Communication Standards Manual - University of Wisconsin ...

UW SystemNo hyphen in UW System. UW-Extension does have a hyphen.vertical lists1. When possible, introduce vertical lists with a complete clause (agrammatically complete sentence) followed by a colon.UW-Stevens Point offers its students three field stations for environmentalstudy:• Schmeeckle Reserve, a 275-acre nature reserve on campus• Central Wisconsin Environmental Station, a 300-acre conference andeducation center on Sunset Lake• Treehaven Campus, a 1,400-acre conference and education center nearTomahawk2. Use parallel (similar) phrasing for entries in a list.To qualify for the scholarship, applicants must fulfill these requirements:• hold a 3.5 or above grade point average• participate in extracurricular activities• demonstrate leadership qualities• volunteer in community/campus philanthropic activities3. For numbered lists, like this one, use a period after each number andbegin each entry with a capital letter, even if the entry is not acomplete sentence.4. Use bulleted lists mainly for instructional or promotional material.5. When each item in a group of unnumbered items is an incompletesentence, begin with lowercase letters and do not use periods. (Seeitem 2 above.)6. If a list completes a phrase that introduces it,• punctuate as you would a sentence without bullets,• begin items with lowercase letters,• use commas, semicolons and parentheses as appropriate, and• close the final item with a period.voiceactive voice – The subject performs the action the verb conveys.John calculates the solution. (subject-verb-object).Writing Style Guidepassive voice – The object of the action becomes the subject. The passive voicealways contains a form of the verb to be or to get. The subject-verb-object order isinverted; the direct object becomes the subject.The course is being offered by UW-Stevens Point Continuing Education.Better: UW-Stevens Point Continuing Education is offering the course.The thesis was written and presented by a graduate student.Better: A graduate student wrote and presented the thesis.Avoid using the passive voice unnecessarily; it creates wordy constructions andoften introduces ambiguity about who performed the action.WebCapitalize World Wide Web, the formal name, and the short form Web whenused alone and as two words, Web page, Web feed. Lowercase when used as oneword, webcam, webcast, webmaster and website. For other sites, particularly socialmedia, always capitalize Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn.29