Editing Guidelines for Convention Proposals

In the interest of consistency and standardization of all convention proposals, please follow the editing guidelines below. CoTESOL reserves the right to make editing changes in the convention abstracts as submitted.

1. Assume not all readers have an insider’s knowledge of the profession or the state. Write out abbreviations, acronyms,

and other mysterious things. Examples:

• UCD = University of Colorado Denver
• IEP = Intensive English Program
• Jeffco = Jefferson County

2. Do not use any titles such as Dr., Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc.

3. Use a comma after the second item in a series: 1, 2, and 3.

4. Minimize the use of capitals, especially in names of positions: She is director of the center. He is editor of the

magazine.

5. Use italics, not underlining, for names of books.

6. Use third person for the brief biographical sketches: He received a PhD, not I received.

7. No periods in academic degrees: BA, MA, PhD, MD, etc.

8. Write out numbers less than 10 used in sentences: five not 5.

9. Avoid informal vocabulary: receive NOT got, many NOT a lot of, etc.

10. Use lower case for majors: She received her MA in education.

11. Use hyphens in the following types of expressions: full-time instructor, ready-to-go materials, 24-year career.