BCcampus Writing Guidelines for Articles and Web Content

At BCcampus, our mandate is to provide teaching, learning, educational technology, and open education support to post-secondary institutions throughout British Columbia. We create relevant, interesting, and engaging content for our readers, written by multiple authors with varying levels of expertise. To ensure we deliver a unified message that effectively represents BCcampus to our stakeholders, partners, media contacts, and the general public, we’ve developed this compendium to outline the preferred tone and voice for BCcampus, a style guide for web typography, and an editing guide for quick reference.

A quick tip: use the search function (usually CTRL+F) to find the keyword you’re looking for

Style Guides

Styles for individual web properties and publications may vary. A style manual should be produced for each website documenting heads, sub-heads, bulleted lists, captions, and body text formats. The one for BCcampus.ca can be found here.

Tone and Voice

The preferred tone for informal communications – social media, web content, articles, newsletters, and similar channels – is professional and compelling. We do not strive to be the authority on all things educational; rather, we strive to be a conduit to connect our audiences with information, expertise, and advanced approaches they can use to create a more effective educational environment.

The content we create and share should make our readers feel:

Curious about our people and programs
Informed; trusting that we’re sharing relevant and factual information
Included in our decisions, activities, and programs
Respected for their opinions, experiences, and intelligence
Engaged in the spirit and focus of BCcampus

At BCcampus, we are:

Collaborative – we use ‘we, us, and our’ to include the people and teams we work with
Facilitators – we work with others. We don’t make anyone do anything
Name–droppers – we quote our sources and share the accomplishments of the professional educators we work with to ensure they receive credit and recognition for their contribution
Passionate – we share information about the people, resources, and methodologies that excite us, and this excitement is shared with our audience

Intentional Action

The content we create and share is done with purpose – quality content delivered to an engaged audience. The articles you write should inform, invite, announce, and celebrate the accomplishments of BCcampus and our partners. Your excitement about the topic should come through in your writing and will invite the reader to share your enthusiasm.

BCcampus, like the provincial government, follows the Canadian Press Stylebook and the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.

BCcampus Exceptions to CP Style for Web and Print Publications

General Guidelines:

This guide is intended as a quick reference for anyone writing for BCcampus publications. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are important because they reinforce credibility and ensure a clear message. There may be times when it’s appropriate to deviate from this style guide. That said, style is subjective, and not all BCcampus publications need to be finely edited for precise grammar and punctuation before printing or posting. This guide was adapted from the guidelines shared by the province of British Columbia’s government communications department. Additional guidelines can be found here.

Here’s a recommendation to consider before reviewing a written piece: would paying closer attention to spelling, punctuation, and grammar add to the message we are trying to convey? If yes, then edit more closely. If not, there is no value in using a fine-toothed comb and holding up a timely publication.

Generally, the more long-lasting or important the publication (i.e. research paper, strategic plan, splash page on a web site), the more closely it needs to be edited. The more informal or shorter-duration (i.e. blog post, social media conversation) pieces have more latitude.

Seven Basics

Our name is BCcampus, not BC Campus, BC campus, B.C. Campus, or B.C. campus.
Our province is abbreviated B.C., not BC, except where it occurs as part of a proper noun or brand (BCCAT, CoursesBC).
One space between sentences
Avoid using italics, especially for web writing. Italics are welcome in other relevant uses (book titles, etc.)
Try not to use quotations, italics, or boldface for emphasis. Rewrite the content to provide the emphasis you need
Phone numbers. At BCcampus we use a hyphen (e.g., 123-456-7890)
Avoid the word “initiative.” It means personal drive or a formal Elections BC process akin to a referendum or recall. Refer instead to projects, plans, actions, or measures.

Elements of Indigenous Style

Please refer to Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples to ensure you are using Indigenous terminology appropriately.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

In all things, we strive to be the leading example of how to create an inclusive environment for our audience. This means that we are fluid in our communications and strive to use the currently acceptable and appropriate definitions, terminologies, and spellings. Please be aware that language and identities change, so it’s good practice to confirm you are using the most inclusive definition wherever possible.

For example:

LGBTQIA2S+ – this is the currently accepted (as of June 16, 2020) acronym that we use to show respect to this community
Person vs. individual — we are committed to ensuring our communications are as inclusive as possible, and word-choice can play an import factor. When referring to specific but unnamed members of a group, please use the term people or person instead of individual or individuals. This is because the term individual excludes a person from a group, whereas people or person does not. Our thinking on this is informed and influenced by this report, funded by a BCcampus DEI grant.
CamelCaps — capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag so that screen readers can announce each word separately. #InclusionMatters.

For additional DEI concepts, visit this glossary, via the University of Washington

Principles

When referring to culture, ethnicity, or groups of people, the word Black is capitalized. “Black with a capital B refers to people of the African diaspora. Lowercase black is simply a color.” – Lori L. Tharpshad

Capitalize according to Indigenous preference, not to standard resources.

Avoid possessives before groups (e.g., Canada’s Indigenous Peoples).

Always refer to the three major groups of Indigenous Peoples in the same order: First Nations, Métis, Inuit. (Where Urban Indigenous people are included in the list, it follows Inuit.)

Use Indigenous Peoples as a term specifically referring to groups of people — i.e., peoples. Use Indigenous people as a more generic term referring more to the people than to the groups — e.g., when Indigenous people move to urban centres.

Use the term settlers (noun) instead of colonizers, Europeans, newcomers, and so on; use settler (adjective) instead of colonial, European, Euro-Canadian, and so on.

Use terms such as settler perspectives, settler governments, settler policies, settler laws, but use Western when referring to larger systems, such as Western knowledge system, Western educational systems, and Western-dominated systems.

For authors, instructors, Elders, etc., add which Nation they are from after their name in parenthesis, unless this has been explicitly shared in the sentence itself. Some examples:

Bradley Dick (Lekwungen First Nation)
Mi’kmaq educator Marie Battiste
Elder Albert Marshall from the Eskasoni Mi’kmaq First Nation describes Etuaptmumk, the approach of “two-eyed seeing”

Do not use “the” or “people” with “Inuit.”

Spelling

We strive to adhere to CP Style, but have defined spellings for the following words and phrases:

20th century
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN)
acknowledgement
adviser (BCcampus style guide)
a.m./p.m.
among (not amongst)
B.C. (the province – except in wordmarks)
BCcampus
benefited, benefitting
biosecurity
Chinook Jargon
colonization
coexist (CanOx)
co-manage
contact
co-operation
decision making (n; CanOx but contra CP Style, which doesn’t speak to similar constructions like problem solving, information gathering, capacity building, so we have left all open in the noun form)
decolonization
Elder
enroll, enrolment
fundraise (v)
geopolitical
Google
Green Report
holism/holistic (except Michelle Pidgeon uses “wholistic” for her Indigenous wholistic framework in the Front-Line Workers Guide)
Hudson’s Bay Company
Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement
Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS)
Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous people
Indigenize, Indigenization (but indigenous in relation to plants, animals, etc.)
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
judgment
K–12 (use en-dash)
knowledge-keepers
Kwakwaka’wakw
Kwak’wala language
Lik’wala language
Māori
map-makers
massive open online course (MOOC)
Medicine Wheel
Métis, Métis citizens
Métis Nation British Columbia
Métis Nation Homeland, historic Métis Nation Homeland
Métis National Council (MNC)
Michif (use this spelling for Métis language)
microaggression
mindset
Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training
Mi’kmaq and Maliseet First Nations
modelling
multi-faceted (CanOx)
Nation (when referring to First Nation)
‘Namgis (straight apostrophe)
Neuroinclusivity
non-Indigenous people
North West Company
northwest coast
Nuu-chah-nulth
per cent (in running text, two words, BCcampus style)
reconciliation
Reconciliation Canada website
re-evaluate
re-traumatize
Royal Proclamation, 1763 (rom)
self-mastery
Sixties Scoop or ’60s Scoop
socio-economic
socio-historic
Stó:lō
TCPS2 (Tri-Council Council Policy Statement, version 2)
TELŦIN TŦE WILNEW
terra nullius (ital)
the Yukon
toward (not towards)
treaty-making
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC)
U’mista
UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Voyageur sash
website (not web site)
well-being
Western and the West (when referring to European culture/knowledge in contrast to Indigenous culture/knowledge)
worldview (contra CanOx)
W̱SÁNEĆ
Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC)

Preferred word usage

Adviser, not advisor
Alternative (one or the other); alternate (one after the other)
Assist (use help)
Clean up (verb), cleanup (noun)
Data (plural in scientific writing but usually singular in other uses)
Defence (not defense, no matter what your spell-checker says) but defensive
Dialogue tags – after the initial use of the full name, please use first names to identify the speaker in the article. e.g., “Open is the best thing in the world,” said Mary Burgess, executive director at BCcampus … “I really love the world of open,” said Mary.
Fulfil (not fulfill), fulfilled, fulfilling, fulfilment
Historic (important or outstanding in history), historical (about history). A, not an, historical site
Honourifics – Please include the appropriate honourific when first identifying the person, but unless requested, do not repeatedly reference. e.g., Dr. Rick Morty from PickleRick University… Rick told us that…
It’s (it is), its (possessive)
Judgment, not judgement
Lend, lent (verb), loan (noun)
Licence (noun), license (verb). (Easy test: substitute the words “advice” or “advise” to determine which part of speech it is.) – Also, licensed, licensing, licensee
Lock out (verb), lockout (noun), lock up (verb), lockup (noun)
m., p.m. (periods and lower case). Noon, not 12 noon, which is redundant. 1 p.m., not 1:00 p.m.
Metre (metric), meter (gauge)
microaggression
New Westminster (not New Westminister)
Northeast, northwest (one word). Northwestern B.C., not northwest B.C.
Offence, offensive
Practice (noun or adjective), practise (verb)
Set up (verb), setup (noun)
Spin off (verb), spinoff (noun and adjective)
Underway (one word)
Upcoming (use coming)
Use inquiry, not enquiry, except when referring to Enquiry BC

Capitalization

Capitalize	Lowercase
Black – when referring to culture, ethnicity, or groups of people, use a capital B	Use lowercase when describing the colour
Proper nouns – e.g., B.C. Open Textbooks	Nouns, verbs, adjectives – e.g., open educational resources, open education, open
Universities, colleges, and institutes – e.g., University of Victoria, BCIT	Departments – e.g., faculty of education Degrees – e.g., bachelor of science (unless abbreviated BSc, BA)
Names of ministries – e.g., Ministry of Health Services, the Health Services Ministry	Generic reference to ‘the ministry’ or ‘ministries’ (plural)
Mayor and Coun. (for councillor) are uppercase before names only	Lowercase job titles for everybody Lowercase titles preceded by “former” or “acting”
Full names of acts (Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act), at all times	Use lowercase when writing “the act will…” DO NOT italicize the names of acts
Uppercase Aboriginal and Indigenous at all times
West Coast, the West, the Interior, the Island, Lower Mainland, the North, the Northeast (regions)	west coast of Vancouver Island, the B.C. coast
Use all caps for abbreviations and acronyms like HTML, CD-ROM, RAM and URL	website, webmaster, web page, webcast, etc.

*Please note: The Canadian Press Stylebook changed in 2017 regarding the capitalization of internet – it should not be capitalized

Title or sentence case

Excerpted from the Government Communications & Public Engagement web style guide

Use title case for H1 and H2 headings. Capitalize all words except:

Prepositions and articles (a, by, or, an, for, the, and, in, to, at, of, up, but, on)
Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) of less than four letters

Use sentence case for H3 and H4 headings unless headings are three words or less and linked.

Capitalize the first word and proper nouns.

[H1] Aboriginal Justice
- [H2] Justice B.C. Services
  - [H3] Custody, sentencing and corrections support
  - [H3] Adult offender corrections support
    - [H4] How do you apply for support?

If the heading contains a hyphenated word, only capitalize the first part.

Citations

When citing your content, please refer to the citation and style guides shared by Simon Fraser University to find out the right citation style for your article or web page.

Numbers

Numbers one through nine are spelled out (except when saying No. 1 or number 1 priority). Use numerals for 10 and higher (except when starting a sentence with a number) and for decimals (4.5 per cent – and note: per cent is two words). Also Phase 1, Section 1, Grade 1, page 1, line 9.

Grade 7, grades 7 and 8, seventh grade

Abbreviations

Geographical locations take periods. Therefore, B.C. stands for British Columbia; BC stands for Before Christ. Some organizations think because their logo doesn’t use periods, their name shouldn’t have them either. Not true. A logo is a visual thing, a graphic device, and just because the artist didn’t want dots messing up the design doesn’t change the fact that B.C. takes periods.

HOWEVER, CP also says that in a proper name (a company, for instance), if they insist on odd spellings etc., it’s the company’s name, so go with their version. For example, BCcampus, BC Ferries, BC Hydro.

Months: In dates, abbreviate when followed by day, except March, April, May, June and July. Thus we write Jan. 13, 2003, April 2, 2003. But January 2003 (no comma).

Days of week: don’t abbreviate, except in a table if you need to save space.

Quotes:

If a quote continues from one paragraph to the next, do not put closing quotation marks at the end of the previous paragraph, but do put open quotation marks at the beginning of the new paragraph, as follows:

“Our strategy is simple…
“We speak in bureaucratese like ‘initiatives’ and ‘strategy,’ and no one can understand a word we say…

Please don’t start a quote with “I am pleased…”. It’s generic and banal. (“I am pleased by this pleasing strategic initiative that pleases me.”)

Also, do not use quotations to emphasize a word or phrase. Rewrite the sentence to show the appropriate emphasis without relying on cheap gimmicks. The exception is to indicate sarcasm. BCcampus does not use sarcasm in any communications.

Punctuation

Some exceptions to the following guidelines may be appropriate in specific disciplines. Please check with your project manager or copy editor.

Ampersands

As per CP Style, the ampersand (&)should only be used when it forms part of a corporate name

Citations

Do not use periods in abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms, except as noted in a spelling list (e.g., et al., etc., i.e. are the most common that retain the periods).

Commas

We love Oxford commas (also known as the serial comma). We have done a 180-turnaround on this one since 2011. Put commas between the elements of a series and before the final and, or nor.

men, women, children, and pets
the ministries of Health, Labour, and Forests

In a sentence made of two distinct clauses, put a comma before the and so each clause can stand alone.

Wally presented his budget and walked out of the house.
Wally presented his budget, and he walked out of the house.

Use commas in numerals over 999 (e.g., 1,000; 45,000).

Colons

Do NOT capitalize the first letter of the first word after a colon unless the colon introduces two or more sentences.

Emphasizing words with punctuation

Sometimes an author will want to stress or emphasize a word or phrase. While acceptable, this practise should be kept to a minimum. In most cases, the word(s) should be written in a way that the stress or importance of a word or term is clear in context. Follow these guidelines:

Do not use boldface or quotation marks for emphasis
Use italics for words used as words (e.g., The term vocal cords is often misspelled. What do you mean by nexus?)
Words that are meant to alert the reader that a term or word is used in a non-standard, ironic, or other special sense should be marked off with quotation marks (e.g., “Child protection” sometimes fails to protect).
Words that are common expressions and figures of speech should NOT be set off in any way.

Hyphens and dashes

Post-secondary
Micro-credentials and micro-course
- Exception: BCcampus FLO MicroCourses
Adverbs ending in -ly are not followed by a hyphen. The -ly alerts readers that the word that follows is modified: a brightly lit room, an eagerly awaited speech.
The $50-million project vs. cost of the project is $50 million. (A simple test – do you hear an “s” on dollar when said out loud? If not, then hyphenate). The 25-seat arena. The arena has 25 seats. She is 12 years old. The 12-year-old.
Bylaw, byelection (no hyphen).
Child care (standing alone) but child-care centre, child-care grant (compound modifiers).
Co-operate, co-ordinate (hyphenate when a prefix brings two identical vowels together). Also hyphenate if you end up with three of the same consonants in a row.
Co-creating (if the first element is merely a prefix or combining form that could not stand by itself as a word (co, anti, pre, etc.), do not capitalize the second element unless it is a proper noun or proper adjective).
Fundraise, fundraiser, fundraising – no hyphen.
Nationwide, provincewide (no hyphens). But Canada-wide.

Do not hyphenate Latin phrases used adjectivally (e.g., ad hoc proposal, post hoc analysis).

For hanging hyphen constructions (15- to 19-year-olds), do not hyphenate after “to.”

Em dashes ( — )

The em dash is the standard for breaking a sentence or setting off parenthetical statements
With em dashes, insert a space on either side

En dashes (-)

Use an en dash when expressing a range of numbers, such as the years of a person’s life, e.g., 1955-2001
There should be no space on either side of the en dash

Lists

In displayed lists, always start items with a capital letter. Use end punctuation, such as a period, with full sentences only.

Quotations

Use the North American system for quotation marks: periods and commas always go inside quotation marks; semicolons and colons go outside.

Use double quotation marks for all quoted matters. Single quotation marks should be reserved to enclose quotes within quotes (e.g., Mark exclaimed, “You have driven a stake into my heart! Now I truly understand Caesar’s words, ‘Et tu Brute?’ How could you treat me so?”).

Do not use quotation marks with so-called. (e.g., Her so-called friend left her standing in the rain.)

Spacing

Use only one space after a period (i.e., between sentences) and after a colon (:)

Measurement

Canada is metric and so is Canadian Press. This applies to distance, height, weight, and area. Here’s a conversion website for quick reference.

Exception: historical contexts. The speed limit on the Lions Gate Bridge when it opened in 1938 was 15 miles per hour.

Miscellaneous

That and which

As a conjunction, that should be omitted if no confusion results (e.g., Linden said (that) he would go). When choosing between that and which, that is used to introduce an essential clause, and there’s no comma before it. Which introduces a non-essential clause, and it does take a comma.

He cited the case that changed Canadian law.
He cited the Kilroy case, which changed Canadian law.

Web addresses

Do not post raw URLs (e.g. http://www.bccampus.ca). Embedded links are preferred for all online distribution, using appropriate anchor text. For printed content or hardcopy materials, make the link usable if typed as plain text into the address line of a browser (e.g., bccampus.ca).

Addresses

Uppercase street, road, etc. with names unless two or more are referred to (Howe Street, but Howe and Seymour streets) and abbreviate in addresses when the number is used – 645 Fort St.