Writing Style Guide
The Office for External Relations and Communications maintains a style guide to promote clarity and consistency in writing about and for the University of Illinois System. The styles and terms listed in this guide apply to all publications produced by or collaboration with our office, and serve as a guideline for all system offices.
In most cases, the first reference for styles is the AP Stylebook. The Chicago Manual of Style is also used as a reference. Send comments, suggestions and questions to infosource@uillinois.edu with style guide in the subject line or call 217-333-6400.
Click on a letter above to jump to that section.
administrator/administrators
Use sparingly to avoid confusion with the former University Administration entity. See system offices and system leadership. The preferred term for the administrators of the system is system leadership or system leaders.
Altogether Extraordinary
Brand theme and tagline for the University of Illinois System. When used in advertising and marketing materials as a stand-alone headline or tagline, initial caps are to be used. When used in running text as a proof point about the system, do not capitalize.
The contributions that the three universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield make to the state of Illinois and its people are altogether extraordinary.
Bachelor of arts/science/fine arts degree
No apostrophe s. Use bachelor’s degree when referring to the degree in shortened form. Use BA, BS, or BFA as needed in a list or on a CV, with no periods.
Board of Trustees
Capitalize when using the full name.
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois meets every other month, generally on a Thursday.
The U of I System’s board of trustees complies with the Illinois Open Meetings act.
The board has several committees.
Nine trustees are appointed by the governor. The student trustees are elected by the students at each university.
BOT
Shortened form of Board of Trustees. Avoid use. Board is preferred. No capital.
campus
Avoid using to refer to the three universities in Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield. These should be referred to as universities, unless the reference is to the grounds. See also university.
UIS recently added a statue of Abraham Lincoln to its campus.
Chicago
May be used when parallel university references are needed, such as PowerPoint presentations, graphs, forms, or web links (Urbana, Chicago, Springfield). For preferred first and second references for UIC in running text, see University of Illinois Chicago.
college (as in the College of Education)
Do not capitalize when the full name of a college is not being used.
colleges of medicine
Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED after first reference). The world’s first engineering-based medical school located at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
University of Illinois College of Medicine (UICOM after first reference). Featuring campuses in Chicago, Peoria and Rockford.
commas
Serial commas are generally used in print and online publications. News releases adhere to AP style, which does not use a serial comma. However, a serial comma may be used “if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction.” AP also supports use of a comma before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases.
The University of Illinois System has universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield.
He coordinates projects for economics, fine and applied arts, and earth and environmental sciences.
database; dataset
One word.
dates
Except for news releases, dates are used with the month written out and the full year. For news releases, abbreviate the month with a period: Nov.1
For references to only the month and year (no day), do not use a comma. Use a comma after year when the month, date and year are included.
President Ikenberry visited India in December 2018.
President Killeen spoke on September 22, 2015, in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
decades
Decades are shown without an apostrophe. 70s, 90s
degrees
No periods in degrees. PhD, MS, MSF, BS, BA
departments
Lowercase departments, but use initial capitals for the names of centers, colleges, divisions, institutes, laboratories, offices and schools. Use initial capitals for proper nouns and acronyms and use lowercase for informal, shortened or generic terms.
doctor
Avoid using the courtesy title Dr. before a name, as it does not clarify specialty. Instead, place the degree designation after the name, set off with commas.
A gift from Jane Smith, MD, will establish a scholarship fund for underrepresented students entering the medical field.
Michael Johnson, DDS, was honored at the ceremony.
When it is necessary to mention non-medical doctorates:
Steve Jones, who holds a doctorate in sociology, was recently awarded a federal grant for the project.
Pictured here: Steve Jones, PhD, sociology
ellipsis (…)
Put spaces around ellipsis. If an ellipsis ends a sentence, a period is not required.
email; e-newsletter
No hyphen, lowercase e for email. Do not underline email addresses in printed publications, either in running text or in contact information.
figures
References to figures are capitalized in running text.
The information in Figure 2 indicates that private support for the University of Illinois is increasing.
flagship
Should be used in reference to the U of I System. Do not use to describe one of the three universities.
The University of Illinois System is the flagship system for the state.
healthcare
One word in all references.
HTML; html
All capitals when referring to the Hypertext Mark-up Language. Generally lower case when used in a file extension: index.html
lower case entries
Generally, it is preferable to recast the sentence so that the sentence does not start with lower case.
Do not write: uillinois.edu is the URL for the web pages of the University of Illinois System.
Instead, write: The URL for the University of Illinois System home page is uillinois.edu.
master of science/arts/education degree
No apostrophe s. Use master’s when referring to the degree in shortened form.
numbers
Numbers from one through nine are written out. Numbers greater than nine are shown in digits. Follow the Chicago Manual of Style’s mandate and remember that “consistency must sometimes give way to readability.” Commas are use in numbers with four or more digits.
The University of Illinois System has three universities.
The U of I System offers more than 25 programs of study online.
UIC has more than 29,000 students.
online
One word, no hyphen, lower case.
regional campus
UIC has regional campuses in Peoria and Rockford with College of Medicine and College of Nursing programs and programs from other UIC colleges (pharmacy), and in the Quad Cities (nursing program). When referring only to the UIC College of Medicine at each location, use the abbreviations UICOMP and UICOMR as appropriate on second reference. When referring to the overall resources and programs offered in each city, use regional campus in [city name].
President Killeen recently spoke with business leaders at the U of I System’s regional campus in Peoria.
The UIC College of Nursing has programs on the Urbana and Springfield campuses that are generally not referred to as regional campuses, given their location. See satellite program.
satellite program or satellite location
The UIC College of Nursing has programs on the Urbana and Springfield campuses that are generally not referred to as regional campuses given their location. These are satellite programs of the colleges of medicine or nursing, etc. Locations of other services and centers that do not reside on any of the main university campuses or the regional campuses may be referred to as satellite locations (e.g. Illini Center in downtown Chicago).
state
Do not capitalize state, which is consistent with AP and Chicago styles.
The state of Illinois has numerous state-supported universities.
The state Auditor General conducts audits at state universities.
state names
Use AP-approved two-character state abbreviations.
Springfield
May be used when parallel university references are needed, such as PowerPoint presentations, graphs, forms, or web links (Urbana, Chicago, Springfield). For preferred first and second references for UIS in running text, see University of Illinois Springfield.
system
Effective with the approval of the 2016 Strategic Framework, the University of Illinois System is one system with three universities (as opposed to one university with three campuses). Use full name of University of Illinois System on first reference and U of I System or the system on second reference.
Capitalize only when used in conjunction with University of Illinois or U of I as above. When needed for clarity, capital S may be used (such as for parity with Urbana, Chicago, Springfield, or when “system” is used in another context in proximity. In such cases, when possible use U of I System. For System Offices, see separate entry.
The University of Illinois System is one of many public university systems throughout the United States.
Tim Killeen serves as president for the U of I System.
All three universities in the system offer undergraduate music programs.
The U of I System employs numerous information delivery systems to communicate with its constituents.
Exceptions: The University of Illinois is still the organization's legal name, and as such will often be used without the “System” on legal documents. When the U of I System is used on legal documents, a second reference “System” may be capitalized.
system affiliation
Prominently using an entity’s relationship to the University of Illinois System increases awareness about the many facets of the system and its connections. In general, include reference to the U of I System as early as possible in communications.
Discovery Partners Institute, part of the University of Illinois System, announced a new multigenerational partnership with Hope Chicago.
Illinois Innovation Network, led by the University of Illinois System, drives inclusive and integrated research, innovation and economic development across Illinois.
system leadership/leaders
When possible, utilize the term leadership in place of “administration.” The leadership of the U of I System consists of: the governing and authoritative body of the Board of Trustees, the president (who reports to the Trustees), the executive vice president, the three university chancellors, and the other vice presidents of the system offices.
System leaders met yesterday to discuss implementation of the Strategic Framework.
The planning committee intends to propose their ideas for the event to system leadership next week.
System Offices
Term used to describe the offices that report to the president of the University of Illinois System. These offices provide services for the three universities and the system overall. This term should replace the use of “University Administration” and “UA.” When used as an official title of an entity, capitalize. When used as a general reference, or to allow for parity with the universities (general), use lowercase.
The Office of External Relations and Communications is one of the system offices.
A task force recently looked at which administrative units should be moved to the universities from the system offices.
The budget for UIC is $XXX, whereas the budget for System Offices is $XXX.
UIS employees will be informed on Friday. System Offices employees will receive the information on Monday.
system-wide
Use hyphen and lowercase. Used to refer to policies, initiatives, etc. that are applicable to all components of the University of Illinois System.
tables
See figures.
titles
Titles used before a name are capitalized but titles following a name or used without a name are not.
A strategic planning process was launched by President Tim Killeen during his first year in office.
Paul Ellinger, chief financial officer and vice president, is the senior budget official.
The executive director determined that the office would close early due to the storm.
The chancellor and provost from UIS attended the legislative session.
UA
Shorthand for the former University Administration. Do not use. See system offices.
UIAA
Shorthand for University of Illinois Alumni Association. Use the full name on first reference, and the Alumni Association or UIAA for subsequent references.
UICOMP
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. Use the full name on first reference.
UICOMR
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford. Use the full name on first reference.
UIF
Shorthand for University of Illinois Foundation. Use the full name on first reference. On second reference, either UIF or the Foundation is acceptable.
UI Health
Use full name of University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System on first reference, and UI Health on second reference. UI Health includes the hospital, clinics, and UIC health sciences colleges.
university
Lowercase university when not part of the title of a specific university, and upon second reference to a specific university. This is consistent with AP stylebooks and university stylebooks. Do not use to refer to the entire U of I System.
There are three universities in the University of Illinois System.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are set to begin human trials of a new drug found to shrink cancerous tumors in dogs. This is just one of many current trials being conducted at the university.
University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
Use University of Illinois Chicago School of Law on first reference. (Do not capitalize a preceding “the,” except at the beginning of a sentence, no possessive, no hyphen.) UIC Law is an acceptable second reference. Using lowercase law school is acceptable for generic reference.
University of Illinois Chicago School of Law is Chicago's first and only public law school. UIC Law became UIC’s 16th college earlier this year.
UIC is home to 16 colleges, including its renowned medical college and a new law school.
University of Illinois System
Effective with the approval of the 2016 Strategic Framework and reflected in the Statutes, this is the proper way to identify the entire organization that includes all three universities and the system offices. Acceptable second references are U of I System, or system. See system.
The University of Illinois System is regarded as the premier public university system for the state of Illinois.
Exceptions: The University of Illinois is still the organization's legal name, and as such will often be used without the "System" on legal documents.
U of I
Do not use University of Illinois or U of I without System or a university location. Do not use UI (although this is used by some media outlets and some units, such as UI Health).
Note that some communications produced by units at the Urbana-Champaign university use U of I. System offices should use one of the approved second references for Urbana-Champaign.
University of Illinois Chicago
Full name is preferred on first reference in running text. Use UIC on second and subsequent references. For parallel references in some cases, see Chicago. Note: As of Fall 2020, UIC no longer uses the at in University of Illinois at Chicago. Do not use a comma or a dash.
University of Illinois Springfield
Full name is preferred on first reference in running text, and UIS on second reference. For certain cases of parallel references, see Springfield. In 2009, UIS leaders dropped the at from University of Illinois at Springfield.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Use full name on first reference. Preferred second references are UIUC and Urbana-Champaign. For certain cases of parallel references, see Urbana. As of fall 2020, UIUC no longer uses the at in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Do not use a comma or a dash.
Urbana or Urbana-Champaign
May be used when parallel university references are needed, such as presentations, graphs, forms, web links, etc. (Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield). Also an acceptable second reference for the university. For preferred first and second references, see University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Do not use Champaign-Urbana to refer to the university. The university was first established in Urbana and later expanded to Champaign, thus the order in the name.
URLs
Do not include http:// or www. unless the server name is such that an element of confusion is introduced when those characters are not included. If a URL is at the end of a sentence, include the ending punctuation.
Additional information can be found online at uillinois.edu.
U.S.
Use periods when abbreviating United States.
web; web page; website
Use lowercase. Web page is two words. Website is one word.