Large and complex organisations such as the University of East Anglia (UEA) face significant challenges in communicating in a coherent and recognisable style. This is due to the multiplicity of points from which material is developed and published. This document provides a guide to issues of language, style and spelling which will help to ensure greater consistency in our approach to these issues. It is unlikely to be comprehensive or to cover all possible issues and colleagues are invited to suggest other areas or circumstances in which guidance would be helpful.
Writing style guide
Abbreviations
• It is not necessary to use full stops in or after abbreviations where there is no likelihood of confusion: GCSE, BSc, BA, MA, PhD.
• When they appear in text, &, %, ie and eg should be spelt out in full as ‘and’, ‘per cent’, ‘that is to say’ and ‘for example’. In tables, headings, or when you need to save space, the abbreviations may be used but not with full stops.
• The first time that an abbreviation is used, it should be written out in full and followed by the abbreviation. This applies to the name of the University as well as to operational units within it. For example: This course is taught by staff in the Climatic Research Unit (CRU). CRU is world-renowned.
Advice/Advise
• Advice (noun)
• To advise (verb)
Affect/effect
• The film really affected me
• What is the effect on his health?
A levels
• A levels not A-levels or ‘A’ levels
Alumni
• Alumnus (male), alumna (female)
• Alumni/ae (plural)
Ampersands
• Do not use as an abbreviation for and unless they are part of an existing title, for example, Marks & Spencer.
Apostrophes
• Use apostrophes to show possession (the student’s notes, the University’s history)
• Add only an apostrophe if the things or people possessing already end in ‘s’ (Students’ Union, lecturers’ offices)
• Do not use apostrophes for plurals unless it is to denote possession (in the 1960s, MAs, PhDs)
• Use an apostrophe to show that a letter is missing (isn’t, can’t, it’s)
• Pronouns like his, hers, ours, yours, theirs and its don’t need apostrophes
Biannual/biennial
• Biannual - twice a year
• Biennial - every two years
Capital letters
Don’t use capitals:
• Avoid unnecessary capitals in all headings and text.
• In headings the first word should be capitalised with remaining words capitalised only if a proper noun, name or if a specific title or position is involved.
• internet not Internet
• web not Web
• Use lower case for seasons and semesters. For example: The prospectus will be updated in spring 2013.
• Use lower case for points of the compass: east, west, north, south. For example: Schools in the north east, the south of Scotland, southern Europe.
Do use capitals:
• Capitalise the names of books, films and other major works in the usual way.
• Capitalise first words and all words apart from prepositions and conjunctions of fewer than five letters.
• The Government takes a capital letter if it refers to the present British Government; but a previous government takes a lower case initial. If used adjectivally, government takes a lower case.
• Use upper case for definite geographical places, regions, areas and countries: South-East Asia, The Hague, the Midlands, the Middle East.
• University (meaning the University of East Anglia). • Lower case should be used when referring to universities generally.
• Vice-Chancellor (referring to our Vice-Chancellor),all others are vice-chancellors.
• Pro-Vice-Chancellor.
• Faculties (Faculty of Science), Schools (Environmental Sciences), course titles (MA Theatre and Development) and module titles (Medicine and Gender), but not when referring generally to the study subject (for example: a good background in mathematics is essential).
Century
• 21st century, 20th century (noun); 21st-century (adjective), eg in the 21st century (noun); but a 21st-century dilemma (adjective)
Circa
• Abbreviate simply as c (roman) followed by a space, eg c 1342
Compare to/with
• Compare to - liken to
• Compare with - make a comparison
Complement/Compliment
• Complement - that which completes something
• Compliment - expression of admiration
Dashes
• Use short dashes (ens) when there are no spaces between words, ie 2000-2005, 5,000-word dissertation, and long dashes (ems) when there are spaces between words, ie first-year module – British Cinema.
Dates
• Friday 10 August 2007 not 10th August 2007 or August 10 2007
• 2007-08 not 2007-2008 or 2007/08 • Decades should be expressed as 1960s (not 1960’s or ’60s) • 20th century (noun); 21st-century (adjective)
• AD goes before the date (AD 64), BC goes after (300 BC)
Degree
• Capitalise the full degree title and module titles but use lower case when referring to subject areas. For example: The School of Biological Sciences offers courses in ecology, biology and conservation.To study for the Master of Mathematics programme, you should have studied mathematics to at least A level.
• First, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd. Never use 1st. Use a capital when referring to a First, but lower case initial for first-class degree. He was awarded a 2:1 in English.
Dependent/dependant
• I am dependent on him
• She is my dependant
Double spacing
• Once used in the days of mechanical typewriters, double spacing is now not necessary. Always use a single space after a comma and full stop.
Email
• Email and email not E-mail and e-mail
Faculty
• The University has four faculties (lower case): the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Health.....
Fewer, less
• For countable nouns use ‘fewer’: There were fewer boys than girls.
• For non-countable nouns use ‘less’: There was less wine than water.
Government
• The Government takes a cap if it refers to the present British Government; but a previous government takes a lower case initial. If used adjectivally, government takes a lower case.
• government-funded
Historical periods
• Capitalise names of widely recognised epochs in anthropology, archaeology, geology and history: the Bronze Age, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Victorian era, the Enlightenment, the Third Reich; or periods named after specific dynasties or people: the Tudors, Elizabethan. But lower case medieval, baroque.
Honours
• Use a capital letter when describing a specific degree course, BA Honours French or BA Hons French, otherwise – you will need a good honours degree.
Hyphenation
• Full time (noun), full-time (adjective), eg the referee blew the whistle for full time; she has a full-time job
• First year (noun), first-year (adjective), eg he is in his first year; he is a first-year undergraduate
• A level not A-level, ‘A’-level or ‘A’ Level
• World-class not world class
Initials
• Use a space but no full stops between personal initials: A M Smith
Internet
• internet not Internet
International
• Refer to international not overseas students
International telephone style
• Tel +44 (0)1603 456161
• Fax +44 (0)1603 458553
Inverted commas (quotation marks)
• Use single inverted commas, reserving double inverted commas for a quotation within a quotation and for direct speech.
Italics
• Use italics for titles of published books, periodicals, dissertations, plays, films, paintings, newspapers.
• Titles of articles and features in periodicals etc are set in Roman type enclosed in single quotation marks.
• Use italics for foreign words which have not become part of the English language.
Master’s
• Refer to Master’s degree not Masters degree, masters’ degree or masters degree
• Referring to a generic master’s: I did my master’s at UEA.
• Referring to a specific degree: Jo studied for a Master’s in Creative Writing.
Newspaper titles
• Generally in italics and with lower case ‘the’: the Guardian. Exceptions to this are The Times and The Economist.
Numbers
• Use words for numbers below 10 unless they are in tables.
• 10 upwards as figures, so 10 not ten, 29 not twenty-nine.
• Spell out any number that begins a sentence, eg One hundred and ten people graduated this year.
• Use commas for numbers of four or more digits: 1,000 not 1000.
• £100 million or £100m not £100 m.
• £10,000 not £10k, although £10k acceptable in internal documents
• Fractions are hyphenated as adjectives( one-third full), but not as nouns (one third of the population). The course runs for two years but it is a two-year course
• Spell out ordinal numbers in text: first, second, third (not 1st, 2nd, 3rd)
Over
• Our house style is to say ‘more than’, rather than ‘over’. There are more than 10,000 international students not - there are over 10,000....
Percentage
• Use per cent rather than percent or % (except in tables)
Practice/practise
• She practises the piano every day (verb)
• He set up practice as a lawyer (noun)
Principle/principal
• It’s against my principles
• She is the college’s new principal
Programme/program
• As in part-time degree programme, but a computer program.
Qualifications
• A levels not A-levels or ‘A’ levels
• GCSE, BSc, BA, MA, PhD not G.C.S.E. etc
Schools of Study
• When referring to the University’s Schools (because of the possible confusion with secondary schools) capital S for School of Study or Schools of Study.
Spelling - Some commonly misspelt words
• Accommodation
• A lot, not alot
• Anymore (two words)
• Benefited
• Dependant (person); dependent (adjective)
• Enrol, enrolling, enrolment, enrolled
• Focused
• Fundraising
• Groundbreaking
• Liaison/liaise
• Licence (noun), licensing; licensed; to license (verb)
• Millennium
• Practice (noun); practise (verb)
• Program (computer context); otherwise programme
• Targeted
• Supersede
ise / ize
• Our house style is to use –ise-
• civilised not civilized
• organised not organized
We use the following
• Adviser not advisor
• A levels, O levels – no hyphen
• Continental Europe not continental Europe
• Co-ordinator not coordinator
• Co-operation not cooperation
• Coursework not course work
• Courtroom not court room
• En suite not ensuite or en-suite
• Field trip not fieldtrip
• Field work not fieldwork
• Filmmaking not film-making
• Focuses not focusses
• You take a full-time course but you study full time (same for part-time/part time)
• Healthcare (when used as adjective – healthcare professions), otherwise health care
• Medieval
• Multimedia
• Multinational
• Online not on-line
• Postgraduate/undergraduate not
• post-graduate or under-graduate
• Problem-based learning
• Problem-solving
• Skilful not skillful
• Supervisor not superviser
• Teamworking not team-working
• Under way not underway
• US for United States, not USA
• Worldwide not world-wide
• World-class not world class
Time
• 5.30pm not 5.30 pm or 17.30
Titles
• Mr/Mrs not Mr. or Mrs.
• Dr not Doctor
• Prof not Prof.
Website
• Website not web-site (no http in website address)
Years
• 2005-06 not 2005-2006 or 2005/06
Abbreviations
• It is not necessary to use full stops in or after abbreviations where there is no likelihood of confusion: GCSE, BSc, BA, MA, PhD.
• When they appear in text, &, %, ie and eg should be spelt out in full as ‘and’, ‘per cent’, ‘that is to say’ and ‘for example’. In tables, headings, or when you need to save space, the abbreviations may be used but not with full stops.
• The first time that an abbreviation is used, it should be written out in full and followed by the abbreviation. This applies to the name of the University as well as to operational units within it. For example: This course is taught by staff in the Climatic Research Unit (CRU). CRU is world-renowned.
Advice/Advise
• Advice (noun)
• To advise (verb)
Affect/effect
• The film really affected me
• What is the effect on his health?
A levels
• A levels not A-levels or ‘A’ levels
Alumni
• Alumnus (male), alumna (female)
• Alumni/ae (plural)
Ampersands
• Do not use as an abbreviation for and unless they are part of an existing title, for example, Marks & Spencer.
Apostrophes
• Use apostrophes to show possession (the student’s notes, the University’s history)
• Add only an apostrophe if the things or people possessing already end in ‘s’ (Students’ Union, lecturers’ offices)
• Do not use apostrophes for plurals unless it is to denote possession (in the 1960s, MAs, PhDs)
• Use an apostrophe to show that a letter is missing (isn’t, can’t, it’s)
• Pronouns like his, hers, ours, yours, theirs and its don’t need apostrophes
Biannual/biennial
• Biannual - twice a year
• Biennial - every two years
Capital letters
Don’t use capitals:
• Avoid unnecessary capitals in all headings and text.
• In headings the first word should be capitalised with remaining words capitalised only if a proper noun, name or if a specific title or position is involved.
• internet not Internet
• web not Web
• Use lower case for seasons and semesters. For example: The prospectus will be updated in spring 2013.
• Use lower case for points of the compass: east, west, north, south. For example: Schools in the north east, the south of Scotland, southern Europe.
Do use capitals:
• Capitalise the names of books, films and other major works in the usual way.
• Capitalise first words and all words apart from prepositions and conjunctions of fewer than five letters.
• The Government takes a capital letter if it refers to the present British Government; but a previous government takes a lower case initial. If used adjectivally, government takes a lower case.
• Use upper case for definite geographical places, regions, areas and countries: South-East Asia, The Hague, the Midlands, the Middle East.
• University (meaning the University of East Anglia). • Lower case should be used when referring to universities generally.
• Vice-Chancellor (referring to our Vice-Chancellor),all others are vice-chancellors.
• Pro-Vice-Chancellor.
• Faculties (Faculty of Science), Schools (Environmental Sciences), course titles (MA Theatre and Development) and module titles (Medicine and Gender), but not when referring generally to the study subject (for example: a good background in mathematics is essential).
Century
• 21st century, 20th century (noun); 21st-century (adjective), eg in the 21st century (noun); but a 21st-century dilemma (adjective)
Circa
• Abbreviate simply as c (roman) followed by a space, eg c 1342
Compare to/with
• Compare to - liken to
• Compare with - make a comparison
Complement/Compliment
• Complement - that which completes something
• Compliment - expression of admiration
Dashes
• Use short dashes (ens) when there are no spaces between words, ie 2000-2005, 5,000-word dissertation, and long dashes (ems) when there are spaces between words, ie first-year module – British Cinema.
Dates
• Friday 10 August 2007 not 10th August 2007 or August 10 2007
• 2007-08 not 2007-2008 or 2007/08 • Decades should be expressed as 1960s (not 1960’s or ’60s) • 20th century (noun); 21st-century (adjective)
• AD goes before the date (AD 64), BC goes after (300 BC)
Degree
• Capitalise the full degree title and module titles but use lower case when referring to subject areas. For example: The School of Biological Sciences offers courses in ecology, biology and conservation.To study for the Master of Mathematics programme, you should have studied mathematics to at least A level.
• First, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd. Never use 1st. Use a capital when referring to a First, but lower case initial for first-class degree. He was awarded a 2:1 in English.
Dependent/dependant
• I am dependent on him
• She is my dependant
Double spacing
• Once used in the days of mechanical typewriters, double spacing is now not necessary. Always use a single space after a comma and full stop.
• Email and email not E-mail and e-mail
Faculty
• The University has four faculties (lower case): the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Health.....
Fewer, less
• For countable nouns use ‘fewer’: There were fewer boys than girls.
• For non-countable nouns use ‘less’: There was less wine than water.
Government
• The Government takes a cap if it refers to the present British Government; but a previous government takes a lower case initial. If used adjectivally, government takes a lower case.
• government-funded
Historical periods
• Capitalise names of widely recognised epochs in anthropology, archaeology, geology and history: the Bronze Age, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Victorian era, the Enlightenment, the Third Reich; or periods named after specific dynasties or people: the Tudors, Elizabethan. But lower case medieval, baroque.
Honours
• Use a capital letter when describing a specific degree course, BA Honours French or BA Hons French, otherwise – you will need a good honours degree.
Hyphenation
• Full time (noun), full-time (adjective), eg the referee blew the whistle for full time; she has a full-time job
• First year (noun), first-year (adjective), eg he is in his first year; he is a first-year undergraduate
• A level not A-level, ‘A’-level or ‘A’ Level
• World-class not world class
Initials
• Use a space but no full stops between personal initials: A M Smith
Internet
• internet not Internet
International
• Refer to international not overseas students
International telephone style
• Tel +44 (0)1603 456161
• Fax +44 (0)1603 458553
Inverted commas (quotation marks)
• Use single inverted commas, reserving double inverted commas for a quotation within a quotation and for direct speech.
Italics
• Use italics for titles of published books, periodicals, dissertations, plays, films, paintings, newspapers.
• Titles of articles and features in periodicals etc are set in Roman type enclosed in single quotation marks.
• Use italics for foreign words which have not become part of the English language.
Master’s
• Refer to Master’s degree not Masters degree, masters’ degree or masters degree
• Referring to a generic master’s: I did my master’s at UEA.
• Referring to a specific degree: Jo studied for a Master’s in Creative Writing.
Newspaper titles
• Generally in italics and with lower case ‘the’: the Guardian. Exceptions to this are The Times and The Economist.
Numbers
• Use words for numbers below 10 unless they are in tables.
• 10 upwards as figures, so 10 not ten, 29 not twenty-nine.
• Spell out any number that begins a sentence, eg One hundred and ten people graduated this year.
• Use commas for numbers of four or more digits: 1,000 not 1000.
• £100 million or £100m not £100 m.
• £10,000 not £10k, although £10k acceptable in internal documents
• Fractions are hyphenated as adjectives( one-third full), but not as nouns (one third of the population). The course runs for two years but it is a two-year course
• Spell out ordinal numbers in text: first, second, third (not 1st, 2nd, 3rd)
Over
• Our house style is to say ‘more than’, rather than ‘over’. There are more than 10,000 international students not - there are over 10,000....
Percentage
• Use per cent rather than percent or % (except in tables)
Practice/practise
• She practises the piano every day (verb)
• He set up practice as a lawyer (noun)
Principle/principal
• It’s against my principles
• She is the college’s new principal
Programme/program
• As in part-time degree programme, but a computer program.
Qualifications
• A levels not A-levels or ‘A’ levels
• GCSE, BSc, BA, MA, PhD not G.C.S.E. etc
Schools of Study
• When referring to the University’s Schools (because of the possible confusion with secondary schools) capital S for School of Study or Schools of Study.
Spelling - Some commonly misspelt words
• Accommodation
• A lot, not alot
• Anymore (two words)
• Benefited
• Dependant (person); dependent (adjective)
• Enrol, enrolling, enrolment, enrolled
• Focused
• Fundraising
• Groundbreaking
• Liaison/liaise
• Licence (noun), licensing; licensed; to license (verb)
• Millennium
• Practice (noun); practise (verb)
• Program (computer context); otherwise programme
• Targeted
• Supersede
ise / ize
• Our house style is to use –ise-
• civilised not civilized
• organised not organized
We use the following
• Adviser not advisor
• A levels, O levels – no hyphen
• Continental Europe not continental Europe
• Co-ordinator not coordinator
• Co-operation not cooperation
• Coursework not course work
• Courtroom not court room
• En suite not ensuite or en-suite
• Field trip not fieldtrip
• Field work not fieldwork
• Filmmaking not film-making
• Focuses not focusses
• You take a full-time course but you study full time (same for part-time/part time)
• Healthcare (when used as adjective – healthcare professions), otherwise health care
• Medieval
• Multimedia
• Multinational
• Online not on-line
• Postgraduate/undergraduate not
• post-graduate or under-graduate
• Problem-based learning
• Problem-solving
• Skilful not skillful
• Supervisor not superviser
• Teamworking not team-working
• Under way not underway
• US for United States, not USA
• Worldwide not world-wide
• World-class not world class
Time
• 5.30pm not 5.30 pm or 17.30
Titles
• Mr/Mrs not Mr. or Mrs.
• Dr not Doctor
• Prof not Prof.
Website
• Website not web-site (no http in website address)
Years
• 2005-06 not 2005-2006 or 2005/06
