This document is the UW Bothell Editorial Style Guide. It includes style guidelines for a number of words, terms and points of punctuation and grammar.
What you see in this document are exceptions to the University of Washington style guides.
- If the information you are looking up is NOT in this guide, please refer to the main UW guides. (See the links at the end of this document.)
- If the information you are looking up is NOT in any of the various UW guides, please refer to The Associated Press Stylebook.
Related links
University of Washington Seattle's guidelines:
AP style is the foundation of all these guides. This main style — plus special notes and exceptions to the various University guides as noted above — should be followed for all official UW Bothell publications, be they printed, digital or online.
Did you not find what you were looking for in this UW Bothell Editorial Style Guide?
Please refer to the following sites for information about UW style:
If you cannot find what you need on any of these webpages, please follow AP style.
Alphabetical Listings
Aa
abbreviations and acronyms
AVOID AWKWARD CONSTRUCTIONS: Do not follow an organization's full name with an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses or set off by dashes. If an abbreviation or acronym would not be clear on second reference without this arrangement, do not use it.
academic quarters
Lowercase: fall quarter or winter quarter 2019.
adviser
Adviser not Advisor
ampersand
Use ampersand only if it is part of the formal name. Otherwise, spell out and. School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, School of Nursing & Health Studies.
Cc
campuswide
One word.
capitalization
Capitalize majors, programs, certificates, schools, divisions, departments, offices, when they are a full, formal name. Educational Studies. Society, Ethics & Human Behavior. Office of Marketing and Communications.
child care
Two words.
commas (serial comma)
- Do not use the serial comma in a simple series of nouns or phrases: red, white and blue (no comma before and).
- Use the serial comma before the terminal conjunction in a complex series or in other cases where the serial comma will provide clarity and improve readability: Members of the faculty at the University of Washington Bothell provide educational programs for students from throughout the Pacific Northwest, conduct original research and scholarship, and engage in a wide variety of projects with community partners. (Use comma before and engage.)
course names
Capitalize, no quotation marks.
Dd
degree attribution
Reference the school for alumni publications, but use the major in other uses:
- magazine: John Doe (IAS ’96)
- website: John Doe (Culture, Literature and the Arts ’96)
diversity center
Lowercase unless formally named.
division
Capitalize. Division of Academic Affairs, Division of Advancement and External Relations, Division of Planning and Administration; Division of Student Affairs
Dr.
Use only for medical doctors. If important/necessary to identify someone with a Ph.D., use Jane Doe, who has a doctorate.
dual major
For long majors, punctuate with colon and semicolon. A dual major: Law, Economics and Public Policy; and Society, Ethics and Human Behavior.
Ee
em dash —
Put a space before and after.
Ff
first-generation
Hyphenated.
first-year
Hyphenated.
Hh
health care
Two words.
Ll
links
- Hyperlink to schools.
- Hyperlink to faculty pages if only one or two faculty are featured. Avoid link soup.
Mm
majors / minors
Capitalize for clarity: Law, Economics and Public Policy; Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies. But lower case in phrases such as I like physics.
Oo
office
Capitalize. Office of Marketing and Communications, Office of Career Services.
Pp
Plaza
Capitalize when referring to specific place on campus.
Promenade
Capitalize when referring to specific place on campus.
Rr
residence hall
Not dormitory or dorm.
Ss
STEM
Acceptable on first reference for science, technology, engineering and math.
This is a departure from AP style, which adds “but spell out the full phrase shortly thereafter.” We will use STEM in all references — without spelling it out at length — in news stories (but might spell out in print materials). School of STEM. She is interested in the field of STEM.
Tt
tri-campus
Hyphenated.
Uu
University of Washington Bothell
- UW Bothell on second reference.
- Never use UWB.
- Capitalize University when referring to UW Bothell.
University of Washington
- UW on second reference or the University.
- Don’t use UW Seattle or Seattle campus; use in Seattle.
Ww
website
Lowercase.
Yy
yearlong
One word.