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Style Guide

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Introduction

The Enrolment Services Course Catalogue team will ensure that pages and edits comply with our style guide. Refer to the information on this page and our style reference page to help ensure minimal changes between your submitted draft and the final published version.

For matters not addressed in this style guide, refer to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style. The vast majority of edits that we see made to pages should be covered on this page. It is not necessary to familiarize yourself with either reference text unless you have a desire to learn this information for fun.

Guidelines

Our aim is to align with 海角社区鈥檚 Digital Standards. If you are involved in updating and maintaining 海角社区鈥檚 digital media, consider taking Web Services' training courses.聽Key seminars related to the Course Catalogue include WS-100 Writing for the Web at 海角社区 and WS-101 海角社区鈥檚 Digital Standards.

AI Assistance

For those who would like AI assistance in editing or structuring their copy, IT Services recommends using the . Use only the secure version of Copilot as detailed in the 海角社区 IT Knowledge Base. Once you have a rough draft of your text and access to the secure version of Microsoft Copilot, you can begin revising. Note that Copilot will not be able to retain any hyperlinked content, so any links will need to be entered into CourseLeaf manually.

Line Editing

  1. Provide the following prompt to Copilot: 鈥淵ou are an editor; edit this content for Canadian English, including grammar, punctuation, formatting, and readability following the Chicago Manual of Style with explanation. Show the results in a table format with the original content on the left and the suggested changes on the right.鈥�
  2. Copy and paste聽your source text to Microsoft Copilot.
  3. Review the suggested changes to confirm the text still meets your communication requirements. Make further adjustments as needed.
  4. If you are having difficulty retrieving the text, you may ask Copilot "Provide聽me with a copiable version of the suggested changes".

Structural Editing

  1. Ensure that the content of your text has been line edited.
  2. Provide the following prompt to Copilot: "Now you are a web editor. Format and chunk the edited content as it should appear on a webpage. Apply accessibility best practices. Include an explanation of the changes. Show the results in a table format with the original content on the left and the suggested changes on the right."
  3. Copy and paste your source text into Microsoft Copilot.
  4. Review the suggested changes to confirm the text still meets your communication requirements. Make further adjustments as needed.
  5. If you are having difficulty retrieving the text, you may ask Copilot "Provide me with a copiable version of the suggested changes".

Link Etiquette

When writing text for links or selecting text for links, please try to observe a few general guidelines of link etiquette:

  • Place links in inline body text. Avoid 鈥榥aked鈥� URLs (e.g., 鈥溾��; not 鈥渞efer to 鈥�).
  • If 鈥榥aked鈥� URLs are necessary, please provide the minimum distinct URL (e.g., ; not ).
  • Avoid linking to the same URL with different text on the same page.
  • Avoid linking to different URLs with the same text on the same page.
  • Avoid having links open in a new tab.
  • Avoid unspecific or single-word links (e.g., 鈥溾��, 鈥溾��, 鈥溾��, 鈥溾��, and 鈥溾��).
  • Aim for no more than one or two hyperlinks in a single paragraph.
  • When possible, especially with emails and forms, tell your reader where the link will lead and/or what action the link will execute (e.g., 鈥� for more information鈥�; not 鈥渃ontact for more information鈥�).

Exceptions

Exceptions are expected, but observing these general guidelines can make for a smoother navigation experience for all users.

CourseLeaf Functionality

CourseLeaf has a helpful function that can display URLs in parentheses next to hyperlinks when generating PDFs. In the case of links that refer to another part of the same PDF, these will be presented as page numbers in parentheses. Focus on writing for a web-based audience, the PDF will redirect readers as needed.

Additional Edits

Anyone wishing to make more involved edits鈥攕uch as adding tables or restructuring the navigation of a page (or a collection of pages)鈥攊s advised to contact their Faculty Coordinator first. Once the desired changes are agreed upon by an Editor and their Faculty Coordinator, the Faculty Coordinator should contact the cataloguesupport.es [at] mcgill.ca (Course Catalogue team) for assistance in applying those changes.

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