Style guide A-Z
This A-Z guide shows how we spell, capitalise and abbreviate commonly used words. It includes words that are specific to Queen Mary eg building names and words that are often spelt incorrectly.
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A
abbreviations – These should always be written without punctuation: eg, etc
Abernethy Building (Whitechapel campus)
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) – also known as the Shanghai ranking
Academic Registrar – This job title is always capped (as are all job titles)
Advice and Counselling Service (Mile End campus)
adviser (rather than advisor)
affect means to influence something, effect as a noun means a result or outcome, effect as a verb means to bring about change eg ‘We have effected changes that will affect our students’
A-levels
Albert Stern Cottages (Mile End campus)
Albert Stern House (Mile End campus)
all right (rather than alright)
also can be overused and is best to avoid.
altogether is an adverb that means ‘completely’ eg ‘he was altogether confused’. All together means in a group eg ‘we will gather all together in front of the Student Union’.
alumni (and alumna/alumnus) – Alumni (noun, plural) are the former students or graduates of a university. At Queen Mary, we use the terms alumni and graduates rather than former students. In some contexts, the term alumni can have advantages because it is more specifically linked to our graduates, rather than graduates in general eg as a section heading on the Queen Mary homepage: www.qmul.ac.uk
alumnus is the masculine form, and alumna is the feminine form of the noun. However, we try to avoid these terms as many people are unfamiliar with their meaning and they tend to sound old fashioned. Find a way around it, for example: ‘Jane Smith, one of our alumni, is now a leading clinician’; or ‘One of our graduates, Jane Smith is now a leading clinician’.
among not amongst.
ampersands – See 'And' below
amount – As a noun, amount should be used with nouns that can’t be counted eg ‘the amount of time you spend revising’.
analyse (rather than analyze)
and – Write out in full, unless '&' is part of a company name or book title: eg Proctor & Gamble
and/or – Don’t use this if possible. Try and re-write your sentence instead.
articles – Magazine and journal article names should be placed within single quote marks: eg ‘Understanding Human Behaviour’. See further information for guidance on italics.
ArtsOne and ArtsTwo (Mile End campus) – Always a closed space between each word, with both elements capitalised.
Arts Research Centre (Mile End campus)
autumn (no caps for seasons)
B
BA (Hons)(Cantab) – Leave no space between awarding institution in brackets after qualification
bachelors (no caps or apostrophe)
Bancroft Building (Mile End campus) – Formerly the Francis Bancroft Building, its rooms still retain FB numbers. Use lowercase 'the' when referring to it in a sentence: eg 'lectures will be held in the Bancroft Building'.
Bancroft Road Teaching Rooms (Mile End campus)
Barts and The London Students’ Association (BLSA)
basically – avoid using this.
Beaumont Court (Mile End campus)
Beigal Bunnies (Whitechapel campus)
BEng
Blizard Building (Whitechapel campus) - Note that Blizard has only one z.
Blizard Institute
blog – a blog is a collection of online articles, a blogpost is a single article. It can also be used as a verb eg ‘I blogged about the seminar’.
BMus
both – this is overused and is often not needed eg ‘Both undergraduates and postgraduates live on the Mile End campus’. In this example, it is not needed.
BSc
Building names – Always remember to specify the campus a specific building is located at: eg 'ArtsOne (Mile End)' or '(Mile End campus)'.
bullets – see further information
C
campus – Use a lower case 'c': eg the Mile End campus
Canalside (Mile End campus) – To be used when referring to the study space beneath France House.
capitals – see further information for guidance on words and names that should be capitalised. One of the most important rules is to capitalise University when we are talking about Queen Mary but not when we talk about universities in general eg ‘Queen Mary is a Russell Group University, operating across five campuses in London and at sites across Europe and Asia’ but ‘Russell Group universities are renowned for their commitment to excellence’.
cardiovascular (not two words or hyphenated)
Careers and Enterprise - The Careers and Enterprise service is run by the Careers and Enterprise team.
Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) (Lincoln's Inn Fields campus)
Centre of the Cell (Whitechapel campus)
Century – always detail in lower case: eg 19th century
Chapman House (Mile End campus)
Charterhouse Square
Chesney House (Mile End campus)
city – When referring to a city, lower case. When referring to the City of London, use capitals eg ‘Our Careers and Enterprise team host recruitment events with employers from the City of London’.
college or university – with regard to legal status, we are a member of the University of London, a federation of 18 member institutions. We use the term university to describe ourselves NOT college – eg ‘We are one of the UK’s leading universities’. See also Talking about ourselves and Capitalisation in further information
The Complete University Guide
Computer Science Building (Mile End campus)
contractions - please see our for when to use these
co-operative
co-ordinate
CopyShop (Mile End campus) – Ensure no space sits between the two words, and use a lowercase 'the' when using in a sentence: eg 'the CopyShop' rather than 'The Copy Shop'.
course – When referring to degrees, use ‘degree programmes’ rather than ‘degree courses’; however, the word ‘course’ can be used in a general sense, especially when referring to studies undertaken in other institutions.
coursemates – Try to avoid using coursemates as it can sound old-fashioned; an alternative is 'fellow students' or 'others studying on your course'.
coursework
Creed Court (Mile End campus)
currency – When the whole word is used, it is lower case: euro, pound, sterling, dong, etc. Abbreviate dollars as per the following model: $50 (US dollars); A$50 (Australian dollars); HK$50 (Hong Kong dollars).
curriculums – Use the plural rather than curricula, which can sound old-fashioned.
D
dashes – see further information for correct use of hyphens.
data is technically a plural but the singular datum shouldn’t be used. Data should take a singular verb eg ‘the data is clear’ not ‘the data are clear’.
dates – Write dates in the following format: Saturday 17 January 2009 (rather than Sat 17th Jan or Jan 17)
– 2011/12 (not 2011-12)
Dawson Hall (Charterhouse Square campus)
Dean Rees House (Charterhouse Square campus)
decades – Write as 1960s or the Sixties, for example, rather than using an apostrophe and the last two digits, (eg '60s). When describing a span of years, write as: 1960–69.
degree class – First, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd. Use First, never 1st. Use a capital when referring to a First on its own, but lower case for first-class degree. Never use first degree, as this can be confused with an undergraduate degree.
Department – Refer to the Department (caps) about a named Department, but one of the departments (lower case) when it’s general eg the Department of Law is one of the best Law departments in the UK.
dependant is a noun, dependent is an adjective eg ‘She had three dependants, who were dependent on her’.
different from not different than
Digital Environment Research Institute
Disability and Dyslexia Service (Mile End campus)
discreet means to be circumspect or inconspicuous, discrete means separate
disinterested means objective or impartial, uninterested means not interested in something.
Doctoral student – lower case ‘d’
Dr – (not Dr. or Doctor)
dos and don’ts – note the apostrophes
Down’s syndrome (rather than Down syndrome)
Drapers Bar and Kitchen (previously Drapers' Bar) – note there is no apostrophe.
Drapers’ Lecture Theatre – note there is an apostrophe
E
Earth – use when talking about the planet, but drop to lowercase when referring to the earth in terms of soil. Avoid idiomatic phrases such as ‘down to earth’ etc.
east London (no caps) and East End – Both are acceptable depending on the context: eg, 'At Queen Mary, we are lucky to be able to call the East End our home' or 'The 2012 Olympics contributed to the regeneration of east London'.
eastern Europe
e-book
e-Bulletin
e-cigarette
e-commerce
effect as a noun means a result or outcome, effect as a verb means to bring about change, affect means to influence something eg ‘We have effected changes that will affect our students’.
eg (not e.g.)
e-journal
e-learning
email – One word, no hyphen. It remains in lower-case when used in someone's contact details, even though 'Tel' is capitalised.
e-marketing
embarrass, embarrassment
emoji, plural emojis
Engineering Building (Mile End campus)
enquire / enquiry mean to ask or the process of asking. Only use inquire for formal investigations such as Iraq War Inquiry.
enrolment (rather than enrollment)
ensuite is one word
especially means particularly, specially means for a special reason eg ‘The initiative benefits our students, especially those living at home’.
EU – European Union, no need to spell out
euro is lower case
every day means daily, everyday means something is usual eg ‘an everyday occurrence’
extracurricular (one word)
F
Faculty – Use caps where it is a specific faculty: 'Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences'. Where you are referring to a faculty in the general sense, use lowercase: eg ‘Queen Mary has three faculties, and these are divided up into schools and institutes’.
farther relates to distance eg ‘the farthest point east’, further broadly means more, eg ‘we need further sessions’.
Feilden House (Mile End campus) – please note that it is ei rather than ie.
Figures – see numbers
filmmaking (one word / no hyphen)
Floyer House (Whitechapel campus)
Foetus (rather than fetus)
focus, focused, focusing (rather than focussing)
following – after is simpler
foreign words – Use italics for foreign words, eg ‘The Institute moved into the larger building overlooking the Esplanade des Invalides thanks to a generous grant’.
foreign place names
forever means continually, eg ‘we are forever improving our curriculum’. For ever
means for always eg ‘We are committed to our alumni for ever’.
forward slashes – Do not include a space between and after forward slashes (eg MSc/Postgraduate Diploma).
fractions – Use words and hyphenate rather than using forward slashes: eg two-thirds, half, three-quarters.
France House (Mile End campus)
Freshers' Fair – Use only when referring to the Fair itself, as the entire first week of term is referred to as Welcome Week.
full-time or full time – this should be hyphenated when it modifies the noun eg ‘a full-time course’ but two words when it follows a verb eg ‘study full time’.
G
gain should only be used in relation to mass.
Garrod Building (Whitechapel campus) – formerly the Old Medical College
G.E. Fogg Building (Mile End campus)
Generation X is used to describe people born between the early 1960s and the late 1970s.
Generation Y is used to describe people born between the early 1980s and mid-2000s – see also millennials.
Generation Z is used to describe people born after the mid-2000s.
Google – capitalise even when used as a verb
Government – Use an upper case G to talk about a specific Government: eg ‘the Government’ but lower case to talk about ‘governments’ or ‘government departments’.
G.O. Jones Building (Mile End campus)
graduates (rather than ‘former students’)
The Great Hall (West Smithfield campus)
Great Britain is England, Wales and Scotland, the UK includes Northern Ireland.
green – Use lower case when taking about the environment but upper case for the Green party.
The Griff (Whitechapel campus) – formerly called The Griff Inn.
groundbreaking – one word
Ground Café (Mile End campus) – note the accent
H
Hatton House (Mile End campus)
Healthcare (rather than health care)
higher education (no caps when written out in full) – Try to avoid the HE abbreviation, especially in external communications.
Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
Higher Education Institutes (HEI) – The acronym HEI can he used in internal communications. In external communications, use universities or higher education institutes.
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
The Hive (Mile End campus)
homepage – one word
Honours degree – note no apostrophe
Housing Hub (Mile End campus)
human, humankind not man, mankind
hyphens – see further information for when to use hyphens.
I
iconic – this word can be overused
Ifor Evans Place (Mile End campus)
impact – a noun not a verb
in-course
index, indexes
infer – to work something out from evidence.
Informatics Teaching Laboratories (Mile End campus)
Infusion (Mile End campus)
initials – there should be no spaces between initials eg WH Auden
inquiry – see enquiry
international students (rather than Foreign students)
internet – note lower case
Internet of Things, also know as IoT but best to spell out first time.
insessional – no hyphen
Institute – If you are talking about a particular Institute then it should have an initial upper case I. If you are talking about institutes in general, it should be lower case. See further information for more on capitalisation.
into – go into a room, look into something but listen in to a conversation, go in to see someone.
In vitro (use italics)
In vivo (use italics)
iPad
iPhone
iPod
'ised' – Use ‘ise’ not 'ize' eg organise
Italics – see further information for when to italicise words.
Its is used to show possession eg ‘the cat loved its ball’; it’s means it is.
J
job titles should be capitalised eg Vice-Principal. See further information for when to use capitals
John Vane Science Centre (Charterhouse Square campus)
Joseph Priestley Building (Mile End campus) – Formerly known as the Walter Besant Building.
Joseph Rotblat Building (Charterhouse Square campus)
journals – Always italicise the names of journals, eg Lancet. See further information for more on when to italicise.
K
key can be overused
keywords – one word
knowledgeable
L
Language Centre
laptop – one word
less – Use less when writing about something that can’t be counted or doesn’t have a plural eg ‘less money’, ‘less time’. Use fewer when writing about something that can be counted eg ‘fewer students’.
LGBTQA+ – An umbrella term referring collectively to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or asexual
liaise
licence is the noun, license the verb eg ‘Driver’s Licence’, ‘licensed to kill’.
Lindop House (Mile End campus)
lifelong – one word
Lincoln's Inn Fields
lists – Lists of items should always run alphabetically.
literally – avoid unless you literally mean it
live blog – two words when you are talking about a live blog (a noun), one word if you are using it as a verb, ie to liveblog
live stream – two words when you are talking about a live stream, one word if you are using it as a verb, ie to livestream
log in, log on, log out, log off – use two words
login, logon – one word
LLB – this acronym can be used for law degrees, there is no need to spell out
LLM – this acronym can be used for postgraduate law degrees, there is no need to spell out
Lock-keeper’s Graduate Centre (Mile End campus)
Lodge House (Mile End campus)
Lynden House (Mile End campus)
M
MA – this acronym can be used for Master of Arts programmes, there is no need to spell out
man, mankind – human, humankind are preferred
masters (no caps or apostrophe)
Maurice Court (Mile End campus)
Maynard House (Mile End campus)
MBA – this acronym can be used Master of Business Administration, there is no need to spell out
MBBS – this acronym can be used for medical degrees, there is no need to spell out
media – this is a plural and should use a plural verb eg ‘the media have not responded to reports’.
medieval – This is the preferred spelling used by Department of History (rather than mediaeval).
modules – We offer 'core modules' and 'option modules' (not 'optional modules').
midterm – one word, no hyphens
midweek – one word, no hyphens
Mile End campus – please don’t describe this as our main campus
millennium
millennials – this should be used for people born between the early 1980s and mid-2000s – see also Generation Y.
million – use m for numbers in millions eg £145m.
module titles – These are usually written using capitals: eg ‘Explaining the Universe’, ‘Introduction to Mathematical Finance’
MPhil
MSc
Mucci’s (Mile End campus)
Multicultural
Multimedia
Multimillion
Multi-Faith Centre (Mile End campus)
Mr, Mrs, Ms – please note the lack of punctuation
N
national curriculum
National Student Survey (NSS) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
nearby – note this is one word
Neuron Pod (Whitechapel campus, note no 'the')
new – overused and often superfluous
north (no caps)
Nucleus (Whitechapel campus)
numbers – Spell numbers one to nine in words, and 10 and above in digits: eg eight and 87. Use commas in numbers over a thousand: eg 1,000. Use m for numbers in millions: eg £5m and 145m.
O
Occupational Health and Safety Directorate (Mile End campus)
Occupational Health Service (Mile End campus)
Octagon (Mile End campus)
Office for Fair Access (OFFA) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
Office for Students (OfS) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
Old Anatomy Building (Charterhouse Square campus)
Olympics, Olympic Games, Olympic site
ongoing – this word is overused
online (no hyphen)
on to not onto
Open Days – These should have an initial capital when talking about a particular event eg ‘Come to our June Open Day’ but not when we talk about open days in general.
organise, organisation (rather than organize, organization)
P
page numbers – These should be bracketed, lower case and unabbreviated: eg ‘(see page 10)’
part-time – see 'full-time' above for when to hyphenate
Pathology and Museum Block (West Smithfield campus)
Pathology and Pharmacy Building (Whitechapel campus)
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, use of company name: PPC advertising at times requires you to put in a company name and this section usually has a limit of 31 characters or less. For this ‘QMUL’ in its abbreviated form can be used and is consistent with our approach to QMUL for domain names, hashtags and social media handles. However, in order to increase our brand awareness ‘Queen Mary University of London’ should be used or incorporated in the title or main body copy of the advert.
Peer Assisted Study Support (PASS)
The People’s Palace/Great Hall (Mile End campus)
per cent – Two words should be used rather than % or percent, although % can be used in tables or when a document has a lot of statistics.
phone numbers – These should be written in the following format externally (internally, extensions alone can be used): +44 (0)20 XXXX XXXX or +44 (0)7XXX XXX XXX for mobiles.
Pooley House
practice is noun, practise is the verb. She practised penalties before football practice.
precede means go before; proceed means go ahead
presently – this word is overused
pre-sessional
President and Principal Professor Colin Bailey (external first reference to Professor Bailey)
prior to – use before
Principal - internal first reference: Principal Professor Colin Bailey, Internal and external second reference: Professor Colin Bailey
Professional Services
Professor (rather than Prof)
programme (program – only use for computers), always use instead of 'course'
Q
Qmotion (Mile End campus)
QMplus – Please note the lower case p.
QS World University Rankings®
qualifications – A-Level, AS-level, BA, BSc, BEng, BMus, MA, MSc, MBA, MBBS, PhD, MRes, MPhil, BTEC, IB, PgCert, PgDip, MBBS, LLM - Note upper and lower cases and hyphens. Note: the qualification type should appear following the degree title. Eg: 'History MA' etc. However: with PhDs, you do a 'PhD in history'
Queen – Use a capital 'Q' to talk about a specific queen, the Queen, and lower-case for plural queens.
Queens’ Building (Mile End campus) – ensure the apostrophe is placed after the s.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – All words within this phrase should be capitalised.
Queen Mary Innovation Centre (Whitechapel campus)
Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre
Queen Mary Global Policy Institute
Queen Mary Students' Union (QMSU)
Queen Mary University of London (no comma). Do not use acronyms like 'QM' or 'QMUL'.
- Externally: First use Queen Mary University of London , and subsequently use Queen Mary, the University, us, we, our, etc.
- Internally: First use Queen Mary , and subsequently use the University, us, we, our, etc.
- Make sure you have read further information for more guidance on how we talk about ourselves.
R
Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF 2014) – Spell out in full during the first instance and include the acronym and date in brackets. Use the acronym and date for further mentions.
Robin Brook Centre (West Smithfield campus)
The Royal London Dental Hospital (Whitechapel campus)
The Royal London Hospital (Whitechapel campus)
Russell Group (RG). This can be abbreviated in internal communications but should be written out in external communications.
S
School – Write out the name in full the first time eg ‘School of Biological and Chemical Sciences’ and then use ‘the School’. When writing about general schools, it should be lower case.
Selincourt House (Mile End campus)
The Shield (Charterhouse Square campus)
Single Honours
south (lower case)
spring (lower case)
state-of-the-art – this is hyphenated when it appears before a noun eg 'state-of-the-art laboratories but not when you say ‘the laboratories are state of the art'. This word can be overused so only use it when it is really true.
St Benet’s Chaplaincy (Mile End campus)
Student Central – Formerly the University of London Students’ Union.
Student Enquiry Centre (Mile End campus)
Student Health Service (Mile End campus)
Students’ Union – Our Students' Union is called: Queen Mary Students' Union (QMSU); move into using 'our student unions' to recognise QMSU, BLSA and Student Central.
Students’ Union Hub (Mile End campus)
summer (no caps)
Supervisor
T
take-up is a noun and one word, take up is a verb and two words
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
Tech City
Telephone numbers – Include the country code: eg Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 7882 or +44 (0)7749 XXX XXX.
term-time
The Guardian – All newspaper and journal names should be italicised.
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide
times – see further information for how we describe times.
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
Tube – This term should be used rather than Underground; the Underground is the network run by TfL, while the transport itself is the Tube. The Tube should always be capitalised.
64 Turner Street (Whitechapel campus)
U
UK is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales only.
Undergraduate, postgraduate (in full and lower case)
Underground - see Tube
unit – In most cases ‘Module’ has replaced Unit.
Universities UK (UUK) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
university – see college or university (under 'C')
University league tables or guides – When referencing quotes, statistics or rankings, include a reference in italics to the league table or guide used with the date of publication. Always use the most recent and up-to-date information – see Facts and Figures.
University of London (UoL) – note the lowercase ‘o’. Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
upper second class Honours Degree
urls – when writing a url in a printed publication don’t include https://, www or the final / – eg qmul.ac.uk is how we write the Queen Mary website url. Try to avoid ending a sentence with a url. Shorten long urls either by asking the IT department to create a re-direct or use bitly.com or similar websites. In print publications, URLs should be in colour and not be underlined.
V
Varden Street (Whitechapel campus)
Varey House (Mile End campus)
Vice-Chancellor (capped and hyphenated)
Vice-Principal (capped and hyphenated)
Village Shop (Mile End campus)
Viva Voce – (use italics)
W
webpage (one word)
website (one word)
Welcome Week – Ensure this is in uppercase.
wellbeing - one word rather than two
west (no caps)
Westfield Nursery (Mile End campus)
while not whilst
Whitechapel
Wingate Building (Whitechapel campus)
winter (no caps)
Wi-Fi – Both hyphenated and capped.
William Harvey Research Institute (Charterhouse Square campus)
Wolfson Institute of Population Health (Charterhouse Square campus)
Word counts: Use a hyphen and comma: eg 5,000-word essay
WWI (not WW1 or World War One)
WWII (not WW2 or World War Two)
Y
Year of study - express this numerically for brief mentions eg ‘5th-year dental student’, but use the word in full when writing a longer description: ‘Mari, a second-year student on the BEng Design, Innovation and Creative Engineering degree’.
Yvonne Carter Building (Whitechapel campus)
YouTube – one word and note the capital ‘T’