A-Z Style Guidelines

About the A to Z Style Guidelines

The following style rules have been adapted from the MDC Style Guide and are organized into the following categories:

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bullets

  • Capitalize first word in bullet lists.

common names

  • In general, lowercase common names of species in text. EG: Eastern bluebird.
  • Capitalize proper names: EG: black-eyed Susan.

common usage

In general, follow AP style rules except for the following (check individual entries):

  • chronic wasting disease
  • committee names
  • common names
  • conservation areas
  • Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri
  • didymo
  • director’s name
  • division names
  • Eagle Days
  • English derivatives of scientific names
  • expertise titles
  • formal titles
  • genus, species
  • MDC program and event titles
  • Missouri Department of Conservation
  • Missouri Forestkeepers Network
  • Missouri Master Naturalist
  • Missouri National Archery in the Schools Program (MoNASP)
  • Missouri Stream Team
  • No MOre Trash!
  • online Field Guide
  • Operation Forest Arson
  • Operation Game Thief
  • regions
  • seasons
  • sericea lespedeza
  • Share the Harvest
  • Show-Me State
  • State Champion Tree Program
  • State Record Fish Listing
  • Subheadings
  • Telecheck
  • The James Foundation
  • Wildlife Code of Missouri

titles

  • Capitalize each word, except conjunctions, in page and section titles.
  • Capitalize only the first word in subtitles, and proper names.

committee names

  • Do not capitalize except for Regulations Committee.

common names

  • In general, lowercase common names of species in text. EG: Eastern bluebird.
  • Capitalize proper names: EG: black-eyed Susan.
  • Capitalize first word in bullets.

Missouri Department of Conservation

  • In MDC publications, MDC is an acceptable first reference, and it is the preferred second reference, but either department or Department of Conservation is also acceptable.
  • Choose one style of second reference (MDC, the department, or Department of Conservation), and stick with it.
  • Never use the MDC.
  • Do not use Missouri Dept. of Conservation or Mo. Dpt. Cons.

Share the Harvest

  • Capitalize but don’t italicize or quote this program name.
  • Use program on second reference.
  • EG: Missouri’s Share the Harvest program helps deer hunters donate surplus venison to the needy. This program is administered by the Conservation Federation of Missouri and the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Show-Me State

  • Hyphenate and capitalize “me.”

State Champion Tree Program

  • Don’t hyphenate the program name, but do hyphenate when using as a compound modifier.
  • EG: The landowner discovered he had a state-champion tree on his property.

State Record Fish Listing

  • Don’t hyphenate the program name, but do hyphenate when using as a compound modifier.
  • EG: The angler landed a state-champion gizzard shad.

 

Oxford (or serial) comma

The Oxford comma precedes the conjunction before the final item in a list of three or more items. AP doesn’t allow it, but MDC editors feel that without it sentences like this one can be misleading: We hunted with our parents, Mother Theresa and Winston Churchill. It’s possible to infer that Mother Theresa and Winston Churchill are our parents. With the serial comma, it’s clear that we are talking about hunting with our parents AND Mother Theresa AND Winston Churchill. With the Oxford comma: We hunted with our parents, Mother Theresa, and Winston Churchill.

ampersand (&)

  • Use the ampersand in formal names and composition titles, but never to replace the word “and” in a heading or text.
  • EG: Andy Dalton Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center, not Andy Dalton Shooting Range & Outdoor Education Center.
  • For official conservation area names, check the Atlas Database on the employee intranet.

angler

  • Use angler rather than fisherman unless you’re referencing the Wildlife Code of Missouri.
  • See Chapter 13: Sexism, Racism and Other “isms” in Working With Words.

Bootheel

  • One word, always capitalized.
  • Well-known region.

briar, brier

  • Use brier.
  • Why? Because we style the common names of plants according to Steyermark’s Flora of Missouri, which prefers brier to briar.

specie/species

  • Two different words with completely different meanings.
  • Specie is money in the form of coins rather than paper bills.
  • Like the words “sheep” and “moose,” species is both singular and plural.
  • EG: Cambarus maculatus is one species of crayfish. In Missouri, habitat destruction threatens many species of crayfish.