Calendar Editing and Style Guide

This is intended to provide a guide to writing specifically for the Calendar. It is meant to help contributors to avoid inconsistencies in spelling or presentation. It is anticipated that this guide will be reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis.

Last updated: September 10, 2019

Introduction

Some of the following have been taken directly from the University of Calgary Writing Style Guide. The Canadian Press Stylebook has also been consulted, but some are unique to the Calendar. 

The guide is arranged by categories listed in alphabetical order: Abbreviations, Capitalization, Degrees, Grades, Lists, Numbers, People, Punctuation, Spelling, and then the components of Course Entries.

Avoid abbreviations and spell out the whole word (eg. Laboratory, Mathematics, Department, not Lab, Math or Dept.).

The full course name is normally used throughout the Calendar. We follow the full name with the four-letter code in the Courses of Instruction section. 

Do not use an ampersand (&) in place of the word 'and' (the exception to this is Oil & Gas Engineering). 

The only months that may be abbreviated are: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

When referring to the calendar in the calendar, it is capitalized.

Capitalize faculties, schools, departments, offices, courses and field of study. If referring to more than one faculty, they are still capitalized, for example: Faculties of Arts and Kinesiology. This is a departure from the University of Calgary Style Guide.

Use the University of Calgary or the university, but not U of C.

The names of buildings on campus are capitalized: Taylor Family Digital Library, not the library

Terms are capitalized: Fall Term, Spring Term, etc.

Letter grades are always in quotes: “A” “B+” “C-” “F”. 

Use either GPA or grade point average, not gpa or Grade Point Average. 

Numbered, unnumbered and bulleted lists may be used. 

If a list consists of at least one item that is a complete sentence, all items are then punctuated as a complete sentence. If the list consists of short points, that are not full sentences, no punctuation is needed.

In general, spell out whole numbers below 10 and use figures for 10 and above. The exception to this is when referring to course units: 3 units, 9 units, etc. 

Century – particular centuries are spelled out and lower case (eighteenth century, twelve century). Hyphens are used as in the following examples:

  • the twenty-first century
  • fourteenth-century monastery
  • twenty-first-century history
  • a mid-eighteenth-century poet
  • late nineteenth-century politicians
  • the style was nineteenth century        

When stating dates, state as July 1 or June 15 or May 30. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. are not used in the calendar for dates. 

Use gender-neutral language. Avoid he/she, chairman, chairwomen – use “chair”.

We list names of specific faculty members on the Administration page for each faculty. In the program description and course listing pages, we will list the general Department Office.

On the Senior Administration page, we will list: the President, Chancellor, Board Chair, Registrar, VP Academic and Provost.

  1. Hyphens

    Use hyphens to avoid double letters, for example: co-operate, co-ordinate.

    Use hyphens for pre- or post- (the exceptions to this are prerequisite and postdoctoral/postgraduate)

    Use: “400-level course” (hyphen) or “at the 400 level” (no hyphen) 

  2. Semi-colons and commas

    Use a comma to separate the numbers of the same course title, but a semi-colon to separate different course titles. For example: Anthropology 479; Archaeology 325; East Asian Studies 321; Geography 463, 465, 470, 479, 555; Greek and Roman Studies 325, 327, 445, 447; Political Science 447, 451.

    There is a comma separating the Geography courses, but a semi-colon separating those from Greek and Roman Studies.

    We avoid using a comma before a final “and” unless it helps to clarify. For example, in the prerequisite:  Physics 211 or 221, and 223. 

    Use periods at end of course description, prerequisites, antirequisites, corequisites and notes fields. 

    No periods at the end of course titles, hours or MAY BE REPEATED FOR CREDIT or NOT INCLUDED IN GPA statements. 

advisor

analyze

antirequisite (no hyphen)

defence

email (no hyphen)

enrol

enrolment

enrolling

enrolled

field work: (two words)

health care (n.) e.g., the field of health care

health-care (adj.) e.g., health-care system

Indigenous

Internet (upper case)

judgment (not judgement)

label

labelled

labelling

model

modelled

modelling

online

organize

per cent (two words). The symbol (%) may be used in a table to save space.

prerequisite (no hyphen)

program (not programme)

postgraduate

postdoctoral

reapply

re-enter (avoid double letters)

web (lower case)

web page, website, webcast, web server (lower case)

World Wide Web (upper case as it is a proper name)

*We will start web addresses after the www, eg. ucalgary.ca/pubs/calendar/current/.