Spelling and UvA terms
Follow 'het Groene Boekje'
Like other (semi-)government institutions, the UvA follows the spelling conventions of the 'Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal' (also knows as 'het Groene Boekje'). You can find the correct spelling of a word or construction at woordenlijst.org. If the word or form you are looking for is not listed there, follow the spelling used by Van Dale.
For other language and spelling queries, you can also consult taaladvies.net and het Taalloket van Onze Taal.
Agreements and guidelines
Below are several spelling and style conventions we follow at the UvA:
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Avoid abbreviations
Avoid abbreviations wherever possible, unless they are well-established terms such as hbo, vwo or proper names (UvA, UB, FNWI). Spell out proper names in full the first time they are mentioned. So: University of Amsterdam (UvA).
Additional guidelines for Economics and Business
View the list of abbreviations we use at UvA Economics and Business.
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Use single quotation marks for quotes
Use single quotation marks for quotations: ‘This is a quote.’
For a quote within a quote, use double quotation marks:
‘Within this quote, “this is a quote” is a quote.’When a quotation is part of a full sentence, punctuation that belongs to the main sentence but not the quote falls outside the quotation marks:
Correct: ‘I’ve packed the suitcases’, he said.
Incorrect: ‘I’ve packed the suitcases,’ he said.Correct: ‘Did you pack the suitcases?’, he asked.
Incorrect: ‘Did you pack the suitcases?’ he asked.Correct: ‘Of course’, he said, ‘I packed the suitcases.’
Incorrect: ‘Of course,’ he said, ‘I packed the suitcases.’The same rules apply to quotes within quotes. Note that if both quotes begin or end simultaneously, the quotation marks will appear double at those points:
‘When I asked, he said: “Of course!”’A quote used as a heading does not get a full stop, such as in this article.
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Numbers: use digits online, write out in print
For web texts, use digits. They are easier to read on screen. Combine figures with words like thousand, million, and billion for easier reading in running text:
25 thousand, 240 million, 9 billion.Numbers in print
In print publications, spell out the following in running text: numbers one through twenty, tens, hundreds, and thousands. Also spell out million, billion, trillion, etc.
If mixing spelled-out numbers and digits makes the text look inconsistent, opt for digits for all:
- Incorrect: On Wednesday, seventeen students attended the lecture and on Thursday, 21.
- Correct: On Wednesday, 17 students attended the lecture and on Thursday, 21.
With ordinal numbers, you use the suffix -st or -st. Do not use superscript . So the correct form is:
- 21st
- 12th
- 3rd
- 100th
Always write out ECTS credits as digits, and prefer digits for technical or data-heavy texts.
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Degree programme and course names: capitalised and fields of study with lower case
Capitalise the names of degree programmes and courses. Examples:
- Physics student
- Medical AI lecture
If the degree programme or course consists of multiple words, only capitalise the first word: Arabic language and culture, Biomedical sciences, Academic skills
Use lower case for fields of study:
- He earned his PhD in economics.
UvA terms
How do you abbreviate ‘bachelor’? Should faculty names be capitalised? View the UvA Translation List for standardised spellings and usage.
If you have any questions about this list or would like to suggest additions or corrections, please email: redactie-uvaweb@uva.nl.
Use British English
Writing or translating into English? Use British English. Visit the staff site (login required) for more information about English writing and translation conventions:
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See the UvA English Style Guide (for staff) for agreed spelling and style conventions.
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See the UvA Translation List for preferred translations of UvA-specific terms in education and research.