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English House Style

English House Style for the University of Hamburg

This guide presents the English-language preferences specific to the University of Hamburg. As we use US English, consult the sources below for terminology or grammar issues that we do not address here. Although regularly updated, we cannot ensure that all the terminology used on the University’s web pages is up-to-date; therefore, the University website is not always the best source for terminology.

University of Hamburg employees can also find information in German on the use of English in everyday university life.

Index

Abbreviations

Days of the week

  • Abbreviate as follows:
    Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
    (no period).

Months of the year

  • Abbreviate as follows:
    Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec
    (no period).

University of Hamburg and other German institutions, certificates, etc.

  • Never abbreviate University of Hamburg.
  • Only use German abbreviations for faculties at the University of Hamburg or for internationally recognized German institutions.
    MIN, WISO, BWL, DAAD, DFG

Administrative titles, job titles, and degrees

Administrative and job titles

  • Lowercase titles in flowing text.
    Professor Lenzen, president of the University of Hamburg, gave his speech today.
  • Uppercase title if it:
    • forms part of name
      President Heekeren, Vice President Frost, Detective Inspector Morris
    • stands alone (e.g., business cards, contact boxes, addresses, etc.).
      Maxine Mustermann
      Program Coordinator
      University of Hamburg

Degree titles

  • Always use full title of degree programs (see MultiTerm).
    ...applying for the Master of Arts in History
    (first mention)
    ...applying for the MA in History
    (subsequent mentions)

Contact details

Postal addresses and letterheads

  • Do not translate University of Hamburg postal addresses or letterheads (see format below).
  • Retain the “ß” in all addresses, institutional names, and personal names.
  • Retain German academic titles (e.g., “Prof. Dr. Maxine Mustermann”). 
  • Omit redundant information (e.g., “Email:,” “Facebook:,” “Twitter:,” or “Mr./Ms.”).

Telephone numbers

  • Use the abbreviation “Tel:” without a period.
  • Use only one hyphen, in front of the University of Hamburg extension number.
Maxine Mustermann
Programmkoordinatorin
Zentralstelle für wissenschaftliche Sammlungen
4. OG, Raum 285
Bundesstraße 55, 20777 Hamburg
Tel: +49 40 42838-1234 / +49 178 24908828 (mobile)
Fax: +49 40 42838-1250
maxine.mustermann"AT".uni-hamburg.de

Distinctive treatment of words and phrases

Cross-references

  • Uppercase references to figures, tables, chapters, etc. only if they form part of the title and if using the full title.
    Read section 4.2 for further information.

Electronic files

  • Uppercase terms like “PDF,” “JPEG,” “TIF,” etc.

Forms

  • Uppercase field markers.
    Date of Birth, First Name, Last Name

The University

  • Uppercase “University” when referring to University of Hamburg.

University of Hamburg’s motto

  • Always translate “Der Forschung, der Lehre, der Bildung” as “To research, to teach, to educate and form.”

Language

Calls to action

  • Use the imperative mood when letting the reader know exactly what they should do.
    Ensure your application includes all required documents.

Gender-neutral language

  • Use gender-neutral language unless it is necessary to refer to gender or sex.
  • Use third person (“their,” “they,”or “themselves”—“themself” is less common) when suitable re­phrasing is not possible.
    Use the imperative mood to let the reader know exactly what they should do.
  • Do not use the binary greeting “Dear Sir or Madam” but rather a nonbinary alternative.
    Dear Students,

    Dear Reader,

    To Whom It May Concern:

Legal terminology

Legal citations / references to legislation in text

  • When citing an act, piece of legislation, ordinance, etc. for the first time in a text, write out in full; thereafter, you can use the abbreviated title as appropriate.
    General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG)
    (first mention)
    AGG
    (subsequent mention)

  • Translate and punctuate the parts of a legal citation as specified in the table below:
    • Do not use commas to separate parts of citation unless indicating a series within the citation.
      Section 28 subsection 1 no. 3 sentence 5 of the General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG)
    • Always use a nonbreaking space between “Section,” “subsection,” etc. and the respective number.

Titles of acts, ordinances, regulations, etc.

  • Use official English translations of federal/state acts, ordinances, etc. if available; these can be found in our MultiTerm database, on German federal government websites, and www.gesetze-im-internet.de. For EU legislation, consult the appropriate EU agency.
  • If no official translation is available, use an English descriptor in sentence style followed by the official German title and abbreviation in parentheses.
    Hamburg higher education act (Hamburgisches Hochschulgesetz, HmbHG)

Numbers

Times

  • Use 12-hour-clock format (no periods with “am” or “pm”).
    9:35 pm, 7 am–1 pm, 12 noon, 12 midnight

Numbers

  • For print publications texts, write out numbers zero to nine.
  • For website publications:
    • use numerals for 2 and up, even when used in plural form
      The machine packs them in 4s and 6s.
    • always write out numbers zero and one—where zero and one are used for a given category, write out other values for the same category in the same sentence to maintain consistency
      Up to 5 students will be granted funding for one to six months.
    • do not use numerals at the beginning of a sentence in flowing text
    • use numerals and words for values from a million unless exact amount is required.
      The state’s budget shortfall grew by USD 346 million to reach USD 5.75 billion.

Percentages

  • Use “%” in figures, tables, and website texts; otherwise, write out “percent.”

In Forms

  • Use numerals.

Money

  • Use “€” to express euros in all regular website texts where no other currency is referred to.
    The scholarship is worth €300 per month.
  • Use the ISO currency code in all texts with multiple currencies, in legal texts (employment contracts, funding agreements, etc.), and in forms.
    The scholarship is worth EUR 300 per month, which is about GBP 270.

Dates

  • Format as follows:
    1 January 2012.
  • Write out centuries in headings and flowing text.

Punctuation

Ampersand

  • Use “and” instead of the ampersand (&).

Colon

  • Do not simply transpose colons from German source text—ensure correct usage in English.
  • In headings, capitalize the first word after the colon.
  • Capitalize the first word in a complete sentence after a colon if it is introduced by a single word or phrase.
    Important: Be sure to submit all relevant documentation.

Dashes

  • Use an em dash (—) for parenthetical information.
    In exceptional cases—for example, leisure activities—a fee will be due.

Ellipsis

  • Use the following construction for an ellipsis:
     . . . (nonbreaking space.nonbreaking space.nonbreaking space.nonbreaking space)
  • Do not use Microsoft Word’s automatic ellipsis.

Serial comma

  • Always use a serial comma, except in the names of institutions, departments, etc.
    The Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences

    The university offers courses in business, economics, and social sciences.

Quotation marks

  • Use smart quotation marks (“ ”).
  • Always place periods and commas inside the quotation marks.
  • Use quotation marks to denote website navigational headings.
    See documents under “Start > Applications > International Students > Studying.”

Research entities, events, and titles of works

Courses, lectures, exhibitions, and events

  • Uppercase the names of conferences and symposia, course and program titles, exhibitions and performances, and lectures series, etc.
  • Enclose individual events in quotation marks if they are part of an event series (e.g., a session or workshop at a conference).

Research entities

  • Uppercase the titles of collaborative research centers, clusters of excellence, research training groups, projects, etc.
    Collaborative Research Center 676: Particles, Strings, and the Early Universe—The Structure of Matter and Space-Time

    Research Training Group 1351: Extrasolar Planets and Their Host Stars

    Vascular Surgery Research Group

    Cluster of Excellence Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI)

Titles of works, documents, and headings

  • Uppercase titles of publications, documents, and web pages (headline style).
    • Uppercase second word in hyphenated compounds when using headline style.
      The Dynamics and Political Implications of Anti-Intellectualism
  • If no official English translation of the text in question exists, provide a brief translation of the title of the work/document as well as the German title.
    Our German-language brochure on starting your studies at the University of Hamburg (Erste Schritte an der Universität Hamburg) provides . . .
  • Stand-alone:
    Erste Schritte an der Universität Hamburg (German-language brochure on starting your studies at the University of Hamburg)
  • Only uppercase first word and proper nouns in document section headings, web page subheadings, etc. (sentence-style).

Contact

Errol Bailey
Staff code: -50.Ü3-
Tel: +49 40 42838-8364