The purpose of the document:
These guidelines aim to ensure editorial consistency across UM6P’s published works, various websites, and official documents.
The scope and applicability:
UM6P community must follow these editorial guidelines.
Guidelines:
The Institutional Name:
The official name of the university in English is “University Mohammed VI Polytechnic”, in French the official name is “Université Mohammed 6 Polytechnique” and in Arabic “جامعة محمد السادس متعددة التخصصات التقنية”. The abbreviation “UM6P” may be used in all languages, after the first mention of the full institutional name in the document.
Examples:
– The vision and mission statements of the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) have been reviewed by the UM6P Advisory Board and were adopted by the UM6P Governing Board at its meeting in June 2016.
Capitalizations
The general rule is the avoidance of excessive capitalization, capitalize nouns that identify a person, a place, or a specific institution. In case of ambiguity use lowercase. The words “institution,” “school” “faculty”, “college,” and “university” are not capitalized unless they begin sentences or are used as the school’s full name.
The word “dean” is not capitalized except when it begins a sentence or is linked to an individual’s name. The same is true for vice president, vice dean, president, chair, director, executive director, and associate dean.
Examples:
– President Hicham El Habti, but not: Hicham El Habti, president of UM6P.
– Professor Ahmed Johari; but not: Ahmed Johari, professor of mechanical engineering.
– Dean Ahmed Johari; but not: Ahmed Johari, dean of the College of Engineering.
Do not capitalize titles if used in the general sense.
Examples:
– She had risen to the rank of professor.
–The department currently has three professors, five associate professors, eight assistant professors and four laboratory technicians.
– He was appointed vice dean.
The names of endowed chairs are always capitalized, whether accompanied by a personal name or not. For readability, titles of two words or less can appear before the name, but more than two-word titles should appear after the name.
Capitalize the names of formal school committees and subcommittees but do not capitalize the committee if it is not used and referred to by function. This rule also applies for offices.
Examples:
– Committee on Educational Policy
– Research Governance Committee
– Admissions Office
– Housing Office
– Policy Office
Capitalization of Seasons and Semesters
Fall semester, spring semester, summer session, etc., may be capitalized when referring to a specific semester (the year is shown). General references to semesters should be lowercase. Seasons of the year are not capitalized.
Examples:
– Students should take a technical elective in the spring semester of their fourth year.
– The course was first offered in Spring 2023.
Academic Degrees
When using a degree abbreviation avoid using periods, academic degrees, abbreviations and disciplines are capitalized if used in full formal name.
Examples:
– Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering;
– BS in Mechanical Engineering; PhD in Physics;
– Master of Engineering with an electrical engineering
– Bachelor of Science (BS), not B.S.
– Master of Science (MSc), not M.Sc.
– Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), not Ph.D.
When speaking generically, write master’s degree. e.g:
Examples:
Khalid has earned his master’s degree.
When speaking of a specific degree, capitalize Master.
Examples:
– Ahmed is thinking about getting a Master of Science degree.
– Fatima holds a Master of Engineering in Petroleum.
Schools, Colleges, Faculties, Institutes, and Centers
Capitalize “School” when referring to the School of Hospitality and Business Management, School of Computer Science, School of Collective Intelligence, etc. Use lowercase “the” and capitalize “School.” The following table resumes the names of some schools, colleges, faculties, institutes, and centers of UM6P.
| Science and technology |
| School of Industrial Management |
| College of Computing |
| Green Tech Institute of Science, Technology & Innovation |
| School of Agriculture, Fertilization and Environmental Sciences |
| School of Architecture, Planning and Design |
| 1337 |
| African Academy of Industrial Training |
| Center for African Studies |
| Business and management |
| Africa Business School |
| School of Collective Intelligence |
| School of Hospitality Business & Management |
| Mahir Center |
| Story School |
| Humanities, Economics & Social Sciences |
| Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences |
| Faculty of Governance Economics and Social Sciences |
| Public Policy School |
| Medical & Paramedical |
| Faculty of Medical Sciences |
| Institut Supérieure des Sciences Biologiques et Paramédicales |
Faculty vs Faculty Member(s)
Faculty admits dual meaning. First, the name of the institution that follows the same rules in the previous paragraph e.g. Faculty of Governance Economics and Social Sciences. Second, the word faculty is used as a collective noun, referring to the teaching and administrative staff and those members of the administration having academic rank in an educational institution. When referring to an individual or individuals, the term faculty member(s) should be used. Use faculty when referring to the collective group and faculty member when referring to an individual.
Examples:
-The faculty plays an integral role in curriculum and instructional decisions, and in recruitment appointment.
-The department hired additional faculty last year.
-The number of professional associations per faculty member for which membership fees will be cover limited to two.
-Three faculty members have been awarded research grants.
-The faculty are meeting to discuss the new curriculum.
Numbers
General Rules
Numbers from zero to nine must be spelled out except for ages, percentages, ratios, distances. For percentages use the word percent instead of the symbol (%). A numeral is used before the word percent unless it comes at the beginning of the sentence. If the number is higher than 9 the digits are used.
Example
–36 percent of students selected the course. The pass rate was 96 percent.
–The percentage of their salaries that went to education fees was significant.
–The student must be a maximum of 24 years old to join the university.
–Three percent of the faculty are alumni.
–He traveled 8 miles to get to UM6P.
Dates
Dates on the website should be under the from: day/ spelled out month/ year.
Examples :
–21/ Mars / 2019
–Academic years should be listed as 20##-## (e.g., 2022-23).
–Academic years spanning two calendar years, use a hyphen without spaces. For example: ‘The 2022-2023 academic year saw significant growth.
Credit Hours
Use numerals to refer to credit hours.
Examples :
There are 24 credit hours of required coursework.
Policies/Guidelines/procedures, referencing.
When referring to a university document within the text, use the format Name of the document, its category, and date. Note that the policy is in italics. The digital forms are available on the Policy Office website. In digital formats, directly hyperlink to the referenced document. In printed documents, provide the title and the document type in italics.
Example:
The criteria for authorship are all presented and explained in the Authorship and Publication of Results Policy.
Referencing convention
UM6P adheres to the APA style guide for consistency in citations, references, and overall document structure. This guide should be used as a reference for all academic and official documents.
General
- Use a serial comma (Oxford comma) before the coordinating conjunction (usually “and” or “or”) in a series of three or more items.
- The words “ex officio”, “ad hoc”, and “via” (or other Latin phrases used colloquially) should not be italicized.
- The first occurrence of an abbreviation of acronyms should be spelled out with the abbreviation/acronym in parentheses. Subsequent users should list just the abbreviation/acronym.
- UM6P is committed to using inclusive language in all communications. Avoid stereotypes and use gender-neutral language whenever possible. For example, use ‘they/them’ pronouns instead of ‘he/she’ when referring to an unspecified individual.
- The word “data” is plural (e.g., data are available – not, data is available).
- Only one space should be used after periods in between sentences.
- The word “assess” is used for students’ performance and “evaluate” is used for programs.
- In the narrative (not tables), numbers one through nine are spelled out, and numbers 10 and higher are listed as numbers.
- Any tables with symbols (such as *) include the relevant note beneath the table with explanatory text.
- Full-time and part-time work should include a hyphen (not part time).
- The following abbreviations should always have periods and commas (i.e., e.g.,)