Writing guide
Below is a guide to writing UBC Bulletins and a sample message. Please review this before drafting your message. If you need further guidance, please do not hesitate to contact the Internal Communications team.
Subject line
- Do not exceed 70 characters (including spaces)
- Use active language
- Use sentence case
Examples:
Updates to UBC’s travel policy
Feedback requested on proposed amendment to policy #97
Submit team budget proposals by Dec. 15
Audience
- All UBC Bulletins should clearly state who is receiving the message (e.g. deans and academic heads and directors) and where they’re located (e.g. Vancouver and/or the Okanagan)
- Use sentence case
Examples:
To: Deans and academic heads and directors in Vancouver and the Okanagan
To: Senior professional leaders in the Okanagan
Purpose
All UBC Bulletins should clearly state why the intended audience is receiving the message. When submitting your request, you will be asked to select one or more of the following reasons why the recipient is receiving the message:
- For information purposes only
- To share with your team in person or email, as you see appropriate
- To provide you with advance notice of a communication that will be distributed to the wider UBC community in the coming days
Message body
- Ensure the key information/call to action is at the top of the message
- Ensure your message does not exceed 200 words
- An alternative for expanding upon the information contained in the email would be to provide a URL pointing to a web site containing the additional material (documents, images, etc.)
- For the benefit of users who receive UBC Bulletins in plain text or printed format, URLs cannot be embedded. They must be written in full in the body of the message
- Do not include images in your UBC Bulletin
Sign off
- All UBC Bulletins should come from a member of the UBC Executive
- UBC Bulletins do not include sign offs, such as ‘yours truly’, ‘many thanks’ or ‘kind regards’
- UBC Bulletins do not include prefixes, such as ‘Dr.’
Sample message
