Punctuation

In general we prefer not to use ampersands. Please always write 'and' instead. This includes titles of courses.

Some screen readers will not read ampersands correctly. Some users will be unfamiliar with the symbol and may not understand it. The symbol can be distracting to readers because it is taller than some letters and is an unusual shape.

There are some  exceptions to this rule:

• Ampersands can be used when they are part of a brand name or a logo
• The phrase "Q&A" can be written with an ampersand
• For our 2024-25 student recruitment campaign, our theme is You and Us. This is sometimes written as You & Us for visual impact in certain design elements. This decision was made because it looks more balanced as a visual asset than writing out the "and". It is only ever used as an eye catching visual, for example on a poster, and not in the main body of text.

You can find out more about why we avoid using ampersands on this Readability Guidelines blog.

While there may be times your sentences need brackets, in general we prefer to avoid them. They make sentences more difficult to comprehend. Instead break your text down into smaller complete sentences.

Wherever possible you should write lists as bullet points rather than within a paragraph. This makes it much easier to take in the information.

Try to stick to a small number of points in a list - around 6 is ideal. However there may be times when longer lists are unavoidable. You should also try to keep the points concise, as the purpose of bullet lists is to simplify information.

You should introduce bullet lists with a colon and capitalise the first letter of every item on the list.

If the individual items in your list are not full sentences, as in example 1, you should not use full stops anywhere in the list. If the list contains full sentences, as in example 2, then you should use a full stop at the end of each item.

We never use semi colons at the end of each item, as this can be difficult for screen readers to process.

Examples

Our indoor facilities at Haxby Road Sports Park include:

• Sports hall
• 3 tennis courts
• Strength and conditioning suite
• Human performance laboratory
• Sports therapy room
• Café and social spaces

Here are some of the ways York St John University is working towards a more sustainable future:

• None of our waste has gone to landfill since 2016. The small amount that cannot be recycled is used to generate energy.
• All of the green waste from our campus is recycled through composting.
• Our food waste is used to generate biogas for energy and low carbon fertiliser.

Avoid writing long sentences with lots of commas. Writing in concise sentences is one of the most important elements of Plain English.

Even highly literate people can miss the meaning of longer sentences when they are quickly scanning for information. Research shows that the longer a sentence is, the less it is understood. The ideal sentence length for web writing is 15 to 20 words.

Specific guidance is available for Oxford commas.

(Also known as the serial comma.)

An Oxford comma is the final comma in a list of things, coming before the 'and' or 'or' in a sentence. In many lists it is not necessary, but sometimes it can help to make the meaning of a sentence more clear.

Example

Launchpad can help you to find study abroad opportunities, placements and work experience, and part time paid work.

In this sentence the Oxford comma is necessary to show that 'placements and work experience' is one item in the list and 'part time paid work' is another.

You do not need to use the Oxford comma in every list of 3 or more items, but if you think that it will help to clarify your meaning then please do.

If your list is longer than 3 items you should consider turning it into a bullet list, which removes the need for a comma. As a general rule you should try to avoid using too many commas in a sentence.

For a more thorough explanation of the Oxford comma, read this article from Grammarly.

Avoid using dashes and hyphens where possible.

Instead of using dashes in the middle of sentences, break the text down into smaller sentences. This makes your writing easier to scan.

In ranges use the word 'to' rather than a dash.

Example

Do say:

• Monday to Friday

Do not say:

• Monday - Friday

If you are unsure whether a word needs a hyphen, it is probably best not to include it. Words with hyphens in take longer to scan and can slow readers down. Words with hyphens in can also be mispronounced by screen readers. However, there may be times when the meaning is confusing without including a hyphen.

Modern usage tends towards removing hyphens from words, either by combining the words (as in 'email') or separating them (as in 'full time'.)

If you do use hyphens, make sure you are consistent.

Hyphenate:

• Drop-down menu
• Up-to-date
• Non-academic
• Eco-conscious

Do not hyphenate:

• Full time
• Email
• High quality
• Wide ranging
• Ensuite

Please do not use double spaces after full stops.

This outdated convention was necessary when manual typewriters were used, but is no longer needed.

Exclamation marks should be used sparingly. Too many in a body of text can alter the tone of your writing and overusing them reduces their impact.

You should only use them occasionally, for something which you really think needs the extra emphasis.

Full stops should not be used at the end of titles or headings.

They should not be used on subheadings unless they are full sentences.

They should be used at the end of statistics or references.

When creating a hyperlink, make sure you do not include a full stop in the link.

Example

Do say:

• York St John University scored 85% for overall student satisfaction. (National Student Survey 2020).

Also known as quotation marks, speech marks, single quote marks, double quote marks and double inverted commas.

Use inverted commas when quoting from written work, when referencing the title of a piece of media, or when talking about a part of speech.

Use quotes to show direct speech.

Do not use inverted commas or quotes to highlight unusual or technical terms, or to draw attention to questionable word usage (sometimes referred to as scare quotes).

Do not use inverted commas or quotes around the names of teams, departments or resources.

Examples

Do say:

• 'The Tempest' was written by William Shakespeare.
• Aaron from The Grange says that "The Grange is a social hub and there is something going on most of the time."

Do not say:

• You can book a 'Welcome Wobbles' session with the Wellbeing team.