UMass Boston

WISER course descriptions should be student oriented. As such, they should be written with students in mind, offering enough information to give students a broad understanding of the course. They should be as concise and straight-forward as possible (typically 50-150 words).

Descriptions should:

• Avoid repeating the exact title of the course and/or the course number as the first sentence of the description
• List topics, concepts, or themes rather than ask questions
• Use “course” rather than “class”
• Use “students” or “the course” (not “we” or “you”)
• Avoid overly specialized language, where possible
• Avoid abbreviations
• Use the present tense
• Use full sentences
• Spell out numbers zero through nine, as well as fractions, or any number that begins a sentence
• Use a comma before the last item in a series (Oxford commas)
• Only capitalize proper nouns and first words of sentences (do not capitalize topics or disciplines)
• State the language of instruction when relevant (“This course is taught in Italian”)
• For cross-listed courses, state equivalents as the last sentence in the WISER description (“ENGIN 211L and MATH 211L are the same course”)