Subject Index - Geography

• addresses
• geographic regions
• phone numbers
• states and countries

addresses

Use U.S. Postal Service abbreviations (such as CO for Colorado and DC for District of Columbia) for states in bibliographies, references, and full addresses (those that include streets or post office boxes).

geographic regions

Don't capitalize words that describe general areas of the country or areas of a state.

Capitalize directional words when they designate specific or widely known regions; if in doubt, use lowercase.

phone numbers

Do not use parentheses around area codes in phone numbers. Parentheses previously were used to set off the three-digit code in a phone number because it wasn't always necessary when dialing the number. However, they are required in most instances now.

Use hyphens to separate the digits in phone numbers.

states and countries

1. States

In text, consistently spell out states' names rather than using U.S. Postal Service abbreviations.

You may use D.C. for the District of Columbia in text, in both formal and informal publications. When you include addresses or state names in full addresses (containing streets and cities), contact lists, reference lists, and bibliographies, however, you may use the following abbreviations:

2. Countries

Do not abbreviate the names of countries (including the United States) when they are used as nouns. Use "U.S." as the adjective form.