Self Study 2008 Style Guide, April 2007 , September 22, 199 p. 1

April 2007

Linfield Accreditation Self-Study:

Style and Format Guide

(For Use with Standard Two)

-Detail Questions: Are we going to refer to DCE as DCE or as ADP…both are used in this document? Clarify distinction.

General References to College

Linfield College:

This reference will be understood to refer to the college in its totality; the combined entities of McMinnville Campus, Portland Campus, and Division of Continuing Education. Do not use this term to refer to the McMinnville Campus or to any segment of the college, but only to the whole institution.

The College:

This is considered an informal reference. Please do not capitalize “the college”. When using this phrase, the accepted meaning entails the entire institution, the combined entities of McMinnville Campus, Portland Campus, and Division of Continuing Education. When referring to something less than the whole of the college, make the most specific description you can make – the McMinnville Campus, the Portland Campus, the Salem location of the Division of Continuing Education. (see below for references to offices, departments, divisions, etc.)

Linfield College – the accepted meaning of this reference will be all of the college, the combined entities of McMinnville Campus, Portland Campus and Division of Continuing Education. Do not use this term to refer to the McMinnville Campus or to any segment of the college less than the whole of Linfield.

The College – this is considered an informal reference. Please do not capitalize – “the college”. When using this term, the accepted meaning of this reference will be all of the college, the combined entities of McMinnville Campus, Portland Campus and Division of Continuing Education.

When referring to something less than the whole of the college, make the most specific description you can make – the McMinnville Campus, the Portland Campus, the Salem location of the Adult Degree Program. (see below for references to offices, departments, divisions, etc.)

Important Definitions

  • Table: a visual display of information, including a data table, chartbar or line graphor graph that is directly relevant to textualnarrative and is inserted into the narrative (narrative (see below for visual display formatting).
  • Attachment: A required table, chart, graph, or policystatement that is, in a general way, relevant to a particular chapter, collected atthe end of a chapter.
  • Appendix: A required table, chart, graph, or policy statement that is relevant to more than one chapterand collected at the back of the self study.
  • Exhibit: A required or suggested report, policy guide,handbook, study, or other document collected in the exhibit room during the site visit.

General GuidelinesFormatting

Use available software templates

Use formatting styles based on template, available in April 2007 from Kay White. If the templates are used, there will be no need to manually apply the formatting requirements noted below.

All text should be in Microsoft Word 2003 or later, with as littleformatting as possible.

  • Margins: All text to be left-justified only. The text will be two column, while some portions of the report will be one column.
  • Font: Times New Roman, 12-point. Italics for book titles; quotation marks(“The Sinking of the Titanic”) for article titles.; A avoid using bold-face and underlining.
  • Text: Text for all sections should begin two spaces down from any heading. All text should be single spaced. Do not indent the beginning of each paragraph. Include a space between each paragraph. Use no footnotes or endnotes; refer to sources, tables, attachments, or appendices within the text by using parenthesesis. Use no footers.
  • Do not include hHeader or fFooter numbering or other identifying page markings. These will need to be put on the document once it is fully compiled into its whole and not before.

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Instructions as to Style

Use formatting styles based on template, available in April 2007. There will be no need to manually apply elements of the formatting requirements. Using the custom formatting styles available in the template will apply the appropriate style.

Headings

In the hierarchy of the document, the following different headings or text styles will apply to each of the nine standards (example follows):

Title of the Standard:

Standard Three – Students

(Times New Roman 22 Bold Centered)

Sub-Titles within Standard:

Standard 3.A – Purpose and Organization (Times New Roman 18 Bold)

Standards and Policies:

3.A.1 – Services consistent with mission(Times New Roman 14 Bold)

Text about the standard:

The organization of the Student Services Division at Linfield (Times New Roman 12)…

Writing More on FormattingConventions

Text: Text for all sections should also begin two spaces down from any heading. Applying the formatting style that will be available will apply a 5-space indent to each paragraph. All text single spaced. Use no footnotes; refer to sources, tables, attachments, or appendices within the text by using parenthesis. Use no footers.

Paginate in a right-justified header, with the word “Standard” followed by the Roman numeral of the standard, followed by a hyphen and an automatic page number (not a “hard” number); e.g.

Standard V-[auto-page #]

  • Acronyms: Do not use internal Linfield acronyms; the accreditors will not be familiar with Linfield-ese. You may consistently use familiar acronyms external to the college (e.g.; SAT) without concern for proper introduction of them. Please avoid all unfamiliar or discipline-specific acronyms in favor of repeatedly spelling out the full name. (E.g.: APA can be either the American Philosophical Association, or the American Psychological Association, so the acronym’s use is inherently confusing).In general, do not use acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols. It is much easier in the final editing to have the whole phrase and then insert a standard abbreviation (a simple find and replace) than to have to guess what an abbreviation or symbol means or to reconcile a wide variety of abbreviations. Internal Linfield acronyms should also generally be avoided since the accreditors will not be familiar with Linfield jargon. In addition, please avoid discipline specific acronyms (for example, APA can be either the American Psychological Association or the American Philosophical Association). Some acceptable acronyms include widely recognized abbreviations external to the college (for example, SAT, TOEFL).
  • Standardized department titles: Use “Department of Political Science” rather than “Political Science Department” and “Office of Financial Aid” rather than “Financial Aid Office.”
  • Degrees: please use only and consistently these abbreviations: B.A., B.S., M.Ed., M.S., M.F.A., B.S.N., M.S.N., Ph.D., D. Phil., J.D., Ed.D or D.Ed.
  • Capitalize:
  • Formal full names (e.g., Economics and Business DepartmentDepartment of Economics; Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing; LinfieldCollege; The Trustees of Linfield College, etc.);
  • building names(e.g., Walker Hall; Northup Nicholson Library);
  • professional titles only whenwith a proper name (e.g., President Thomas L. Hellie);
  • degree names(e.g., Bachelor of Arts);
  • division names (e.g., Science Division);
  • standing administrative or faculty committees (e.g., Faculty Executive Committee);
  • formal scholarships and awards (e.g., PetersonScholarship, Housley Award);
  • formal titles of documents or publications (e.g., Bylaws of Linfield College; Linfield CollegeBulletin)
  • Do not capitalize:
  • informal references to disciplines (e.g., mathematics,sociology);
  • informal references to buildings or places (e.g., the library, the residence halls, the college, the department);
  • informal references to persons or groups (e.g., the president, the nursing faculty, the department,the trustees);
  • informal references to documents or publications (e.g., the college bylaws, the catalog, the student newspaper)

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  • Dates:
  • Consistently spell out months in full (e.g.; “January 2007 to February 2008”). Refer to academic years as “the 2006-07 academic year” (abbreviate as AY ’06-07);.
  • Refer to fiscal years as “the 2007-08 fiscal year” (abbreviate as FY ’07-08);.
  • Write out full dates as follows: “January 13, 2007”;
  • when full date is included in a sentence, separate the year by commas(e.g.; “Passing the Faculty Assembly on April 16, 2007, the revisions to the Linfield Curriculum are now in place.”);
  • When only the month and year is used, donot separate with a comma (e.g., “Passing the Faculty Assembly in April 2007, the Linfield Curriculum revisions are now in place.”)
  • Spell out the word “percent” in text; use the symbol (“%”) only in tablesand columns (e.g., “For first-year students entering in 2005, the retentionrate into the sophomore year was 85 percent.”); in a table comparing the rate from one year to the next, the 2005 entering class would be listed at “85%”)
  • Numbers: Spell out numbers, “one” through “ten.” Use Arabic numeralsfor others: 11 through 1,341…

Commas in series: Please use a comma before the “and” or “or” in a series of three or more elements (e.g., “Five departments make up theScience Division: biology, chemistry, computing science, mathematics,and physics.”

If in doubt about whether to use an acronym, abbreviation, or symbol, don’t. Instead, fully spell out the word or phrase. It is much easier in the final editing to have the whole word or phrase, and then insert a standardized abbreviation than to have to guess at what an abbreviation means or to reconcile an assortment of different abbreviations or acronyms.

Table and Charts

The accreditors are expecting an evidence-rich, analytical study with good data to support Linfield’s assertions that standards are met. Straightforward tables, charts, and graphs will support the analysis. Keep all visual presentations simple, clear, and focused on answering the question or illuminating the point in the narrative. Unnecessary or overly complicated visuals will distract from the message.

Please supply an electronic original copy of all tables, charts, and graphs in Excel 2003 or later. Where it is helpful to construct the narrative, go ahead and place the table, chart, or graph in the text, but please provide a separate file as well (named according to the standard and element where the charts are used (for example: 3.A).

The following formats and conventions will help produce a visually consistent and clear final document.

Standard Two Style and Format Guide.doc;11/4/2018Change to Header Practice, Third Version, April 2007 , September 22, 199 p. 1

Table and Chart Formatting

  • Name tables “standard-element-‘Table’-number” (for example: 2.B Table 1)
  • Name charts and graphs “standard-element-‘Figure’-number” (for example: 3.D Figure 2).
  • Align the title of the table or chart at the center. Bold the title.
  • The title of the table or figure must briefly and accurately describe the information presented and begin with the name (for example: 2.C Table 1 Number of degrees granted by program for the last 3 years).
  • If there is a specific data source or explanatory notes about the data, list the source at the bottom of the table or chart, left-justified (“Source:”).
  • Use a white background and no outer border .
  • If a key is needed, place it in the upper right of the chart or graph. Do not put a border around the key.

Table and Chart Conventions

  • Have an organizing principle to arrange the information (time, size, date…).
  • Place the table or chart after the narrative that refers to it.
  • Be consistent in the wording used in the narrative and in the table, chart, or graph.
  • Avoid the use of 3-D charts unless the third dimension actually means something.
  • Except where decimals indicate meaningful differences, use round numbers.
  • Arrange time from oldest (past/present) on the left to newest (present/future) on the right.
  • Use patterns and shades that are clearly distinct when copied. The self-study will be a black and white printed document, though it will likely also be adapted to other media (CD, web, etc.).
  • If charts are presented side by side for comparison purposes (pie charts, for example), maintain similar conventions in each chart.
  • Minimize clutter. Use only necessary elements.

Conventions adapted from Bers, T.H., & Seybert, J. (1999). Effective Reporting. Tallahassee, FL: The Association for Institutional Research.

Sample table:

4.A Table 1 Faculty by Gender and Rank, Fall 2006
Men / Women / All
Number / Percent / Number / Percent / Number / Percent
Professor / 34 / 49% / 21 / 29% / 55 / 39%
Associate / 17 / 24% / 26 / 36% / 43 / 30%
Assistant / 16 / 23% / 20 / 28% / 36 / 25%
Instructor / 0 / 0% / 0 / 0% / 0 / 0%
Visiting Associate / 0 / 0% / 0 / 0% / 0 / 0%
Visiting Assistant / 3 / 4% / 3 / 4% / 6 / 4%
Visiting Instructor / 0 / 0% / 2 / 3% / 2 / 1%
70 / 100% / 72 / 100% / 142 / 100%
Source: Institutional Data, 2006

Sample figure:

A penultimate note: If in doubt about whether to use an acronym, abbreviation, or symbol, don’t. Instead, fully spell out the word or phrase. It is much easier in the final editing to have the whole word or phrase, and then insert a standardized abbreviation than to have to guess at what an abbreviation means or to reconcile an assortment of different abbreviations or acronyms.