Northern Kentucky University Undergraduate Catalog

STYLE NOTES

Overall Font: The catalog is printed using " Times" font. Most of the catalog is printed using 9 pt. Headings are various sizes depending on location.

CATALOG SECTIONS GUIDELINES

The undergraduate catalog contains the following sections:

1. Welcome
2. Core Values
3. Table of Contents
4. General Information about University (The University)
5. Admissions and Financial Aid
6. Tuition and Fee Schedule
7. University and Student Services
8. Academic Regulations
9. Academic Requirements
10. Academic Programs
11. Colleges
    1. Arts and Sciences
       1. Departments
       2. Honors Program
       3. Pre-Professional Programs
       4. Interdisciplinary Programs
    2. Business
    3. Informatics
    4. Educatin and Human Services
12. Schools
    1. Nursing and Health Professions
13. University Programs
14. Extended Programs
15. Course Descriptions
16. Faculty
17. University Administration
18. Kentucky Residency Policy
19. Glossary of Terms
20. Index

COLLEGE
The college description should contain the following headings:

• List of departments
• How to contact the college - dean,, phone, location, and website
• Programs offered - associate, bachelor, master, and certificates
• Mission and goals
• Accreditation/Affiliations
• College-wide requirements
• College-wide graduation requirements
• Any selective admission program requirements
• How to declare a major in college (if applicable)
• Required minor for all students in college (if applicable)

DEPARTMENT
The department description should contain the following sections:

• List of Faculty
• Contact information for the department including location, telephone number, and web site address
• Name of chair and e-mail address
• Programs offered
• General education courses offered
• Any selective admission requirements (if applicable)
• All major requirements
• Information for transfer students (if applicable)
• Objectives for department
• Description of all programs offered by department including curricular requirements; hours required to complete program; any emphasis, tracks, options, or areas of concentration.

COURSE DESCRIPTON GUIDELINES

The following guidelines are strongly recommended as we revise course descriptions as part of the overall academic catalog revision process and in preparation for new student information system. Please keep these guidelines in mind when creating new courses or revising existing courses.

• Recommended maximum length: 80 words, excluding title and prereq/course offering notes at the end. However, endnotes should be succinct and abbreviated whenever possible.
• First sentence to begin with a noun (or a noun modified by an adjective) and should be a sentence fragment. Examples:
  Introduction to ... Continuation of ... Overview of ... Study of ...
  Survey of ... Historical Survey of .. Examination of ...
  Exploration of ... Field-based exploration of ...
  Remaining sentences in course description can be fragments or complete. Exceptions may apply as some courses (Independent Study and Internships, for example) do not lend themselves to such description styles. These will be reviewed on an individual basis.

Whenever possible:

• Use present tense. Avoid use of future tense.
• Use active verbs. Avoid use of passive verbs.
• Avoid using words "I," "you," or "we."
• Do not include course detail--like a research paper--that is more suitability listed on the syllabus. The same applies to required books, software, or equipment, unless it is essential to state this up front.

Course titles should be limited to 50 characters.

List prereqs and co-reqs only when applicable. If nothing is stated, it is assumed there is no prerequisite for the course.

List co-listed/cross-listed courses if applicable.

For course offering information, use the following:

• State course offering information only if the semester(s) in which the course is offered is unique (Fall, Fall and Spring, Intersession). Very few courses are offered every single semester.
• Avoid stating a specific year unless the course will be offered only one time (i.e., Fall 2006). This eliminates the need to revise the description every year.
• If a course is offered only every couple of years or every other year, say "check schedule of classes" or "as needed."

Other course description notes:

If the course is held only on an off-campus location, state this somewhere in the description, i.e., Grant County.

Lecture, Lab, Credits

The course description should include the following information:

• Lecture Hours - included as the first of three numbers in parentheses and separated by commas, the number of lecture hours can be absolute or variable. If variable state as 1-3, 2-6, 1-12.
• Laboratory Hours - included as the second of three numbers in the series. The number of lab hours can be absolute or variable and indicates the number of hours students will work in the lab.
• Credit Hours - included as the third number in series. Indicates the number of semester hours student will earn if successfully completing the course. The number of credit hours earned can be absolute or variable.

For example: (3,0,3) 3 hours of lecture, 0 hours of lab, and student would earn 3 semester hours if successfully completing course.

(1-3, 0, 1-3) Section offered to student would determine the number of lecture hours the student would earn if successfully completing course or if independent study, practicum, or field experience, the instructor would award credit for the course when student completes the course.