Editorial style guide: S
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W Z
On this page:
- seas
- seasons
- school, department and faculty names
- semicolon (;)
- semester
- Senate
- sentence case
- sir
- south
- space
- spaces
- spiegeltent
- spin-out
- SPERI
- split infinitives
- Student Funding Calculator
- Students' Union
- superbug
seas
See oceans
seasons
Lower case.
The four seasons are spring, summer, autumn and winter.
school, department and faculty names
Schools, departments and faculties have a capitalised S, D or F when it is written as part of the full name:
The School of English has an excellent record.
Welcome to the Department of Geography.
Staff in the Faculty of Social Sciences have are invited to give their feedback.
When referring to just the department, school or faculty, or to departments, schools or faculties in general, use a lower-case s, d or f.
The academic staff in the school are friendly and approachable.
We are one of the top journalism schools in the country.
The faculty is home to eight schools.
If you use an acronym for your department or school, such as ACSE or SEAS, always make sure you also write it out in full the first time you use it in a text.
semicolon (;)
Use to separate two related ideas in a sentence.
In 2024, the University introduced several new courses; a list of the courses can be found on the website.
Use semicolons to distinguish phrases listed after a colon if commas will not do the job:
You can choose from: Advanced Study and Research Methods; Computer Aided Architectural Design; Climate Sensitive Environmental Design.
semester
Use instead of 'term'.
Senate
The University Senate has an upper case S.
Senate is responsible for regulating and directing the academic work of the University.
sentence case
We use sentence case for all headlines, headings and sub-headings within a document, for instance:
Scientists tackle climate change
Information for students
Unless your headline or heading is also a proper noun, the official title of something. Then you can use title case.
sir
See honorary titles
south
See compass points
space
| Earth | Use a capital E when referring to the planet where we live. Use a lower-case e if you mean soil. |
| sun/moon | These don't need a capital letter. |
| solar system | No capitals. |
| universe | No capitals. |
| galaxy | Where the solar system is. |
| Milky Way | This is a proper name so it gets initial caps. |
| outer space | Not Outer Space, outerspace or outer-space. |
| Jupiter, Saturn, Mars etc. | These are proper names so they always get a cap. |
There are many galaxies, suns, moons and solar systems in the universe. They're not proper names so they don't need caps. It's fine to refer to 'the sun'. The reader will know you mean our sun.
The sun, the moon, Earth, Mars and all the planets in our solar system.
spaces
There should never be more than one space in succession in word-processed text.
Do not enter a double space after a full stop.
spiegeltent
Don't use a capital s.
The spiegeltent will be returning to Barker's Pool.
spin-out
Not 'spinout' or 'spin out'.
SPERI
Upper case, even though the graphical representation in the SPERI logo is lower case.
split infinitives
Split infinitives are not always bad grammar. Trying to avoid splitting infinitives can result in a formal tone, or a messy sentence. As a rule, choose the option that sounds the least stuffy
Student Funding Calculator
Upper case S F and C.
Students' Union
Note the apostrophe. The full, official title is University of Sheffield Students' Union. You can refer to it as Sheffield Students' Union, or the Students' Union.
superbug
One word.