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Sandhills

One word, capitalized when describing a region of north central Nebraska. Lowercase when describing sandy hills or sandhill cranes.

say/said

“Said” is preferred over “says” in most news writing.

Schmid Law Library

Full name: Marvin and Virginia Schmid Law Library. Can go by Schmid Law Library on all references. Located in McCollum Hall on East Campus.

Scholarships and Financial Aid, Office of

This is the formal name of this office. Scholarships and Financial Aid is acceptable. It’s often referred to as the financial aid office (note lowercase) on second reference.

Sheldon Museum of Art

In 2008 the Sheldon's name was changed from Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery to Sheldon Museum of Art. The support organization was changed from Nebraska Art Association to Sheldon Art Association. The Sheldon Sculpture Garden provides representation of sculpture from the early 20th century to the present. Originally the garden, dedicated in 1970, occupied 2 1/2 acres adjacent to the art gallery. Since that time sculptures have been installed across the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City and East campuses. It is acceptable on subsequent references to shorten mentions to the Sheldon.

South Central Agricultural Laboratory

A university agricultural research farm located near Clay Center.

state names

See the AP Stylebook for specific rules regarding state names. In general:

State names should be spelled out when used in the body of a story, whether standing alone or in conjunction with a city, town, village or military base. No state nah is necessary if it is the same as the dateline. 

Eight state names are abbreviated in datelines or text: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah.

Follow AP stylebook on rules for abbreviations. 

Use standard postal abbreviations when writing state name as part of a full address.

He used to live in California.

He used to live in Santa Monica, California.

She used to live in Ames, Iowa.

Send your registration to Smith at Box 2222, Ames, IA 52555.

stereotypes

In general, avoid racial and sexual references or mention of physical conditions if they are not relevant to the story.

DISABILITIES: The phrase "people with disabilities" is preferable. Use "disabled" if it’s important to the story; avoid "handicapped." Don’t say "afflicted with" or "is a victim of," say "He has muscular dystrophy." Don’t say "wheelchair-bound" or "confined to a wheelchair." Say: "She uses a wheelchair" or "She walks with crutches."

DISEASES: Don’t use a disease as a descriptive word for an individual. For example, don’t say: "He is a diabetic," but rather, "He has diabetes."

Refer to the university’s nondiscrimination statement.

superscript

It is not necessary to apply superscript to ordinal numbers, as in 11th, (not 11th), especially in addresses. Some word processing programs apply superscript automatically; this should be turned off. The regular, lower type is preferred in ordinal numbers in most uses, particularly news.

surface water

Two words.