

Examples

This I Believe is a popular creative nonfiction anthology.

Nonprofit

Always write nonprofit as one word with no hyphen.

Examples

English Honor Societies is a nonprofit organization.

Theatre

Preferred variant of theater when referring to a live production, unless the preferred spelling of a specific venue is theater.

Examples

There was a Broadway production playing at the local theatre.
The Harris Theater for Music and Dance is located at the north end of Millennium Park in downtown Chicago.

T-shirt

Always capitalize the ‘ T ‘.

Example

There are several T-shirts available for purchase at the event.