House Style Guide for external publications

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Contents

Abbreviations and acronyms – page 3

American usage – page 4

Ampersand (&) – page 4

Apostrophe – page 5

Bullet points – page 6

Capitalisation – page 7

Colon – page 9

Comma – page 10

Dates – page 10

Duplication – page 11

Ellipsis – page 11

Email – page 11

En rule – page 11

Full stop – page 12

Hyphen – page 12

Internet – page 13

Italics – page 14

Names – page 14

Numerals – page 14

Paragraphs – page 15

Parentheses – page 16

Percentages – page 16

Possessive case – page 16

Proper names – page 16

Question mark – page 17

Quotations – page 17

Quotation marks – page 18

Semi-colon – page 18

Spellcheckers – page 19

Split infinitives – page 19

Time of day – page 22

University– page 23

Visuals – page 23

Websites – page 24

Sources of information – page 24

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House Style Guide

Abbreviations and acronyms

Be cautious of using abbreviations and acronyms that might be very familiar to you

but may not necessarily be known to your reader. Question whether your reader will

understand them before you use them, especially if you are considering our

international readers..

As a general rule, all terms that can be expressed as abbreviations and acronyms

should be written in full at first mention, followed immediately by their abbreviation

or acronym in brackets: for example, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) or the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Wales (HEFCE).

Exceptions: It is not necessary to use the full titles of academic awards (eg, Bachelor of

Arts) as their abbreviations are in universal use within higher education

There are a few abbreviations that have been so fully absorbed into the

language that they are more widely known and understood than the full name

for which they stand (for example, BBC)

We recommend that you avoid overuse of acronyms, as they can look awkward and

clutter up the text with initials. If you need to refer to the same term repeatedly in a

relatively short document, consider, where possible, using an alternative to the

abbreviation or acronym (for example,‘the Agency’ for the QAA or ‘the Council’ for

HEFCE) to avoid monotony.

The University house style does not use full stops in acronyms or abbreviations.

This rule covers:

All academic awards and degrees – BA, BSc, MA, MSc, PhD, MPhil, PGDip,

PGCert

Abbreviations of ‘for example’, ‘that is’, and ‘and so on’ – eg, ie, etc

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Abbreviated titles – Dr, Mr, Mrs, Ms (Please note that in external publications we

do not abbreviate Professor to Prof.)

Abbreviations for ante meridiem and post meridiem – am, pm

American usage

In general, British rather than American conventions of usage and spelling should be

used; for example:

–ise rather than –ize in words such as emphasise

–ogue rather than –og in words such as catalogue

single rather than double l in words such as fulfil

meet rather than meet with

transport rather than transportation

American usage is standard in some specialised contexts; for example: program in

computing, and specialty in medicine.

Ampersand (&)

Always write the word ‘and’ in publication titles, headings and normal text.

Only use the ampersand if:

It is used as part of a company’s name, such as Procter & Gamble, Marks &

Spencer, Allen & Unwin

When writing references, as in a bibliography, or when sourcing a quote, in which

case you must use the ampersand if it appears in the original work

Apostrophe

Apostrophes have two main uses:

To show possession, as in ‘the professor’s lecture notes’, or ‘the student’s

portfolio’

To mark the omission of one or more letters , as in contractions such as don’t,

can’t and we’ll

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Singular and plural

To show possession or belonging when the possessor is a single thing, you add an

apostrophe before the letter s, as in ‘the tutor’s desk’; however, if the possessors are

plural and the word already ends in the letter s, you add an apostrophe after the final

s, as in ‘the girls’ study room’. When plurals don’t end in ‘s’ (men, women, children,

people) you use an apostrophe s (‘s), as in ‘the children’s favourite books’.

Names ending in ‘s’

When names end in ‘s’ and you want to show possession, it is acceptable to use

either of the following: Professor James’ degree programme’, or ‘Professor James’s

degree programme’: to make the right choice, read the text aloud and opt for the

version that sounds better.

Numbers, dates, letters and abbreviations

We no longer use apostrophes in the plural form of numbers, dates, letters or

abbreviations; for example: ‘He got four As and two Bs’ rather than ‘He got four A’s

and two B’s’; ‘This programme began in the 1960s’; ‘We have ten PhDs in our

department’, and ‘We have done well in all RAEs’.

Time and money

We do use apostrophes in time and money references, as in: ‘We will meet in one

hour’s time’; ‘I am taking a week’s holiday’, and ‘The Selly Oak Campus is about one

mile’s drive from the main campus’.

Companies, organisations and institutions

Knowing whether or not you have to use an apostrophe when referring to

commercial companies, organisations, or institutions and their belongings can be

tricky, as some choose not to use it; for example:

Barclays Bank, Lloyds TSB, Tescos Travel Insurance, Bassetts Liquorice

Allsorts, Trades Union Congress, Partners Stationers (no apostrophe)

Sainsbury’s Bank , Cadbury’s chocolate, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Hartley’s jam,

Robertson’s marmalade, McDonald’s hamburger (apostrophe)

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If in doubt, check on their respective websites to see what they do. If you find

confusing/conflicting examples of usage and non-usage, go with what is

grammatically correct.

Bullet points

Bullets are meant to draw attention to a piece of information and should convey key

points only. They are ideal for lists (eg, modules in a programme) and outlining the

steps in a process (eg, how to apply for a course). They should be fairly short and

punchy in style. We begin bullet points with a capital letter, but have no full stop at

the end unless each bullet contains more than one sentence.

NB. The text that introduces your bulleted list must agree grammatically with each

bullet; always check that this is the case by reading your text aloud.

Capitalisation

Initial capital letters make a word or words specific in their reference: distinguishing,

for instance, between ‘the white house’ (a house painted white) and ‘the White

House’ (the official residence of the President of the United States): thus, titles

should be in initial capitals when referring to specific individuals or institutions but

lower case when used generically.

In the context of the University, we write about ‘heads of colleges, schools and

departments’ (all lower case) but use initial capital letters for specific examples such

as ‘Professor I M Crackers, Head of the School of Metaphysics’. Similarly, we

capitalise specific colleges, schools and departments such as ‘the College of Arts

and Law’, ‘the School of History and Cultures’ and ‘the Department of History’ but in

generic references we write about the University’s academic schools, departments,

divisions and institutes.

Capitalise the names of academic subjects only in the context of specific

programmes, courses and examinations; for example: ‘he read Chemistry’, and ‘he

sat the Chemistry examination’, and ‘he received a degree in Chemistry’, but ‘he

gained a chemistry degree’, or ‘he enjoyed chemistry above all other subjects’.

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Lower case should be used for compass points (east, west, north, south), except

when part of a name or recognised geographical or political group (North Korea, the

West Midlands).

Headlines, headings and sub-headings within our publications should be treated in

the same way as sentences; there is no need to use initial capital letters for any

words other than the first word and any proper nouns.

The following always take initial capital letters:

Titles of government departments and postholders – Department of Health,

Ministry of Defence, Secretary of State for Education

Titles of courtesy, honour and rank – Her Royal Highness, Vice-Chancellor, Pro-

Vice-Chancellor, Vice-Principal, Pro-Chancellor, and Professor

Titles of degree programmes, modules and courses of study – the MA in Modern

European Cultures comprises six modules including Ideas of Europe and Nations

and their Neighbours.

Titles of books and other publications, poems or songs (also usually italicised) –

A Tale of Two Cities, Woman’s Own, The Four Quartets, and My Way.

The word University whenever it refers specifically to the University of

Birmingham

Colon

A colon separates two clauses that are logically related, fulfilling the same function

as the following words and phrases:

as

as follows

because

for example

namely

such as

that is

therefore

It is principally used:

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a) When the first part of the sentence is complete in both sense and construction,

and the following part naturally arises from it in sense, though not in construction,

as in: ‘The professor had given lectures all over the world: I should like to be a

professor’.

b) To lead from introduction to main theme, as in ‘The question is one of universal

interest: what is the secret of a long and happy life?’

c) To lead from cause to effect, as in ‘It started to rain: the match was abandoned’

d) To lead from a general statement to an example, as in ‘Birmingham has some

excellent restaurants: Simpson’s in Edgbaston has a Michelin star’

e) To introduce a list of items, especially after such expressions as ‘for example’,

and ‘including’

A colon may also be used before a quotation instead of a comma to give the

quotation added emphasis.

Comma

The comma is used in a wide range of ways to structure sentences and clarify

meaning; for example:

a) To separate clauses within a sentence

b) Between adjectives that qualify a noun in the same way

c) When a phrase would mean something completely different without it; for

example: ‘Mozart’s 40th Symphony, in G minor’ as opposed to ‘Mozart’s 40th

Symphony in G minor’

d) To separate items in a list of more than two items

e) To mark the beginning and end of a parenthetical word or phrase; for example:

‘Edward Elgar, Peyton Professor of Music, was appointed in March 1905’

f) Before a quotation, although a colon can be used for an increased weight of

sentence

g) In numbers of four or more figures, as in 4,500

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Oxford comma

This is an optional comma used before the word ‘and’ at the end of a list. It is not

generally necessary to use a comma after ‘and’ or before the last item unless it

helps to clarify the sense and avoid ambiguity:

Examples

We have five colleges: Arts and Law, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Life

and Environmental Sciences, Medical and Dental Sciences, and Social Sciences.

The membership of this group included James Watt (pioneer of the steam

engine), Joseph Priestley, who discovered oxygen, and Matthew Boulton.

The notebooks are available in black and white, red and yellow, and blue and

green.

Dates

Dates should be written in the following ways:

Tuesday 27 October 2009

27 October 2009

27 October

When abbreviating dates we use 27.10.09, and when using periods of years we

express them as 2009–10 (using an en rule not a hyphen), unless the dates involve

changes of century, when they are written in full.

Duplication of punctuation

This should be avoided – a comma should not precede or follow a dash, nor a full

stop an exclamation or question mark. It is not necessary to use an en rule after a

colon (:–) before beginning a list.

Ellipsis

This is the omission of words and consists of three full stops (…) used to mark that

omission. When used at the end of an incomplete sentence, a fourth full stop is not

required.

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Email

We always write ‘email’ as one word (no hyphen), capitalising the initial letter at the

beginning of a sentence – Email. Our house style is to use lower case letters

throughout in all email addresses:

u.r.lucky@bham.ac.ukdesign-publications@bham.ac.uk

To ensure your email information is clear and accessible to all users, we

recommend using Arial font with a font size of 12–14 points. You should not use

coloured text or background colours as this can create difficulties for visually

impaired users.

For further advice on emails and email signatures from Online Communications, visit

https://www.intranet.bham.ac.uk/onlinecomms/housestyle/emailsignature.shtml

En rule

An en rule (–) is longer than a hyphen (-) and should be used in the following ways:

As a parenthetical dash in informal contexts to replace a colon

To express a more profound break in sentence structure than commas and to

draw more attention to the enclosed phrase than brackets, as in: ‘Managing your

finances is a vital – and sometimes difficult – aspect of student life’

In these instances the en rule should be spaced.

An unspaced en rule should be used:

In ranges of numbers, dates or days of the week; for example: pages 13–25,

1939–45, Monday–Friday, where it stands for the word ‘to’

To join words that have equal importance in phrases such as ‘Labour–Liberal

alliance’, ‘cost–benefit analysis’, ‘on–off switch’, where it stands for ‘and’

To find the en rule on your keyboard, hold down the Control button and

simultaneously press the hyphen symbol on your Number key pad (Ctrl + –);

alternatively, choose ‘Insert’, then ‘Symbol’, then ‘Special Characters’: the en rule is

second on the list.

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Full stop

A full stop is used at the end of all sentences that are not questions or exclamations.

Full stops are not needed for:

Headings (whether in text or tables)

Sub-headings

Bullet points (unless they contain more than one sentence)

Captions

We do not insert full stops in abbreviations or acronyms or in initial letters. It is not

necessary to use a further full stop at the end of a sentence that concludes with a

quotation itself ending in a full stop, quotation mark, or exclamation mark.

Hyphen

Hyphens are used:

To join two or more words to form a compound expression (punch-drunk), and in

phrases to clarify the sense, as in ‘a blood-red hand’, or ‘ a well-known man’

To join a prefix to a proper name or date, as in anti-Darwinian, or mid-1990s

To separate a prefix from the main word to avoid confusion with another word, as

in ‘re-cover the chair with material’ to distinguish it from ‘recover the costs’

To separate two similar consonant or vowel sounds in a word, as an aid to

understanding, as in co-operation, or bio-organic

To prevent misunderstanding by linking words; for example: ‘a little-used car’, as

opposed to ‘a little used car’

To represent a common second element in all but the last word of a list; for

example: short- and long-term

In fractions (see Numerals)

In a sequence of non-inclusive numbers, as in ISBN 0-123-45678-9

Here at the University the following are always hyphenated:

Vice-Chancellor

Pro-Chancellor

Pro-Vice-Chancellor

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Vice-Principal

We no longer use hyphens within telephone numbers. The STD code is separated

from the main number by a space alone, as in 0121 414 3344

Internet

There is still debate about how to capitalise words associated with the internet.

Most dictionaries capitalise ‘Internet’, ‘World Wide Web’ and ‘Website’, but modern

practice is leaning away from this; therefore, we now recommend that you:

Use lower case in both specific and generic references to the internet, unless the

word starts a sentence and takes an initial capital:

We are linked to the internet

This is an internet-based resource

All rooms have internet access

Internet access is available for all students

Use lower case for ‘worldwide web’ (worldwide as one word) and ‘website’,

unless the word starts a sentence and takes an initial capital, as in ‘Website

addresses can be found on page six’

The most important principle is consistency within a document and within an

institution.

Italics

Italics are used:

a) As a method of emphasising or distinguishing words; for example: ‘The weather

was so cold last winter’

b) For the titles of books, newspapers, magazines and other publications

c) For the titles of plays, films, TV and radio series, and CDs

d) For the titles of paintings, sculptures and other works of art

e) For the individual names of ships, trains, aircraft, spacecraft, and other means of

transport

f) For foreign words or phrases that are not naturalised

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We do not use italics for quoted material.

Names

Always check that you have correctly spelled people’s names (especially foreign

names, such as Dostoyevsky) and that you have also included their correct title.

Misspelling someone’s name can cause offense. Also check the spelling of:

Place names (Pontrhydfendigaid)

Company names (Rolls-Royce)

Less familiar or specialist naming words belonging to various academic

disciplines (Deoxyribonucleic acid)

Numerals

We write words for numbers from one to ten but in keeping with most modern

practice, we use figures for all numbers over ten. Where fractions are used with

whole numbers in the one-to-ten range, they are also spelt out, as in ‘three and a

half’. Where fractions are used with whole numbers in the over ten range, figures

should also be used, as in 16½.

Figures are also used for decimal fractions, percentages, and in sets linking more

than two numerals where some are higher and some lower than ten; for example:

‘Deaths from this cause in the past three years were 14, 9 and 6’.

Avoid starting a sentence with a figure; write the number in words instead; for

example: ‘Eighty-six places will be available on this programme in 2010’.

Simple fractions should be spelt out in words and hyphenated, even when figures

are higher than ten; for example: two-thirds, five-eighths, one-twentieth.

In statistical material, fractions are written numerically: ¼, ½, ¾.

The following are expressed in figures only:

Dates – Tuesday 27 October

Degrees of heat – It is 32°C in the shade

Money – £5.50, £25.00

Races (for distance and time)

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Scores in games and matches

Specific gravity

Statistics

Time of day, when followed by am or pm

Numbers of votes

Weights when abbreviated units, such as grams or kilograms, are given

Page numbers

(Note: in non-academic texts page ranges should be expressed as pages 21–30

rather than pp 21–30)

Million and billion are spelt out as words, preceded by the amount on digits, whether

referring to people, objects or sums of money – 5 million people, 5 million donations,

£5 million.

Paragraphs

We denote paragraphs with a single line break and do not indent the initial word.

Start a new paragraph as often as possible to present your reader with manageable

chunks of information rather than weighty blocks of it. Consider adding subheadings

(using key words) to denote a change in theme.

Parentheses

Parentheses (round brackets) are used:

As a means of definition, explanation, reference, or translation – for example:

Parentheses (round brackets); Machtpolitik (power politics)

To supply ancillary information such as abbreviations, references, cross-

references and variants – for example: Animal Biology (see page 230), Times

Literary Supplement (TLS)

When using reference figures or letters within text, such as (a), (b), (c)

In normal running text, try to avoid brackets within brackets: where this is inevitable,

double parentheses are preferable to square brackets.

Percentages

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All percentages should be written as figures followed by %, as in 62%.

Possessive case

When using the possessive case, the apostrophe must be used with proper and

common nouns; for example: ‘

The University’s parking facilities

Professor Smith’s students

In singular or plural nouns that end in a letter other than s, the apostrophe must

precede the added s, as in ‘the Queen’s Jubilee’. In plural nouns that end in s, the

apostrophe must follow the s, as in ‘ the students’ essays.

In singular words ending in s, the possessive case normally takes a second s after

the apostrophe (James’s), in line with their pronunciation. When the final s is silent in

speech, it is generally omitted, as in ‘for goodness’ sake’.

Proper names

See ‘Names’ on page 14.

Question mark

This should follow every question where a separate answer is required.

How is Birmingham different from other universities?

How are you enjoying reading these guidelines?

A question mark may also be placed before a word or date when the accuracy is

doubted.

Leonardo da Vinci,? 1452–1519

A rhetorical question, where there is no expectation of a reply, may be punctuated

by a question mark, or exclamation mark.

I’m supposed to be grateful am I?

You can’t be serious!

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Indirect questions do not require a question mark.

The professor asked the students what they were doing.

Many students ask why they should attend all lectures.

Quotations

All extracts in the exact words of the original have quotation marks:

At the beginning

At the start of each paragraph

At the end of the extract

Punctuation within the extract should be exactly as the original and the concluding

full stop goes within the quotation marks when it is part of the original.

When a whole sentence is a quotation, full stops, commas and other punctuation

marks are placed inside the quotation marks.

Example

‘Most people use clichés in everyday speech and writing whether they are aware of

it or not.’ Source: Munro: Clichés and How to Avoid Them; Chambers, 2005, p.3)

If the quoted matter forms only part of the sentence, and the punctuation mark is not

part of the quote, it comes outside the quotation marks.

Example

The report praised the ‘tireless efforts of the dedicated and hard-working staff’.

Quotation marks

There are two types of quotation marks, or inverted commas: single (‘ ‘) and double

(“ “). We follow standard British practice, enclosing quoted matter between single

quotation marks (see note on Quotations within quotations).

Single quotes and roman (regular) type are used when citing the titles of articles in

magazines, chapters of books, essays and songs. They may also be used to

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enclose an unfamiliar term, or one being used in a specific technical sense. Usually

this is only necessary for the first occurrence of the word or phrase.

Quotation marks are not used for the titles of any books of the Bible, where the

substance only of an extract is given, or where the tense or the person has been

altered.

Quotations within quotations

These are indicated by the use of double quotation marks within single inverted

commas:

Example

‘When I say “immediately”, I mean some time before April,’ said the spokesman.’

Semi-colon

A semi-colon separates those parts of a sentence between which there is a more

distinct break than would call for a comma, but which are too closely connected to

be made into separate sentences.

It should separate clauses or phrases that are similar in importance or grammatical

construction:

Example

I know the city well; I’ve lived there all my life.

In a list in which any of the elements contain commas, semi-colons are used to

clarify the relationship of the components:

Example

I should like to thank staff at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge; King’s College,

London; and the School of Medicine, University of Birmingham.

Spellcheckers

While it is a good idea to run a spelling and grammar check on your documents,

please be aware that spellcheckers do not spot all the errors and may even be

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responsible for creating some. If in doubt, try keying in the following text and run a

spell check on it:

They’re know miss steaks in this peace off righting cause we used special soft wear

witch checks your spelling. It is mower or lass a weigh too verify. However is can

knot correct arrows inn punctuation ore usage: it will not fine words witch are miss

used butt spelled rite.

If you do use a spellchecker, make sure that it is programmed for UK English.

Split infinitives

The most famous split infinitive of all time was delivered by William Shatner in his

Star Trek role as Captain James T Kirk :

‘Space – the final frontier: these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise; its five-

year mission – to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new

civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.’

Here the word boldly splits the ‘to–infinitive’ to go. What Captain Kirk should have

said was ‘to go boldly’ – but it doesn’t have as much impact and it shifts the

emphasis or stress from ‘boldly’ (the word they intended to emphasise) to ‘go’ (the

word they didn’t want to emphasise so much). So, in this instance, the infinitive was

split for deliberate effect.

In modern practice, it is not frowned upon to split infinitives, but some people do

have a preference for not doing it, including our own Vice-Chancellor.

Most of us do it when we speak to emphasise a point or convey the way we are

feeling and we do it in writing because in English we can (you can’t do it in many

other languages); it can be an effective tool for conveying written thoughts and

feelings in a different way; so it has some impact.

The argument not to split infinitives is that the infinitive is a single unit and, therefore,

should not be divided. The infinitive is the base form of a verb; one that describes

an action or occurrence. There are two types of infinitive:

The to–infinitive, as in ‘They decided to go’

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The base–infinitive, which is without the word ‘to’, as in ‘We saw him go’

To split the infinitive is to insert one or more words (usually adverbs – words that

describe or qualify the action) between the infinitive-marker or base-marker and the

verb that follows, as in the following examples:

They decided to quickly go rather than They decided to go quickly

We saw him swiftly go rather than We saw him go swiftly

An infinitive verb fulfills the function of a noun and is most commonly formed with ‘to’

to take

to laugh

to be

to dream

to educate

to work

Some people feel that it is bad style to split an infinitive by inserting any kind of

modifying word or phrase after the ‘to’, as in the following examples.

to greedily take

to enthusiastically laugh

to finally be

to lazily dream

to successfully educate

to slowly work

The best advice in terms of modern good practice is to avoid splitting infinitives if

you can do so without distorting the sentence; but that sometimes a split infinitive is

the lesser of two evils. A good example of this is given in Butcher’s Copy-editing:

The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-Editors and Proofreaders (CUP, 2007:

p.165), as follows:

Without split infinitive: Very honourable exceptions were Italian restaurants, said positively to like children, and Chinese ones, said positively to love them.

With split infinitive: Very honourable exceptions were Italian restaurants, said to positively like children, and Chinese ones, said to positively love them.

In some cases, moving the adverb creates an ungrammatical sentence or changes

the meaning.  In Mind the Gaffe (Penguin Books, 2001) R L Trask uses this example

where the word ‘gradually’ is moved to different positions within the sentence to

avoid splitting the infinitive; the split version comes first:

She decided to gradually get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.

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‘Gradually’ splits the infinitive ‘to get’. However, if the adverb were moved, where

could it go?

She decided gradually to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.

This might imply that the decision was gradual.

She decided to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected gradually.

This implies that the collecting process was gradual.

She decided to get gradually rid of the teddy bears she had collected.

This sounds awkward, as it splits the phrase "get rid of".

She decided to get rid gradually of the teddy bears she had collected.

This is almost as awkward as its immediate predecessor.

The sentence can be rewritten to maintain its meaning, however, by using a noun or

a different grammatical aspect of the verb:

She decided to get rid of her teddy bear collection gradually.

She decided she would gradually get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.

She decided to rid herself gradually of the teddy bears she had collected.

Examples of split infinitives we might use at the University include:

We aim to successfully find you a course

The University will try to generally improve its position in the league tables

We wish to carefully consider issues of equality and diversity on campus

Our responsibility is to gently support you through your degree programme

Historically, the University has tried to systematically push forward the boundaries

of knowledge

New ideas and research are to always be carried forward

These would need to be re-written as:

We aim successfully to find you a course

The University will generally try to improve its position in the league tables

We wish carefully to consider issues of equality and diversity on campus

(Note that the meaning has now been changed: are we ‘carefully wishing’; or ‘carefully

considering’? This one would have to be changed to avoid having to make the split; the easiest

way is to remove the adverb ‘carefully’)

Our responsibility is gently to support you through your degree programme

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Historically, the University has systematically tried to push forward the boundaries

of knowledge

New ideas and research are always to be carried forward

If not splitting the infinitive alters your intended meaning, or sounds awkward and

ambiguous (has more than one meaning); you need to rewrite your sentence – or

accept the split! Remember also that infinitives can be split for comic (ironic) effect,

as in: ‘It was a beautiful sunny morning; perfect to not read the student’s essays.’

Time of day

The time of day is always written as figures, with a full stop to indicate the minutes

and no space between the time and am or pm:

9.00am

10.15am

11.45am

1.30pm

3.45pm

8.00pm

You may find that some spelling and grammar checkers will highlight the am and

pm, insisting that you insert spaces, full stops or even capital letters (11.45 a.m.;

11.45 A.M.): please ignore these requests, as the house style over-rules them.

We do not generally use the 24-hour clock, although this may be different for the

International Office and is acceptable in some publications. You may consider giving

the time of day in both 12-hour and 24-hour clock formats, if you feel it is more

accessible to your target audience or current students:

The concert will start at 7.30pm (19:30)

Please arrive at the airport by 15:45 (3.45pm)

This works well when your text only contains a few time references, but if it contains

a large number of them, it might be wiser to stick with one format.

University of Birmingham

The word the has now been dropped from the word marque (logo) of the University.

This means that it no longer appears in our address, which should now be written:

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT.

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In the general run of text, 'the' should still be used but with a lower case t, eg,

Welcome to the University of Birmingham.

We always use an upper case initial ‘U’ when referring to our own University.

Visuals

If a picture speaks a thousand words: we need to make sure it says the right thing.

Everyone at the University has a legal duty not to discriminate against students (or

fellow staff) on the grounds of race, gender, disability, age, religion, sexual

orientation or belief. It is possible to discriminate by not including, or not paying

attention to the needs of all. Any photographic or graphic images you use should

include representatives from as many diverse groups as possible.

Photographs and images should also reflect the content of the text. If you are

promoting a course that you say is ‘new, active and exciting’, it is not appropriate to

show a photograph of two tired-looking students eating a sandwich on a bench

during their lunch break! Similarly, if you are explaining how Birmingham welcomes

disabled students, you need to support it with images of disabled students taking an

active part in university study and life.

No images used should cause offense to particular groups of applicants.

Please refer to the University Copywriting Guidelines 2009 for further information.

Websites

Website addresses should be written in the following way: www.bham.ac.uk with no

full stop or other punctuation marks immediately afterwards. If possible, website

addresses should not appear within the main body of text but in a separate box

under the heading Learn more, usually placed at the end of a piece of copy. This is

a standard element of publications within the new brand.

The word ‘website’ is always written as one word but ‘web pages’ as two.

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Sources of informationThe following have been used in compiling this guide:

The Economist Style Guide (ISBN-1-86197-535-X)

The Guardian Style Guide – www.guardian.co.uk

The Oxford Guide to Style (ISBN 0-19-860564-1)

The Times Style and Usage Guide – www.timesonline.co.uk

Butcher’s copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and

Proofreaders, Fourth Edition; Butcher, Drake and Leach, Cambridge University

Press, 2006.

Mind the Gaffe : R L Trask, Penguin Books, 2001

The University of Birmingham House Style and Grammar Guide (October 2009)

SCRBD online punctuation – http://www.scribd.com/doc/21245751/puncuation

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We are always in the process of reviewing our house style and copywriting guidance

with a view to incorporating further advice about writing for University printed and

online publications.

If you have any comments about this or any other guidance notes we have

produced, or have suggestions for other writing issues we might cover, please

contact us by telephone or email.

We would also be interested to hear how you think we might make this document

more user friendly.

Carole Wale Peter Kiddle

Tel: 42582 Tel: 46683

Email: c.a.wale@bham.ac.uk p.w.kiddle@bham.ac.uk

University of Birmingham

Corporate Relations

Creative Media – Design and Publications

Aston Webb Building

Edgbaston, Birmingham

B15 2TT

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