Language Centre Style Guide
Language Centre Style Guide
This style guide contains a set of standards for all documents produced by the faculty, staff,
and administration of the Language Centre including official documents, journal publications,
conference proceedings, and materials developed for curricular and teaching purposes. It can
also be used as a definitive reference to guide student writing.
The definitive version of this style guide is the latest electronic version published on the
Language Centre web site.
Jodi Lefort, Daniel Stead, Aga Ptak, Anfal Al Waheibi,
James Scully, Victoria Tuzlukova & Tony Schiera
Printed by Sultan Qaboos University Printing Press
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Language Centre Style Guide
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to all current and former teachers of the Language
Centre who have contributed to the materials in this guide.
Special thanks to Dr. Fawzia Al Seyabi who has supported the Style Guide team at all the
stages of the project. We would also like to thank our colleague Mohammed Said Al Saidi for
his technical assistance, and designing a cover for the guide.
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Language Centre Style Guide
Some Notes about the Style Guide
The Language Centre Style Guide was developed to help provide direction and bring
consistency to all documents produced by LC staff, faculty that use APA reference style, and
administrative members including official documents, journal publications, conference
proceedings, and materials developed for curricular and teaching purposes. Adherence to the
style guide is intended to demonstrate a good example to our students about the importance
of learning and following a prescribed writing format. The LC Style Guide should also be
used as a definitive reference to guide student writing.
While it is recognized that some colleges at SQU, such as the College of Medicine, use a
different formatting style, the default style for the LC is that of the APA with some
customization to reflect our unique circumstances. When a choice of styles is given, writers
should elect to practice consistency in their documents (e.g. choosing British or American
spelling). The rules outlined in the Style Guide are not meant to be exhaustive, and where no
guidance is given, users should refer to the latest APA reference manual, currently the 6th
Edition. The latest and most accurate version of the LC Style Guide is always the online
version.
I. Page Formatting
A. Paper Size
Use standard 8 ½ by 11 inch (A4) plain white paper ONLY.
B. Margins
Use standard 2.5cm (1 inch) margins for all four sides. Do not use any borders or
shading.
C. Justification
Only the left side margins should be justified (straight). Do not justify the right side
margin.
D. Typing
When typing, always print in black ink.
E. Font
Use Times New Roman font. The standard font size is always 12-pt.
F. Titles
Titles should be centered and bold faced. Capitalize the first and all major words
(nouns, verbs, adjectives). Center your title and put your subtitles on the left margin. Do
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Language Centre Style Guide
not use a full-stop. There are four additional levels for subheadings in APA. Please see
section III., part C. for information on heading levels.
G. Spacing
Always double space your document; use double spacing paragraph format.
H. Paragraphing
Both traditional and block formatting styles are acceptable.
1. Traditional formatting: The first line of every paragraph should be indented
five spaces. Do not leave an extra line between paragraphs or titles (double space
only).
2. Block formatting: An extra line should be inserted between paragraphs. No
indentation is required.
II. Textual Features
A. Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be used sparingly. In general, use abbreviations only when a) the
abbreviation is standard and easily understood or b) the abbreviation can help you avoid
repetition.
1. Common abbreviations: Some known abbreviations require full stops, and
some do not.
Examples:·
○ Known words: IQ, AIDS, NASA
○ Latin abbreviations: etc., e.g., a.m., vol.
○ Measurements used with numbers: 10 mg, 78 ml.
○ Units of time: hr, min, sec,
2. Unknown abbreviations: With most other abbreviations you should write out
the full word or phrase the first time you use it followed by the abbreviation in
parenthesis ( ).
Examples:
○ The American Medical Association (AMA) recommends annual check-ups for
children. The AMA suggests adults be checked every three years.
○ The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) keeps track of
all hurricanes. NOAA reported 18 named storms last year.
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Language Centre Style Guide
3. Abbreviations within a reference: Use periods when making an abbreviation
within a reference.
Examples:
○ (Vol. 3, p. 6, pp. 121-125, 2nd ed.)
4. Latin abbreviations: Do not use Latin abbreviations in the text unless they are
inside parentheses. An exception is made for et al. when citing a source.
For example:
○ Smith et al. (2002) found monkeys measured higher in IQ tests than grad
students."
4. Latin abbreviations: Do not use the following Latin abbreviations. Instead write
out the equivalent word or phrase.
Examples:
○
○
○
○
○
○
cf. [use compare]
e.g. [use for example]
etc. [use and so forth]
i.e. [use that is]
viz. [use namely]
vs. [use versus]
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Language Centre Style Guide
5. Other Abbreviations: Follow these guidelines.
○ Do not use the old abbreviations for subject, experimenter, and observer (S, E,
O).
○ Do not use periods within degree titles and organization titles (PhD, APA).
○ Do not use periods within measurements (lb, ft, s) except inches (in.).
○ Use two-letter postal codes for U.S. states (e.g., GA for Georgia) in references
(write the state name out in text).
○ Use the abbreviation pp. (plain text) in references to newspaper articles,
chapters in edited volumes, and text citations only, not in references to articles
in journals and magazines.
○ Use hr for hour or hours, min for minutes, s for seconds, m for meter or meters
(all in plain text, no period, no bold font).
○ In using standard abbreviations for measurements, like m for meter, do not add
an s to make it plural (100 seconds is 100 s).
B. Capitalizations
The following kinds of words are capitalized. Use your dictionary to check specific
words.
1. Proper nouns (specific people, places, organizations, and sometimes things)
○
○
○
○
Albert Einstein
Seattle, Washington; Eiffel Tower
World Trade Organization, Oxfam
Indian Ocean, Nizwa Fort
2. The names of God, religious figures, and holy books
○ Allah
○ Jesus, Buddha, the Prophet Mohammad
○ the Bible, the Koran
3. Titles that come before names
○ I saw President Clinton speak at the university.
○ The lecture was given by Doctor Al Alawi.
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Language Centre Style Guide
4. Days of the week, months, and holidays
○ Saturday, Tuesday
○ October, May
○ Christmas, Eid-al-Fitr
5. Countries, nationalities, and languages
○ Scotland, Oman, India
○ Kuwaiti, French, Egyptian
○ English, Arabic, Farsi
6. The names of political, racial, and other social groups
○ Democrats, the Green Party
○ African Americans, Arabs
○ Doctors Without Borders, Barcelona FC
C. Punctuation
Punctuation marks such as full stops, commas, and colons should always come directly
after the words they follow without a space between. Quotation marks should also be
connected to the words they enclose.
1. Spacing after full stops: APA recommends inserting two spaces after a full
stop. Either one or two spaces is acceptable.
2. Quotation marks: When using direct quotes, double quotation marks should be
used. Use single quotation marks to show a quotation within a quotation.
According to Jindal (2012), “the formatting quality of a majority of student papers was
considered to be ‘below average’ or ‘unacceptable’ by the professors in the study” (p. 204).
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Language Centre Style Guide
3. Block quotes: When a quotation is 40 words or longer, it should be doublespaced from the text and indented five spaces. The first line of the quote should not
be additionally indented. The blocked quote may be single or double-spaced. The
parenthetical citation should come after the final full stop.
For errors that occur within an original quotation, Scribe (2010) has noted the following:
Obvious errors in a quotation may be corrected without making a special notation. But
for an unusual word choice, concept, term, or spelling, it may be appropriate to
emphasize that the original is being quoted faithfully by inserting the Latin term sic
(thus), in italics or underlined, and in brackets, immediately following the term (see
APA, 2009, p. 172). For example, "the hapless students in the study sttutttered [sic]
unbearably." (p. 9)
4. Commas: APA formatting requires commas in the following situations:
a. with a coordinating conjunction to join two independent clauses
Our class wanted to ignore the formatting rules, but our teacher insisted that we use them.
b. to offset items in a series of three or more
My parents, the director, and the chancellor all attended the ceremony.
c. to offset nonrestrictive relative clauses
The 500 word report, which is required to complete the program, is a challenge for most
students.
But not
Teachers who wish to join the committee should submit their names to the committee chair.
d. to offset the year when using exact dates
February 2, 2013, was the beginning of the semester.
Please refer to the most current edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association for more information on comma and other punctuation usage.
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Language Centre Style Guide
D. Numbers
In general, numerical symbols are used for numbers such as dates (25 November,
1970), page numbers (p. 23), and scientific measurements (75.4 kg, 117 km). You
should spell out numbers in the following situations:
1. Numbers under 10
○ There are five children in his family.
○ She won third prize in the contest.
2. Numbers at the beginning of sentences
○ Thirty people attended the lecture.
○ Twenty-five certificates were awarded.
3. Large approximate numbers use a combination of symbols and written
words
○ Oman's population is over 3 million people.
○ There are 25 thousand refugees in the camp.
4. Numbers used with precise units of measurement
○ 8 meters
○ 1200 kilometers
E. E-words
The words Internet and World Wide Web are proper nouns and therefore always take a
capital letter. E-words which are not proper nouns such as website, web page, and
email do not require capitalization.
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Language Centre Style Guide
F. Foreign Words
Words from other languages, such as Latin and Arabic should be written in italics. e.g.
e pluribus unum, inshallah.
G. Listing/Seration
Numbered or bulleted lists can be used to help writers organize and present
information. Numbers reflect a hierarchical or chronological organization whereas
bullets do not.
There are three basic steps involved in the writing process:
1. Plan your writing and organize it into an outline.
2. Write a first draft.
3. Revise and rewrite your draft(s).
The following reasons were given by students for not completing homework:
● The homework assignment was not understood.
● The student did not have time to complete the homework.
● The assignment was too difficult.
● There was an important football match on TV.
H. Spelling
The Language Centre accepts both American and British spelling formats. However,
you should be consistent and choose just one spelling style. Use American or British
spelling throughout your writing and not both.
Note: The Language Centre, Writing Centre etc. require British spelling.
I. Names
When writing Arabic names, use a title (Mr., Dr. etc.) and the full name the first time.
For subsequent mentions, use the first and last names only.
The committee elected Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Belushi as its chairman. Ahmed Al Belushi will
chair the committee for one year.
The following honorific titles should also be noted (examples):
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said (H.M. Sultan Qaboos)
His Excellency, Dr. Ali Bin Saud Al Bimani, the present Vice Chancellor (H.E. Dr. Ali)
J. Dates/Times
The Language Centre accepts both British and American variations in writing dates.
As always, writers should aim for consistency and clarity. APA is an American
publication and follows the month, day, year format for dates e.g. May 10, 2003,
September 22, 2012.
Times can be written using numbers and are followed by the abbreviations a.m. or p.m.
e.g. 3 p.m., 4:30 a.m.
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Language Centre Style Guide
K. Symbols
1. Percentages: Use the percent (%) symbol when it is preceded by a number.
Write the word “percentage” when no number is given. Use written words when a
percentage begins a sentence.
The pass rate for all levels last semester was 87%. This percentage was greater than the
previous three semesters.
Thirty-six percent of failed students contested their marks last semester. Only 6% of these
students were given a change of grade.
2. Monetary Symbols: Standard monetary symbols, e.g. dollar ($), can be used
with numbers. For Omani Riyals, use OMR.
L. Tone and Register
Tone and register refer to the writer's voice in the work, and they usually depend on the
type of writing you are doing and the audience you are writing for. In university, we
often tell students to use an “academic tone” or a “scholarly voice.” This means we use
formal language that is accurate, serious, and appropriate for a university setting, but it
does not mean we need to write in an obscure or complicated manner. The goal should
always be to make our writing clear. Formal language also means writing in complete
sentences, and avoiding contractions such as it’s and we’re.
M. Terminology
Despite dictionary advice to the contrary, APA style insists that data is the plural form
of datum. Preferred forms of words are :
Appendix (appendixes not appendices)
Phenomenon (phenomena is plural)
Datum (data is plural only!)
Schema (schemas is plural)
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Language Centre Style Guide
III. Reports, Presentation, and Essays
Note: An annotated example of a final report can be found in Appendix A (to be
added).
A. Title Page
The final version of a report should include a title page. The title page should include
the title, your name, and the name of the institution (i.e. Sultan Qaboos University). All
information should be centered, and the lines should be double-spaced.
B. Table of Contents
A table of contents should be included in the final version of a report.
C. Headings
The title a report or document should also appear on the first page. There are five level
headings in APA which take the following order and format:
APA Headings
Level
Format
1
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
2
Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3
Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the
period.
4
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after
the period.
5
Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period.
D. Tables and Figures
Tables and figures can be used when they help our reader to understand a information
in the text easily. Tables and figures should always be referred to in the text. The
writer should explain to the reader what to look for in the table or figure you are using.
Tables and figures should be numbered (e.g. Table 1.). When the table or figure is
borrowed from another source, it should include a citation.
E. Citation and Reference
Proper citation should be used whenever information is taken from another source, and
the APA documentation style is the preferred style for Language Centre documents.
This means that quotes and paraphrases in your document should be identified with
both an in-text citation and a bibliographic listing under a heading titled “References.”
For more complete information about proper APA documentation, please refer to one
of the resources listed below.
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Language Centre Style Guide
The Purdue OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Cornell University Library: http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa
For a sample research paper, Bedford St. Martin’s press has an excellent example:
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch09_s1-0009.html
Citation
To show the words, figures, or ideas are not from the author of the paper, use the
author date method to cite references:
In 1994, Lancaster evaluated …
Lancaster (1994) evaluated …
In a recent evaluation (Lancaster, 1994) …
Two studies (Lancaster, 1997; Bart, 1997) ...
Three studies (Bart, 1985; Frasier & Niles, 1996; Slocum, 1978) …
Past research (Christie & Marsh, 1924; James, 1991a, 1991b) …
For source material with no date: In a recent study (Johns, n.d.).
References
At the end of your paper or presentation, list references in alphabetical order based on
author last name or title if no author name is available. The general guide below is not
designed to be exhaustive. If you use a source that is not listed here, find the sample
that is most similar to your source, visit one of the sites listed above, or consult the
most current edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association for more information.
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Language Centre Style Guide
Guide To References
Journal article
Day, L.S., & Croft, W.B. (1990). Interpreting nominal compounds for information retrieval.
Information Processing & Management, 26(1), 21-38.
Book
Asher, R.E. (Ed.). (1994). The encyclopedia of language and linguistics (2nd ed.). Oxford:
Pergamon Press.
Chapter In A Book
Fillmore, C.J. (1968). The case for case. In E. Bach & R.T. Harms (Eds.), Universals in
linguistic theory (pp. 1-88). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Paper In A Conference
Mauldin, M.L. (1991). Retrieval performance in FERRET: A conceptual information
retrieval system. In Proceedings of the 14th Annual International ACM/SIGIR
Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval (pp. 347-355). New
York: ACM Press.
World Wide Web Document
Langston, L. (1996). Scholarly communication and electronic publication: Implications for
research, advancement and promotion. Retrieved August 31, 2002, from
http://www.library.ucsb.edu/untangle/langston.html
Dissertation
Chan, Y.H.J. (2002) A survey of Singapore family literacy. Unpublished master’s thesis,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Reference Continued
If no date is available, use the abbreviation (n.d.)
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