Style Reference

Credits

Degrees

Use periods to abbreviate degrees. There should be no space in a degree abbreviation or between degree and (specialization). When mentioning degree year for McGill graduates, omit space and replace first two digits of year with a single quote, except when full year is needed for clarity.

Exceptions include numerals following a degree (i.e., Ph.D. 1).

Use the article that applies to the form as it would sound when reading it out loud.

Note: For B.Com., use BCom when not referring to degree title in MGMT Faculty pieces (non-program pieces).

See Appendix 1 for further examples of degree abbreviations. Note that different schools may use varying abbreviations for similar degrees (i.e., Ph.D. vs. D.Phil.).

Agr.Eng.
B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.)

an M.Sc.
a Master of Science

Lara Riente, B.A.'92, M.A.'01
Charles Ivey, B.Eng. 1913

Degrees - French

French degrees generally include spaces (except when it is an initialism, such as D.E.A.).

See Appendix 1 for further examples.

Designations

F.I.E.E.E.
F.R.C.P.(C)
F.R.S.C.
P. Dt. / Dt. P.
R.D.

Exceptions:
CA, CMA, CGA, CPA, CFA

Diplomas

French Abbreviations

Grade Point Average

Institutions

Latin abbreviations

I.e. and e.g.: Use periods, always followed by comma

Nota bene: Either uppercase or lowercase with periods.

i.e.,
three complementary courses (e.g., in science, arts, and music)

N.B., n.b.

University abbreviations

See Appendix 2: University Abbreviations. For abbreviations given that do not appear in the list, check McGill website to find other examples, or write out in full.

Foreign universities: The institution's country may be included if it's needed for clarity.

"University" can be abbreviated to "Univ." in any case, but for other abbreviations, the official abbreviation must be used as dictated by school/department; or, if none, leave as is.

(Simon Bolivar, Venezuela)

Other abbreviations

Rule

Examples

Departments/Faculties

Department

Faculties

Caps both "Faculty" and "Engineering" when used as a short form of "the Faculty of Engineering."

Lowercase when referring to a discipline in general

Lowercase when referring to "faculty" as "staff"

Faculty of Arts
Engineering
the Faculty
studies in engineering
Arts faculty (staff)
"send your letter to the appropriate faculty"

Degrees/Courses/Programs

Certificate

Concentration

Co-op/Cooperative

Courses / Subject names

Degrees

Diploma

Domain

Honours/Joint Honours

Major/Minor

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) – Minor Biology

Students planning to choose the Agricultural Economics Major are required to complete 90 credits in the Major.
Students must select a major or a minor in Chemistry. All required courses for the major or minor must be completed in full.
Students taking the Minor in Physics must take required courses to complete the Minor.
Students taking a minor in Chemistry may choose a minor or minor concentration.

Option

Programs

Stream

People

Faculty Titles

Foundation

Indigenous Peoples

Capitalise "indigenous" when referring to the political or historical communities living in regions affected by colonization.

Indigenous peoples
Indigenous faculty
Indigenous communities
Indigenous language

indigenous to the region

If applicable, cite the name of the tribe, nation, or community rather than the broader term "Indigenous peoples"

Student Categories

Capitalized when official title/category.

Special Student is always capitalized.

This option is available to Special Students.

Titles (Occupation)

Lowercase job titles when used in general.

Uppercase when formal title.

University Terms

Grade

Standing

Academic Standing
Interim Satisfactory Standing
Incomplete Standing

A student's Standing will be Unsatisfactory.
Your grade will affect your Standing.

Terms

Test/Examination Titles

University

Uppercase when referring to a specific university;
or when used in place of the university name.

Other examples

Always uppercase:

Course Change period
Entrance Placement Test
McGill Placement Test
Precalculus Lab
Qualifying program

Always lowercase:

Bullets

The results of the survey find that:

• people like oranges;
• people like apples; < and > (optional)
• people like bananas.

The results of the survey are as follows:

• People like oranges.
• People like apples.

When choosing a school, there are several factors you should consider:

• The reputation of the university
• The location and environment
• The quality of the program of interest to you

Headings

Advanced materials and polymers – The Department has an internationally recognized research program.

or

Bioengineering: Biomechanics, biomaterials, cardiovascular devices, image processing for medical diagnostics, voice production.

Italics

Note: The " >" in a path is not set in italics.

Underline

Links are automatically underlined.

For this reason, to avoid confusion, underline formatting should never be used outside the context of links (web or email). For emphasizing text, use bold or italics.

Notes

Comma

Number range

Numbers under 10

Other exceptions: 7 days a week, 24 hours a day (numeral acceptable)

3 credits from the following…
9 credits (3 courses) from…

One of…

one 3-credit course

Currency

CAD precedes value, no space.

Phone/Fax Numbers

514- (use hyphen, not parentheses)

Telephone:

For more information, telephone 514-398-1212, ext. 3000

Dates

Omit comma when listing two parameters (e.g., month and year, month and date). In general, use "mmm d, yyyy" format, though "d mmm yyyy" can also be used.

June 1, 2018
1 June 2018
Wednesday, June 1, 2018
June 2018 (no comma)

The December 25 deadline for registration (no "th" or commas or hyphens)

20^th century

In date ranges, write whole year numbers, and use en-dash (–)

Time

Use 12-hour clock.

9:10 a.m.
3:15 p.m.

Addresses

1. Addressee (unit, institute, committee, office, etc.)
2. Location (optional)
3. Street number and name (and room or unit, if applicable)
4. City Province/State Postal Code (comma between city and province/state, 2 spaces before Postal Code)
5. Country (optional)
6. Line break
7. Telephone: (optional)
8. Fax: (optional)
9. Email: (embed "mailto:" hyperlink)
10. Website: (embed hyperlink)

Note: If multiple contacts are listed consecutively, bolded addressee lines are recommended.

Note: While we recommend an accompanying email and website at minimum, you may omit any lines that your unit prefers to withhold.

Institute of Theoretical Geography
Downtown Campus
2001 McGill College Ave., Room 999
Montréal, QC  H3A 1G1
Canada
 
Telephone: 514-555-6100
Fax: 514-555-4896
Email: name [at] mcgill.ca
Website: mcgill.ca/ITG/contact

Office of Metaphysical Architecture
Downtown Campus
2001 McGill College Ave., Room 999.5
Montréal, QC H3A 1G1

Campus Locations

Cities/Countries

Montréal
Quebec, Quebec City

U.S. not US / USA

Exception: USA may be used in the country line of an address.

Program Approval

The Course Catalogue is McGill's official repository and public database for academic programs and courses. For this reason, programs go through a rigorous approval process to ensure the quality, accuracy, and consistency of academic information.

To facilitate the approval process, it is important to include any and all essential information, while omitting non-essential information. Certain information regarding potential students should be included in program descriptions (e.g., target audience, topics of study, delivery method, etc.), though information that may change often or that does not require approval to be updated should be omitted (e.g., application procedures, contact information, etc.). Credit weights should not be included in descriptions since these are included automatically in course lists.

As a general rule: any information that requires SCTP approval should appear once, either in the program description, or in the course lists. Any information that does not require SCTP approval (application procedures, contact information, etc.) should not be included. Please refer to the SCTP website for information on SCTP approval guidelines.

Program Descriptions

Program descriptions should briefly describe the program in question while outlining its benefits and unique selling points to prospective students. Information regarding subjects of focus, target audience, program timeline, and delivery method should also be included, as well as any special information of note to prospective students. Information regarding potential career paths may also be included.

Description Text

Target audience (e.g., "This program is designed for students with a BCom degree (or equivalent) who are interested in starting a business of their own.")

Admission requirements, application procedures (this information should be included in non-program informational text)

Essential information for prospective students

Names, contact information

Topics of study, faculty research interests

Credit weights, credit requirements (these are automatically included in course lists)

Method of delivery (on-campus, off-campus/field studies, online elements, etc.)

Dates

Program timeline (e.g., "This program should be completed within 3 years.")

Fee amounts

Potential career paths (e.g., "This program provides a strong foundation for students wishing to pursue graduate studies in biophysics, as well as for research careers in industrial, hospital, or academic settings.")

Links to external websites

Marketing text

Information that is likely to change within a year

Course Lists

Course Categories

Programs should include a course list of all courses and activities that can be counted towards successful completion of the program. In the case of electives and special activities (e.g., IPEAs), this list need not be exhaustive.

Courses should be divided into the following categories:

• Required
• Complementary (if applicable)
• Elective (if applicable)

Program Titles (for Enrolment Services use only)

Degrees should appear written out in full, followed by the abbreviation in brackets (See Degree Abbreviations section for standards).
Note for Degree Evaluation: In Minerva, undergraduate programs should include the degree abbreviation at the end of the "Degree Title" field, whereas graduate programs should include it at the beginning of the "Field of Study Title" field.

English

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Bachelor of Science (Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) (B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.))

Master of Science, Applied (M.Sc.A.)

French

Certificat (Cert.)

Diplôme d'études supérieures (Dip. étu. sup.)

Certificat de développement professionnel (Cert. dév. prof.)

Major titles should appear following the degree abbreviation. For undergraduate programs, a spaced hyphen (" - ") should appear between the degree abbreviation and major title, and between the major title and concentration/option (if applicable). For graduate programs, a colon (": ") should appear between the major title and concentration/option.

English

Bachelor of Theology (B.Th.) - Honours Religious Studies (120 credits)

Bachelor of Civil Law/Bachelor of Laws and Master of Business Administration (Joint B.C.L./LL.B. & M.B.A.) Law & Management (144 credits)

Master of Arts (M.A.) Anthropology (Thesis): Development Studies (48 credits)

French

Baccalauréat en commerce (B. Com.) - Majeure en comptabilité (66 unités)

Certificat d’études supérieures (Cert. étu. sup.) - Leadership de l’aviation (24 unités)

Concentrations/options should appear following the major title, where applicable. For undergraduate programs, a spaced hyphen (" - ") should appear between the major title and concentration/option (if applicable). For graduate programs, a colon (": ") should appear between the major title and concentration/option.

English

Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) - Mechanical Engineering - Aeronautical Engineering (15 credits)

Diploma (Dip.) Management: Entrepreneurship Concentration (30 credits)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Earth and Planetary Sciences: Environment

French

Baccalauréat en commerce (B. Com.) - Concentration en systèmes d'information: innovation numérique (15 unités)

Certificat d'études supérieures (Cert. étu. sup.) Communication professionnelle: espagnol (18 unités)

Credit/CEU weights should appear in brackets at the end of program titles indicating the program's total weight (specific major or concentration weight, not degree weight). Credit/CEU weights should not be shown for programs lacking course components (Ph.D.s, etc.).

English

Bachelor of Music (B.Mus.) - Minor Composition (18 credits)

Professional Development Certificate (Prof. Dev. Cert.) Management Consulting (23.5 CEUs)

French

Certificat (Cert.) - Éducation pour les Premières nations et les Inuits (60 unités)

Certificat de développement professionnel (Cert. dév. prof.) conseil de gestion de l'aviation (29,0-30,5 UEP)

Program Status (for Enrolment Services use only)

Active programs: programs that have been approved and are currently offered to students should appear normally in the Course Catalogue.
Note for Degree Evaluation: active programs are set to "Publish Ready > Y" in Minerva so they pull into the Course Catalogue. Exceptions are sometimes made for duplicate programs and other cases in which a specific Minerva active program entry should not display in the Course Catalogue.

Inactive programs: programs that have been approved but are not currently offered to students for whatever reason should appear in the Course Catalogue with a note at the top of the program description.

** This program is currently not offered. **

** Currently under review. Program not available for this academic year. **

** This program is currently closed for admissions. **

Retired programs: programs that were approved for previous terms but have since been officially retired should not appear in the current Course Catalogue.
Note for Degree Evaluation: retired programs are removed from the Course Catalogue. For government reporting purposes, the program should remain set to "Report to GDEU > Y" until the last student graduates.

Apostrophe

Possessive

For singular nouns that end in s, add 's to create the possessive. Exception: when the 's makes pronunciation difficult.

Prof. James’s work
Marcel Desautels’ contribution to McGill

Plurals

Omit the apostrophe in general; use only when its omission would obscure the meaning.

Comma

Serial comma (a.k.a., Oxford comma) is used to separate items in a list.

Semi-colon can be used for clarity in complex lists (see semi-colon).

Panama, Barbados, or Africa

degrees in the fields of agricultural sciences and applied biosciences; food and nutritional sciences; environmental sciences; and bioresource engineering

Exception: Titles (publications, programs) that do not include a final comma in their official name.

Programs, Courses and University Regulations
Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health

Em dash

Sets off text elements, no spaces.

The calibre of McGill's undergraduates is very high—at 88.9%, they boast the highest average entrance grades in Canada—and the Faculty understands that these brilliant young minds are the key to its future.

En dash

Used in names of programs, surrounded by spaces.

Sets off a text element in titles, surrounded by spaces.

* Not applicable to Program Pieces (en dash does not work with Banner, nor with government reporting system)

Indicates "to" in numbers, no spaces.

Master of Science (M.Sc.); Parasitology (Thesis) – Bioinformatics (47 credits)

Bachelor of Science – Major Environment – Atmospheric Environment

100–120

Hyphenation

Hyphenate when used in adjective form preceding a noun.

200-level course
a course at the 200 level
off-campus housing
living off campus

In general, choose closed compound words over hyphenated compounds.

corequisite
grade point average
interdisciplinary
interfaculty
multidisciplinary
postdoctoral
postgraduate
Precalculus Lab
preregistration
prerequisite

Exceptions:

cross-disciplinary
inter-university
re-register

Languages and easily recognized compounds are not hyphenated.

English language requirements

French language training

high school transcript

Quotation marks

Double, not single (" not ') quotes to highlight uncommon usage/to point to a word or letter itself.

What are some perspectives on "true identity"?

Ampersand

(&) Use sparingly or when part of a proper name. In regular text, use "and."

Note: McGill Communications and Web Services are similarly frugal about ampersand use. When in doubt, leave it out.

Barnes & Noble

biochemistry and cell biology

Asterisk

(*) No space between a term that requires an explanation and an asterisk.

Space between the asterisk and the explanation.

BIOL 303*

* Note: The student may take ATOC 219 or CHEM 219, but not both.

** Students may…

Email addresses

If an email address ends a sentence, include the normal closing period.

For more information, please email es [at] mcgill.ca.

URLs

If a link ends a sentence, include the normal closing period.

For more information, see mcgill.ca/students.

Do not include a final slash ("/"), "http://", or "www." in URLs.

mcgill.ca/students not https://www.mcgill.ca/students/

ssmu.mcgill.ca/events not http://ssmu.mcgill.ca/events

Note: When embedding a hyperlink, it is necessary to put http:// otherwise, the link does not work in the Course Catalogue.

Note: When embedding a hyperlink, use absolute URLs for pages outside of the Course Catalogue (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maru_(cat)). For other pages within the Course Catalogue, use relative URLs (e.g., "/en/undergraduate/arts/programs/writing-centre/" instead of "https://mcgill-ca-next.courseleaf.com/en/undergraduate/arts/programs/wri..."). Using absolute URLs for internal links will cause the link to break.

Technological terms

-Ize vs. –ise

In most cases, use the suffix "-ize."

specialized

organize

recognize

Students may wish to practise playing their chosen instrument outside of classroom hours.

Students may sign up with a tutor for extra practice.

Terminology List

fully-equipped kitchens where students can prepare their own meals

that vs. which

That begins a restrictive clause (necessary to the meaning of the sentence). A comma is not used.

Which begins a non-restrictive clause (the sentence stands alone without it). A comma precedes it.

The mittens that got left out in the rain were wet.

The mittens, which were her favourite, were wet.