Monday, January 5, 2026
The University of Waterloo uses the Canadian Oxford Dictionary as a resource for grammar and spelling and all University employees have free access to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary via the Library.
Whether you are writing a new course description, rewriting an existing course description, or reviewing someone else's description, the Canadian Oxford Dictionary should be used as a reference.
Some common misspelt words in course descriptions with the correct spelling:
- analyzes (verb, with a z)
- co-operation (with a hyphen)
- decision-making (noun, with a hyphen)
- health care (two words)
- modelling (two ls)
- organization (with a z)
- policy-making (noun, with a hyphen)
- startup (one word)
- well-being (with a hyphen)
If ever there is a disagreement about spelling, the correct spelling will be dictated by the Waterloo Writing Style Guide or the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, in that order.