BU Bulletin Content & Style Guide

Purpose of the Bulletin

The Bulletin IS:
The Bulletin Is NOT
A University-wide academic reference A promotional brochure
A handbook of programs and offerings A duplicate of school, college, or department website content
An academic archive A place for non-academic information

2013/14 Deadlines

Milestone Deadline
Content review kick-off 11/30/2012
Schools & Colleges submit edits to:

  • Programs
  • Departments
  • Overview
  • Student Orgs. And Other Student Resources
  • External Links (ex. Centers and Institutes Pages, etc.)
 2/28/2013*
Schools & Colleges submit edits to:

  • Faculty
  • Programs (continued)
  • Departments (Administration, etc.)
  • School-specific policies
 4/30/2012
Schools & Colleges submit final corrections and course lists. University-wide policies should be submitted by this date. 5/31/2013**
Content freeze date (includes course descriptions) 7/1/2013
2013/14 Academic Bulletin Launch 7/15/2013

*Edits at this stage should include program modifications and other substantive changes.
**Edits at this stage should be minor in nature.

Submitting Changes

Template

  • Bulletin changes template (dotx)
  • Template for ’94–’04 Word users (dot)

Follow the instructions below to submit your changes to Creative Services for implementation in the Academics website. We encourage you to download and use our Word template.

  1. Download the Word template and save as a new document. Title your new document to reflect the Bulletin page you’re editing. For example, if you’re updating the Faculty page for COM, please title it COM_Faculty.
  2. Enter the title of the page in the designated place in the template.
  3. Go to the page you wish to edit. Highlight the page’s URL, copy it, and paste it into the designated spot in the template, just under the title.
  4. Now, select the text of the web page, copy it, and paste it into the main body of the Word doc.
  5. Turn on track changes! This is an important step—it’s how we know which changes you want, implement them, and check that they’ve been made.
  6. You’re ready to edit. You can use the comments tool to make notes to us if needed.
  7. Once your edits are complete and saved, attach your file in an email to Joe Hathaway in Creative Services.

General Editorial Guidelines

  • Study section guidelines. Before making edits, be sure to read your section’s guidelines thoroughly.
  • Use Bulletin style. Put content in appropriate section and use the Bulletin Style Guide to punctuate lists, academic degrees, and more.
  • Be concise. Provide just the facts in simple, concrete terms.
  • Use bullets. Break up large blocks of text and all lists, including lists of faculty, classes, etc., with bullets.
  • Think “online.” Provide exact names of other sections/information you’d like to point to, along with their URLs. Submit to Creative Services; we will create Link Boxes (inline sidebars) that will house related links.
  • Be consistent. Use the same style and tone across all sections of your bulletin.
  • Be thorough. The bulletin is a unchangeable snapshot of a particular calendar year. Information is frozen (i.e., no edits allowed) as of September 1.