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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010
Spelling
The Macquarie Dictionary is our definitive guide. When presented with two options, use the first.
Do a spellcheck but do not use American “z” spellings, such as organize. Stick to Macquarie style on these words (they usually take an “s” as in organise).
Schools
Check the spelling of the school on the schools locator. http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolfind/locator/
Use these two general styles (but see exceptions):
 Primary schools – (eg Bundeena Public School - even though the school may be listed as Bundeena Primary School).
 Secondary schools – (eg South Sydney High School).
Exceptions
There are campuses of the same COLLEGE (a few schools that together form a college) – use this style:
 Callaghan College, Jesmond campus (lower case campus);
 Sydney Secondary College, Blackwattle Bay campus.
Some schools have an additional descriptive word that differentiates them from another school of the same name, ie Matraville Soldiers Settlement Public School is different from
Matraville Public School.
There are a number of other variations – ie schools for specific purposes (NEVER special) – upper case if in full title of school, lower case when referring to SSPs, in general. The same rule for environmental education centre.
In general usage say public or government school – do not use state school.
If you do have to mention private schools, say private or non-government school. Note: the private school sector is divided into Catholic AND independent schools (lower case). To avoid confusion stick to private or non-government as there are some Catholic independent schools.
Watch your fingers don’t slip – always check that pubic has not slipped through.
DET is the NSW Department of Education and Training. Can be abbreviated to DET but preferable to say the department.
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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010
DET education regions – upper case for the geographical marker of the region but lower case for the word region – ie South Western Sydney region (no hyphen); Western region;
North Coast region etc.
However, when referring to the demographic/geographic region of Sydney in general usage, use south-western Sydney, north-western NSW (hyphens and lower case).
Apostrophes
Not used in place names (Coffs Harbour, Princes Highway) or for boys and girls schools
(Canterbury Girls High) or in any NSW public school name (eg Taverners Hill Public School).
BUT boys’ subjects and girls’ education take possessive apostrophe.
Stages of learning
These are Board of Studies terms - try to avoid using them. If you know the students are in
Year 1, say Year 1 not Stage 1. Year 5 and 6 is also more descriptive than Stage 3. If you need to use Stage because an education program is specific to the (generally) two years of learning denoted by the Stage, then Stage is upper case.
HSC is Higher School Certificate and can be written as HSC.
Trade schools – lower case – except in full title.
ATAR is the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank.
Board of Studies – no need to write NSW Board of Studies.
Official titles director-general, manager, principal, etc – all lower case.
Exceptions: the Minister for Education and Training, the Premier, the Prime Minister, the
Queen.
But: the education minister is lower case. Use upper case only when full title is used.
Active voice
Make sentences positive. An example from Strunk and White – instead of writing “He was not paying attention to her”, write “He ignored her”. Readers want to know what happened, not what didn't happen.
Generally, the active voice means that the subject goes before the verb. Just think of it as getting straight to the point.
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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010
On the 9 th of November, in the grounds of Glebe Public School, a fete will be held.
Or: The fete will be held on November 9 in the grounds of Glebe Public School.
Joe slapped John is shorter, more vigorous and clearer than John was slapped by Joe.
Use sentence structure to write actively – standard structure in English is subject-verbobject
The class (subject) had read (verb) the textbook (object).
SVO puts a direct connection between the subject and the action she/he is taking, making the sentence active and concise.
Abbreviations
In first instance, spell out and put an acronym in brackets. Most companies/organisations are upper case (eg UNICEF) with the exception of Anzac. Do not use full stops between letters.
It is easier for the reader if you do not constantly refer to the acronym. Use other words like
“the association” for variety.
States and territories: NSW not New South Wales. But spell out Victoria, Queensland,
Western Australia etc.
Commas
The Minister for Education and Training, Verity Firth, - don’t forget the second comma. The principal, Sam Spade, said …
But no comma when it’s: Principal Sam Spade said.
Compound adjectives take a hyphen: the grey-haired man, a first-class performance
Photographs and videos
Written permission is needed to publish the images or footage of children. More details: https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/schoolwebsites/content/privacy/index.htm
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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010
A
affect - (verb) means to influence or cause a change (Her cold affected her singing)
a lot – two words
ampersand - don’t use unless it is part of a name (eg Killara High School P&C) apostrophes
B bulleted lists (dot points)
A list should be introduced by a sentence – or part of one.
Use initial capitals only when each dot point is a full sentence.
No punctuation needed at the end of dot points (eg semi-colons) except the last when, which requires a full stop.
C capitals
Capital letters are often overused. However, we should limit the use of caps to proper nouns and the beginning of sentences. (See casing guidelines for more full details.)
Here are some examples:
Common noun primary school high school principal teacher parents and citizens committee scholarships award
Proper noun
Shell Cove Public School
Chester Hill High School
Ms Coltrane
Mr Williams
Shell Cove Public School P&C
Shell Cove Public School Parents and Citizens
Committee
Fullbright Scholarship
Nanga Mai Awards
Don’t capitalise the first letters of all words on a website’s navigation:
Academic Opportunities – should be Academic opportunities
Scholarships and Awards - Scholarships and awards.
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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010 cliches and jargon
Avoid.
For example: now we have received
I enclose as requested please attached
Use Avoid at the time of writing at this point in time we are in receipt of please find enclosed pursuant to your request we would be grateful if attached herewith
D
dates - no punctuation is needed, even when the date is used.
Example: On Monday 23 February 2009 …
Use words when beginning a sentence
Example: The first of December 2010 … do’s and don’ts
E
e-book - hyphen
eg – not full stops or comma
either/neither – either takes or, neither takes nor
effect (verb) – to bring about (He effected a return to profit). Also used as noun, meaning a result, a consequence (The effect of heat). elder
email – no hyphen
exclamation marks - use sparingly
ezine – no hyphen
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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010
F
H
Headings and subheadings – use an initial capital and then lower case except for proper nouns
Hyphens - much neglected. A few rules:
1. Used to differentiate when a compound verb has two meanings (re-form and reform)
2. Must be used when two (or more) words are compounded to make an adjective (step-bystep; first-class berth; case-by-case basis; single-engined plane)
3. Where the second word is “up”, there is usually a hyphen when the sequence is used as a noun (call-up, hold-up). But when these words are used as verbs they are not hyphenated.
Other: Many words take hyphens in normal use – such as air-conditioned.
Check the dictionary.
I
ie – no full stops, no comma
Indigenous (upper case)
However, preference is for Aboriginal – use as a noun and an adjective. Do not use
Aborigine at all when referring to Australian Aboriginal people. For example, we speak of
Aboriginal culture and Aboriginal languages. indirect speech
In general, use past tense (especially for news). He said, for eg, is past tense – so once you use “said” all other verbs must be past tense. “He said he would go to the bank”. . . (“said” and “would” are past tense).
Present tense – says – adjust other verbs accordingly. Fine for feature stories and selected news pieces.
it’s and its - it’s really important to write clearly – this is a contraction of “It is”
I could not find its mate – possessive form of it – a pronoun or adjective
Its height is 20 metres – adjective
Italics - italicise titles of books, reports, newspapers, films, poems, songs etc.
Do not italicise names of DET policies or conferences – conferences would usually, however, take capital letters for each major word of the title (eg Focus on the Middle Years). These titles can also be put in quotation marks if the title causes confusion in the general flow of the paragraph.
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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010
K
J
L
M
N
Numbers - one to nine – write out as the word – also for headlines
10 onwards – use numerals
Exception: Write out all numbers when at beginning of sentence (Thirty years ago, etc)
O
old English - don’t use amongst or whilst – use among and while
P
passive voice - to be avoided – see active voice
pedagogy - avoid in external communication – means the function, work or art of a teacher
– teaching practice covers this term.
per cent - two words and space after number – 12 per cent. Can use quotation sign % in headings, tables and graphics.
Practice (noun – medical practice); practise (verb – practise tennis serve)
Q quotation marks
These are commonly misused. Listen to the rhythm of the sentence and say it out loud if that helps.
For a standalone quote, the quotation marks go outside the full stop or comma eg “Our next novel will be Great Expectations by Charles Dickens,” Mr Smith said.
Or paraphrase the preceding paragraph and then use standalone quote eg
Mr Smith told the class that they would next read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
“This is one of my favourite novels.”
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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010
Quotes within quotes:
Usually start and end quote with double quotation marks
The quote within a quote uses single quotation marks
Watch punctuation – the double quotation marks go after the punctuation, ie the comma or full stop.
“I told David, ‘Don’t leave the school grounds without permission’,” Jack said.
Other things to remember:
Don’t use massive strings of quotes – two to three in succession is plenty, then break it with a paraphrased paragraph and return to quotes if desired.
Quotes should be accurate – use ellipsis …. if quote is too long.
Never change quotes without the author’s permission.
R
S
State school – don’t use
Say government or public school.
Sound bite – not sound byte
T
tautologies - a tautology is a needless repetition of an idea. Avoid.
For example:
 four hectares of land
 10am in the morning
 added bonus
 invited guest
 the future is yet to come
 new innovation
 descend down.
Time - 9 am or 9.00 am
Lower case am and pm
Full stop between the hour and minutes.
Titles - Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, Dr
Exceptions: children under 18 – use their first name
CHECK – Many teachers/educators/bureaucrats have PhDs and, therefore, are a Dr.
U
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DET corporate communications directorate style guide 2010
V
URL
W web website web 2.0 world wide web
weights and measures - generally spell out (7.8 kilometres, two kilograms of sausages) – although fine to abbreviate in headings, graphs and tables (cm, km etc)
whilst - don’t use – while is more approachable and therefore most appropriate
Y wi-fi
X
Xmas - don’t use – use Christmas
Yours - no apostrophe
Z
-ze endings - don’t use realize, emphasize etc – it’s American not Australian style. Use –se endings (realise and emphasise).
Source: Style manual (Sixth edition) and the Macquarie Dictionary
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