Course Title Guidelines

The title of a course should give a brief, general description of the subject matter covered. All course titles must be provided in English unless approved by the University Committee on Courses (UOCC) and listed in the UO Catalog in another language. As part of the official transcript record that may be reviewed by other institutions and prospective employers, titles should be easily understood by the general public and not couched in departmental or university jargon.

Please follow these guidelines when entering course titles:

  1. Use no more than 22 spaces for the complete title, including any required abbreviations.
  2. Use upper- and lowercase letters, capitalizing each word of the title.
  3. Use English language in course titles unless approved by UOCC and listed in catalog. 
    • For example: Res Mad Hatter Theory, Prac Turtle Geometry
  4. Abbreviate words so that they may be easily deciphered. It is better to use three or four essential words that are understandable than to cram several words in by cutting them down to two letters each and losing the meaning entirely. 
    • For example: Prac Valid Span Monitor NOT Prac Cu Va Sp Lng Mon
  5. Delete articles of speech such as ‘of,’ ‘and,’ ‘the,’ etc., before trying to abbreviated more essential words in the title. 
    • For example: Read Masters Project NOT Read For Mast Proj
  6. Do not use punctuation unless it is crucial to the meaning of the title. Do not use a ‘?’ or ‘#.’ Ampersands (&) are acceptable as joining characters. For example: 
    • Sem Russian Revolution NOT Sem: Russ Revolut 
    • Read Child & Family Lit NOT Read: Chld/Family Lit
  7. Be careful not to use abbreviations that result in unintentional innuendos or offensive phrases Don’t use ‘Anal’ for ‘Analysis,’ ‘Ass’ or ‘Asses’ for ‘Assessment,’ ‘Stud’ for ‘Student.’ 
    • For example: Prac Assess Stu Serv NOT Prac Ass Stud Service
  8. Acronyms specific to a discipline or that someone outside the academic department would not understand should not be used. Names of specific programs or products should not be used unless additional words can be added to clarify. For example: 
    • Wrk Intro SPSS Softwar NOT Wrk Intro SPSS 
    • Intern Integ Admin Lic NOT Intern IAL 
    • Sem Geog Info Sys NOT Sem GIS

See course title policy for more information. 

Courses in the Regular Curriculum

Titles for courses with permanent numbers have been set in the curriculum and may not be changed. Change in titles for these course require curricular approval.

Topics Courses

Some courses have been approved with permanent numbers but variable titles within certain topic areas. These courses are group-oriented and are required to carry a specific topic each term, rather than using the generic approved topic. Courses with variable topics are required to include ‘Top’ as part of the title.

For example:

  • HIST 4/534 Modern British History: [Topic] published as
  • HIST 4/534 Top The Royal Family O
  • HIST 4/534 Top Thatcher vs Blair