Grammar, Punctuation and Presentation

If you want your website to appear as professional as possible, the content and structure of your pages goes a long way to achieving that aim. But if your content has spelling and punctuation mistakes, then all of your hard work will be lost.

To help you avoid any grammatical or punctuation errors on your website, please read the information below:

Grammar

Spelling
The reference guide for spelling is The Macquarie Dictionary (third edition or later). Please refer to this reference for any spelling checks.

Thesaurus
Please refer to The Macquarie Thesaurus.

Style
The preferred reference guide for elements of style is the Style Manual for Authors and The Little Book of Style, both published by Ausinfo.

Punctuation

The reference guide for punctuation is The Macquarie Dictionary (third edition or later). Please refer to the Guide to Punctuation section of this reference for any queries relating to punctuation.

Presentation

Preferred style for specific references within the University of Adelaide site are listed below:

The University of Adelaide

The correct terminology for the majority of references to this institution is the University of Adelaide.

Examples of how to use the word 'university' in content:

• Over the past twenty years, the University has...
• The University has always...
• It was the third university to be established...
• One of the oldest universities in Australia is the University of Adelaide.

Please note: Abbreviations such as UA or Adelaide Uni on a webpage are not permitted. They may only be applicable with icons that link back to the University of Adelaide home page.

Titles

When used in context of a page, academic titles should be used in full.
e.g. Professor John Smith

When used in a list or directory format, the preferred format is Prof (e.g. Prof John Smith)

Internet Terms

According to the Macquarie Dictionary, the correct usage of common Internet terms are as follows:

• email or e-mail
• home page
• Internet
• online
• web
• the Web
• webpage
• website
• World Wide Web
• www

Telephone Numbers

The University of Adelaide website will be adopting the formatting recommended by the Australian Communications Authority's TeleCommunications Numbering Plan, which was released in 1997.

The correct format for all landline phone numbers is:
+61 8 8313 7510

The correct format for all mobile phone numbers is:
0401 234 567

Times

Please use the standard 12-hour clock when displaying times on your website. For example:

• 8 pm
• 7:30 am
• noon
• noon - 4 pm
• 7:30 - 8:30 am
• 7:30 am - 9:30 pm

Dates

Try to use the full form of the month where possible. It greatly helps the readability of your text.

When you need to abbreviate a month - such as when it is used in a table - abbreviate to Jan, Feb, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec.

Note: there are no full stops after the abbreviation.

Addresses

In general, the University's address should appear as:

Name of Department/Area/Faculty
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE SA 5005
AUSTRALIA

The capitalisation is deliberate. This format was developed in consultation with Australia Post and should be used in all documents.

Other Campuses:

Name of Department/Area/Faculty
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, Roseworthy Campus
ROSEWORTHY SA 5371
AUSTRALIA

Name of Department/Area/Faculty
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, Waite Campus
PMB 1
GLEN OSMOND SA 5064
AUSTRALIA

Name of Department/Area/Faculty
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, Thebarton Campus
THEBARTON SA 5031
AUSTRALIA

Headings

Capitalisation in Headings
Headings should use maximal/minimal title case. This means that all words other than prepositions should have an initial capital.

This online title case generator is useful if you're unsure on how to properly title case your headings.

Each webpage should have a primary heading that should be set as Heading 1. This can be selected from the drop-down list in the editing toolbar when logged-in to TMS.

When linking to a page from a menu, the primary heading of the page should be the same text as the link in the menu.

The Heading 1 style is reserved for the primary heading of a page only. Other headings in the page should be set as Heading 2 to Heading 6 style, used in hierarchical order.

Hyperlinks

When creating a hyperlink in TMS, the text chosen for the link will automatically appear underlined when activated. This is to ensure that hyperlinks in the text are accessible to colour-blind users.

Please note: text that is not hyperlinked should not be underlined. In addition, hyperlinks in the navigation menu should also not be underlined.

Copyright and Disclaimer Notices

In order to keep consistency, there is one generic copyright notice for the entire University of Adelaide website. This notice covers all subsidiary pages within the site, therefore no individual faculty or department website needs to have its own copyright notice.