Use A-levels.

not
‘A’ levels
A levels

Do not use full stops in abbreviations, acronyms or initialisms.

Abbreviations (shortened words)
etc
not etc.

eg
not e.g.

ie
not i.e.

Acronyms (pronounced as a single word)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
not N.A.T.O.

Personal identification Number (PIN)
not P.I.N.

Initalism (pronounced letter-by-letter)
artificial intelligence (AI)
not artificial intelligence (A.I.)

NHS
not N.H.S.

CV
not C.V.

RSVP
not R.S.V.P.

Avoid full stops in geographic initialisms.
US
UK

When using abbreviations, acronyms or initialisms, spell out the full title on first reference, followed by the shortened version alone on second and subsequent references.

Avoid using Northeastern University-specific abbreviations, acronyms or initialisms with external audiences.

Always include Northeastern University London when quoting an address:

Person’s name
Faculty
Northeastern University London
Devon House
58 St Katharine’s Way
London
E1W 1LP
United Kingdom

Avoid using this term or abbreviation, except for direct quotations; explain the term if it’s used.

In instances where the bullet points consist of either a list of single words or short statements, the opening sentence should end in a colon; the first character of each bullet point should not be capitalised; punctuation should not be used, eg

Universities have three main purposes:

• to provide teaching and supervision
• to conduct research
• to provide economic, social and cultural value to society

Northeastern University London should be referred to as a single campus.

The campus comprises Devon House and Marble Quay in St Katharine Docks, One Portsoken and the Start-Up Hub in the City. We do not have a Devon House campus and a Portsoken campus.

Use Northeastern University London in all externally facing signage.

Northeastern University London’s campus is located in the heart of London, with buildings on the edge of the City of London and beside the River Thames.

not our Devon House campus

Avoid unnecessary capitals in all titles. With the exception of policies and procedures, in headings the first word should be capitalised only if a specific title, position or proper noun is involved.

The higher education system
not The Higher Education system

The British university system
not The British University system

Graduate destinations and student internships
not Graduate Destinations and Student Internships

When referring to a publication or the name of a course title or class title or lecture title, capitalise the title:

An Enquiry into Well-Being and Destitution
not An enquiry into well-being and destitution

Do not use a serial comma (also called an Oxford or Harvard comma)

He ate bread, butter and jam.
not He ate bread, butter, and jam.

Use lower case for regions:
the north-east of England
western Europe
the far east

Use capitals where the compass point is part of the name of a county or state:
West Yorkshire
West Virginia

Courses describe the component parts of a degree programme. Do not use the term modules.

A degree is never a degree course. It is a degree programme or a programme of studies, which comprises a number of courses.

first class
not 1st class

upper second class
not upper 2nd class

lower second class
not lower 2nd class

third class
not 3rd class

These should be hyphenated when used adjectivally, eg John was awarded an upper second-class degree

1st
not 1

2:1
not 2.1 (ie with a colon and not a full stop)

2:2
not 2.2 (ie with a colon and not a full stop)

Our joint honours degrees are always written with and not with:

BSc (Hons) Computer Science and Business
not BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Business

A degree is never a degree course, it is a degree programme or a programme of studies which comprises a number of courses.

You can tailor your degree programme with a range of electives.
not You can tailor your degree course with a range of electives.

Using team names rather than formal department names is often more engaging. These should not be capitalised, eg

Contact a member of the marketing team for more information.
The academic support team is here to support you at all stages of your academic journey at Northeastern University London.

not Speak to a member of the Recruitment Team for further information about this event.

Capitalise the name of a department only when the full department name is used in more formal correspondence, eg
Sent on behalf of: Human Resources Department

When including a Northeastern University London email address in promotional literature, on our website etc, do not capitalise NU London:
[email protected]

We use the term faculty to describe academic division rather than department, eg
Dr Niamh Bhalla works in the Humanities Faculty.
not Dr Niamh Bhalla works in the Humanities department.

Faculty should be capitalised when referring to a subject faculty only, eg
The Computing, Mathematics, Engineering, and Natural Sciences Faculty at Northeastern University London is at the cutting-edge of its field.
There are many talented faculty members at Northeastern University London.

Hyphens join words together: full-time, one-to-one, part-time, research-led, world-class, liberal arts-inspired, re-engineer.

Do not use hyphens in worldwide, multidisciplinary, interfaculty, online.

En dashes are used to mark an interruption in the structure of a sentence:
Northeastern University London – based in St Katharine Docks and the City, Central London – offers students an outstanding academic experience.

Do not use full stops between initials when used in place of personal names. But do use spaces between initials:
A C Grayling
not A.C. Grayling

A C Grayling
not AC Grayling

Do not capitalise.

internet
not Internet

Tel +44 (0)20 7637 4550
Tel +44 (0)1782 123456
Fax +44 (0)1782 123456

For other number formats, see telephone number format.

Always use UK English spellings and terminology, not US English.

See spellings for examples.

Northeastern University is a top ranked US research university.
not Northeastern University is ranked 53 in the USA.

See rankings on our Policies page for more details.

In text, use italics for the title of a lecture series and give the titles of the individual lectures in inverted commas.

Lists should always be formatted in alphabetical order by first word. Items starting with The fall under the letter T and are then ordered alphabetically by second word, eg
City University
King’s College London
Queen Mary University of London
SOAS
The Courtauld Institute of Art
The London School of Economics and Political Science
The Warburg Institute
University College London
University of Oxford

Our campus is situated in St Katharine Docks and the City.

Our building names are:
Devon House
One Portsoken
Marble Quay
Start-up Hub

Abbreviate as follows:

£29/m² or £29 per square metre depending on context.
However, the word should be spelled out in full in a non-technical context and in general when referring to metre/s, to avoid confusion with m=million.

A comma should be used to separate thousands from hundreds (except in tables), and the abbreviation should go immediately after the figure without the addition of a space:
20,000
not 20000

1,700 m²
not 1700 m2

Our London location is called Northeastern University London.
not
Northeastern University
Northeastern London
the Northeastern University London

Northeastern may be used on second reference only.

Discover Northeastern University London, an innovative university with a renowned experiential learning mode, high-impact research, deep partnerships, and worldwide reach. Join Northeastern’s dynamic community today.

The only permitted abbreviation is NU London. It should be used on second reference, and should be reserved for more informal contexts, including spoken content and student or club contexts.

Do not use:
NUL
NUEL
NU
N.U.
NEU

See abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms.

Northeastern University should be used to reference the university outside of the UK or the collective global university.

Northeastern is never NEU.

Per cent
not percent
not % (except in tables)

Northeastern University London should not be referred to as a private institution. It is an academically independent university, registered fee cap with the Office for Students.

When using the title Professor in a role title, it should be:
Professor of
not Professor in

Dr Naomi Goulder is Dean for Academic Development and Innovation and Associate Professor of Philosophy
not Dr Naomi Goulder is Dean for Academic Development and Innovation and Associate Professor in Philosophy

Dr
not Dr.

eg
not eg. or e.g.

ie
not ie. or i.e.

nb
not nb. or n.b. or NB

Always leave one space (not two) between a full stop and the beginning of the next sentence.

Styles for the use of single and double inverted commas and the placement of punctuation inside and outside quotation marks vary across different style guides.

In the UK, use single inverted commas for quotations and reserve double inverted commas for a quotation within a quotation.

‘I will give a lecture on “Renaissance History”,’ she said.

Punctuation marks such as commas are put inside the inverted commas if they relate to the words quoted, but outside if they relate to the main sentence, with commas used where full stops would be in the sentence quoted:

‘That is simply not the case,’ she said.
‘That,’ she said, ‘is simply not the case.’
‘That, my friend,’ she said, ‘is simply not the case.’
She said, ‘This is the latest version of the style guide.’

Do not use italic type for quotations:
She described Northeastern University London as providing ‘an outstanding academic experience’.

not She described Northeastern University London as providing an outstanding academic experience.

Quotations of more than 40 words are not enclosed within inverted commas but treated as separate paragraph and indented.

If a question runs to several paragraphs, inverted commas are used to open all the paragraphs but a closing inverted comma is used at the end of only the final paragraph.

Instances whereby words are editorially omitted, three full stops are used to indicate this, with punctuation marks if needed:

Neil Armstrong said, ‘It’s one small…one giant leap for mankind’.

When referring to a named individual and their formal role title, the role title should be capitalised, eg

James Smith, Associate Director of Resources

When referring generally to a role, it shouldn’t be capitalised.

Each student has a designated academic adviser.
Ellie is a marketing manager at one of our partner organisations.

Tel 020 7637 4550
Mobile 000 0000 0000 (if required)
International telephone convention
Tel +44 (0) 20 7637 4550

Use the 12-hour clock.

Format a time with a space and no full stops.

Separate the hour and minute using a colon.

Do not use the 24-hour clock, unless there is specific audience need.

Examples
10 am
5:30 pm
3 pm to 5 pm
10 am to 10:30 am
9 am to 5:30 pm

Mr
not Mr.

Mrs
not Mrs.

Ms
not Ms.

Dr
not Doctor or Dr.

Revd
not Revd. not Rev.

Unless absolutely required, do not abbreviate Professor.

Professor
not Prof.

Emeritus Professor or Professor Emeritus or Professor Emerita
not Emeritus Professor and Professor Emeritus/a in the same list or context.

Across our communications we refer to academics by their full titles in all first mentions, and by their surname without title thereafter eg

At first reference:
John Smith, Professor of Philosophy
or Professor John Smith

At subsequent references: Smith

Other academic staff, at first reference:
Dr Catherine Brown, Director of Graduate Research School

At subsequent references: Brown