Comments and suggestions are welcome. Please forward them to Hilary Andrade in the marketing department.
Common Punctuation
Ampersands
DON'T USE THEM! Ever! Unless you are on a social media platform and are restricted by character count.
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If an ampersand appears in a title, change it to 'and'
"Cofounder and CEO" not "Cofounder & CEO"
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Actually, there are two common acronyms that use an ampersand and we do use them in web copy:
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R&D
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Q&A
Colons
Use a colon (rather than an ellipsis, em dash, or comma) to offset a list; provide emphasis; present dialogue; and explain, illustrate, amplify or define a statement in more detail.
The words following a colon should be lowercase, even if in a complete sentence* (*edited 29 June 2022).
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In headlines, however, the first word after a colon is always capitalized.
Commas
When writing a list, use the serial comma also known as the Oxford comma, which you insert after the word preceding the terminal 'and' or 'or.'
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Otherwise, use common sense. If you’re unsure, read the sentence out loud. Where you find yourself taking a breath, use a comma.
Dashes and Hyphens
A dash is used to separate words into statements. There are two common types of dashes: en dash and em dash.
en dash: Twice as long as a hyphen, the en dash is a symbol (–) that is used in writing or printing to indicate a range, connections, or differentiations. En dashes are closed and should not have spaces on either side.
"14–16 April" not "14 – 16 April"
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em dash: Longer than the en dash, the em dash can be used in place of a comma, parenthesis, or colon to enhance readability or emphasize the conclusion of a sentence. For example, She gave him her answer — No!
If you are unable to format an em dash correctly, one can be inserted by pasting it from this document (—) or using the shortcut of holding down Alt and typing 0151.
Em dashes are open and should have a space on either side* (*edited 29 June 2022).
“The event was the highlight of the week — and perhaps even the year — for all attendees.”
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A hyphen is used to join two or more words together into a compound term and is not separated by spaces. For example, part-time, back-to-back, well-known.
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A good rule of thumb is to hyphenate a compound term when it is a descriptor preceding a noun — part-time job — and to leave the term unhyphenated if it does not precede the noun — the job is part time.
Parentheses
The most common use for parentheses on spie.org is to indicate the country where someone is from or where an organization is located. The enclosed country should be spelled out without spaces on either side.
Periods
Periods go inside quotation marks.
They go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.
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Leave a single space between sentences.
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SPIE does not use periods in acronyms or abbreviations. except for the following nine abbreviations:
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Co.
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Corp.
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Ctr.
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Dept.
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Div.
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Inc.
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Lab.
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Ltd.
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Univ.
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Please DO NOT use periods at the end of each or any item of a bulleted list. The exception is when each bulleted item is more than a sentence long.
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Quotations
Use quotes to refer to words and letters and direct quotations.
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Periods and commas go within quotation marks. Question marks within quotes follow logic — if the question mark is part of the quotation, it goes within. If you’re asking a question that ends with a quote, it goes outside the quote.
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Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.