Style Guide

U

United Kingdom

  • Spell out.
    • Incorrect: He comes from the UK.
    • Correct: He comes from the United Kingdom.

 United Nations (n.), UN (adj.)

  • When used as a noun, spell out: He works in the United Nations. She has been working with the United Nations (not UN) for 30 years.
  • UN is only used as an adjective, not as a noun. When using as an adjective, do not put periods: He is on the UN commission.

United States, USA, U.S.

  • Spell out United States and use as a noun: The film was shot in the United States. USA could be used on second reference without periods, preceded by the word ‘the.’
  • Use U.S. as an adjective: He is a member of the U.S. Navy.

un-

  • Generally, do not hyphenate words with un- as a prefix unless it is a proper noun: un-Egyptian.

 university

  • Capitalize when referring to the official name of a university: She works at the American University in Cairo. He studied commerce at Ain Shams University. Otherwise, lowercase: The university is sponsoring the event.
  • Lowercase when referring to multiple universities: She applied to the American, German and Canadian universities.

 University Senate

  • Use University Senate, not faculty senate, because the senate is made up of faculty, student and staff representatives.
  • Capitalize when using the full, official title: University Senate. Use the senate lowercase on second reference.

until, till, ‘til

  • Use until. Do not use ‘til or till.

 upcoming

  • Use upcoming, not coming, in reference to future events: Next month’s calendar contains all upcoming events held at the university.