Comments and suggestions are welcome. Please forward them to Hilary Andrade in the marketing department.
P thru T
P
PM, AM - Always uses caps and no periods. Always include at each instance. Use a space between the time and AM/PM. Not necessary when using the 24-hour clock.
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paper, article -
Use paper when referring to a single proceeding.
Use article when referring to a single piece in a journal.
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part-time, part time - Always hyphenate this descriptor if appears before the object it describes, as in "part-time job." Do not hyphenate if it appears after the object, as in "This job is part time."
percent - Always spell out, even when following a numeral, in web copy. Using the percent symbol [%] is acceptable in social media posts and in data tables. Never use the symbol in titles.
photonics - The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to communications and information processing.
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Do not capitalize this word unless it is at the start of a sentence or part of a proper noun, as in SPIE Photonics West.
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Always include the s when used as a descriptor - "photonics technology"
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plenary - Do not capitalize unless at the beginning of a sentence.
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presenter - Do not capitalize this word unless it is at the start of a sentence or part of a proper noun.
principal, principle -
Principal, as an adjective, means chief, most important, or primary.
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Principal, as a noun, means a person with controlling authority or in a position of leadership, like principal investigator.
Principle, as a noun, means a concept or rule.
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Proceedings of SPIE, proceedings -
Proceedings of SPIE is the proper name and references the book title, and should be capitalized. Otherwise all other uses of 'proceedings' should be lowercase.
Do not capitalize "proceedings" after SPIE when referring to our group of products:
"SPIE proceedings" not "SPIE Proceedings"
"SPIE conference proceedings" not "SPIE Conference Proceedings"
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program committee - Do not capitalize this term unless it is at the start of a sentence (and then only capitalize 'Program') or part of a proper noun.
Q
Q&A - A commonly used acronym with ampersand used to mean question and answer. One of the two use cases where using an ampersand is acceptable.
R
R&D - A commonly used acronym with ampersand used to mean research and development. One of the two use cases where using an ampersand is acceptable.
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radar - All lowercase, unless it is at the beginning of a sentence or part of a title.
real-time, real time - Always hyphenate this descriptor if appears before the object it describes, as in "full-time event." Do not hyphenate if it appears after the object, as in "This event will occur in real time."
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retweet, tweet - Do not capitalize unless at the beginning of a sentence.
S
Senior Member - Always capitalize the term.
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setup, set up -
Setup is the noun or adjective form.
Example: "Contact Customer Service to complete your account setup."
Set up is the verb form.
Example: "Don't forget to set up your SPIE Account."
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smartphone - One word, not hyphenated, and not capitalized unless it is at the start of a sentence.
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SPIE Conferences app -
SPIE Conferences is the proper name of our conferences and exhibitions scheduling app, and should be capitalized. Do not capitalize "app" after the name; all other uses of 'app' should be lowercase unless it is at the start of a sentence.
STEM - An acronym for science, technology, engineering and math, acceptable to use on first reference.
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Student Member, Student Chapter - Always capitalize these terms.
T
technical program - Do not capitalize this term unless it is at the start of a sentence (and then only capitalize 'Technical') or part of a proper noun.
that, which
That is used for essential clauses. Meaning if the clause cannot be omitted, use "that." Do not use a comma before.
Example: The team that won the championship last year is stronger than ever.
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Which is used if the clause in question can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence. "Which" nearly always follows a comma.
Example: The team, which won the championship last year, begins its new season this week.
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the
In running copy, do not capitalize "the" even if it is part of a formal title of a publication, a company, division or university.
Examples:
The quote appeared in the New York Times.
He attended the University of Arizona.
tweet, retweet - Do not capitalize unless at the beginning of a sentence.