Editorial style guide - A

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A Level

Not hyphenated. Use an upper case L.

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Abbreviations

Don't use them. Write the word in full.

Abbreviated terms commonly used within the University may not be understood outside it, especially by prospective international students.

See also Acronyms and initials

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Accents

Use accents on foreign words, unless the word has been anglicised, for example cafe, fiance.

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Access

When giving directions, always include information about disabled access.

See Equal opportunities

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Acronyms and initials

When you introduce an acronym, write the title in full, followed by the acronym in brackets. After that, you can use the acronym on its own.

If you are writing for the web, acronyms should be written in full with the short version in brackets the first time they are used on each web page.

See also Abbreviations

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Addresses

In documents, publications and on University stationery, addresses should always be arranged vertically. Never make an address part of a sentence or paragraph of text.

Building numbers that cover a range (196–198) should be separated by an en-dash with no spaces. See En-dash.

If the address is in a city or major town, do not include the county.

If you are writing for an international audience, the country should follow the town or city and postcode on a new line. In the case of University addresses, always use United Kingdom, rather than England.

For department addresses, put the department name before the University:

Some important details:

• no full stops at the end of addresses
• no comma between the number and the street name
• do not abbreviate Road, Street or Avenue
• postcode should appear after the town or city on the same line
• no comma between town/county and postcode

Mailing out

When creating address labels or typing letters for use with window envelopes, all the above guidelines apply except that the postcode should be on the last line, separate from the town or city.

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Ampersand (&)

Don't use ampersands in your writing. We sometimes use ampersands in the vertical arrangement of titles and department names for design purposes, but that's different. See Our Visual Identity Guide for details.

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And/or

Try to avoid. Use one or the other or rewrite the sentence. Alternatively, rewrite the sentence. The same applies to his/her.

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Apostrophes

Apostrophes are used to denote possession or omissions in words and phrases.

Possession

Where an object or objects belong to one person or thing, the apostrophe goes before the s:

Where an object or objects belong to more than one person or thing, then the apostrophe goes after the s:

The same applies to singular nouns ending in s:

Generally, the rule also applies to proper nouns ending in s:

Plurals of common nouns ending in s don't need an extra s after the apostrophe:

When you use plural nouns that don't end in s – children, women, sheep – the apostrophe goes before the s:

The one exception to this rule is its:

See also It's or its

Omission

Apostrophes are also used to show that letters are missed out of a word or phrase, usually to make it easier to pronounce.

See also Contractions

Where not to use apostrophes

Never use an apostrophe to form a plural with numbers and letters:

Never use an apostrophe when its is used in the possessive sense:

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Asterisks*

Try to avoid using asterisks. Whatever you have to say should be made clear in your writing. There should be no need for footnotes or small print.