The writing style at the University of Lethbridge is professional, yet conversational and engaging.
Our stories are about the people who make the U of L the incredible place it is. Our stories focus on the people. We capture their motivations, their inspirations, their story.
Our stories take the reader on a journey. Stories engage, educate and evoke an emotion. They inspire and lead to action.Our stories do all this while laddering back to the brand and aligning with key messages and supporting proof points.The tone and manner for U of L stories is always professional, conversational and engaging, however it changes a bit to suit the audience. For example:
Undergraduate Recruitment
- Recruitment stories are more casual, use first name reference and appeal to a high school audience. Stories need to capture an experience, and inspire a reader to find out more about the U of L and ultimately apply.
- Recruitment promotional copy is personal and uses “you” and “your”. We want prospective students to envision themselves at the U of L.
Examples:
Viewbook: ulethbridge.ca, and download the viewbook (link at top of page)
Student profiles: https://discover.uleth.ca/student-profiles/index.ezc
Other U of L publications: http://www.issuu.com/ulethbridge/
Recruitment video: discover.ulethbridge.ca
Keep in mind, the recruitment audience can be segmented much further: High School Student; transfer student/post-diploma student; FNMI; international; mature; and graduate students. Tone and voice need to be reflective of the audience.
Graduate Students
Recruitment promotional copy is still personal and uses “you” and “your”. We want prospective students to envision themselves at the U of L. Keep in mind, graduate students are older, more mature and research-orientated audience.
Research
- Research stories need translate what is sometimes very complex research into lay-terms in an engaging way that educates the audiences and shows relevance and impact.
- Capture the “personal” element to the story. What inspires and motivates the researcher. At the end of the day, what does he/she hope to accomplish
- Use understandable, plain language – no jargon
- Indicate a problem or situation the research is addressing
- Explain what is being researched
- Explain how this research will benefit our community, Albertans, Canadians or the world
- Include one interesting fact or statistic that is related to the problem/research
- Explain the economic impact for Canada (i.e., lower health care costs, create jobs, etc.)
- The reader should finish the story having learned something new
Development
- Capture the donor’s motivation and inspiration behind the gift, tell the personal side of the story?
- Show impact: what does the donor hope will become of the gift, what will it enable (or what has it enabled?), support with examples
- The inspiration and impact are more important than the dollar value, which do not always include
***All content needs to polished, fact-checked and error free.
Note: Stories should be written in 12-point Arial font, spaced at 1.5.
U of L content follows the Canadian Press Style Guide in conjunction with a U of L specific style guide. We use the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.
Include a headline, sub-heading and your byline.