Tips and tools for writing

According to the Swedish Language Act from 2009, the languae of the public sector is to be "cultivated, simple and comprehensible".

Make sure your writing is simple and comprehensible by adapting it to your intended readers and applying the principles of plain language. For cultivated language, follow the stylistic rules and recommendations in the SLU style guide and other guidelines.

Style guide

A consistent style is important. It facilitates communication and ensures that we speak with "one voice" when we write. Just like we have a visual identity, described in the brand manual, that specifies which colours and fonts to use, we have a style guide that describes what choices to make when it comes to style.

• SLU style guide for English
• SLU style guide for Swedish

Other guidelines

• EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles to Be Published in English, guidelines on everything from ambiguity to simplicity from the European Association of Science Editors.
• Writing science in plain English, 30-minute video on 12 plain language rules for science writers. From Conservation Evidence at the University of Cambridge.
• Elements of Style by William Strunk, a classic reference book for writers.

SLU glossary

The SLU glossary contains names of programmes and degrees, research subjects according to the Statistics Sweden classification, administration/HR-related terms and most of the entries from the dictionary compiled by the Swedish Council for Higher Education.

The glossary is intended to be used from Swedish into English, but it is of course possible to search from English to Swedish as well. The glossary is however based on the Swedish concepts, and any comments are in Swedish only.

Titles at SLU

The Division of Human Resources is responsible for maintaining the list of titles for SLU staff. If you need the translation of a title, you can use the pdf version of the list.

Names of departments/divisions at SLU

The easiest way to find out the name of a department or division is to use 'Search employee' on the staff web. Write the Swedish or English name in the Department/division/unit field and when the search result is displayed, switch languages.

Dictionary of the Swedish Council for Higher Education

The Swedish-English dictionary of the Swedish Council for Higher Education covers a number of concepts in higher education. Unless the SLU glossary has a different translation, use the translations proposed in this dictionary. Most entries from the dictionary are also included in the SLU glossary.

Wordfinder

SLU has a number of software licenses for Wordfinder, a tool which can be used to consult electronic dictionaries. For English, you have access to a Swedish-English-Swedish dictionary as well as an English thesaurus. If you want Wordfinder installed on your office computer, please contact IT support.

Rikstermbanken

The Swedish national term bank Rikstermbanken contains mainly Swedish terms, but also covers other languages such as English, French, German and Finnish.

Terminology of the EU institutions

The EU institutions' term bank Iate (Interactive Terminology for Europe) is free and covers EU policies in most fields and in several EU languages.

Joint Group for Swedish Life Sciences Terminology

The Joint Group for Swedish Life Sciences Terminology  (Svenska biotermgruppen, information in Swedish only) is a network set up in order to coordinate Swedish terminology within life sciences such as biotechnology, molecular biology and genetics. The network consists of scientists, journalists and terminologists. Their concept definitions and term recommendations are available on their web site, and these resources are also available through the Termado app which can be downloaded from Google Playstore  or the App Store free of charge.

Utrikes namnbok

Utrikes namnbok contains translations into English, Finnish, French, German, Russian and Spanish of the names of Swedish government agencies and organisations as well as translations of Swedish titles used in public administration. The main body of the text is in Swedish, but the multilingual list can be used without any knowledge of Swedish.

Daily writing tips is a website with useful (and often entertaining) articles on language and writing.

The style guide of British newspaper The Guardian answers language-related questions on Twitter as @guardianstyle. 

Interested in learning Swedish? The Swedish Institute hosts a free, online course for beginners, corresponding to CEFR level A1-A2.