Wording Associated with the Criteria

ABET

Computing Accreditation Commission

Wording associated with the Criteria

The word Criteria is italicized when it refers to a published document, that is, the CAC/ABET “Criteria for Accrediting Computing Programs”. In general, nothing else is italicized, including “criteria” when it refers to the contents of the Criteria. For example, we could refer to the findings from an application of the Criteria (or even of the criteria in the Criteria), but for a particular observation there are applicable criteria.

Referencing the visit

Although the official name is CAC Evaluation Visit, in giving many references to this, simply use “the visit.”
Although the official name is CAC Evaluation Team, in giving many references to this group, simply use “the team” or “the visiting team.”

Draft Statement reminders

Do not use personal names of individuals.
Use “semester hours” or “quarter hours” instead of “credit hours.”
Avoid the use of the word “accreditability”. Instead use such phrases as: “…may affect the stability, overall quality, or future accreditation of the program.”
Use the phrase “weakness with respect to the Students Criterion.”
Use the phrase “released time,” not “release time.”
You do not need to use capitals when referring to the computer science program, or “…the program”, or the information systems program. Capitalize when referring to the formal name of the BS degree in computer science or BS degree in information systems. For example, say “The BS Degree in Computer Information Systems is offered by the Department of Computer Science.”
Words that imply a deficiency or weakness or concern:

Deficiency / Weakness / Concern

Singular/Plural – use of faculty and data

The use of the word faculty is often confusing. “Faculty” is either a singular noun or an adjective. Here are some examples of proper usage:
The faculty teaches most of the courses.
Nineteen faculty members are tenured.
The faculty is actively involved in the delivery of the program.
New faculty members have teaching loads of six hours per semester.
Each faculty member advises approximately 50 undergraduates.
Data is a plural noun. Thus “Data are routinely collected to measure progress on these program educational objectives.”

Capitalization

Do not capitalize when referring to:
courses in computer science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, such as statistics, but do capitalize a specific course name, such as Mathematical Statistics.
The institution has a good library. The Library has six full-time librarians.
Capitalize the following:
Java, C, C++, UNIX (or Unix)
Criterion (with a number or name of a criterion)
the Fall Semester of 2002 (but the fall of 2002)
the Internet
Capitalize when referring to an institution-specific office, location, or title. Do not capitalize a generically used office, title, or location. Examples of this are shown below:

the Career Services Office
the Office of the Dean
the BS Degree in Computer Science
nine faculty members have Master’s Degrees in Computer Science, and some faculty have a level of competence that would normally be obtained through graduate work in computer science.
course work required for the master’s
there is an associate chair and a graduate coordinator

Other general style guidelines

Consistently omit periods from all acronyms, such as:
ABET/CAC/BS/MS/PhD/ACM/IEEE
However say U.C.L.A./L.S.U.
Use numerals when greater than or equal to 10 (except at the beginning of a sentence).
For numbers less than ten, use the numeral, e.g. 6, (except at the beginning of a sentence) if the number is not a quantity; otherwise, use “six”.
Hyphenation examples:

CAC Style Guide 02/23/2013