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SETU Waterford offers a broad range of academic programmes from levels 6 to 10 on the national framework of qualifications across Business, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science and Computing.

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Study at SETU Waterford

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

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Students

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

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Schools

SETU Waterford offers a broad range of academic programmes from levels 6 to 10 on the national framework of qualifications across Business, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science and Computing.

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International

The Office for International Relations co-ordinates the admission, administration and support for international students throughout the course of their studies at SETU Waterford.

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Research

SETU Waterfordis recognised as the leading research performer in the institute of technology sector with research activities that are internationally benchmarked, strategic, and economically relevant. Find out about the amazing multi disciplinary research under way

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About

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

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News

Uncover the research discoveries, student and staff achievements, human stories, community spirit, global links and external engagement news at SETU Waterford

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Events

From virtual events to conferences, talks, public lectures and happenings in on-campus venues SETU Waterford is a hub of activity. Stay up to date with our calendar of upcoming events.

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Why news?

News stories are highly valuable as they showcase the breadth of what we do to stakeholders browsing our website. News stories also contribute to our SEO. If it’s on our website it can be found in a search engine and search engines love fresh, relevant content. It’s also a link to share on social media and bring people back to our website rather than sharing something in a social media silo.

Templates

Our story templates are to help people compile basic components of a web story or press release. Download a Word document template.

Send in via a portal at http://www.wit.ie/sendstory.

WIT

What's the SETU Waterford connection - make it obvious, give some information about what else is going on in this space at WIT.

Templates to help you

Many stories have been told before - find one of our ready-made templates to help you

Scannable text

People don't read online, they scan. This means breaking up you material into smaller chunks so it is easier to scan.

Structure and plain language

Unlike other writing where a conclusion is at the end, and wordy phrases are welcome, the most important points are at the top of a press release or news article, and plain, uncomplicated language is best.

Interestingness and context

What's the background? Is this the first of a kind - the biggest, the 5th time, the most recognised awards for X, Y, Z? Make it interesting.

Length

A web news story should be minimum 150 words. There's no max. A press release should be max one page of a Word document - surplus information can be added in a section called Notes for editors.

Quotes

It is always best to includes quotes attributed to somebody involved in the occurrence the story is about, as this is what makes the reader feel they are reading a real account.

Headline

Explains what the article is about while also being interesting

Length: 60- 70 characters with spaces

Overview/teaser

Find something additionally interesting from later on in the article, or sum up what the article is about. It is not your first sentence, rather another teaser.

140-150 150 characters with spaces. As a stylistic thing we don’t put a full stop after this, as it helps distinguish it from the first sentence.

First sentence

This should act on its own separate to your headline and overview. This should really draw the reader in, it should be interesting, and encapsulate what the main point of interest is in a story. The first sentence should be a max of 30 words and include who, what, when, where, why.

Remainder of article

You order the rest of the information with least important information at the end.

Sentence length: Shouldn’t be more that 30 words. Always have a full stop at end.

Scannability

Sub headings can be used break up your text on a web story with mini headings scattered throughout to help draw the reader’s eyes down through it. You don’t need a sub heading between every paragraph or line break.

Spacing between sentences or paragraphs make it easier for people to scan rather than seeing big walls of text.

Links

Hyperlink to other articles or material by selecting text and hyperlinking that text (short cut in Word is Ctrl+K).

Link text

Never link to click here. Re-order the words and link from meaningful words e.g. Download the Higher Education in Flux PDF or Visit the Higher Education in Flux conference website.

How to use quotes

Always use a quote and attribute it to someone (unless it is an opinion piece). It brings the news item alive, and necessary always for a press release to media.

Use double quotes. “The quote is in double quotation marks normally, but we use single quotation marks to highlight an unusual or ‘weird’ word,” she said/says.

The comma and full stop go inside the quote if it’s a full sentence. They go outside if you’re using a partial quote. When in doubt put the comma and full stop inside.

“The quote is in double quotation marks normally,” she said.

How people read websites

People don't read website content, they scan. And how they scan is in an F shape so it is important to your headline or heading and first sentence paragraph contains the most relevant information to them. Every two paragraphs or so use a sub heading to help bring the reader down further. Use bullet points where possible too to help break up text.

What to include

A website shouldn’t contain information just because the writer thinks it should. You are writing for your reader and it's a good idea to put yourself in their shoes rather than what you want to highlight when putting information together. A website shouldn't reflect organisational design; it is about how the task the user wants to carry out on that page, and how easy it is for them to do that, and how good they feel by the ease-of-use and friendliness of words.

How to prepare

Here are the things you need to consider before writing motivational web content:

  • Target audience
  • Tone of voice
  • Marketing message
  • What is relevant to the reader
  • Simplified, plain language that's easy for someone to understand quickly.

Structure and plain language

Unlike other writing where a conclusion is at the end, and wordy phrases are welcome, the most important points are at the top of a press release or news article, and plain, uncomplicated language is best.

SEEEO tabs

Title and Description will appear in Google search results; OG in Facebook and LinkedIn; Twitter on Twitter. When writing these think what would someone want to see in a search result or on social to click on this?

Title: Length: 60- 70 characters with spaces

Description: 140-150 150 characters with spaces. 

On the page

Break up your text mini headings scattered throughout to help draw the reader’s eyes down through it. 

Spacing between sentences or paragraphs make it easier for people to scan rather than seeing big walls of text.

First sentence

This should be clear and easy to read with the most relevant information concisely explained.

Sentence length

Shouldn’t be more that 30 words. Always have a full stop at end.

Links

Hyperlink to other articles or material by selecting text and hyperlinking that text (short cut in Word is Ctrl+K).

Link text

Never link to click here. Re-order the words and link from meaningful words e.g. Download the Higher Education in Flux PDF or Visit the Higher Education in Flux conference website.

 

 
 
 

Templates

Browse 20 templates for common story types. 

How to refer to SETU Waterford correctly

Waterford Institute of Technology not the Waterford Institute of Technology

In the second and subsequent instances it is SETU Waterford not Waterford IT

Waterford IT is only used in relation to sports teams and sports reports

It is commonplace to refer to SETU Waterford as ‘the Institute’ in internal communications, this can be replaced by WIT

WIT is singular. Refer to SETU Waterford as it rather than they


How to refer to people correctly

Use a person’s first name and surname when they are mentioned first, as well as their job title and an academic title.

Academic titles

Dr not Dr. or Doctor

Prof rather than Prof. or Professor

(The use of . in Dr. may be commonplace however it is an Americanisation and unnecessary)

Job titles

Capitals are fine in job titles that are specific – but are not used if you are being general (eg a science lecturer)

Mr/Ms

If a person does not have an academic title we do not use Mr or Miss/Ms/Mrs


Times and dates

Our preferred use for simplicity and a clean look is

  • 17 March 2017
  • Or Friday, 17 March 2017

Things to avoid:

  • adding th and so on after a date
  • writing out dates phonetically the 1st of March
  • Putting the number after the month eg March 17 – this is an Americanism

Times

10am or 6pm. 10.15am or 5.15pm

There is no need for dots or spaces or adding in extra zeros (10.00 a.m.)

When issuing an embargo on a press release please use 12.01am rather than 12am to denote midnight and avoid confusion.

You can say something will take place from 9-5pm or between 9am and 5pm.There is no need


Numbers

For consistency we ask that people use:

  • One to nine are spelled out
  • 10 upwards is in numbers

Numbers at the start of a sentence are always spelled out. If you don’t like the look of this – word your sentence so it doesn’t start with a number.

Place a comma in numbers over 1,000

% / per cent / percent. Please ensure you use one style throughout your text, and stick to it.


School, Department, Course titles

Please check correct School, Department and Course titles.


Capitalisation

It’s commonplace (but wrong) to uppercase words unnecessarily to denote importance. Best practice to ease the reader experience is to lowercase words unless they are proper nouns i.e. a proper name for something.

Headlines and subheadings should never be written like this: National Award for School of Engineering Lecturer

Instead words that are not official titles should be lowercase like so: National award for School of Engineering lecturer

When in doubt, take the capital letter out.

 

Full writing style guide A-Z

Addresses

Ensure that 'County' or 'Co' is used to indicate a county as follows:

'Co' is to be used in addresses.Do not use full stop after 'Co'.

'County' is to be used within body text. You can refer to the 'a county player' or 'across the county'.

Ampersand (&)

Do not use unless it's part of an official course/company title. Use 'and' in normal text.

Apostrophes

1990s, 1980s etc do not take an apostrophe. Be careful in general about misuse of apostrophes, eg omitting them when they are necessary ('Its one of the best courses') or using them when not necessary ('it's beautiful surroundings make it special').

Only plurals end with 's' for the possessive ('tourists’ cars', 'visitors’ feedback'). But for one visitor, the apostrophe goes before the s ('visitor’s feedback'). Where 's' is the last letter in the word ('James') add on the apostrophe s at the end ('St James’s Street', 'William Butler Yeats’s poetry'). 

Capitalisation

Don't overuse. Only use for proper nouns. Don't capu up all the words in a headline.

DO NOT WRITE SENTENCES ALL IN UPPERCASE as it is more difficult to read online.

It’s commonplace (but wrong) to uppercase words unnecessarily to denote importance. Best practice to ease the reader experience is to lowercase words unless they are proper nouns i.e. a proper name for something.

Headlines and subheadings should never be written like this: National Award for School of Engineering Lecturer

Instead words that are not official titles should be lowercase like so: National award for School of Engineering lecturer

When in doubt, take the capital letter out.

Commas

Use two commas, or none at all, when inserting a clause in the middle of a sentence

NOTE: In some cases using two commas to create a sub-clause is still incorrect. You know it is incorrect if, when you remove the sub-clause entirely, the sentence does not make sense

Company titles

Omit 'Ltd', 'plc' etc – it is not necessary

Comprises

Do not follow with 'of'

Dates

Use format: Tuesday, 3 February 2009. Note comma after the day.

Easter

Uppercase

E.g.

Use full stops for consistency.

Email

No hyphen, lower case unless at start of sentence ('Email us at' but 'You can email us at').

Etc

No full stop 

Euro

Lower case unless at start of sentence.

Exclamation marks

Keep to a minimum.

Ezines

No hyphen, lower case unless at start of sentence.

Festivals

Use upper case for full titles, lower case for other references ('The Imagine Arts Festival takes place in October. The festival attracts visitors from...').  

Figures

Use words for nine and under except with addresses, distances, percentages, weights and measures ('three years', 'four mountains' but '1km', '8kg', '3m' (metres), '5m2' (BUT '3 square miles')). 

Use figures for 10 and over ('27 years ago', 'over-60s'). Same rule applies for 'seventh, ninth, 21st'.

Exception: any number used at the start of a sentence should be written out in words even if it is 10 or over ('Seventy-five visitors attended the exhibition').

If using millions or billions, use the full word not 'm' or 'bn' and do not write out the full figure including all the zeros ('8.7 million units', £1.5 billion').

For large numbers, use commas ('2,996' not '2996').

Forward slashes ('/')

Do not insert a space before or after ('Waterford / Dungarvan' should be 'Waterford/Dungarvan').

'Founded'

No need to ever use word 'originally' before this.

Group

Lowercase if used in a general way or to describe part of something larger ('project working group') but uppercase if part of the title of a major organisation ('Kerry Group').

H

Words beginning with 'h' take 'a' when the stress is on the first syllable ('a history', 'a hospital') but 'an' when the stress is on the second ('an hotel', 'an historic occasion').


Hyphens

Include when two words are tied together to make an adjective ('top-class accommodation’, 'business-oriented approach). Also, a building is three years old but it is a 'three-year-old building’.

i.e.  

Use full stops for consistency

Italics

Avoid where possible, as they are harder to read on screen.

Job titles

In most cases the person’s title will take precedence to their name, so putting title first and then name is usually most appropriate ('WIT Job Title Firstname Surname today said').

Uppercase job titles 'Chief Executive’ unless talking about 'chief executives' in general, which would be lowercased.

Key

An overused word ('this project will be a key focus for 2018'). Try: 'this project will be a focus for 2018'.

Keywords

All one word.

Less v fewer

Use 'fewer' when referring to individual items grouped together ('fewer events’), otherwise, use 'less' ('less space').

Licence/license

The first is a noun ('a licence'), the second is a verb ('licensing the premises').

'Meet with'

Just use 'meet'. Same applies to 'sell off' – just use 'sell'.  

Minister

Uppercase for noun whether full title or generic ('The Minister for Education, 'Government Ministers') but not adjective 'ministerial'. 

Money

€10 not €10.00.

Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Dr, Prof

No full stop after. Same goes for 'St Stephen’s Green' – no full stop after 'St'.

Northern Ireland

Write as written here.

Numbers

See Figures. 

Online

All one word. Same goes for 'website'.

Over

Often used when 'more than' would be better ('more than 60% of visitors' not 'over 60% of visitors').

Per cent

Use symbol ('1%'; '15 to 20 %'). Or at least stay with the one style whatever you opt for.

Period of time

Just use 'period' or replace with the actual length of time ('several years').

Pluralisation

United States is a plural so 'The United States are'.

But most other entities - countries, companies etc - are singular, so treat as such (‘the organisation was planning’ or ‘WIT is on hand to’).

WIT is singular.

President

Uppercase if referring to the President of a country; otherwise lowercase.

Quotations

Use single quotation marks -

  • In headlines, sub headings and picture captions
  • For a quote within a quote (The Chief Executive said: “This is a big improvement on what was described in the report as ‘an inefficient system’.”)

Otherwise use normal, double quotation marks.

If omitting some text from the middle of a quote, use three stops and a space after ('He said: "It filled me with optimism that young people can develop skills… to move forward in their careers in tourism.”)

Regions

Lowercase and separate e.g. south east

Report

Use uppercase for the name of a report, but lowercase otherwise

Representatives

Takes 'of' not 'from' after ('representatives of').

Spacing

Ensure there is one space after every full stop before start of next sentence.

Titles (of plays, books etc)

Avoid italics and quote marks. Just say 'Ulysses by James Joyce', 'Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett'.

Lowercase words such as 'a', 'an', 'and', 'at', 'for', 'from', 'in', 'of', 'the', 'to' unless they are the first word of the title/sentence.  

Under way

Two words.

US spelling

Do not use. So 'modernize' should be 'modernise'. Use s instead of z. Similarly, 'remodeled' should be 'remodelled' and 'meters' should be 'metres'. Remove the dot after Dr.

Vitally important

Just use 'vital'.

Web

Lowercase unless at the start of a sentence.

Webpage

All one word and lowercase unless at the start of a sentence.

Website

All one word and lowercase unless at the start of a sentence.

Which/that/who

'Which' or 'that' for things [including the Government, companies, councils, etc]; who for people. So 'the company that has worked hard' but 'the employees, who have worked hard'.

While

Not 'whilst'; if you mean although, use 'although'.

 
 
 

For consistency please use the following:

Main Campus

The buildings on WIT’s Main Campus, Cork Road, Waterford are:

Tourism & Leisure Building

Main Building not Engineering & Science Building

Business Building

FTG Building

Walton IT Building

O’Connell Bianconi (Health Sciences) Building not Nursing Building

The Luke Wadding Library

The Courtyard

R Block

Multi-purpose Hall not Sports Hall

The Gallery

The Dome Bar

Student accommodation on this campus is called College Campus (the other one is City Campus)

Applied Technology Campus

This is in Waterford Industrial Estate

The buildings here are:

Applied Technology Building not Norco

Engineering Research Building

Plumbing Building

West Campus

WIT’s West campus, Carriganore, Waterford is often called Carriganore, however the correct use of the building name followed by West Campus, Carriganore, Waterford is encouraged.

The buildings here are:

The SETU Waterford Arena

Arclabs

Netlabs

Carriganore House

Beechfield House

Archives

College Street Campus

Convent Building

Arts Building

St Dominic’s

3D studios

HA Building

The Bakery

Pottery

The Granary

WIT’s Department of Architecture is based in The Granary, Hanover Quay, Waterford

Kilkenny Campus

Research and Innovation Centre, SETU Waterford Kilkenny Campus, Burrell Hall, St Kieran’s College

 
 
 

WIT Vikings is the SETU Waterford sports brand. Please make sure when referring to it you are referring to as per the below.

 

WIT Vikings Sport

WIT Vikings Societies

 

WIT Vikings Sport Scholarship Programme

UPMC SETU Waterford Vikings Elite Sport Scholarship

WIT Vikings Sport Scholarship Tier 1

WIT Vikings Sport Scholarship Tier 2

WIT Vikings Graduate Sport Scholarship

WIT Vikings Emerging Talent Programme

 

WIT Vikings Rising Star Programme

 

WIT Vikings Esports Scholarship Programme

 

WIT Vikings GAA Club

WIT Vikings Basketball Club

WIT Vikings Athletics Club

WIT Vikings Rugby Club

WIT Vikings Soccer Club