Linguistic guidelines for international student recruitment communication

Terms and titles

• In running text, programme names are always written master's programme in System, Control and Robotics or referred to as the programme. In headings, programmee names can be written MSc ... or Master's programme in .... The programme name should never be written as master's degree in ....
• KTH's joint master's programme is referred to as joint master's programme. If the programme has a consortium organisation that should be included, then it is placed after the word joint; the word master's can be excluded in these cases. KTH is currently offering the following:
  • Joint Erasmus + programmes, joint Erasmus + master's programmes
  • Joint Nordic Five Tech programmes, joint Nordic Five Tech master's programmes
  • Joint EIT programmes, joint EIT master's programmes
  • Joint programmes, joint master's programmes (all of which are not one of the above)
• Higher education credits are always written "X ECTS credits". ECTS is an abbreviation of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. Abbreviations such as "X credits" or "X ECTS" should not be used.
• KTH uses the term doctoral studies. PhD can be used to clafiry that PhD studies correspond to doctoral studies at KTH.
• KTH is first written KTH Royal Institute of Technology, then only KTH. The possessive form of KTH is KTH's.
• KTH is divided into schools. The term faculties should not be used. The school names are first written School of Engineering Sciences (at KTH), then only School of Engineering Sciences. The school name is always capitalized.
• MOOCs are written MOOCs in plural form, and MOOC's in possessive form. KTH's MOOCs if KTH's courses are described.
• KTH's three different scholarship types are referred to as KTH Scholarship, KTH One-Year Scholarship and KTH Joint Programme Scholarship. These are names and are therefore capitalized.
• Graduate is used to describe a person who graduated from a specific program. Alumni is only used when programme affiliation is not communicated and when the graduate is not perceived to be working for any reason.
• The final degree project (conducted near the end of all programmes) is always called degree project or master's degree project. Thesis should never be used.

Capitalisation

• Subject categories and research areas should not be capitalised in running text, nor in bulleted lists. Capitalisation may only occur if specific departments at KTH are referenced, for example, "Department of Material Science". When several departments are mentioned in a row, always print the full names, for example, "Department of Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics and Department of Applied Physics".
• Programme names are always capitalized in running text with the exception of the words master's programme and articles, prepositions and conjunctions with fewer than five letters, usually and, for, in and of.
• Specialisations and tracks within the master's programme are always capitalized in running text. For tracks within programs (set up in Ladok) the translation tracks are used. For programme orientations (not set up in Ladok), the translation profile is used. Both can be described as specialisations within the program, but the term specialisation should not be used as a noun. Informal tracks and focus areas should not be used.
• Master's degree is not capitalised in running text.
• Master of Science is capitalised since it is a specific degree written in its entirety. Master of Science is not abbreviated (MSc) in running text. However, MSc can be used in headings and in advertising.
• Titles in capital letters only if they are before names, e.g. "Professor Peter Gudmundson". Otherwise, e.g. "Peter Gudmundson, professor at KTH" or "contact the programme coordinator". Titles should never be shortened.

Punctuation, ligatures and abbreviations

• The colon is used to introduce a list: lecture, lab and exam. Commas are not used in front of the and that precedes the last object of the list (physics, vehicle engineering and materials science) unless the final object contains the word and (computer science, electrical engineering, and information and communication technology).
• The semicolon is used to link two sentences that also work independently; sentences that still fit well together but do not start with a conjunction. Semicolons are also used to separate items in lists where colon is already used, for example: Bengt Andersson, professor at KTH; Gunilla Svensson, professor at KI; and Lisa Eriksson, professor at SU.
• & signs should not be used, except in cases where research and development (R&D) should be shortened or companies with & signs should be written, such as Procter & Gamble.
• % characters are used only in tables, but are written percent (not per cent).
• Abbreviations should be used as little as possible. Abbreviations such as i.e. (that is) and e.g. (for example) should preferably be written out instead.
• Double spaces are nder no circumstances used in running text.
• Programme names should not be abbreviated unless they are joint programmes where abbreviation is required. Tracks and specialisations are never shortened.

Dates and figures

• Dates are written in the order day-month-year, for example 15 December 2017. Year is always written in four digits. Dates should not be written as 15th of December 2017.
• Numbers under 11 are written. Order numbers should be printed, such as ninth.

Language and grammar

• KTH applies British English and uses:
  • The ending –isation, and not –ization, in words like specialisation.
  • Semester is used when referring to the autumn or spring semester. The word term is not used.
  • Educational programmes are written programmes and not programs.
• Sentences or sentences that begin with, for example, such as or for example cannot be ended with etcetera, etc. or so on.

Format

•   Italic or bold is not used in running text.

Contact

If you have any questions about our guidelines, please contact me.