Writing Guidelines for Campus Manitoba

Capitalization and Spelling – Campus Manitoba

Effective storytelling requires the appropriate use of capitalization, spelling, and punctuation and a solid understanding of the rules of grammar. While there are times when these rules might be broken, we generally want to aim for consistency and clarity in our writing.

This is our current list of preferred capitalizations and spellings. We will strive to maintain this list with the most current information available to keep up with the evolution of language.

Capitalization

Via BCcampus Editorial Guidelines

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., University of Manitoba Nouns, verbs, adjectives – e.g., open educational resources, open education, open
Universities, colleges, and institutes – e.g., The University of Winnipeg, RRC Polytech Departments – e.g., faculty of education

Degrees – e.g., bachelor of science (unless abbreviated BSc, BA)
Uppercase Aboriginal and Indigenous at all times

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

Punctuation

  • Serial comma/Oxford comma – we use the serial comma, so please include a comma before the final and or nor
  • Numerals – use a comma for values over 999 (e.g., 1,000 or 45,000)
  • Em dashes – to break a sentence up for clarity or a parenthetical statement, use spaces around the em dash
  • En dashes – use an en dash without spaces when expressing a range of numbers, such as 2013–2022
  • Spacing – use a single space after a period.

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.

Dialogue tags – Introduce the speaker by their full name and title. For subsequent tags, please refer to them by their first name (or preferred name if it’s different – it’s always best to ask them how they’d like to be referred to)

Honorifics – please include the appropriate honorific when introducing your speaker, with following references informed by your subject’s preference. e.g., “…online and digital learning across Canada,” said Dr. Nicole Johnson, executive director of the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association.

Further references to the speaker should be “…and faculty members to complete the 10-minute survey,” said Nicole.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

(via BCcampus)

LGBTQIA2S+ – the currently accepted (as of June 16, 2020) acronym that we use to show respect to this community.

Inclusive language – be conscious of the words you use to describe people. Choose descriptions that don’t define a person by their disability. Instead of saying someone is visually challenged, say they have a visual impairment. They’re not homeless, they’re experiencing homelessness.

CamelCaps – when you are using hashtags, capitalize the first letter of each word to make it possible for screen readers  to effectively emphasize the separate words

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

Please refer to this glossary of diversity and inclusion for current terminology around these matters, or access these resources about inclusive writing from the Language Portal of Canada

Indigenous Principles

Capitalize according to Indigenous preference, not to standard resources.

Avoid possessives before groups e.g., Canada’s Indigenous Peoples. Instead, rewrite to avoid possession, such as ‘Indigenous Peoples of Canada’ (and if possible, remove ‘of Canada’ altogether)

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:

  • Walter Wastesicoot, grand chief of the Keewatin Tribal Council
  • Susie McPherson-Derendy, Cree Knowledge Keeper
  • 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.”