Skip IntraBrunel links
IntraBrunel

- IntraBrunel
- IntraBrunel Help
- Give Feedback

- Accessibility Options

  The options shown below can be used to make this website more readable.

  - Default
  - High visibility
  - Blue
  - Soft contrast
  - Grey with black text
  - Cream with black text
  - Blue with black text
  - Yellow with black text
  - Cyan with black text
  - Magenta with black text
  - Black with white text
  - Black with yellow text
  - Dark blue with white text
  - Dark blue with yellow text
- Sign Out of IntraBrunel

IB

- News

  - ## News categories

    - Academic
    - Arts
    - Awards and Rankings
    - Campus
    - Environment
    - Human Interest
    - Local Area
    - Research
    - Research Notices
    - Sport
    - Students’ Union

    ## More

    - Notices
    - News archive by date
    - Submit News
    - Submit Notice
- Events

  - ## Key Events

    - Arts
    - Lectures
    - Conferences
    - UBS
    - Key University Events
    - Seminars

    ## More

    - Whats on Calendar
    - Featured Events
    - Submit Event

    ## Upcoming events

    Jul Thu 02
    Leveraging the Olympic Games for building sport organisations capacity
    Jul Mon 06
    Vice-Chancellor's Address to All Staff
    Jul Mon 06
    Launch of the Cumberland Institute
    Jul Thu 09
    Hillingdon Business Expo 2015
- Colleges & Institutes

  - ## Business, Arts and Social Sciences

    - CBASS External site
    - CBASS IntraBrunel site

    ## Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences​

    - CEDPS External site
    - CEDPS IntraBrunel site

    ## Health and Life Sciences

    - CHLS External site
    - CHLS IntraBrunel site

    ## Energy Futures

    - External site
    - IntraBrunel site

    ## Environment, Health and Societies

    - External site
    - IntraBrunel site

    ## Materials and Manufacturing

    - External site
    - IntraBrunel site
- Information for Staff

  - ## Key Services

    - Human Resources
    - Staff Development
    - Finance
    - Operations
    - Computer Centre
    - BEEC
    - Library
    - All Service Departments

    ## Tools

    - Blackboard Learn
    - Library Catalogue
    - Webmail
    - HR MyView
    - Telephone Directory
    - BRAD
    - BURA

    ## University Information

    - Calendar of Meetings
    - Charter, Senate Ordinances and Regulations
    - Closure and Term Dates
    - Principal Officers
    - University Committees
- My Links
  - Add this page to My Links
  - Manage My Links
  - My Profile

Alan MannionUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
Communications
Local Navigation

# House Style

Left Bottom Content

House style is maintained by the Digital and Design team. If you have a question about something that's not listed please contact web@brunel.ac.uk

- Names and titles
- Web
- Fonts, layout and numbers
- Abbreviations and acronyms
- Punctuation
- ​Spelling and use of common words

## Names and titles

Main Content

Our working name is Brunel University London. Wherever possible, the full title should be used on the first occurrence. Brunel alone will suffice in subsequent mentions.

However, if it affects the flow of an intro to a news story, Brunel can be used and the full title used on the second occurrence. For example:

- Music entrepreneur and Brunel alumna Elizabeth Cawein has been nominated for a prestigious award after giving grassroots talent a platform to play on. Elizabeth, who completed her master's degree in Contemporary Music at Brunel University London in 2008, was pitched alongside 400 nominees from 70 universities across the country before being named a finalist in the Education UK Alumni Awards.

Titles

Works of art/literary works (books, plays, paintings, pieces of music), film titles, exhibition names, TV/radio programmes should be italicised, for example:

· Panorama, BBC, Dark Aemilia, A Conspiracy of Alchemists.

Research project titles and names of awards should not be italicised. Instead, use single inverted commas, for example:

- '20 ways to improve your life'.
- 'Vice-Chancellor's travel prize'.
- 'Student-led teaching awards'.

Titles of newspapers/magazines/journals should not be italicised, for example, The Guardian.

Avoid use of bold, underlines, italics or capitals to emphasise words unless stated elsewhere in this document.

Web addresses should be bolded in marketing material, not press releases.

Capitalisation

Don't capitalise every word in a heading unless using a title or name e.g. Research impact: Solutions to worldwide problems.

When used as the degree title or department name then use capitals, but when used in text such as "suitable for those interested in pursuing a career in engineering" or "suitable for those who have studied sociology or anthropology or a related social science subject" then lower case is appropriate.

Some commonly used examples where capital letters are required are:

- Visiting Professor
- A-/AS-level
- Joint/Single Honours
- Higher Education.

Some commonly used examples where lower case letters should be used:

- departmental (department is only capitalised when talking about the title of a department in full, for example, Department of Clinical Sciences, not the Clinical Sciences department, the department)
- campus
- international
- upper second class degrees
- universities (when it is general and not referring to Brunel University London)
- term e.g. autumn term.

Don't use capital letters in website and email addresses.

## Web

Left Content

Do not include http:// in web addresses. Simply use e.g. www.brunel.ac.uk.

If there is a really long URL, simplify it by giving the main homepage and directing from there (if it is easily navigable), for example:

- direct.gov.uk and select Money, tax and benefits.
- not, direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax.

Don't insert a colon before a web address, for example:

- For more information visit www.brunel.ac.uk.
- Do not use 'For more information visit: www.brunel.ac.uk.

Don't use capital letters in website and email addresses.

## Fonts, layout and numbers

Middle Content

​Fonts
Our fonts are Gotham, Arial and Monsterrat. More information can be found on the fonts page.
Layout

Don't justify type.
To signify a new paragraph, use a line break rather than indent the text.
Don't include a double space after a full stop at the beginning of a new sentence, just one space.
Wherever possible, do not split Brunel University London or web/ e-mail addresses across two lines.

Numbers
Spell out one to nine and use figures for numbers 10 onwards.
Never start a sentence with a figure – spell it out instead.
To indicate values of a thousand, insert a comma: 7,000; 500,000, etc.

When stating the Level (year) of the degree programme, use figures, for example:

- Level 2, Level 3.

Centuries should be written as 20th century, or 20th-century history (no hyphen, apart from when it's 20th-century something).
Do not use apostrophes in dates e.g. 1990s; 60s.

Dates should be written in the format date, month, year, with no commas, and without 'th' or 'st' e.g. 30 October 2013, not 30th October, 2013.
Don't use the 24-hour clock. Use a full stop in times and no space before pm or am, plus no extra 00, for example:

- 11.45pm; 2pm; 12noon; 10.30am.

Use the word 'per cent' and not the symbol '%' in body text. However, use '%' in charts and infographics.

Bullet points

Use lowercase following each bullet, with a full stop after the last one. Do not use semi-colons (;) after each bullet, for example:

To apply for this job, you must:

- be computer literate
- have good communication skills.

The only exception is bullets used to break down several points. Use an initial capital letter for each bullet point for these and finish with a full stop, for example:

Below are some points to bear in mind to protect yourself:

- Look left and right before you cross the road.
- Take care of your money.

## Abbreviations and acronyms

Right Content

Abbreviations

Avoid the use of abbreviations wherever possible, for example:

· Professor not Prof, postgraduate or undergraduate not PG or UG.

When using abbreviations/acronyms, they should be spelt out in full the first time with the abbreviation stated in brackets. After this, the abbreviation can be used. Do not include the abbreviation in brackets if it is not repeated later in the text, for example:

· Professor Zahir Irani joined a ministerial delegation in Kazakhstan to build on Brunel University London's blossoming relationship with the Central Asian country's universities. Professor Irani, Dean of the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, accompanied the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Livingston Professor.

Acronyms

Insert stop marks between letters or not? Use:

- e.g. not eg
- etc not etc.
- i.e. not ie
- 6am not 6a.m.

## Punctuation

Bottom Content
​Dr should not include a full stop.
Do not include full stops at the end of captions/headings.
Apostrophes can be used to shorten a word, e.g.:

- do not becomes don't
- could have becomes could've.

Apostrophes also show possession, e.g.

- The dog's tail – the tail belongs to the dog.
- Jade's hair – the hair belongs to Jade.

Usually the apostrophe goes before the 's'. However, if the owner already ends in 's' then the apostrophe goes after it, e.g.:

- The cats' tail – the tail belongs to some cats.
- The girls' shoes – the shoes belong to some girls.

master's or Master and bachelor's or Bachelor:

- This is lower case when referring to programmes generally, note also the apostrophe, e.g. I have a master's degree. We offer a variety of master's programmes.
- When referring to a specific programme, it is capitalised, e.g. She was awarded a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering.

When using a quotation, punctuation should be included inside the double inverted commas.
Quotations should be written as follows:

- Raj Sidhu said: "Employer and alumni-led activities are a key part of Brunel University London's employability strategy."

Use single inverted commas to imply that the text is not your own or what you would have chosen to write.

## ​Spelling and use of common words

Right Bottom Content

Correct version | Incorrect version
1970s | 1970's
A-level | A level, A Level
ageing | aging
award-winning | award winning
and | & (unless it causes confusion)
BSc (Hons), DipHE, PgCert, PgDip , FdSc, FdA, BA (Hons) Top-up, GradCert, GradDip |
Clearing | clearing
Batchelor's | Batchelors
computer-aided | computer aided
coordinator | co-ordinator
cutting-edge | cutting edge
degree programmes | courses
email, e-learning, e-commerce | e-mail, e learning, e commerce
healthcare | health care
inter-departmental | interdepartmental
internationally-recognised | Internationally recognised
Level 1 | level one
liaise | liase
login | log in
Master's | masters
million e.g. 6 million | M e.g. 6M
online | on line, or on-line
part-time, full-time | part time or full time
per cent | % (except for charts and infographics)
postgraduate | post graduate
post-registration (post-reg) | Post-Registration or Post registration
pre-registration (pre-reg) | Pre-Registration or Pre registration
pro rata | pro-rata
state-of-the-art | State of the art
undergraduate | under graduate
Use British spellings e.g. ise | Not American spellings e.g. ize
Vice-Chancellor | Vice Chancellor
website | web site or web-site
work-based | work based
workplace | work-place or work place
world-class | world class