Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon

A

a or an?

abbreviations and acronyms

ages

alumni

ampersand &

and/or

apostrophe '

at symbol @

B

between or among

Blackboard

bold

British spelling

bullet points / lists

C

candidate/student

chair

circa

Clocktower Building

colon :

comma ,

common misspellings

contact details

corequisite

cross credit

D

dashes/hyphens – -

dates

deaf/Deaf

decades

degrees and diplomas

departments and subjects

divisions

dollars

E

e.g. or i.e.

earth/Earth

effect/affect

eLearning

ellipses ...

EPUB

er for or

events and holidays

eVision

F

full stop .

G

greetings and signing off

H

headings/headlines

Health Sciences Admissions

Hercus D'Ath Lecture Theatre

honorifics (titles)

hyphenated or not?

I

IMU – Otago ambassadors

initials

italics

its/it's

J

job titles

K

knight/dames

L

Latin suffixes

less/fewer

level/Level

M

macrons - nga tohutō

major

Marsden grant

medical schools

minor

Māori words - kupu Māori

N

numbers

O

off-campus, on-campus

one word or two?

ordinals

organisations

P

paper / paper codes

parentheses ( )

part-time, full-time

people and titles

per cent %

Performance-Based Research Fund

places

postal addresses

postnominals

pronouns

Q

quotation marks " "

R

residential colleges

S

s for z

schools and faculties

Schools' Liaison Officer

seasons

secondary school

semester 1 / semester 2

semicolon ;

slash /

spacing

split infinitives

St David Complex Lecture Theatre

Students' Association

T

that/which

they're/their/there

time

treaty/Treaty

U

undergraduate

underlining

University Flats

University of Otago

University-related Māori translations

University/university

V

Visitors' Centre and Gift Shop

W

web addresses

weights and measures

World Wars

Y

Year 13

About the Writing Style Guide

This guide is designed to help ensure writing style – whether for internal or external audiences, written for print or online – is consistent and maintains a professional standard across the University. It is not designed for academic writing.

Feedback

Please send any feedback – including reports of errors or requests for changes – to writing.style@otago.ac.nz

Back to top