Writing National Constitution Amendments

The National Constitution, as a document, employs specific style conventions to promote clarity and cohesiveness. In authoring proposed amendments to the National Constitution, it is helpful to be aware of these style conventions, so that the language in the amendment proposals matches the language prevalent throughout the Constitution.

Textual Conventions

Because particular terms may have different (albeit related) meanings, Phi Sigma Pi has adopted several textual conventions in our governing documents intended to clarify which specific meaning of the term is being expressed.

Capitalization

The term “Member” (note the capital letter ‘M’ at the beginning of the term) is used throughout the National Constitution to denote membership in Phi Sigma Pi. Occasionally, the term “member” (without the capital beginning) appears in the document, in cases where it does not refer to membership in Phi Sigma Pi.

It is important to differentiate “Membership” in Phi Sigma Pi from “membership” in other senses to avoid confusion. Other terms that follow this convention which have been used erroneously include: “Active” vs. “active” (also “Inactive” vs. “inactive”) and derivations thereof; “Alumni” vs. “alumni,” “Chapter” vs. “chapter,” and “Collegiate” vs. “collegiate.”

More to come

• Using Parallel Structure
• Ordering Lists of Items

Formatting

• coming soon!

Completeness

• coming soon!