UF Course Description Best Practice

A course description is a short summary of what the course is about, designed to attract interest from students.  At UF, course descriptions are publicly displayed to students, faculty, staff, and outside entities via published catalogs, are linked to courses in the schedule of classes, and are stored locally in the student information system.  They are also maintained in the State Common Numbering System (SCNS) database.  

Based upon course level, course descriptions are updated via course change requests to the University Curriculum Committee, Graduate Curriculum Committee, or the Professional Curriculum Committee. The following best practices have been created to: (1) provide a unified experience across the curriculum; and (2) deliver accurate information in an accessible format for print, varying screen sizes, and assistive technologies.

Guiding Principles:

• Focus on Course Content: State the purpose of the course, give relevant background, and an overview of key content covered rather than a summary of learning outcomes.  Would a reader understand what the course is about?  
• Be Brief: Keep course descriptions to a maximum of two to three sentences, with a maximum of 50 words. 
• Be Clear and Concise: Use direct, simple language to convey essential course information.
  1. Use active voice: Engage students with dynamic, present-tense descriptions.
  2. Avoid unnecessary words: examples include "course," "student," "UF," and "University of Florida.
  3. Prioritize action verbs: Begin descriptions with active verbs like “Explores,” “Develops,” “Emphasizes,” or “Investigates.” 
• Use the Oxford Comma (aka serial comma): A comma should be used after each item in a list of three or more items before ‘and’ or ‘or’ (e.g. “an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect”). This is to assist students with vision issues who use screen readers to better understand the content by inserting an audible pause after each item in a list.

Avoid:

• Course attributes: Exclude General Education and Writing Requirements designations, prerequisites, grading methods, repeatability, frequency of course offering. 
• Curriculum information: Omit mention of how the course fits into curriculum.
• References to other courses: Avoid referring to other courses by course title. If necessary, only use course prefixes and numbers.
• Do not begin with “This course...” but begin with an action verb.
• Avoid Jargon: While some jargon is inescapable, use accessible language for student audiences whenever possible.  

Examples: