A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z
(Listed alphabetically):
 
A
Acronyms, abbreviations

• Write the names of organisations or departments in full followed by the initials/abbreviation in brackets. Example: "The Australian Research Council (ARC) reported today that ...".
• Well-known acronyms and abbreviations such as NASA, CSIRO, UNESCO or IT need not be written in full at first mention. Only abbreviate United States, United Kingdom, etc as adjectives. Examples: "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton"; "The UN Security Council". When abbreviated, US, UK, UN, etc should not have any no full-stops.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples / Indigenous

• Use initial capitals for Aboriginal, Aborigine (Aboriginal is the adjective and Aborigine, the noun) and Indigenous. The word 'aborigine' is a generic term referring to indigenous people from anywhere in the world.
• When referring to the two distinct cultural groups, both should be referred to individually. Example: "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people".
• Always capitalise 'Indigenous' when it refers to the original inhabitants of Australia - as in 'Indigenous Australians' and 'Indigenous communities'. It needs no capitals when used in a general sense to refer to the original inhabitants of other countries.
• Never use the words 'tribe' or 'native' when referring to Indigenous people.

Active Voice

• Use the active voice with the subject before the verb whenever possible. Examples: "The cow jumped over the moon." rather than "The moon was jumped over by the cow."; "Casey Council issued a permit." rather than "A permit was issued by Casey Council."
• Beware of the passive expressions: have been, has been, is being, was being. Example: "Jones resigned." rather than "Jones has been forced to resign."

Adjectives and adverbs

• Adjectives and adverbs are non-specific and introduce bias and value judgements open to challenge. Use strong nouns and verbs and avoid terms such as 'very fast', 'very happy', etc. Example: "The man jumped on a slow-moving bus." rather than "The man got on a bus that was travelling very slowly." Note that, in this example, the adjective 'slow-moving' is essential.

Age

• Numbers 1 to 9 are spelled out in full; however, when referring to the age of an individual, the shortened version is preferred for the web. Example: "Nick Smith, 8" rather than "Eight-year-old Nick Smith".

Ampersand

• Avoid using the ampersand (&) unless it is part of a title or abbreviation such as a company name (e.g. P & A Homes Ltd) or a common term (e.g. R & D).

B
Books

• Use italics for names of books and films and do not enclose in quotation marks. When referring to an academic's book, you can put the book's publisher in brackets after the italicised title. Example: "The book Yarn Spinners: a Story in Letters (University of Melbourne Press), written by medical student Marilla North, will be published Monday."

C
Capitals

• In quoted speech the first word is capitalised. Example: "The manager said, 'We don't believe that this was the correct solution.'" However, when a quote is broken into portions, the first word of the second fragment appears in lower case. Example: "'We don't believe this was the correct solution,' the manager said, 'and we will continue working.'".
• Names of organisations are given initial capitals. Example: "the Department of Human Services". However, the following generic element for subsequent references should be left uncapitalised. Example: "Contractors will paint the department building."
• Government is capitalised as part of a formal title but lower case is generally appropriate. Examples: "The Australian Government is responsible for…" but "The government proposes to…".
• Geographical and political names are always capitalised. Examples: "South-East Asia", "Central America". Unofficial names do not need to be capitalised. Examples: "northern Victoria", "southern Italy".
• Official titles of principals, chief executives of organisations or departments, monarch, prime minister, foreign heads of state are capitalised. Examples: "the Chief Executive of Citibank", "The Victorian Premier John Brumby said…". When abbreviated to their generic element, most of these titles can be presented in lower case. Example: "The premier's view is shared by…".
• Earth with upper case 'E' if it is the name of the planet or lower case earth if you are talking about soil, dirt etc. Universe also starts with a capital 'U'.
• Titles of organisations, associations and local institutions are capped only when the full title is use. Example: "Melbourne City Council" but thereafter "the council ...". The same goes for a faculty, school, or centre. An exception is Monash University, which is always referred to as the University with an initial capital.
• Nouns used with government departments and terms are capitalised to distinguish them from their generic meaning. These are:
  • The Cabinet.
  • The Treasury.
  • The Budget, but not as an adjective or when plural. Example: "budget provisions", "the budgetary process", "successive state budgets".
  • Act(s).
  • Regulation(s).
  • Bill(s).
• Do not capitalise somebody's profession or area of study. However, their title is always capitalised. Example: "Joe Smith, a vascular surgeon, is Director of Vascular Surgery."
• Buildings, structures and public places are always capitalised and given in full. Lower case is always used when referring to their generic element or plural combinations. Example: "Monash Medical Centre" but "The hospital and major works are about to be undertaken at Dandenong and Casey hospitals."
• Days of the week and months are always capitalised. By contrast, names of seasons are usually left in lower case. Examples: "Thursday", "winter".
• Avoid using proprietary names of drugs, chemicals, software programs, etc. Where their use is essential, the proprietary name is capitalised but the generic names are presented in lower case. Example: "Panadol" but "paracetamol".
• Computer and internet terms are referred to in lower case. Examples: "website", "email", "online".

Colon & semi colon

• A colon is used to precede a list or an explanation. Example: "President Obama listed six demands: [the six demands follow - each with a bullet point]".
• Semi colons are used where lists are within a sentence and the detail requires a greater pause for the reader than a comma.

D
Dates

• Ensure content remains relevant by using the date rather than 'today'; 'yesterday' or 'tomorrow'.
• Our style is 25 May 2009 not 25th May, 2009 or May 25, 2009.

Disability/disease

• The main thing to remember is NOT to define somebody by their disability. Example: "Fred has schizophrenia" rather than "Fred is a schizophrenic".
• Always refer to people as having a disability rather than as disabled. Example: "John has an intellectual disability". Use visual impairment for blind, hearing impairment for deaf, etc.
• Alzheimer's disease (note lower case for 'disease') and Down's syndrome (note apostrophe 's' after Down), multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, muscular dystrophy (note use of capitals and lower-case).
• Do not use 'suffering from', 'afflicted with', 'confined to a wheelchair' etc. Better just to say 'with'.
• "Students from a disadvantaged background" rather than "disadvantaged students".

Double letters (or lack of)

• No double 't' in benefited, targeted.
• No double 's' in focusing, focused.
• No need to hyphenate double 'o' - such as in coordinate, cooperative or microorganism.

E
Enquiry

• Use 'inquiry' or 'inquire' rather than 'enquiry' or 'enquire'. Example: "Commission of Inquiry into…".

F
For example

• 'For example' and 'that is' should be written in full.

H
Hyphens

• Be aware of hyphens in proper nouns and terms. Examples: multi-million-dollar project, x-ray, world-class, cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, ground-breaking, two-year-old, date, well-meaning, well-behaved, pie-in-the-sky, energy-efficient, $30 million-plus, ultra-modern, high-performance computers, a 50-page publication, novel-writing, DNA-fingerprinting, long-standing, far-reaching, long-term, T-cell, three-way, spin-off, sub-groups, five-million-tonnes.
• Note that adverbial compounds, those ending in '-ly' are not hyphenated. Examples: cleverly judged run, wholly owned subsidiary, fairly big business.
• There is no need to hyphenate double 'o' such as in coordinate, cooperative or microorganism.

I
Inquiry

• Our style is to use inquiry, inquire rather than enquiry or enquire.

Italics

• Rather than quotation marks, use italics for conference and public lecture titles, film, television shows, book titles, species names, journal titles and genes.
• If a foreign word or term has become sufficiently commonplace in the English language, it does not have to italicised anymore. Example: "in-vitro".

It's and its

• 'It's' is the abbreviated form of 'it is'. 'Its' is the possessive.

M
Measurements

• Always use numeral for numbers which are accompanied by a symbol. Examples: 3 km, 25C.

N
News reports and feature stories

• Distinguish between news and a feature as the craft is different for each.
• In news reporting, the first paragraph should basically tell the whole story and include the basic elements of who, what, when, where and how.
• Feature stories develop ideas through characters. Anecdotes are the basic elements in feature stories and are powerful devices to start the story. Example: "According to superstition, Friday the 13th. brings bad luck but not for Melbourne footballer Ian Jones. 'I have kicked at least six goals every time we have played on a Friday the 13th,' he says."

Numbers

• Numbers from one to nine written as words, anything over that written as numerals. However, if starting a sentence with a number, write it out in full. Example: "Fifty-thousand people packed Federation Square". However, when referring to the age of an individual, the shortened version is preferred for the web. Example: "Nick Smith, 8" rather than "Eight-year-old Nick Smith".
• Dates are to be written in full when used within a sentence and the Australian representation is to be used. Example: "The Health Minister called a meeting for Saturday, 22 December 2009." However, when used in a form of reference, then the abbreviated style is to be used. Example: "The document, dated: 22/12/09, revealed…".

P
Percentages

• For the web, use the percentage symbol. Example: "15%".
• In articles for printing, use the word. Example "15 percent".

Plurals

• No apostrophes for plurals. Example: PhDs, As, Cs, 1920s.

R
Religion/race/culture

• 'Islam' or 'Islamic' for the faith; 'Muslim' for the people. .
• In Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese names, the name mentioned first is the surname. Examples: Deng Xiaoping, thereafter Deng. In Korea, the last two names are hyphenated and both carry initial capitals. For example, Kim Dae-Jung, thereafter Kim.
• Always use the term 'first name'. Never ask for his or her 'Christian' name because not everyone is Christian!
• Use 'the developing world' and 'the developed world' rather than 'the Third World' and 'the Western World'.

S
Sexism/gender

• It is a spokesman, spokeswoman; chairman, chairwoman, etc. Example: "Deputy Prime Minister Juliet Gillard, who chaired the meeting, said…".
• English has no singular pronoun inclusive of both genders. This means 'him or her', 'his or her', 'he or she' must be used unless an alternative way of writing the sentence is found. Examples: "Each doctor must be aware of his or her responsibilities." and "Doctors must be aware of their responsibilities."

T
Tenses

• Tenses must agree. In third-party reported speech, 'is' becomes 'was', 'will' becomes 'would', and 'has' becomes 'had'. In other words, if you are using the word 'said', you are past-tensing the sentence; however, if you are using the word 'says', then it is in the present tense. Example: "Professor Jones says there are many ways of doing the experiment." versus "Professor Jones said there were many ways of doing the experiment."
• Present tense is a useful device for feature stories. News stories tend to use past tense but can also use present tense forms occasionally.

Time/dates/numbers/money/temperature

• Past not last. Example: "the past 20 years" rather than "the last 20 years".
• Noon or midnight rather than 12pm or 12am.
• Dates are written day, month and year. Example: "23 February 2009".
• "More than $3000" rather than 'over $3000'. Similarly "more than 500 people attended" NOT "over 500 people attended". Use over only to express movement or position, or state above and beyond something stated or implied. Example: "The cow jumped over the moon." but "The moon is more than X million miles from Earth."
• Numbers in the thousands do not have commas, thereafter use commas. Examples: 3 000, 30 000 and 300 000.
• Sums of money written $5 million.
• Convert to Australian dollars where possible. You can do this easily by using a currency conversion website.
• 20th century with lowercase 'c' for century etc and 'th' or 'st' not in a reduced font.
• 5pm, 300kms, 200m, 2kgs, etc.
• Numbers from one to nine written as words, anything over that written as numerals. However if starting a sentence with a number, write it out in full. Example: "Fifty-thousand people packed Federation Square". However, when referring to the age of an individual, the shortened version is preferred for the web. Example: "Nick Smith, 8" rather than "Eight-year-old Nick Smith".
• Prices must be written as inclusive of GST. Example: "$100 (incl. GST)".
• Celsius should be written with a capital 'C'.

Titles (people)

• Honorifics are not used at first mention unless a person is a Dr., Professor, Chief Justice, etc. When mentioning again, use surname alone. Example "Hospital spokesman, Professor Ian Jones, said…. Jones also said…."
• Initial capitals for Head, Director, President, etc.

Two words not one

• "No one" not "noone" or "no-one".
• "A lot" not "alot".
• "Under way" not "underway".
• Underwater is the adjective, under water the location.

U
Unique

• Avoid the word because it has an absolute meaning and no degrees. Something cannot be 'rather unique', 'very unique' or 'quite unique' although it can be 'almost unique' or 'nearly unique'.

W
Wars

• Roman numerals for World War I and World War II but it is Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War.

Which/that/and

• Do not overdo these words. Instead, shorten your sentences.