Monash University > Advancement > Publications > Styleguide

Editorial Style Guide

(Last updated September 2008)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

a, an
When referring to an initialism or acronym, use the appropriate article for the way the term is spoken, not spelled, eg:

an FBI agent, an ENTER of 96.00, an RACV member

an historian/an hotel

In general both an or a may be used with these words, however be aware that an historian, or an hotel does convey a more formal tone.

abbreviations
To be avoided wherever possible, for example:

department rather than dept
telephone rather than tel. or ph.

Academic Board
On second reference, use 'the board'.

academic degrees and diplomas
Academic awards can be cited in full or shortened, but don't use a mixture of the two, eg:

Graduate Diploma of Arts (Applied Linguistics), or
GradDipArts(AppLing), but not
Graduate Diploma of Arts (AppLing)

Capitalise the name of an award but not a general description of it, eg:

Bachelor of Arts (Social Science) but
Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in politics

The correct form of all Monash degrees and diplomas can be found in the Monash University Calendar.

acronyms
Acronyms or initialisms can be used alone when their meaning is clear, for example ENTER and VCE, but when they may be unfamiliar to your audience, they should initially be spelled out in full, with the acronym in brackets -- eg Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). On second reference, use the acronym only.

acts of parliament
Maximally capitalise, eg: Residential Tenancies Act 1997.

addresses
Set out addresses without punctuation at the end of a line and don't use shortened forms, eg:

Divisional Director
Advancement Division
PO Box 65
Monash University
Melbourne, Victoria 3800
Australia

adviser
Not 'advisor'.

alumni
The singular form of 'alumni' is 'alumnus', for a male and 'alumna' for a female.

ampersand
An ampersand should generally be avoided; use 'and'. It should only be used where it forms part of an official name, eg a company or an art prize. Another reason for not using ampersands is that they may not be recognised by some web browsers.

Use 'and' in all Monash faculty, department or school, course, discipline and unit names, eg:

Faculty of Art and Design
School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine
Bachelor of Business and Commerce
Students can major in ceramics, glass, metals and jewellery, and painting.
MGW3130 Organisational change and development

apostrophe
Much misused, and sometimes omitted altogether, the apostrophe is indispensable in denoting possession. See The Elements of Grammar for a comprehensive explanation of its various uses. (See also 'plurals, possessives'.)

appeal against
Don't adopt the American style, which drops the preposition.

approximately, commencement
Consider shorter alternatives such as 'about' instead of 'approximately', and 'start' rather than 'commencement'.

armed forces, military titles
Full names of armies, navies air forces etc are capitalised (eg Australian Air Force, Australian Navy). Don't use the prefix 'Royal'.

astronomical terms
Capitalise names of stars, planets, satellites etc. Capitalise Earth when it is used as the planet name; lowercase it when used to mean soil or in a phrase such as 'the earth sciences'.

auditoriums, concert venues
Capitalise the full name, eg Robert Blackwood Concert Hall, George Jenkins Theatre.

Australian students (see 'domestic (and local) students')

Authcate
Use an initial cap only.

bachelors degree

backup

bit map

book, newspaper, journal titles (see 'titles')

bookstores
Use full names of campus bookstores to avoid confusion.

brand names, registered trademarks
Brand names and registered trademarks are capitalised, eg Kleenex, Weetbix, Mobil, Biro. However, whenever possible, use generic terms such as tissue, breakfast cereal, petrol station, and ball-point pen.

bullet points
The introductory line preceding a list of bullet points should end in a colon, eg:

Disciplines offered at Clayton include:

art theory;
marketing; and
management.

Semi-colons may be used at the end of each bullet point, although these may be omitted in brochures and advertising material and where space is limited, for example in the Monash course handbooks. The first word in each point is not capitalised unless each point is a complete sentence. Where each point is capitalised, the introductory sentence must also contain a complete sentence.

capitalisation
See under individual entries.

cafe
No accent

campus
Lowercase when used in a generic sense or when describing a Monash location, eg:

on a university campus
at the University's Gippsland campus

Campus Centre

catalogue (library)
Capitalise the Monash University Library Catalogue (formerly known as the 'Voyager' catalogue or 'Voyager'). Use the term 'library catalogue' for subsequent references.

CD-ROM

centuries and decades
Numerically described periods are not capitalised, eg:

21st century
twenty-first century
the nineteen-nineties
1990s (no apostrophe, ie not 1990's)

The preferred style is to use numerals rather than text.

chairperson or chair

chief executive officer
Can abbreviate to CEO on second reference.

cliches, hyperbole
Avoid unless used for humorous or particular effect. Where possible, steer clear of tired favourites such as 'unique', 'groundbreaking' and 'far-reaching'. Try to avoid difficult-to-substantiate claims such as 'first', 'oldest', 'youngest' and the like. Their overuse or misuse can reduce credibility and legally the source should be cited.

collections (library)
Use a lowercase 'c' for the Monash University Library collection. The library has several special collections as follows:

Asian Studies Research Collection
Laura and Israel Kipen Judaica Collection
Gilligich Yiddish Collection
Map Collection
Melbourne Centre for Japanese Language Education Collection (first reference); MCJLE Collection (second reference)
Music and Multimedia Collection
Pacific Law Collection
Rare Books Collection
Vera Bradford Music Collection

college and university names
Uppercase 'college' when part of a proper name; lowercase when used generically, eg:

Victorian College of the Arts
Accommodation is not available at the college.

colon, semi-colon
A colon is commonly used to introduce a series or list. If a colon introduces a complete sentence, more than one sentence, a formal statement, quotation, or speech in a dialogue, capitalise the first word of the sentence. If the colon introduces a sentence fragment, don't capitalise the first letter.

A semi-colon is used to join clauses when a conjunction is omitted, or when the connection is close, eg:

The statistical information is there; it can't be denied.

For more on the colon and semi-colon, see The Elements of Grammar or your favourite grammar reference.

committee names
Committee names generally are not capitalised. However, if lowercase style causes confusion among readers, capitalise in specific instances.

commonsense

Commonwealth
When referring to Australia's government or bureaucracy, use 'Federal' except when officially required to use Commonwealth, as in legal documents, eg:

The Federal Attorney-General's office said ...

Commonwealth supported place
A place in a course that is partially subsidised by the federal government (previously known as the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, or HECS).

compared with, similar to

compounding (see hyphenation and compounding)

comprise
'Comprise' does not take a preposition. It means 'include' or 'encompass', eg:

The seminars may comprise undergraduate and graduate students, but
The seminar is composed of students.

continuous, continually
'Continuous' means 'unceasingly'; 'continually' means 'repeatedly'.

conference names
Use maximum capitalisation, eg Seventh Annual International Genetics Conference. For conferences which are subtitled, use single quotes with minimal capitalisation, eg the Monash International Banking Conference, 'Insights into Islamic banking'.

cooperate, coordinate

cooperative research centres
Although most of these centres have cumbersome names, they should be spelled out in full, then abbreviated to 'the CRC'.

course names (see 'academic degrees and diplomas' and 'short courses')
Capitalised, eg:

Bachelor of Arts

CRCs (see 'cooperative research centres')

cultural movements, periods, styles
Numerical period designations are lowercase unless part of a proper name, eg:

eighteenth century (but Eighteenth Dynasty)

Generally, most historical or cultural period names are lowercase except for proper names and adjectives (baroque period, colonial period, romantic period, but Victorian era) or to avoid ambiguity (Middle Ages, Renaissance).

Capitalise names of cultural movements and styles if they are derived from proper nouns; otherwise they should be lowercase, eg:

Doric, Gothic, Pre-Raphaelite, but
baroque, classical, cubism, dadaism, postmodernism

currency
A$100 (use only where there could be confusion)
NZ$5000
US$6000

cyber
No hyphen when used with another word, eg: 'cyberpunk'.

dash (see 'hyphen, dash')

database

dates
The preferred style is 14 February 2003 without commas. However, when including the day, use a comma: Monday 14 February, 2003.

The following shortened forms, without full points, are preferred: Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec.

days
The following shortened forms, without full points, are preferred: Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat.

decades (see 'centuries and decades')

department
Capitalise when used in full, but not when shortened to, for example, 'Business Law and Taxation department'.

disabled
Don't use 'handicapped'.

domestic (and local) students
Monash campuses in Australia are Berwick, Caulfield, Clayton, Gippsland, Parkville and Peninsula. Overseas Monash campuses are Malaysia and South Africa.

In Monash publications:

(a) students who are studying at a Monash facility in Australia and are local to Australia (ie Australian citizens or permanent residents, or New Zealand citizens resident in Australia ) are referred to as 'Australian domestic students', or 'Australian students' or 'domestic students' in the second instance.

(b) students who are studying at the Sunway campus, Malaysia and are local to that country (ie Malaysian citizens or permanent residents ) are referred to as 'Malaysian local students'.

(c) students who are studying at the Monash South Africa campus and are local to that country (ie South African citizens or permanent residents ) are referred to as 'South African local students'.

See also 'opposition politicians'.

governor, governor-general
Lowercase when used generically; uppercase when referring to a specific
governor, eg:

State governors have been invited to meet the Queen in Sydney in September.

Australia's Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffrey, opened the new building.

head
Lowercase, as in 'the head of the School of Asian Languages and Studies'.

headings

Use sentence case in the headings and sub-headings in a publication, except for the title of the publication, which should be maximally capitalised.

HECS-HELP

A method of deferring payment of student contributions in Commonwealth-supported places and paying the debt back to the government when earning a predetermined threshold income.

Use full capitals, and hyphenate.

hi-tech

home page

HTML
HyperText Markup Language. Don't spell out.

hyphenation and compounding
The Macquarie Dictionary is the preferred authority on whether a term in noun or verb form is run together, hyphenated or made into two words. A few general rules:

Hyphenate compound adjectives (including measurements) used before a noun, eg:

a three-year course, a first-year student, a mile-long list

Hyphenate compounds including words such as 'all', 'self' and 'half', eg:

a real self-starter, half-hearted efforts, all-knowing and all-seeing

See also : full-time course and off-campus learning

hyphen, dash
Generally, hyphens join and dashes separate. Hyphens are used to join compound nouns and adjectives, eg:

anti-apartheid, two-year-old

At Monash, the dash in a sentence is typeset as an en rule ( – ). En rules in sentences always have spaces before and after them, whether they are used as a pair to bracket an independent clause, or at the end of a sentence to introduce a sentence fragment, eg:

She smiled sweetly then – to my horror – pulled out the evidence.

Imagine my horror when she reached in her bag – and pulled out the evidence.

En rules are also used between ranges of numbers or dates. Use en rules with no spaces around them when joining entities that are the same, eg:

6–9 pm
5–8 April

But use spaced en rules when joining complex entities, eg:

6 am – 9 pm
5 April – 8 March

For web only:
In online text, the en rule is often not displayed correctly, especially in older web browsers. In web copy, two hyphens in place of an en rule is acceptable.

Indigenous
Use an initial cap when referring to Australian Aboriginal people.

initials
Spaces between initials and no full points, eg: C L Butchers

inquire, inquiry
A formal investigation, eg:

to set up an inquiry

Use enquire, enquiry when referring to student enquires or general enquiries.

internal
Use 'on-campus' to describe the offering mode in both research degrees and coursework programs. See also 'external' and 'off-campus'.

international students
In Monash publications, a student is considered an 'international student' if:

(a) they are not local to the country in which they are enrolled at an official Monash campus

(b) they are studying at a Monash facility in Australia and are not local to Australia

(c) they are studying at a Monash facility in a country where Monash does not have an official campus.

Monash campuses in Australia are Berwick, Caulfield, Clayton, Gippsland, Parkville and Peninsula. Overseas Monash campuses are Malaysia and South Africa.

Note that all other Monash centres, colleges, offices and other locations where the University has twinning arrangements are not official University campuses, for example:

Monash University Prato Centre
Monash city office – Melbourne city
Monash College locations in China, Singapore, Indonesia and Sri Lanka
TMC Centre for Advanced Education in Singapore

Examples of international students:

(a) An Indonesian student enrolled at the Sunway campus, Malaysia is considered an international student … because they are not local to the country in which they are enrolled at an official Monash campus.

(b) A Hong Kong student studying at Monash College in Melbourne is considered an international student … because Monash College is a Monash facility in Australia.

(c) A Singapore student studying at TMC Centre for Advanced Education in Singapore is considered an international student … because TMC is not an official Monash campus and lies outside Australia.

See 'domestic (and local) students' for an explanation of the term 'local'.

internet

in to, into
The two mean different things, eg:

The boy ran in to (toward) the goals and managed to score.

The boy ran into (hit) the goals and hurt his forehead.

King's College London

LAN
Local area network. Don't spell out, unless used in a non-IT context where readers might be unfamiliar with the term.

Latin abbreviations
The following do not take full points:

eg -- for example
ie -- that is
etc -- and so forth
v -- against

lead-up

lectures and short seminars
Names of special lectures and one-off seminars are shown in single quotes and minimally capitalised, eg:

'A question of media bias?' by Mr Michael Schildberger
'Traditional Thai music' by Associate Professor Udom Aroonratna

less than (see 'fewer than')

let alone

libraries
There are eight branches of Monash University Library. Use the full names of library branches on first reference to prevent confusion. On second reference, 'library' is lowercase.

Berwick: Berwick Library
Caulfield: Caulfield Library
Clayton:
- Hargrave-Andrew Library
- Law Library
- Sir Louis Matheson Library (first reference); Matheson Library (second reference)
Gippsland: Gippsland Library
Parkville: C L Butchers Pharmacy Library (first reference); Pharmacy Library (second reference)
Peninsula: Peninsula Library

lists (see 'bullet points')

local students
See 'domestic (and local) students' and 'international students'.

majors, minors and sequences of study
These are not capitalised, eg:

A major sequence in history comprises …

Honours courses are available in women's studies and Japanese linguistics.

masters degree
No apostrophe.

mature-age students

medical terms
See the suggested references on page 3.

Monash names
Use the following in their full form on first reference; on second reference, a shortened form such as 'the centre' or 'the college' is acceptable (in lower case).

King's College London
Monash University Prato Centre

Monash University
Must be used in full on first reference. Use 'Monash' or 'the University' on second reference. Campuses can be treated in various ways:

Monash University Sunway campus, Malaysia or
Monash University's Gippsland campus

On second reference, 'the Gippsland campus' is acceptable, but not Monash Gippsland.

more than
When referring to something that can be counted, use 'more than' rather than 'over', eg:

The concert attracted more than 2003 music-lovers, but
David is over 180 centimetres tall.

MPs
Lowercase. Spell out 'Member of Parliament' on first reference, then use 'MP', eg:

Mr John Smith is Victoria's newest Member of Parliament. A total of 15 first-time MPs attended the gala.

The use of MP, MLC and other parliamentary titles varies. Journalistic publications use the above style, while other text such as mailing addresses may include terms such as 'The Honourable'. For information on the correct way to address politicians, see the government websites at www.aph.gov.au (federal) and www.parliament.vic.gov.au (Victorian). See also 'federal, state'.

multimedia

musical compositions (see 'titles')

musical notes and keys
Use roman capitals for major and roman lowercase for minor. For clarity, use the words 'major' and 'minor' with the letters when naming keys, eg:

One of Mozart's best known symphonies is in g minor.
middle C; key of G major; the D triad.

myriad
Like 'comprise', 'myriad' does not take a preposition, eg:

She had myriad reasons not to accept the offer.

newsgroup

non-school-leaver

nonetheless

numbers
Always spell out numbers at the start of a sentence. When abbreviating, use no. (singular), and nos (plural -- no full point). In text, spell out numbers from one to nine, eg:

The woman had five nine-year-old children to look after each day.

One of the children had two siblings, aged 14 and 15.

Commas and spaces: Use a comma in any number with more than four figures. Thus '1000' rather than '1,000' and '10,000' not '10000'.
Percentages: In general copy, use a mixture of words and figures, with a space following the figure, eg: '9 per cent'. In tables, use figures and the percentage symbol, with no space between figure and symbol, eg: '9%'.
Ordinals: Use words for ordinal numbers up to and including nine, and figures thereafter, eg the first floor of the Menzies building.

off-campus/on-campus (see also full-time, part-time)
For the sake of consistency, always hyphenate these terms, whether they form compound adjectives, act as adverbs, or stand alone, eg:

The students are undertaking their course in the off-campus learning mode. (adjective)

The students are undertaking their course off-campus. (adverb)

Course code: 1234 • Off-campus • Three years full-time (stand alone)

off-campus learning
Use 'off-campus' to describe the external mode of offering in coursework programs. See also 'external'.

Off-campus learning is a mode of learning and is therefore lower-cased, as is 'multimode'.

Off-Campus Learning Centre

For consistency, hyphenate 'off-campus'

office names
Capitalise when part of an official name but lowercase when used generically, eg:

the Monash University Solicitor's Office, but
the arts administration office

official titles and positions
Use maximal capitalisation only for a person's official title when given in full (whether or not accompanied by his or her name), eg:

the Director of the Centre for Computer Interaction, Professor Maria Jones

However, with titles of the University's executive, use maximal capitalisation at all times, eg:

Yesterday, Vice-Chancellor Professor Larkins said ...
The Pro Vice-Chancellor said yesterday ...

online, offline

ordinals (see 'numbers')

page break

page, volume
Use 'p' to abbreviate 'page'; 'pp' for 'pages'. When referring to the volume number of a publication, use 'vol'.

paintings, drawings and sculpture (see 'titles')

parliament
The Federal Parliament, the State Parliament, the Victorian Parliament, but 'parliaments of the South Pacific region'. See also 'MPs'.

part-time (see 'full-time')

per cent
Use full text in copy and '%' in tables

percentages (see 'numbers')

plays and film titles (see 'titles')

pop-up menu, pull-down menu

postgraduate

practice, practise

Practice being a noun, whilst practise a verb. A dentist practises dentistry, a vet practises veterinary medicine. Both dentists and vets have practices. US English tends to reverse the spellings.

program
Not programme

Prospective Students Office
No apostrophe. Public expression of the administrative office called Onshore Student Recruitment.

pro vice-chancellor

quotation marks
Single quotes for emphasis and double quotes for speech.

When directly quoting someone's words, use double quotation marks at the start and finish of the quote. Full sentences include punctuation within the quote marks; for partial quotes, punctuation falls outside. Compare the following:

"The development is an exciting opportunity for Monash," the dean announced.

"I'm pleased to announce the new initiative," he said. "The development is an exciting opportunity for Monash."

According to the dean, the development is "an exciting opportunity for Monash".

reader
Lowercase, as in 'Dr Joe Brown is a reader in the Education faculty'.

reboot, reformat

re-enrolment

registrar

room numbers and building names
Lowercase 'building' and 'room' except when proper nouns.

The seminar will be held in room 212 in building 11 at 2 pm.
The seminar will be held in room 212 in the Menzies building at 2 pm.

scholarships and awards
Names of scholarships and awards are maximally capitalised, eg:

Monash University Scholarships for Excellence
Monash University Support Bursaries
Monash University Indigenous Scholarship for Excellence and Equity
Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Distinguished Teaching

For a full list of scholarships, programs and awards available at Monash, see the Student and Staff Services website.

school-leavers

screen saver

seasons, semesters, holidays
The four seasons are lowercased. Semesters are lowercased. Religious and national holidays are minimally capitalised, eg:

The Queen's Birthday long weekend
Melbourne Cup day

sequences
See 'majors, minors and sequences of study'.

semester (first and second)
Use 'first semester' and 'second semester' rather than '1st semester' or '2nd semester'.

short courses
The names are minimally capitalised and shown in single quotes, eg:

'Business presentation skills', two half-days, 28 June and 5 July.

'Desktop publishing', 25, 27 May, 6.30 -- 9.30 pm.

similar to, compared with, contrast to

Soeharto, Soekarnoputri
We use the 'oe' style for Bahasa Indonesia names, rather than 'Suharto, Sukarnoputri' and so on.

songs (see 'titles')

spacing
In general, use only one space after full stops, bullet points, and before and after parentheses and brackets.

Do not use soft or hard returns to shorten lines in the middle of a paragraph or to space out text between paragraphs. Use only one hard return at the end of a paragraph.

sponsorship (see 'corporate sponsorship')

spreadsheet

startup disk, startup screen

states and territories
Use the following shortened forms: NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA, Tas, NT, ACT. Don't use full points. When referring to a particular state without naming it, use lowercase.

The state has the highest per capita murder rate of all seven.

streams
See 'majors, minors and sequences of study'.

students (see 'domestic (and local) students' and 'international students')

subject names (see 'unit names' and 'VCE subject names')

summer semester
Not 'summer school'.

telephone numbers
Use 'telephone' or 'tel'. Do not use 'phone' or 'ph.'

In text for an external audience, don't give extensions. The following style should be used, with no hyphens:

Melbourne/Victoria:

+61 3 9905 2085

1800 263 847

0149 581 583

Australian/international:

+61 3 9905 2085

Use only Australian/international telephone numbers in all University-wide publications (for example, local Gippsland caller telephone numbers are not to be used in University-wide publications, but may be used in publications intended for local Gippsland users).

television programs (see 'titles')

their, his or her
It is increasingly common for pronouns within a sentence not to agree with their verb, eg:

Each student was asked to nominate their favourite lecturer, rather than
Each student was asked to nominate his or her favourite lecturer.

The second example is grammatically correct; the singular possessive ('his or her') agrees with the singular subject ('each student'). However, this is cumbersome if dealing with numerous references in one text. Aim for consistency.

think-tank

time of day
Use as few figures as possible when describing time spans. Don't use full points after 'am' and 'pm', eg:

9–11 am, not 9 am – 11 am
9 am – 3 pm, not 9.00 am – 3.00 pm

The en rule replaces the word 'to' (see 'hyphen, dash' for more on the en rule). However, it is preferable and more elegant to use either from/to or between/and in place of the en rule, eg:

The function will be held from 9 am to 3 pm on Wednesday.

The author will be on hand to sign copies of her novel at Ben's Books between 10 am and 4 pm on Saturday.

For web only:
In online text, the en rule is often not displayed correctly. For this reason it is preferable to use either from/to or between/and in web copy.

title, entitle
'Entitle' means to give title to; 'title' means to provide a title for or call by a title, eg:

The author entitled the book last week.
The book, titled How to Write, is now on the shelves.

titles

Articles in journals, chapters in books: Roman in single quotes, minimal capitalisation, eg: 'The anti-nuclear movement in Japan'.
Book titles: Italics and maximal capitalisation, eg: The Secret History.
Exhibitions: Italics and maximal capitalisation, eg: What John Berger Saw.
Musical compositions: Maximal capitalisation, eg: 'The Animal Song'.
Newspapers, journals and periodicals: Italics and maximal capitalisation, eg: The Age, The New Scientist.
Paintings, drawings, sculpture: Roman in single quotes, maximal capitalisation, eg: 'Blue Poles'.
Plays and films: Italics and maximal capitalisation, eg: The Sound of Music.
Songs: Roman in single quotes, maximal capitalisation, eg: 'The Long and Winding Road'.
Television programs: Roman in single quotes, maximal capitalisation, eg: 'The Vicar of Dibley', 'Simone de Beauvoir's Babies'.

For official titles and offices, see 'official titles'.

troubleshooting

UK
Use of abbreviation in general text is acceptable.

undergraduate

under way

unit names
Capitalise the first word of a subject or unit name, eg: 'Logistics control systems'. A subject or unit name is often accompanied by a code and listed in tabular form, eg:

KOS3010 Korean civilisation
KOS3020 Modern Korea

When subject or unit names and codes are run with text, they are shown with the words in parenthesis, eg:

Students take KOS3010 (Korean civilisation) in their third year.

When the code is not given, the unit name is shown in single quotes, eg:

Lisa Roberts gained excellent results in 'Korean civilisation' in the final year of her bachelors degree.

Sequences and courses of study are given initial capitals only where they contain proper names, eg:

A major sequence in history comprises ...

Honours courses are available in women's studies and Japanese linguistics.

University
Capitalise when in reference to Monash University, eg: the University, and lowercase when generic, eg: an Australian university.

University Council
Use 'Monash University Council' or, 'University Council'.

University-wide
But statewide, nationwide.

US
Use of abbreviation in general text is acceptable. Preferred over USA.

Vice-Chancellor (see 'official titles and offices')

VCE subjects
Names are shown in roman type and capitalised throughout, eg:

Mathematical Methods
English Literature

videoconference, videoconferencing
Run together as one word, no hyphenation.

VTAC
Use Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre on first reference, then the acronym. An exception may be text specifically targeting VCE students.

web page

website

Western
Capitalise when used to denote industrialised nations' lifestyles and traditions and so on, eg:

The Western habit of wearing shoes indoors still hasn't caught on in Japan.

worldwide
Not world-wide, but world-class and world wide web

world wide web

web