As a professional provider of education it is important that we present ourselves coherently and consistently in our communications to both external and internal audiences. How we write, and the way we refer to ourselves, must remain consistent across everything the University produces.
How to use this guide: After this introductory section, you'll find an alphabetised list of scenarios and how our editorial style is implemented. You may find it beneficial to use Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac) to search for specific mentions of a term. As much guidance as possible is given here, but if you have any questions do get in contact with the marketing team (marketing@londonmet.ac.uk). You can also check The Guardian newspaper’s online style guide, which is similar to our own.
Tone of voice
When we communicate to our audiences in written form we need to ensure that we use a consistent tone of voice. Our audiences include students (prospective and current), parents, other influencers (eg teachers), colleagues, partners, the academic community and service providers. When we communicate we should sound professional, friendly, approachable, inclusive, confident and inspirational.
Being friendly:
- Although we want to relay professionalism, avoid using overly academic language: opt for a down-to-earth approach. (This may not apply in all cases, eg academic to academic).
- Use contractions. Using "it’s", "that’s", "you’ll", "let’s" is friendly and accessible.
- Avoid jargon and slang. Phrases such as "professional service departments" and acronyms such as "SCDM", "GSBL" or "HRM" are confusing for external audiences and should not be used.
Sounding confident:
- Keep it simple. “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Albert Einstein
- Be clear and concise. Many people will just scan through a leaflet, document or a web page. Avoid using too many words or repeating yourself.
- Write with conviction. Words like "might", "could", "aim to" and "we think" do not inspire confidence in our audiences.
Writing to be inclusive:
- Use second person narrative: "You will be encouraged to read from specified case law and legal journals.” Avoid writing about the audience you are talking to ("students will").
- Put your reader first. Students are not interested in how our departments are structured – they just need information that is clear and concise.
- Be helpful. If there are terms that our audiences might not understand, explain them clearly.
Being inspirational and creative:
- Grab the reader’s attention. Adopting a professional tone doesn’t mean we need to sound boring.
- The average person spends much less than a minute looking at a web page or document. Structure information so the most important parts are at the top and weave a narrative to engage your audience.
- Give concrete examples wherever possible: “Alumni now work at Sky, the BBC and The Guardian.”
Related content
Read our inclusive language guide
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Use of abbreviations should be kept to a minimum. Punctuation within an abbreviation should be kept to the minimum. | eg ie etc |
eg. or e.g. ie. or i.e. etc. or e.t.c. |
| When referring to page numbers, the word "page" should not be abbreviated. | page 42 | p 42 or p.42 or pp.42 |
| Measurements should be treated in a similar way to abbreviations, with no full stops. | mph am pm cm mm |
m.p.h. a.m. p.m. cm. mm. |
| Geographical abbreviations follow a similar style. | UK USA UAE |
U.K. U.S.A. U.A.E. |
| Points of the compass should not be abbreviated in straight text and generally carry lower-case initials (see also Area names). | north south east west |
North, South, East, West N, S, E, W n, s, e, w |
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Acronyms should be set in capitals and should have no full stops and spaces between letters. |
BBC | B.B.C. |
| NALGO | N.A.L.G.O. | |
| DIY | D.I.Y | |
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Acronyms should be avoided where possible. Where the acronym may not be familiar to the reader or confusion may arise, the name should be written in full the first time it is used followed by the acronym in brackets. When referring to a school name, we prefer to use the full name for the first instance, followed by "the School" thereafter. Where more than one school name is referred to, continue to use the full names to avoid confusion. |
Master of Business Administration (MBA) | MBA |
| School of Social Sciences and Professions | SSSP | |
| Human resource management (HRM) | HRM |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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Addresses should be written in full (no abbreviations) and carry the postcode. |
London Metropolitan University |
LMU |
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Do not use punctuation at the end of each line of a stacked address and ensure the postcode is on a line of its own. When the address appears in continuous text, use commas where the lines would normally break. Full stops should not be used in postcodes. |
London Metropolitan University |
London Metropolitan University, |
| Notes | ||
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Align text to the left. In our branded design templates, text is positioned in relation to the logo (see the logo positioning and page layout guidance). |
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| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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Do not use an ampersand to replace the word "and" unless the ampersand is part of a company name.
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Guildhall School of Business and Law |
Guildhall School of Business & Law |
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Ogilvy & Mather |
Ogilvy and Mather |
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During the course you will learn how to make a pair of curtains and a cushion cover. |
During the course you will learn how to make a pair of curtains & a cushion cover. |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Area names including points of the compass should not carry a capital initial, unless it's part of the place's official name. |
north Wales | North Wales |
| western China | Western China | |
| south-east Asia | South-East Asia | |
| north London | North London | |
| the north-east | the North-West | |
| the south of Scotland | the South of Scotland | |
| East End | east End | |
| North America | north America | |
| North Pole | north pole | |
| South Yorkshire | south Yorkshire | |
| Western Australia | western Australia | |
| the West Midlands | the west Midlands |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Use rounded, solid bullet points for lists. |
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- Art |
| Use numbered lists with full stops rather than a bracket. |
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1) Art |
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For information on using capital letters with bulleted lists please refer to the Capital letters section. |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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When we refer to our campuses please use the following terms and capitalisation:
City and North should not be used when communicating to students as they are internal terms and not easy to interpret. The terms Holloway campus and Aldgate campus are self-explanatory. Campuses should not be referred to as hubs. Hubs are student offices at each of our campuses. The Holloway Hub refers to the student enquiries office at our Holloway campus. |
Holloway campus |
North Campus |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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Only proper nouns require capital letters (specific person, place or thing - eg company names, countries, languages). |
London Metropolitan University |
London metropolitan university |
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Belgium and France |
belgium and france |
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There are museums and churches in Venice |
There are Museums and Churches in Venice |
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Names of diseases do not require capital letters unless they are named after a person or place, eg Alzheimer's or Ebola. |
There was Ebola in the region. |
There was ebola in the region. |
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Seasons (autumn etc) do not use capital letters. |
In the autumn the leaves are red. |
In the Autumn the leaves are red. |
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Avoid the use of capitalised headings or text – capitals are harder to read and impede comprehension. Instead, use bold (minimally) to emphasise words. The only time headings can be written in all-capitals is when used on marketing materials (not on the London Met website) as a title font or stylised heading. For example, the name of an event may be styled in all capitals on a poster or flyer. Find out more about using title fonts/stylised headings. |
This text is much easier to read as readers recognise the words more easily by their shapes. |
THIS TEXT IS DIFFICULT TO READ AS READERS CAN'T EASILY RECOGNISE WORDS BY THEIR SHAPES. |
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When you start a bulleted list with a sentence that runs on into the bullet points, you do not need to use capitals. |
During this course you will:
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During this course you will:
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If the bulleted list does not use full sentences, you do not need to use capital letters. |
Please bring the following items to enrolment:
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Please bring the following items to enrolment:
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When a bulleted list uses full sentences, start the sentence with a capital letter and end with a full stop. |
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| Titles and sub-titles should always be written in sentence case. |
Welcome to your first week at London Metropolitan University |
Welcome to Your First week at London Metropolitan University |
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Generic terms, including those that are commonly abbreviated with an acronym, should not be capitalised. Common terms we use and their correct capitalisation are shown here with accepted exceptions noted. When referring to open days and events in general they should be expressed in lower case, but when referring to a specific open day (ie it's the title of the event) the words should be capitalised. When referring to a generic subject area the words should be lowercase. When referring to one of our courses specifically they should be capitalised. |
postgraduate, |
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For information on how to capitalise job titles, please see the section entitled "Job titles". |
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For guidance on how we use capitals when referring to our schools and professional service departments, please see "London Metropolitan University and its constituent parts". |
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For information on how we use capitals when referring to our students and graduates (eg postgraduate, international) please read the section entitled "Students and graduates". |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Dates should not be abbreviated. Do not follow the number of the day with "th", "st" or "nd". When the date is in single figures, it should not be preceded by a 0. |
1 July 2002 |
22nd July 2002 |
| Times should be written respecting the provisos concerning measurements and space. Numbers in times should not be written as a word and times should not feature the word "o'clock". The 12-hour clock should be used (ie follow the number with am or pm) and when the time is not on the hour the time should feature a full stop (rather than a colon). |
5pm |
Five o'clock |
| Use the minimum number of digits when referring to years. When referring to a span across two years use a hyphen without spacing. | 2001-02 | 2001/2002 2001-02 2001 — 2002 2001/02 |
| In straight prose, write out centuries in full, and hyphenate when they are used as adjectives. | nineteenth century | 19th century |
| seventeenth-century armour |
17th-century armour |
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| Use a space after the number when referring to BC or AD. | 200 BC | 200BC |
| AD 1993 | AD1993 | |
| When referring to a particular decade use, for example "sixties" or "1960s" (no apostrophe). | Sixties 1960s |
1960’s |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| When we write about awarding a student with a degree, we must refer to the University, rather than a school or department, as the awarding body. | London Metropolitan University awards you... |
The School of Human Sciences awards you... |
| Your degree from London Metropolitan University.... | Your degree from The School of Computing and Digital Media... | |
| In text, the title of the degree should come before the qualification, and, as the name of a product, the title of the degree should be written in title case (ie with a capital letter at the beginning of each word). | Biomedical Science BSc (Hons) | BSc (Hons) biomedical science |
| The words bachelor's and master's should include a possessive apostrophe (and be in lower case). | Studying for a master's is a rewarding experience. |
Studying for a masters is a rewarding experience. |
| Students should be described as being "on", rather than "in", a course or module. |
You'll gain extensive work experience on our Social Work course. As a student on our work placement module, you'll explore... |
You'll gain extensive work experience in our Social Work course. As a student in our work placement module, you'll explore... |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Full stops should not be used after headings, subheadings, paragraph headings etc, or when a sentence or tagline isn't a full sentence. |
Page heading A wide range of undergraduate courses with high-quality teaching |
Page heading. A wide range of undergraduate courses with high-quality teaching. |
| Minimise use of full stops in abbreviations. Use only for clarification or to avoid misinterpretation, eg, ‘no’ meaning ‘no’ and ‘no.’ meaning ‘number’. If such confusion is a possibility it is preferable to forgo abbreviation in favour of the full word. |
eg |
e.g. |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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Keep hyphenation to the minimum needed to avoid ambiguity. Distinguish between "a man-eating tiger" and "a man eating tiger"; "four year-old children" and "four-year-old children". Words such as "makeup" and "childcare" can be run together and written without a hyphen. "Part-time" and "full-time" need hyphens (both as nouns and adjectives), but "postgraduate" and "undergraduate" do not. We would also never use suspended hyphens, eg full- and part-time. Instead, we would write: full-time and part-time.
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Part-time |
Part time |
| Full-time student |
Full time student |
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| Full-time and part-time students |
Full and part time students |
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| Undergraduate | Under-graduate | |
| Postgraduate | Post-graduate | |
| Online | On-line | |
| Website | Web-site | |
| Cooperate | Co-operate |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Italicise Latin names, foreign words and titles of periodicals, newspapers and books in preference to using quotation marks. | The Times |
‘The Times’ |
| War and Peace |
War and Peace |
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| Do not use italics or quotation marks/inverted commas when referring to works of art, films and plays. Write in title case instead. | The Phantom of the Opera Mona Lisa Persistence of Memory |
The Phantom of the Opera "Mona Lisa" 'Persistence of Memory' |
| Do not use italics (or an underline) to emphasise occasional words in text. Use bold text instead. | Do not run | Do not run |
| When using quotes, do not use italics. Please also only use double quotation marks (“). | "I had the best time at London Met." | 'I had the best time at London Met.' |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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Whether or not you capitalise job titles depends on whether you are referring to a specific person or one of a group of people. If the job title isn't referring to a specific individual, or referring to the individual as one of a group, it should not be capitalised. As a general rule, if the job title could be replaced in the sentence by the name of an individual it should be capitalised. Please note, we generally don't capitalise course leader. |
John Ward is a senior lecturer | John Ward is a Senior Lecturer |
| Lynn Dobbs, Vice-Chancellor | Lynn Dobbs, vice chancellor | |
| We invited Vice-Chancellor Lynn Dobbs | We invited vice chancellor Lynn Dobbs | |
| Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister | David Cameron, the prime minister | |
| Education Minister Sarah Jacks | Education minister Sarah Jacks | |
| Senior Lecturer Jack Biggs | Senior lecturer Jack Biggs | |
| Senior Lecturer Jack Biggs is the course leader for our Psychology BSc | Senior Lecturer Jack Biggs is the Course Leader for our Psychology BSc | |
| Psychology BSc course leader Jack Biggs | Psychology BSc Course Leader Jack Biggs |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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The University should be referred to as London Metropolitan University or London Met. The full name is preferable, particularly on formal communications and marketing materials, where it must appear at least once before being shortened to London Met. There are a number of ways of shortening the University name that should not be used in University communications and are not associated with London Met, for example: LMU, Londonmet, LondonMet, Ldn Met and The Met*. |
London Metropolitan University | LMU |
| London Met | Londonmet | |
| LondonMet | ||
| Ldn Met | ||
| The Met | ||
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When referring to the University in text without using the full name, the word "university" should carry an initial capital, but when referring to universities in general use lower case. |
The University has implemented a graduate internship scheme. |
The university has implemented a graduate internship scheme. |
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We have eight recognised sub-brands at the University. When referring to these sub-brands in text please use capitalisation as indicated here:
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Other areas of the University (for example research units, professional service departments and University initiatives) should communicate their name or title using standard capitalisation (for example the Institute for Policy Studies in Education). |
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Whether or not the word "the" is capitalised in the title of an organisational unit of the University depends whether or not "the" is part of the unit’s recognised name. |
Application forms can be picked up from the Research Office. |
Application forms can be picked up from The Research Office. |
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In foreign markets the University name remains London Metropolitan University. This is with the exception of the Chinese version of the University name: 伦敦城市大学. This is registered as a trademark in China and is the only non-English representation of the University name that should be used. |
Please note, "Met" should not be used in isolation, ie without "London", even in the naming of initiatives or other University activities due to its association with a number of other brands.
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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Numbers up to nine should normally be spelled out in full, with the exception of academic years and levels. |
There are five modules. |
There are 5 modules. |
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Numbers from 10 to 999,999 should use figures. |
You need to climb 34 flights of stairs. | You need to climb thirty-four flights of stairs. |
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Ordinal numbers should be expressed as words. |
You were in first place. |
Your were in 1st place. It's on the 11th floor. |
| Figures should be used for statistics, money, weight, measurements and ages. | You will receive either £75.50 or £92. | You will receive seventy-five pounds and fifty pence or ninety-two pounds. |
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Do not use figures to start a sentence. Write out the words or, better still, rearrange the sentence. Hyphenate compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine. |
Eighty-nine types of shampoo were tested as part of the trial. As part of the trial 89 types of shampoo were tested. |
89 types of shampoo were tested as part of the trial. |
| "Per cent" should be written as two words in full except in diagrams and tables. | 90 per cent | 90% |
| In text four figure numbers should carry a comma. | There were 4,285 students. |
There were 4285 students. |
| Million should be written in full. | 15 million |
15m |
| Decimal points should be preceded by a digit. | 0.345 |
.345 |
| For currency, use either £ or p, but not both | £3.50 56p |
£3.50p |
| Spaces should normally appear between figures and abbreviated measurements. | 5 mm | 5mm |
| 10 cm | 10cm | |
| 3 fl oz | 3fl oz | |
| Do not use spaces for %, temperatures or times. | 6% |
6 % |
| 30°F |
30° F |
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| 50°C | 50° C | |
| 9am | 9 am |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Always include the international dialling code. | +44 (0)20 7133 2789 | 020 7133 2789 |
| Do not use hyphens in telephone numbers. | +44 (0)20 7133 2789 | +44 (0)20-7133 2789 |
| Use brackets only for clarification of alternative digits in international dialling codes. | +44 (0)20 7133 2789 | +44 (020) 7133 2789 |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Titles and qualifications should not carry full stops or spaces within them. Where qualifications appear after a name, they should be separated by a space but no comma. | BA | B.A. |
| BSc | BSc. | |
| BSc (Hons) | BSc Hons | |
| PhD | PHD | |
| PGCert | Pg Cert. | |
| PGDip | Pg Dip. | |
| Mr | MR | |
| Ms | Ms. | |
| Prof | PROF. | |
| Esq | ESQ |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| When expressing a direct quote (repetition of the exact words used by a person) use double quote marks, not single. | He said: “We are doing all we can.” |
He said: ‘We are doing all we can.’ |
| Avoid using inverted commas. | We will consider unconventional applications. |
We will consider 'unconventional' applications. |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
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The names of the academic schools can be found with the details of our sub-brands. Please use these names in full – do not use abbreviations (SSSP, GSBL etc). If the school has a shortened name, eg SCDM, please use the full school name in the first instance and then the shortened version thereafter. When used in a sentence, all schools should be preceded by a lowercase "the" or, alternatively, "our" where appropriate. For more information, please see the "Abbreviations and acronyms" section. Note capitalisation, and also refer to the section titled "London Metropolitan University and its constituent parts". |
Guildhall School of Business and Law | Guildhall Business and Law, GSBL, London Guildhall School of Business and Law |
| School of Computing and Digital Media | SCDM | |
| School of Human Sciences | SHS | |
| School of Social Sciences and Professions | SSSP | |
| School of the Built Environment | SBE | |
| School of Art, Architecture and Design | SAAD | |
| When referring to a non-specific school do not capitalise the first letter. Only capitalise when you are referring to a specific school. | London Met has six schools. | London Met has six Schools. |
| The School of Human Sciences has an outstanding reputation. The School has scored highly in the latest Research Assessment Exercise. | The school has scored highly in the latest Research Assessment Exercise. | |
| When referring to school offices generally, both "school" and "office(s)" should be lowercase. Only capitalise when you are referring to a specific school office. |
Our students can get support through our dedicated school offices. If you're a current student and need help with your student finance, please visit your school office. |
Our students can get support through our dedicated School Offices. If you're a current student and need help with your student finance, please visit your School Office. |
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The Social Sciences and Professions School Office |
The Social Sciences and Professions school office The Human Sciences school office is located at our Holloway campus – the school office can help you with anything relating to... |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
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We often use terms such as international, study abroad or postgraduate to describe our students. These are nouns and do not require capitalisation. Please follow the guidelines below:
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Study a postgraduate course from this September. |
Study a Postgraduate course from this September. |
| Notes | Correct | Incorrect |
|---|---|---|
| Keep web address hyperlinks as a single entity wherever possible. If it's unavoidable to break them across rows, break after the forward slash and never insert hyphenation to reflect a break as the hyperlink will malfunction. | londonmet.ac.uk/ international |
londonmet.ac.uk/inte- |
| Do not include "http://" in web addresses. Exclude the "www" from a web address unless the URL will not function without it. | londonmet.ac.uk/opendays | http://londonmet.ac.uk/opendays |
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Online, URLs should be embedded as hyperlinks rather then spelled out in full. Make the hyperlinked text the subject of the link itself, and avoid "read more" or "click here" links. |
Attend our next open day. | Attend our next open day: http://londonmet.ac.uk/events |