Corporate Style Guide

Marketing & Student Recruitment

Corporate Style Guide

It is important that the University produces effective publications.

Contents

Introducing the Guide – what’s the point?5

Before you start writing6

When you start writing7

Consistency is key 9

A-Z of grammar and punctuation 13

Introducing the Guide – what’s the point?

It is important that the University produces effective publications which fulfil their communication objectives and meet the target audience’s needs and expectations. They should also reinforce the Teesside University brand.

This Guide is designed to help you achieve these objectives. It gives advice on the preparatory work you need to do, the best way for you to convey information and our corporate house style. If followed, this will ensure that all the University’s publications – both printed and online – are produced in a consistent, effective format.

Before you start writing

Remember: any piece of writing exists to communicate a message to your readers. This message needs to be clear in your mind from the beginning.

Things to consider …

Who is your audience?

Having your intended audience clear in your mind will help determine the tone and style of your writing. If you know who you are writing for, you can focus on particular points which should appeal to your target audience and write in a language which is suitable. (Note that the most suitable language may vary between print and web.)

What do you want to achieve?

Be clear about the purpose of the publication. Are you aiming to:

•inform – for example give details of our application procedure

•inspire – get your audience interested in your topic

•promote – persuade your audience to do something?

The purpose will affect the way information is presented.

What does the audience need to know?

You need to ensure that you identify what essential information a reader will require. This will then form your main message.

How long does the text need to be?

It’s important to consider how much space you have and what your budget is as these will dictate the level of detail you can go into. It will also focus your writing on the key message. However, even if there is plenty of space and your budget is not restricted, be as concise as possible.

What medium will be used to publish your publication?

Will it be in print or be published on the web? If it is to be published on the web, ideally the style and structure should be different to those used in a printed publication. Please see the guidelines for writing for the web.

When you start writing

Say clearly what you mean! Using simple and clear English helps your audience understand what you mean and helps them to read it quickly. (For more details of the Plain English Campaign see

Structure for clarity

Short simple sentences are easier to understand than ones full of clauses and subclauses. Your reader is also more likely to retain the information. The ideal length of a sentence is 15–25 words, but you may want to vary this to keep your reader’s interest.

If there is space, use bullet points to break down long sentences (see also section on Bulleted lists).

Use subheadings to organise your writing into manageable chunks and actively encourage your reader to read on. Remember that subheadings:

•should fit in with your message

•be kept short – they shouldn’t intrude on the text, just break it up

•should appear no more frequently than every three or four paragraphs

•should guide the reader – skim readers will use them as navigational tools.

Try to avoid more than three levels of heading.

Be direct

Where possible, address your reader as ‘you’ (the second person), refer to yourself as ‘me’ and to your School or the University as ‘we’. Talking to the reader directly will make your writing more engaging and effective than using the third person (‘it’, ‘they’, ‘he’ or ‘she’). It also creates a friendly tone.

For example:

Use:We will process your application form within two weeks.

Instead of:The student’s application form will be processed within two weeks.

Use:When you arrive we will give you directions.

Instead of:Upon arrival students will be given directions.

Use:You save £100 by booking accommodation early.

Instead of:Students can save £100 by booking accommodation early.

When you do need to write in the third person – use ‘they’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’. It’s acceptable to use ‘they’ to cover both genders and is much easier for the reader to follow.

Use active not passive

When the subject of the verb performs the action of the verb, the verb is in the active voice. A verb is in the passive voice if the subject has the action of the verb done to it.

The active voice keeps sentences short and makes writing effective, lively and direct, whereas the passive voice can make writing sound impersonal, bureaucratic and long-winded.

Use the active voice wherever possible, for example:

Active voice:Sinita is writing the book.

Passive voice:The book is being written by Sinita.

Active voice:The student rewrote the dissertation.

Passive voice:The dissertation was rewritten by the student.

Active voice:Professor Brown will present his research at the conference.

Passive voice:The research will be presented by Professor Brown at the conference.

Be clear

Use the simplest words for your audience and don’t assume prior knowledge, for example of the meaning of acronyms. Don’t use slang. Remember your text may be read by:

•someone unfamiliar with your subject or higher education

•someone whose first language isn’t English

•someone who doesn’t have much time.

Words/expressions to avoid

Where possible try to avoid using the following words/expressions:

• in order to
• that
• will, for example you will study – use you study
• aims to, for example instead of ‘this course aims to give you’ use either ‘the course gives you’ or ‘we give you’
• contractions, for example you are not you’re
• foreign abbreviations, for example eg, ie (see section on Acronyms and abbreviations)
• in the form of.

Use commands

Don’t be afraid to ask directly:

‘Please send me your form’ instead of ‘I should be grateful if you would return the form’.

‘Please get in touch’ instead of ‘Please do not hesitate to get in touch’.

Example

Original text

This module extends the development of independent learning skills by allowing the student to investigate an area of science or engineering for an extended period. Training will be given in writing technical reports for knowledgeable readers and the student will produce a report/dissertation on the work covered. In addition, the student will give a presentation, verbal, poster, or both. The topic can be in the form of a research project, a design project or a dissertation. Key skills in research, knowledge application and creation will be developed through a self-managed independent study.

Rewritten text

You develop your independent learning skills by investigating an area of science or engineering for an extended period. You also acquire the skills required to write a technical report or dissertation on your work and give a verbal or poster presentation, or both. Your topic can be a research project, a design project or a dissertation. You develop key skills in research, and applying and creating knowledge.

When you have written or rewritten text, read it out. You may be able to cut the number of words and you will be able to identify more easily any unwieldy text.

Consistency is key

The consistent presentation of content gives a more professional impression than one which is erratic. It also avoids any confusion. Listed below are the ways in which core information should be presented.

Addresses

The correct address for the University is:

Teesside University, Middlesbrough, Tees Valley TS1 3BA, UK.

Use this and remember:

•never University of Teesside

•Borough Road is not in the University address.

(UK can be omitted if inappropriate or unnecessary, for example on local adverts.)

Contact information

When you display your contact details use general administration or team numbers and addresses – don’t use an individual’s name (for example ‘please contact Marketing & Student Recruitment on …’ not ‘please contact Joe Smith on …’). This ensures publications do not go out of date when a post holder leaves and that clients can always contact someone who can help. (However there may be exceptions to this depending on the nature of the publication.)

Where contact details appear in a list use colons and abbreviations as follows:

T: 01642 889289

F: 01642 889289 (optional)

E:

However, if contact details flow in your writing rather than appearing in a list, do not use colons, for example ‘contact 01642 889289, email ’.

Courses, modules, awards and qualifications

General information:

•higher education, further education (not caps)

•A level (not A-Level)

•Year 1 – if talking about the first year of full-time study

•Stage 1 – if talking about the first stage of part-time study as it will take longer than a year

•course titles always use ‘and’ not ‘&’, for example English and Media Studies

•modules should have initial caps and ‘and’, for example Critical and Cultural Theory.

When referring to an unspecified award, use lower case. For example:

•a diploma

•our foundation degrees

•an honours degree

•master’s degrees

•research degrees

•a doctorate.

When specific awards appear as titles or in a list they should be presented as below: (except on the web where they will be listed with the award at the end)

•FdA Business Management

•BA (Hons) Creative Visualisation

•MSc Petroleum Technology.

(See Acronyms and abbreviations on page 13 for the presentation of specific awards in flowing text.)

Degree classifications should be given as follows:

•first-class degree

•second-class degree (if the grade is not specific)

•2.1 or 2.2 (if the grade is specific)

•third-class degree.

Dates, times and figures

•For dates use – Day Date Month Year. For example, Monday 11 May 2009, never 3rd, 4th etc. Never include commas in a date

• When referring to a published guide or league table, use ‘most recent’ and avoid putting the year, for example ‘History scored 100% for student satisfaction (most recent National Student Survey) except in the case of the web when a date must be given

•No apostrophe in 1990s, unless it's possessive and then the apostrophe goes after the s

•Denote times as follows, for example 11.00am-2.00pm

•Numbers should be spelt out from one to ten, then in digits above ten, for example 11. Exceptions to this are when numbers:

-begin a sentence, then they are always spelledin full. For example ‘… he left the room. Twenty minutes later he returned …’ (Note however that numbers can start a sentence in an advert.)

-are used to describe a course period, for example Year 1, Stage 2

-include a decimal point or fraction, for example 2.5, 31/2

-refer to a percentage, for example 6.5%

-are page references, for example ‘see page 5’

•Numbers from 1,000 and above should use commas, for example 11,275

•When referring to a spread of figures, give the shortest format, for example 25-6, 203-4, 456-63, except in the case of dates when two digits should appear after the hyphen, for example 2007-08

•For percentages, use % sign, not per cent written out, unless the percentage begins a sentence, for example ‘Fifty per cent of people prefer...’

Italic text

In printed text use italics for the following:

•names of publications (see References to publications on page 11)

•the titles of films and TV series

• foreign words not in general English usage

•the Latin names of birds, animals and plants.

(Italic text is not used on the website as it affects legibility. Instead put the text in single quotation marks.

Phone numbers

•Use the international phone and fax number on the back cover of major documents such as fields of study magazines. For example, T:+44 (0) 1642 218121 F:+44 (0) 1642 342076, but use the UK format in all other places. Marketing & Student Recruitment (MSR) will automatically use the University’s standard logo pallet with international contact details on the back cover of all publications where appropriate

•Do not use brackets or hyphens around national phone numbers, for example 01642 218121

•Show an extension number as ext 2946

• Only give one extension number.

Places

Always use the official place name:

•Stockton-on-Tees

•Newcastle upon Tyne

• University of Leeds
• Teesside University.

Quotes

If a quote is in running text use single quote marks after a comma, for example:

Dr Smith said, ‘……..’

(See also sections on Colons and Inverted commas.)

We often use quotes from current students and graduates. Always ensure that quotes are attributed to the speaker and we have written permission to use them. Unattributed quotes add little value and suggest that we do not have consent to reproduce them.

For example, ‘The Library is a very impressive building, extremely well equipped and comfortable to work in.’ Student’s Name, BSc (Hons) Course Title.

If the quote is from a graduate of a course which has since changed its name, add an asterisk and state that the course has been retitled and give the new name.

If the course no longer exists but forms part of a new course, add:

The innovative work of our students helps to inform new course and curriculum developmentand this course has now been re-named XXX.

References to publications

For the way in which to present publications, please refer to the online repository in the Library.

Schools, departments, centres, facilities, projects

When referring to a School use an upper case S.

•School of Arts & Media (not School of Arts and Media)

•Teesside University Business School (not The Teesside University Business School)

• Phoenix Building

•Crime Scene House Laboratory not Crime House Lab

•Institute of Digital Innovation

•Animex (body copy), DigitalCity

•CACTUS (no full points) Clinical and Counselling Training Units

•Aimhigher not Aim Higher

•Sure Start not SureStart.

UK/American spellings

Always use UK spelling:

•adviser not advisor, but advisory

•organise not organize

•enrol not enroll

•focused not focussed.

Remember to watch out for spell checks on word processing packages which default to US spellings. You can change this in Microsoft Word by selecting ‘Tools’ then ‘Language’.

If you are in any doubt about the correct form of spelling to use, for example whether or not a word is hyphenated, please refer to the Collins English Dictionary.

Web addresses

•The University’s web address is Do not use extra levels, for example unless previously agreed with Marketing & Student Recruitment

•Use a full stop at the end of a web address only if grammatically correct (when the text is part of a sentence) and not if it appears in a list.

A-Z of grammar and punctuation

Accents

•On words which are now accepted as English, only use the accent if it makes a difference to the pronunciation

•Use accents on all foreign words where required.

Acronyms and abbreviations

•Spell out acronyms followed by the acronym in brackets in the first instance, for example Library & Information Services (L&IS). However, if the words only appear once in the document, do not include the bracketed acronym just spell them out in full with no acronym

(The exception to this is where the acronym is better known than what it stands for, for example BBC, AIDS. In this case use the acronym only.)

•When a term is included in flowing text (that is not as a title or in a list) spell it out in full in the first instance followed by the abbreviation in brackets. For example, the Master of Arts (MA) in …, our Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert) in …

•Use abbreviations for measures, such as kg for kilogram (but note that if there is more than one kilogram the abbreviation remains kg)

•Use m for million, for example the £12m Phoenix Building

• Do not use abbreviations when there is a chance the meaning may not be clear, for example RSVP, NB, ie, eg, cf.

Ampersands (&)

Avoid using ampersands except in the following instances:

•use ‘&’ in a School’s title, for example School of Arts & Media

•fields of study use ampersands, for example EnglishHistory

In particular:

•do not use ‘&’ when you are giving a course or module title, for example, BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Psychology

•do not use ‘&’ in prose writing.

Apostrophes

•Apostrophes indicate the omission of letters:

-can’t, don’t, won’t, hasn’t

-it is = it's, you are = you’re

•They also indicate possession:

-the boy’s books (the books of one boy)

-the boys’ books (the books of more than one boy)

-Students' Union (more than one student belongs to the Union).