Version History

Overview

• Moved "Announcements" to "Version History" page.
• Moved information about what the style guide is and isn't from the "How to Use the WGU Style Guide" to the "Overview" page.
• Deleted "Style Guide Information" Section, including the following: Links, Points of Contact, Style Sheet for Style Guide Site, Style Guide Choice, and Style Guide Questions.
• Moved the information from "Marketing & PR" and "User Experience" to the "Overview" page.
• Deleted the tip of the month.
• Moved the information from the "Glossary" page to the "Overview" page.
• Moved the information from the "Accessibility" page to the "Overview" page.

College-Specific Sections

• Consolidated the pages for each college onto one page for easy search functionality.
• Moved the information from the "Chemistry" page to the General Education section of the "College-Specific Section" page.

Project-Specific Sections

• Updated the link to the Accessibility Style Guide from the Wiki Site to the SharePoint site.

Throughout site

• Fixed broken and inaccurate links
• Updated the link to the current style guide comment form

General Style and Usage page

• Updated the "Centuries" entry on the General Style and Usage page to account for the alternative number rule (use numerals for 10 and above). Added an entry about how to treat the number and capitalization of amendments.
• Deleted an example in the "Ordinals" entry
• Adjusted the entry on commas used in numbers 1,000 and higher to clarify what exceptions exist
• Fixed the formatting of the example in the "Squared/cubed units" entry
• Clarified that the "words as words" entry can also apply to phrases

Curriculum page

• Added a clarifying sentence about "new tab" on the curriculum page: Include quotation marks and parentheses in the hyperlink.
• At the end of the current "Books" section of the Curriculum Guide, added the following wording and example: If the reading begins on the first page of the chapter, which has no separate section name, use the chapter number in the parentheses. Example 4: Read pages [page#–page #] (new tab) (beginning of Chapter 5 to the end of "[Section Title]") in Book Title. Also, corrected Example #3 by adding ("[Section Title]")
• Under "Books" deleted this subsection: Book introductory sentence. Use the preposition "in" when introducing content from books (e.g., "Read Chapter 10 (new tab) in The Subversive Copyeditor"). Under "Articles" deleted this sentence under "Title—article.": Use the preposition "from" before the periodical name. Under "Websites" "Instructions," deleted this sentence: Use the preposition "at" when referring to a website (e.g., "Review the information at CDC.gov"). Under "Videos" deleted the following sentence under "Introductory sentence": Use the preposition "from" when referring to the source.
• Note—we are moving to "new tab" instead of "opens new tab," but the screenshots do not reflect this change yet.

PA page

• Made the wording on hyphenated compounds in titles consistent between the general page and PA page.
• Clarified that subheadings and second-level subheadings should not have a hanging indent.
• Updated the wording for "Prompt" in the PA terminology section to include overarching prompts.
• Updated the word "optional" to "mandatory" for the Rubric section of the PA style guide page.
• Added a link to the EMA template and updated the PA Standards link.
• Added the alternate teaching dispositions wording and clarified when to use it.

OA page

• Added the following entry with an example to the OA page: "Dialogue: Answer options that could be considered verbal responses from an identified person from the given or stem should be put in quotation marks."

The changes made for the update made on October 1, 2021, are described below and are sorted by page. If you have any concerns, questions, or suggestions, please reach out to someone from the Points of Contact page.

Throughout the site

• Removed hyphens in words that should not use hyphens according to WGU style.
• “Team-Specific Sections” was revised to “Project-Specific Sections.”
• Changed instances of “vs.” to “versus” to follow our style.
• Revised all instances of “course instructor” to “instructor.”
• Updated links to correspond to the new platform instead of the old platform.

College of Health Professions

• Added in new wording after "affixes" entry in HP page:
  Client/patient: These terms are often used interchangeably in healthcare settings, and the SME or writer on a project should be deferred to on which term to use. Note that a term is chosen for an individual based on the context. Patient should be reserved for someone receiving direct healthcare in clinical settings, such as a hospital or skilled nursing facility. Client is generally referenced within nonclinical settings, such as outpatient physical and occupational therapy or substance abuse centers. Strive to be consistent in word usage in each context, although a given individual could be considered a patient in one setting and a client in another. (For example, an individual receiving WIC vouchers is a client, yet this same individual who is on WIC is also receiving women’s health treatment and services as a patient.)
• Added “health improvement plan”
• Added the following entry: “Medication dosage instructions: Write using a numeral for the dose, a space before the abbreviation, and a spelled out number for the frequency. Examples: 5 mg four times per day, Aspirin 81 mg daily (not 81 mg one time per day).”
• Under Diseases with Possessive Names, changed non-possessive to nonpossessive to follow our hyphenation style.

College of Information Technology

• In the Terminology section, added “data cleaning: Use this term instead of data cleansing, which is associated with cultural insensitivity.”
• In the Terminology section, added “Whitelist/blacklist: Generally avoid these terms since they can be construed as racially insensitive. Consult with the project team to identify appropriate substitutes. Possible replacements could be allowed list and block list. Note that whitelist or blacklist may be provided as synonyms in addition to these alternatives if students need to refer back to the original terms for clarity. For example: "See an approved list (sometimes called a whitelist)."
• In the Abbreviations section, added CSS, HTML, RAM, VPN, AI, ROM, WWW, and URL.

Teachers College

• Changed instance of “ELL” to “EL” to correspond to our guidelines.

Curriculum

• Added "If you are working on content in the OEX platform, please use the CGP version of the style guide." Linked the wording to go to the CGP guide.
• Updated the name and link of the external file linked under the Attributions and References section.
• Changed “Idioms are phrases that are not logical” to “Idioms are phrases that are not literal.”
• Changed the wording in the entry about second-person phrasing in answer options as follows:
  • Previous wording: "Imperative options. In general, imperative answer options should not have an implied you; stems should be written to avoid second person. Because of this, the options are not considered full sentences and should not have a period at the end. In rare cases where there is an implied you, add the period to the end of the answer options."
  • New wording: "Options starting with verbs. Stems should be written to avoid second person. Thus, answer options may begin with a verb but should generally not have an implied you. Such answers are not considered full sentences and should not end in a period. In rare cases where there is an implied you, end the answer option with a period."
• Updated the link for the statement of nursing dispositions.
• Updated the screenshot for the website essential reading that is labeled “Grants” to indicate that the page name is typically used as the main title for website essential readings.
• At the end of the current "Books" section of the Curriculum Guide, added the following wording and example:
  • If the reading begins on the first page of the chapter, which has no separate section name, use the chapter number in the parentheses.
    Example 4:
    Read pages [page#–page #] (opens new tab) (beginning of Chapter 5 to the end of "[Section Title]") in Book Title.
• Corrected Example #3 in the “Books” section by adding ("[Section Title]").
• Fixed hyperlinks directing users to other portions of the page or site.
• Removed "See Supplemental Resources" from the Time entry under Videos since it did not link to anything and since there was not a corresponding section to link to.
• Added "References should be in alphabetical order, following APA 7 guidelines." under the Attributions and References heading.
• Under “Readings,” adjusted the number of consecutive and closely related readings that may be grouped together from five to three.
• Added the following sentence to the “Content synopsis” entry: “This one- to two-sentence summary should be a separate paragraph that is original and not taken directly from the text."
• Under “Feedback,” the wording was changed to account for partially correct feedback, as follows:
  • Original entry: "The feedback should start with "Correct!" or "Incorrect" and be followed by a complete sentence. Feedback for incorrect answers should not give away the correct answer but instead explain why the answer option is incorrect. Correct answer feedback should expound on why it is correct."
  • Revised wording: "The feedback should start with "Correct!", "Incorrect.", or "Partially correct." and be followed by a complete sentence. Feedback for incorrect answers should not give away the correct answer but instead explain why the answer option is incorrect. Correct answer feedback should expound on why it is correct. Partially correct answer options should include both explanations.
  • Added an example illustrating partially correct feedback.
• The first screenshot under "Readings" on the Curriculum page was updated to correspond to WGU style.

General Style and Usage

• Fixed formatting on the page.
• Added the following entry under "Usage": Optional plurals: The (s) construction (e.g., student(s)) is best replaced with the singular and plural forms of the word (e.g., student or students) but can be allowed in some circumstances as long as it is the object, not the subject, of the sentence.
• Changed the link corresponding to the capitalization of the word “course” from Chicago 5.69 to Chicago 8.85 because it better corresponded to the situation.
• Under the "Capitalization" heading, eliminated entry for "Celestial bodies" and replaced it with an entry for "Earth" as follows:
  • Earth: When used as a proper name, Earth is capitalized and a preceeding the is omitted. In nontechnical contexts, earth is lowercased and preceded by the (Chicago 8.140). See also sun and moon below.
• Clarified the interpretation of hyphenated compounds in titles and headings as follows:
  • Original wording: Hyphenated compounds and slashes in titles and headings: In headings, the second word in a hyphenated compound or a compound with a slash is also capitalized when the first word is capitalized. At the beginning of a response option or sentence, only the first word is capitalized. This also applies to compounds with slashes. (Chicago 8.161)
    Examples: Use Whole-Life Insurance, Human/Environmental Interaction in a heading, but Whole-life insurance, Human/environmental interaction at the beginning of a sentence.
  • Revised wording: Hyphenated compounds in titles and headings: In headings, the second word in a hyphenated compound is not capitalized if the first part of the compound is not a word (e.g., Pre-assessment). If the first part of the compound is a word, both should be capitalized (e.g., Data-Driven) (Chicago 8.161).
    Examples: Use Whole-Life Insurance in a heading, but Whole-life insurance at the beginning of a sentence.
• Added the commas in the numbers in this entry: Inclusive numbers: Write out entire numerals (e.g., 1,113–1,120; not 1,113–20).
• Added "social-emotional learning: This term can often take the place of "social and emotional learning," but this may depend on the context." in the hyphenation section on the General Style and Usage page.
• Added "You may also refer to APA Style's bias-free language guidelines on their website." (with "their website" hyperlinked to https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/ at the end of the bias overview entry.
• Adjusted the “Graduate/candidate/student/learner” entry to clarify that current competencies use “the learner” rather than “the graduate”:
  • Previous wording: Graduate/candidate/student/learner: The term graduate is used in WGU competencies and objectives rather than candidate. Elsewhere, we refer to our students as candidates. Teachers College candidates’ students are referred to as students. They can also be referred to as learners. However, the usage of either student or learner should be consistent when possible.
  • Revised wording: Graduate/candidate/student/learner: The term graduate was previously used in WGU competencies and objectives. However, current competencies should use the term learner. WGU students are also sometimes referred to as candidates. Teachers College candidates’ students are referred to as students. They can also be referred to as learners. However, the usage of either student or learner should be consistent when possible.

Glossary

• Deleted the content from the page and added the following notes:
  • For a Program Development department-wide glossary, consult the glossary from the Program Development Hub [link].
  • For any suggestions on what content you would like included on this page, please fill out the style guide comment form.

Style Sheet for Style Guide Site

• Updated the content to correspond better to the new style guide platform.

Marketing and PR

• Revised as follows:
  • Previous wording: Brand Style Guide
    For branding, fonts, and templates, please see the Brand Style Guide.
    This guide contains information on using WGU branding, but it also provides guidance on how to use language for a broader audience. This Brand Style Guide should be used for marketing content and content that is reaching students or prospective students in a more conversational way.
  • New wording: Marketing Content
    For WGU branding, fonts, and templates, please see the Brand Style Guide. Please also use Marketing's Editorial WGU Style Guide. These guides should be used for WGU marketing content and content that is reaching students, graduates, or prospective students in a more conversational way. The editorial guide may also be useful in contexts when using language for a broader audience.

Objective Assessment Development

• Added a new section about CPLTs.
• Added "(MCEO)" after "Multiple choice exhibit option" in the Item Type Guidelines section since "MCEO" was included elsewhere on the page.

Performance Assessment Development

• Updated links to the Panopto page and the Teachers College Rubric Aspects page

Panopto page

• Removed a comma before "and then choose" in both instances of the note about the web link.
• Added the Panopto FAQs web link to the list of web links: Panopto FAQs: https://cm.wgu.edu/t5/Frequently-Asked-Questions/Panopto-FAQs/ta-p/3611

Links

• All general employee resources removed. Links added for the APA Style Bias-Free Language site, the Conscious Style Guide, the Disability Language Style Guide, Google Ngram, a readability test, and the Program Development SharePoint site.

Points of Contact

• Updated the points of contact.

CDD page

• Updated to reflect known changes. For a marked-up copy showing the revisions, please reach out to Michelle Ostrowski.

Entire Site

•    APA references updated to correspond with new edition guidelines

General Style and Usage

•    Added to statement under “Style Decisions” to say to “use the spelling listed first unless otherwise noted in this guide” for Merriam-Webster entries
•    Under “Sensitivity” section, updated entries relating to gender. These include “Gender references,” “Specific individuals,” and “He or she, etc.” A major change was to include provisions for singular they, which should be used after using the suggested strategies for referring to individuals who gender is unknown or not relevant to the content. More guidance was given on referring to transgender, gender nonconforming, or gender nonbinary individuals.
•    Clarified “Department and team names” entry under “Capitalization” to specify it is necessary to capitalize department and similar terms only if it is part of the name
•    Added to entry that now reads as “Generic company, people, and year names” under “Capitalization”; standard is to capitalize Year and example shows accompanying numeral (e.g., Year 1, Year 2)
•    Changed the “Names of tabs and buttons” entry under “Capitalization” so it conforms with Chicago 7.77 and 7.79: "References to named items that use headline-style capitalization do not usually require quotation marks; items that use sentence-style capitalization usually do."
•    Changed the spelling of sickle cell anemia under “Capitalization” to an open compound to conform with Merriam-Webster
•    Updated the "Plurals" entry under “Usage” as follows: "In cases where using data with a plural verb is awkward, it may be used with a singular verb."
•    Provided entry on “Gibbs's reflective cycle” under “Spelling”; an apostrophe is included as part of the term
•    Moved “cost-benefit analysis” entry to general page, under “Hyphenation,” since it shows up in multiple colleges
•    Removed entry that said United States must be spelled out when used as a noun; U.S. may be used as a noun
•    Removed the entry that stipulated "math" should be written as "mathematics."
•    Removed repetitive entry on the student portal under the list of terms to capitalize in the “Capitalization” section

College of Health Professions page
•    Changed entry on “Drug names” to say that the default is to use generic drug names and that brand names may be added depending on the development team’s preference

College of Information Technology page
•    Not applicable

Teachers College page
•    Removed “toilet training” entry due to dated wording; we allow more flexibility on this term and variants
•    Removed “breast-feed” entry since this is in Merriam-Webster, which indicates it is a closed compound

College of Business page
•    Not applicable

Course Design Documents page
•    Not applicable

Objective Assessment Development page
•    Added “Images” entry, which specifies that the stem should precede the image for accessibility reasons.
•    Added to “Table formatting” entry to apply similar rule as above of having stem precede any accompanying table
•    “Table formatting” entry now includes an example
•    Both entries advise including a reference to the image or table within a stem and putting it at the end of the stem

Performance Assessment Development page
•    Updated third paragraph of standard note in “Standard Notes for Every Performance Assessment” section
•    Changed the rules of hyperlinks in tasks; hyperlinks may be used throughout PA tasks instead of just in the Web Links section
•    Rearranged misplaced comma in the phrase “Panopto Access” on the Panopto page

Glossary
•    Since team members indicated a need for the glossary, this will likely be updated in the next round of updates. A note was provided at the top of the glossary page to provide a current link to the department hub page.

Over the past few months, the style guide committee has worked to implement changes to the style guide based on recommendations from style guide users. The changes are listed below. For any questions concerning this round of updates, please contact Michelle Ostrowski, Stephanae Baker, Lori Rammell, or Sabra Smith. We are always looking to improve the style guide, and the next round of updates will start in a few months. 

Entire site: 

• Changed the department name from Academic Programs to Program Development
• Added a WGU Departments page that lists the names of WGU departments—this page can be found along the left navigation panel toward the bottom of the list
• Fixed found typos throughout the site
• Renamed the Assessment Maintenance and Publication page to "Assessment Archives"

General Style and Usage:

• Clarified that the word course is only capitalized if it is part of an official course name
• Specified that numbers that correspond to vitamins should be subscripted
• Revised the requirements regarding breadcrumb paths to remove the requirement to include quotations marks around the path per Chicago
• Specified that asterisks may be used for multiplication in some situations based on feedback from subject-matter experts
• Clarified that it may be preferable to use "for example," "that is," and other English terms rather than "e.g." and "i.e." since not all students and WGU employees know the distinction between the terms. We do not indicate that "e.g." and "i.e." cannot be used.
• Changed the rule regarding spacing in coordinates. We now encourage a space after the comma in coordinate pairs. 
• Clarified entry regarding U.S.
• Added entry about microcredential as one word
• Added a term that appeared multiple times on Program Development project style sheets: decision-making (this decision is based on both Chicago and M-W recommendations)

College of Health Professions page:

• Specified how we treat the number and capitalization in types of diabetes
• Revised the entry regarding other medical terms since the previous site that was referenced is no longer available. The current entry provides multiple medical dictionaries to refer to. After additional review, we hope to recommend one dictionary for better consistency in a future update. 
• Added a term that appeared multiple times on Program Development project style sheets: interprofessional

College of Information Technology page:

• Clarified the abbreviations section on the IT page
• Added entry for superuser as one word
• Added terms that appeared multiple times on Program Development style sheets: intrusion detection system, intrusion prevention system

Teachers College page:

• Changed PK–12 to P–12 since that is now the required language in some states. We allow for PK–12 if specified for in a course. 
• Removed reference to the term "driting." After further research, the term is not particularly common and would be project specific. 

College of Business page:

• Added term that appeared multiple times on Program Development style sheets: W-2

Course Design Documents page:

• Edited entry regarding course codes in course descriptions to allow for occasional exceptions to using course codes in course descriptions (e.g., in cases where courses have the same name)

Objective Assessment Development page:

• Revised entry regarding bullets in items. We now allow for automatic bullets rather than encouraging manual bullets. This better aligns to our item development system.
• Added clarification to second-person phrasing entry

Over the past several months, many hours have gone toward revising the style guide so it can better meet our needs. The following list outlines the changes that have been made. For any questions or concerns, please contact Michelle Ostrowski.

Entire Site:

• Changed "course of study" to "course" or "curriculum"
• Added entries based on style sheets used by the editing team in Academic Programs (see college and general pages for these additions)
• Changed "course mentor" to "course instructor"
• Changed "student mentor" to "program mentor"

Home page:

• Updated and cleaned up page

General Style and Usage:

• Added the following entries:
  • homeschool, homeschooling, homeschooled (verb): one word
  • scientific method
  • big-O notation
  • e-portfolio
  • passcode: one word
  • Mentorforce
  • CAREforce
• Added entry on accessibility for math
• Added entry on using em dash rather than hyphen for phrases offset by dashes
• Added a new entry on alphabetization style
• Added a new entry on capitalization of models and frameworks
• Added a new entry on capping the word "Task" when referring to a specific task
• Added "cancellation" to the entry on "cancel" to show it uses two ls when in noun form
• Added entry on department name capping
• Added entry on treatment of figure and table names
• Added entry indicating we prefer second or third person in academic content and avoid first person
• Added a new entry on agile, sprint, and scrum being lowercased
• Clarified entry on degree programs
• Clarified entry on spacing with mathematical symbols
• Clarified entry on numbers not needing to be italicized
• Updated entry on time to better correspond to Chicago
• Updated entry on website names to better correspond to the current edition of Chicago
  
• Revised and clarified entry on units of measurement
• Revised and clarified entries on brand and company name capitalization to better follow Chicago
• Fixed alternative rule entry to include zero in the numbers that should be spelled out according to Chicago's alternative rule; also generally clarified rule

Business College page:

• Added the following:
  • C corporation: no hyphen
  • Lifetime Learning Credit
  • married filing jointly
  • married filing separately
  • noncash
  • S corporation: Do not use a hyphen
  • taxpayer
  • tradable
  • W-2 income

College of Health Professions:

• Added the following:
  • adverse drug event (ADE)
  • adverse drug reaction (ADR)
• Revised entry on drug names per discussion with the college and current best practices

IT College page:

• Added entry on formatting of pseudocode
• Added entries on the following:
  • software as a service (SaaS)
  • NP
  • ARM architecture
  • input/output (I/O)

Teachers College page:

• Changed "English language learner" to "English learner"

Performance Assessment page:

• Added a clearer link and reference to the PA standards document
• Added decision on numerals starting sentences in rubric aspects
• Added link to correspond to Teachers College code of ethics aspect
• Clarified entry on referring to attachments to indicate attachments should typically be referenced somewhere in the task
• Clarified entry on quotations within PAs
• Clarified language about rubric aspects to more clearly reflect the intent
• Clarified entry on task title length
• Clarified information about what givens and scenarios should be
• Edited some language on the page
• Replaced references to Taskstream where appropriate to apply to the delivery system generally or to the new EMA system

Objective Assessment page:

• Added entry regarding the placement of graphs within items
• Added periods to the end of multiple select instructions
• Clarified entry on math stems
• Fixed typos
• Fixed example for guideline 6 under cloning information
• Removed incomplete examples

CDD page:

• Cleaned up html and formatting
• Fixed spacing

User Experience page:

• Created this page for the IT copywriter to use to cover style entries that are only specific to her work

Marketing page:

• Updated link for branding style guide

General Style and Usage page:

• Added the following terms: workflow, policy-making (adjective), policy making (noun), Institutional Review Board, p-value, e-learning
• Clarified capitalization for department and team names
• Updated the entry on inches and units of measurement to better follow Chicago Manual of Style
• Indicated that the multiplication symbol should be used in matrix notation rather than an "x." See the multiplication signs entry
• Added entry for 24/7
• Added entry for versus
• Clarified the entries on lists and numbered lists
• Softened the entry on data: added the word "generally" so that editors can use their best judgment on making exceptions to this rule when needed
• Added entry for apps
• Added entry on capstone archives 

Glossary (this list only provides general information; please review the page itself for specifics):

• Added new terms
• Removed outdated terms
• Revised entries to show current information

Course Design Documents page:

• New page added with guidelines for editing course design documents (CDDs)

Curriculum page:

• Changed the name of the page from Courses of Study to Curriculum to reflect current team name

Objective Assessment Development page:

• Fixed the wording for the multiple select item type to be clear on the ratio between correct and incorrect answers needed
• Added an entry called Item standards that links out to the item standards document that editors should use for internal development, improvement projects, task models, and beta testing feedback
• Added new entry on dates
• Added and clarified entries about using passages and quotations within items
• An outdated document was removed from this page
• One of the instructions for matching item types was missing in the matching item type entry, so that instruction was added back in
• New entry on how to treat abbreviations in items
• Added an exception to the should entry to provide better clarification on how this rule applies
• Added an entry on capitalizing the first letter of the first word of answer options (this had been in previous versions of the style guide but was removed in an update last year; however, this rule still applies, so the entry has been reintroduced)
• Added an entry on using a period at the end of answer options that are complete sentences only (this had been in previous versions of the style guide and has been reintroduced)
• Clarified the entry on the ordering item type  

Performance Assessment Development page:

• Added many updates to provide better clarification on PAs in our current style
• Added and clarified entries to reflect the new professional communication prompt and rubric wording
• Deleted examples that showed 5-level rubrics
• Deleted the attachment that showed the old sources aspect
• Deleted the rubric wording subpage (but it can still be found under the maintenance subpages in case anyone needs access to it)
• Updated the Teachers College Rubric Aspects subpage to reflect our current wording (old version can be found in maintenance subpages if needed)
  • Changed the table on the subpage to be an html table rather than an image so editors can copy and paste what is found there rather than having to retype everything
• Updated the Panopto Wording subpage to follow current practices and to provide better clarity
• Added an example under the Wording entry for rubrics
• Added examples showing the use of articles in rubric aspects and how to incorporate information in bullets into the rubric
• Removed the bolding on the example showing web link titles because bolding is not necessary

Note: Some additional changes may still be made to the Performance Assessment Development page at this time. Any additional updates will be communicated to the team during team meetings.

As always, these updates are part of an ongoing effort to improve the style guide continually as we grow as a university. If there are any suggestions or concerns about the updates made or about other updates that should be made, please feel free to reach out to me at michelle.ostrowski@wgu.edu or feel free to submit your concerns through our Google form.

Thank you so much to all who helped with this round of updates. We will commence with the next round of updates in a couple months.

Updates to the style guide are made on a periodic basis. At the end of each update cycle, a new announcement will be made highlighting the changes that have been made. If you have any questions or concerns about any changes, please feel free to reach out to me (Michelle Ostrowski) or use the WGU Style Guide Comment Form (the link can be found on the home page).

Highlights from this cycle of changes include the following:

• An updated logo was placed at the top of the guide to match our current branding guidelines.
• Headings on each page were updated to match the colors specified in the current branding guidelines.
• A style sheet for the style guide was added to the style guide under the home page. This will allow us to keep this guide more consistent and clean.
• Various formatting changes were implemented throughout the guide.
• Small updates for clarification and improvement of entries were made.
• Uniform Computer Information Transaction was added to the IT page.
• The "Course Profiles" page under the "Courses of Study" page was updated to reflect current standards in writing and editing course profiles.
• Clarification was added to entries about the cyber- prefix. .
• Naming conventions for performance assessments were updated to reflect our new standard (on the "Performance Assessment Development" page).
• Changes and updates were made to the "Performance Assessment Development" page to reflect new standards that were communicated to the assessment development teams via email.
• The "Objective Assessment Development" page was updated to allow a new "Item Standards" document to be used distinctly from the style guide.

Points of Contact

The points of contact listed in a previous announcement are no longer the current members of the style guide committee. For an updated list, please see this page: https://sites.google.com/a/wgu.edu/wgu-style-guide/Home/points-of-contact.

Letterheads

Preclinical and preassessment hyphenation

In accordance with Chicago style, most words with the prefix "pre" do not need a hyphen. "Preclinical" and no longer needs hyphenation.

Update 5/2018: The rule for "pre-assessment" has changed.

Work in Progress

The style guide is currently in a beta testing stage. Parts of this style guide are still under construction. If you have questions or comments, e-mail Jonathan Reddoch (jonathan.reddoch@wgu.edu) or another member of the editing committee:

• Anika Webb anika.webb@wgu.edu
• Amanda Rowan amanda.rowan@wgu.edu
• Ashley Spurlock ashley.spurlock@wgu.edu
• Jonathan Reddoch jonathan.reddoch@wgu.edu
• Loretta Condino-Grupp loretta.condinogrupp@wgu.edu
• Michelle Ostrowski michelle.ostrowski@wgu.edu
• Rebecca Saley rebecca.saley@wgu.edu

We are looking for any and all feedback. This is a work in progress, but we need everyone to help make it better. So please let us know of any issues you see. This could include contradicting information, incorrect information, missing information, unclear or irrelevant information, or even odd formatting. Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you for participating.