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 e.g. building names and words that are often spelt incorrectly.
As well as our house style guide, there is also a glossary of Queen Mary and Higher Education terms which may be useful to familiarise yourself with.
And please get in touch by filling out the below form if you would like to add to either the glossary or style guide.
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A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W
A
abbreviations – These should always be written with punctuation so screen readers can read them correctly: e.g., i.e.. Better alternatives are ‘for example’ or ‘such as’ or ‘including’. Take care with i.e., it’s not always widely understood. We use i.e. to clarify a sentence, so try to rewrite your sentence to provide this clarity. Otherwise, ‘meaning’ and ‘that is’ are good alternatives.
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).
Acronyms – You must always spell out an acronym in full first time, with the acronym in brackets for first use. Then use the acronym on its own e.g. ‘The Department for Education (DfE) provided funding to the five institutions. DfE is a central government department.’ Queen Mary related names should not be turned into acronyms, as spelling out in full is more accessible.
Advice and Counselling Service (Mile End campus).
adviser – Rather than advisor.
affect – This means to influence something, effect as a noun means a result or outcome, effect as a verb means to bring about change e.g. ‘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.
altogether – An adverb that means ‘completely’ e.g. ‘He was altogether confused’. All together means in a group e.g. ‘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 e.g. as a section heading on the Queen Mary homepage.
alumnus – This 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, e.g. ‘Jane Smith, one of our alumni, is now a leading clinician’; or ‘One of our graduates, Jane Smith is now a leading clinician’.
among – Rather than amongst.
ampersands – These should be avoided on accessibility grounds. This is because they’re not always understood by screen readers (they would say 'ampersand' rather than 'and') and because they may be hard to understand for people with lower reading ages.
amount – As a noun, amount should be used with nouns that can’t be counted e.g. ‘the amount of time you spend revising’.
analyse – Rather than analyze.
and – Write out in full, and please note that we never use an ampersand for anything Queen Mary related.
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 e.g. ‘Understanding Human Behaviour’.
ArtsOne and ArtsTwo (Mile End campus) – Always a closed space between each word, with both elements capitalised.
Arts Research Centre (Mile End campus).
AskQM.
B
BA (Hons)(Cantab) – Leave no space between awarding institution in brackets after qualification. The degree type (BA, MSc etc) should always precede the name of the programme, and never at the end. (BA English, not English BA).
bachelor's – No caps.
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 e.g. 'lectures will be held in the Bancroft Building'.
Bancroft Road Teaching Rooms (Mile End campus).
Barts – Use Barts and the London only when referring to Barts and the London Students’ Association. Do not use 'Barts' or 'Barts and the London' to refer to our medical or dental school. The correct name is 'Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry'. For other uses of 'Barts', specify the correct organisation in full. E.g. Barts Cancer Institute, Barts Health NHS Trust or St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Beaumont Court (Mile End campus).
BEng – Abbreviation for Bachelor of Engineering, there is no need to spell out.
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 e.g. ‘I blogged about the seminar’.
BMus – Abbreviation for Bachelor of Music, there is no need to spell out.
Bold – If you need emphasise a word, then write it out in bold. Do not use italics or caps.
BSc – Abbreviation for Bachelor of Science, there is no need to spell out.
Building names – Always remember to specify the campus a specific building is located at, e.g. 'ArtsOne (Mile End)' or '(Mile End campus)'.
bullets – When using bullet points, capitalise the first word for each new point and add a full stop at the end.
C
campus – Use a lower case 'c', e.g. the Mile End campus
Canalside (Mile End campus) – To be used when referring to the study space beneath France House.
capitalisation rules – Use title case for publication titles. Use sentence case for headings and sub-headings, e.g. Fees and funding opportunities. Use initial capitals for department names, e.g. Department of English/Linguistics/Film. Initial capitals for event names, e.g. Barts Cancer Institute’s Online Christmas Auction. Use initial capitals for job titles, e.g. Vice-Principal. Use initial capitals for lecture theatres, awards and buildings, e.g. David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Teacher of the Year, Queens’ Building. Initial capitals should be used for languages, e.g. French, English, Chinese. And when talking about specific programmes or degrees, e.g. Global Health. If you’re writing about a subject in a general sense then keep it lower case, e.g. ‘We think of chemistry as being the central science, bringing together mathematics, physics, biology and medicine’.
cardiovascular (not two words or hyphenated).
Careers – The Careers service, formerly known as Careers and Enterprise.
Centre for Commercial Law Studies (Lincoln's Inn Fields campus).
Centre – If you are talking about a particular Centre then it should have an initial upper case C. If you are talking about centres in general, it should be lower case.
Centre of the Cell (Whitechapel campus).
Century – always detail in lower case, e.g. 19th century.
Chapman House (Mile End campus).
Charterhouse Square campus.
Chesney House (Mile End campus).
city – When referring to a city, use lower case. When referring to the City of London, use capitals e.g. ‘Our Careers 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 and not college.
colons – We use these between two sentences or two parts of a sentence, where the second explains or expands on the first e.g. 'Our founding institutions gave us values that are relevant today: a commitment to social justice and equality'; to introduce a quote that is a stand-alone sentence e.g. Bailey said: Queen Mary is an outstanding University; and to introduce bullet points.
Community Shop (Mile End campus).
Complete University Guide.
Computer Science Building (Mile End campus) – Note that this now called Peter Landin Building.
contractions – These should be used sparingly for an internal or student audience where appropriate. Don't use them when writing for an external audience. By contractions we mean don't instead of do not, isn't instead of is not.
co-operative.
co-ordinate.
course – When referring to degrees, use ‘degree programmes’ rather than ‘degree courses’. If stating what programme a student has done or is doing, write it out as follows: BSc Business Management, BA Comparative Literature with a Year Abroad (note the capitalisation of Year Abroad).
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.
The Curve (Mile End campus).
D
dashes – Be economical with dashes where possible. Commas can be used in the first instance, as can semicolons. Use the en-dash (–) with a space before and (if in the middle of the sentence) after, as a strong interruption from the main body of a sentence. E.g. ‘Our reformer heritage informs our conviction that great ideas can and should come from anywhere and anyone – no matter what their background’, and when talking about a range of numbers e.g. 'pages 23–24'. Use / for academic years and use an n-dash for calendar years.
data – 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). Use / for academic years and use an n-dash for calendar years.
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, (e.g. '60s). When describing a span of years, write as: 1960–69. Use / for academic years and use an n-dash for calendar years.
Degree Apprenticeships – Capitalise when used as a name but not as general apprenticeships.
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 e.g. the Department of Law is one of the best Law departments in the UK.
dependant – This is a noun, dependent is an adjective e.g. ‘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 (no caps and see more information below).
east London (no caps) and East End – Use upper case for Greater London, the East End and West End of London. Use lower case for central/inner/outer London, north/south/east/west London, and northeast/southwest London. Use upper case when referring to London, the South East, the North.
eastern Europe.
e-book.
e-Bulletin.
e-cigarette.
e-commerce.
effect – As a noun means a result or outcome, as a verb means to bring about change. Affect means to influence something e.g. ‘We have effected changes that will affect our students’.
e.g. – For accessibility we don't use eg, as screenreader would say 'egg'.
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 – 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 – This means particularly. Specially means for a special reason e.g. ‘The initiative benefits our students, especially those living at home’.
EU – European Union, no need to spell out.
euro – Lower case.
every day – Means daily, everyday means something is usual e.g. ‘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: e.g. ‘Queen Mary has three faculties, and these are divided up into schools and institutes’.
farther relates to distance e.g. ‘the farthest point east’, further broadly means more, e.g. ‘we need further sessions’.
Feilden House (Mile End campus) – Please note that it is ei rather than ie.
fewer – Use this when writing about something that can be counted e.g. ‘fewer students’. Use less when writing about something that can’t be counted or doesn’t have a plural e.g. ‘less money’, ‘less time’.
filmmaking (one word / no hyphen).
Floyer House (Whitechapel campus).
Foetus (rather than fetus).
focus, focused, focusing (rather than focussing).
fonts – Queen Mary uses Source Sans for all our copy. If this is not available to download on your computer then you may use Arial.
foreign words – Use italics for foreign words, e.g. ‘The Institute moved into the larger building overlooking the Esplanade des Invalides thanks to a generous grant’.
forever – Means continually, e.g. ‘we are forever improving our curriculum’. For ever
means for always e.g. ‘We are committed to our alumni for ever’.
forward slashes – Do not include a space between and after forward slashes (e.g. MSc/Postgraduate Diploma).
fractions – Use words and hyphenate rather than using forward slashes: e.g. 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 e.g. ‘a full-time course’ but two words when it follows a verb e.g. ‘study full time’.
G
gain – Only use 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.
Geography Building (Mile End campus).
Google – Capitalise even when used as a verb.
Government – Use an upper case G to talk about a specific Government, e.g. ‘the Government’ but lower case to talk about ‘governments’ or ‘government departments’.
G.O. Jones Building (Mile End campus).
Grad Café (Mile End campus).
graduates – Not ‘former students’.
Graduate Centre (Mile End campus).
The Great Hall (West Smithfield campus) – Note that the main room in the People's Palace is also referred to as the Great Hall.
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.
Ground Café (Mile End campus) – Note the accent.
H
Hatton House (Mile End campus).
Headings – Headings are a useful way of signposting your copy and breaking it up. Use sentence case for these unless referring to a proper noun or organisation name, title etc.
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).
hyphens – We use hyphens to form short and commonly used adverbs to avoid confusion e.g. much-needed, new-found; in short compound adjectives that precede a noun, e.g. kind-hearted person, mid-life crisis, and to remove ambiguity when used as compound modifiers e.g. ‘his face turned an ugly brick-red’ instead of ‘his face turned an ugly brick red’. Please refer to our dashes guidance for numbers.
I
Ifor Evans Place (Mile End campus).
impact – Best used as a noun, not a verb. Better still to use a different word or expression such as affect or effect.
index, indexes.
Informatics Teaching Laboratory (ITL) (Mile End campus).
initials – There should be no spaces between initials e.g. WH Auden.
inquiry – See enquiry.
international students (rather than Foreign students)
internet – Note lower case.
in-sessional – Note the 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.
into – Go into a room, look into something but listen in to a conversation, go in to see someone.
In vitro.
In vivo.
iPad.
iPhone.
iPod.
'ised' – Use ‘ise’ not 'ize' e.g. organise.
Italics – If you need to emphasise a word or a point, use bold font. Italics for emphasis are not accessible.
Its – Used to show possession e.g. ‘the cat loved its ball’; it’s means it is.
J
job titles should be capitalised e.g. Vice-Principal.
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, e.g. Lancet.
K
keywords – one word
knowledgeable
L
laptop – One word.
Law Building (Mile End campus) – While this is officially the Laws Building, it is referred to on our maps and elsewhere as Law, so Law/Law Building is fine.
less – Use less when writing about something that can’t be counted or doesn’t have a plural e.g. ‘less money’, ‘less time’. Use fewer when writing about something that can be counted e.g. ‘fewer students’.
LGBTQIA+ – An umbrella term referring collectively to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and/or asexual. Please see our Writing inclusively section for more information.
liaise.
library – Capitalise in Mile End Library, Whitechapel Library and West Smithfield Library.
licence is the noun, license the verb e.g. ‘Driver’s Licence’, ‘licensed to kill’.
Lindop House (Mile End campus).
lifelong – One word.
Lincoln's Inn Fields (campus).
lists – Lists of items should always run alphabetically.
live blog – Two words when you are talking about a live blog (a noun), one word if you are using it as a verb, i.e. to liveblog.
live stream – Two words when you are talking about a live stream, one word if you are using it as a verb, i.e. to livestream
log in, log on, log out, log off – Use two words.
login, logon – One word.
LLB – Abbreviation for Bachelor of Laws, there is no need to spell out.
LLM – Abbreviation for Master of Laws, there is no need to spell out.
Lock-keeper’s Cottage (Mile End campus).
Lodge House (Mile End campus).
Lynden House (Mile End campus).
M
MA – Abbreviation for Master of Arts, there is no need to spell out.
Magazine and journal articles – These should be placed within single quote marks: e.g. ‘Understanding Human Behaviour’. All newspaper and journal names should be italicised, e.g. The Guardian.
master's.
Mathematical Sciences Building (Mile End campus) – Sometimes referred to as just the Maths Building.
Maurice Court (Mile End campus).
Maynard House (Mile End campus).
MBA – Abbreviation for Master of Business Administration, there is no need to spell out.
MBBS – Abbreviation for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, there is no need to spell out.
media – This is a plural and should use a plural verb e.g. ‘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 e.g. £145m.
module titles – These are usually written using capitals e.g. ‘Explaining the Universe’, ‘Introduction to Mathematical Finance’.
MPhil – Abbreviation for Master of Philosophy, there is no need to spell out.
MSc – Abbreviation for Master of Science, there is no need to spell out.
Multicultural.
Multimedia.
Multimillion.
Multi-Faith Centre (Mile End campus).
Mr, Mrs, Ms, Mx – please note the lack of punctuation.
MyQMUL.
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').
north (no caps).
Nucleus Café (Whitechapel campus).
numbers – Spell out numbers one to nine in words. For number 10 and above, use digits, e.g. eight and 87. Use commas in numbers over a thousand, e.g. 1,000. Use m for numbers in millions, e.g. £5m and 145m. Use the 12 hour clock, e.g. 7am and 1.30pm. Note the use of a full stop and no space between the digits and the am/pm. Use n dash instead of hyphen when indicating a range, e.g. 7–9pm. When citing our rankings, use ordinal numbers. This means saying “We are 103rd in the 2027 QS World University Rankings” rather than “We are 103”.
O
Occupational Health and Safety Directorate (Mile End campus).
Occupational Health Service (Mile End campus).
Offer Holder Day – These should have an initial capital when talking about a particular event e.g. ‘Come to our June Offer Holder Day’, but not when we talk about open days in general.
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.
on-campus (note the hyphen).
online (no hyphen).
on to not onto.
Open Days – These should have an initial capital when talking about a particular event e.g. ‘Come to our June Open Day’ but not when we talk about open days in general.
organise, organisation (rather than organize, organization).
Oxford commas – Use these when more than three things are listed. The Oxford comma is the comma that comes right before ‘and’ e.g. “Almost 3,000 student bedrooms across our Mile End, Whitechapel, Charterhouse Square, and West Smithfield campuses.”
P
page numbers – These should be bracketed, lower case and unabbreviated, e.g. (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).
Peer Assisted Study Support (PASS).
People’s Palace/Great Hall (Mile End campus).
per cent – Two words should be used rather than % or percent in copy. % can be used in graphics, 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 (Mile End campus).
postgraduate (in full and lower case).
practice – This is the noun, practise is the verb. E.g. she practised penalties before football practice.
precede means go before; proceed means go ahead.
pre-sessional.
Professor Colin Bailey CBE is President and Principal of Queen Mary University of London (external first reference to Professor Bailey).
prior to – Use before.
Professional Services.
Professor (rather than Prof).
programme (program – only use for computers), always use instead of 'course'. When stating a student’s programme, put the course qualification before the name (e.g. ‘BA English’, not ‘English BA’).
Q
Qmotion (Mile End campus).
QMplus – Please note the lower case p.
QM Social (Mile End campus).
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. The qualification type should appear before the degree title, e.g. MA History. 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.
Queen in Mandarin – There is only one correct version of ‘Queen’ in Mandarin (女王). So for a Chinese audience, please always write Queen Mary University of London as 伦敦玛丽女王大学.
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 (LAC) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
Queen Mary Global Policy Institute.
Queen Mary Students' Union (QMSU) – Spell out in full in the first instance and include the acronym in brackets. Use the acronym for further mentions.
Queen Mary University of London (no comma and never just Queen Mary University). 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.
Quotation marks – Use double quotation marks at the start and end of a quoted section with single quotes for quoted words within that section. Where a quote is more than one paragraph long, open each paragraph with a double quote mark, but don’t close with quote marks until the end of the final paragraph. Pull quotes should take double quote marks but should end without a full stop, e.g. “Queen Mary is the only central London University to offer students a completely integrated residential campus”.
R
Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF 2021) – 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 – Don't abbreviate to RG.
S
School – Write out the name in full the first time e.g. ‘School of Biological and Chemical Sciences’ and then use ‘the School’. When writing about general schools, it should be lower case.
seasons – write these out in lower case, e.g. summer, autumn, winter, spring.
Selincourt House (Mile End campus).
The Shield (Charterhouse Square campus).
Single Honours.
south (lower case).
state-of-the-art – This is hyphenated when it appears before a noun, e.g. 'state-of-the-art laboratories' but not when you say ‘the laboratories are state of the art'.
St Benet’s Chaplaincy (Mile End campus).
Student Enquiry Centre (Mile End campus).
Student Health Service (Mile End campus).
Students’ Union – Our Students' Union is called Queen Mary Students' Union (QMSU).
Students’ Union Hub (Mile End campus).
Supervisor.
T
take-up – This 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.
Teams – Always capitalise team when used as a part of a team name e.g. IT Services Team.
Tech City.
Telephone numbers – Include the country code: e.g. Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 7882 or +44 (0)7749 XXX XXX.
Terminal 4 (T4).
term-time.
That vs which – 'That' is used to modify an existing clause. This means another part of the sentence depends on it for meaning. It is used without a comma. ‘Which’ is used to introduce a new clause and uses a comma before the ‘which’ and after the clause. A useful rule of thumb is taking the ‘which’ clause out of the sentence and seeing if it still makes overall sense.
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.
The Underground.
times – Use the 12 hour clock e.g. 7am and 1.30pm. Note the use of a full stop and no space between the digits and the am/pm. Use an n-dash to separate starting and finishing times e.g. 7–9am.
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 be written out in lower case, whereas TfL should be written out in upper case.
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).
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 to the league table or guide used with the date of publication. Always use the most recent and up-to-date information.
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.
URLs – When writing a URL in a printed publication don’t include https://, www or the final / – e.g. 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 Web Team to create a re-direct or use bitly.com or similar websites.
V
Varden Street (Whitechapel campus).
Varey House (Mile End campus).
Vice-Chancellor (capped and hyphenated).
Vice-President (capped and hyphenated. Please note that our Vice-Principals now go by this title).
Vice-Principal (capped and hyphenated. Please note that our Vice-Presidents no longer go by this title).
Village Shop (Mile End campus).
Viva Voce.
W
webpage (one word).
website (one word).
Welcome Week – Ensure this is in uppercase.
wellbeing – One word rather than two.
west (no caps).
West Smithfield (campus).
while not whilst.
Whitechapel (campus).
Wingate Building (Whitechapel campus).
wifi.
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)
X
X instead of Twitter.
Y
Year of study – Express this numerically for brief mentions e.g. ‘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’.
Z
Zero Waste Shop.