When it comes to writing, consistency is key. Have you ever seen “e-mail” written as “email” or “e-Mail,” or perhaps even “E-Mail?” Which is UC’s style?
Is it “website,” “web site” or “Web site?” And after a physician’s name, do you write “MD” or “M.D.?”
If you are uncertain how to spell a certain word, punctuate a medical degree or abbreviate a word, the UC Academic Health Center style guide will help you address these common writing issues. The guide is designed to serve as an editorial standard by providing consistent writing solutions for anyone writing about the university and its affiliates. By using the same similar style, communicators will achieve consistency in writing and messaging university-wide.
The style guide, updated regularly, is a supplement to the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook and Libel Manual and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, two of the preferred reference guides for journalists today. In general, we follow AP style. When AP style doesn’t answer the question, we refer to the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. We use Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, for spellings, abbreviations and place names. When a choice of spelling is given, accept the first.
Academic Health Center—The University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center is located in the Corryville neighborhood of Cincinnati and includes the colleges of allied health sciences, medicine, nursing and pharmacy, Hoxworth Blood Center, UC Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital, Genome Research Institute, Institute for the Study of Health and UC Physicians. Teaching and research affiliates include University Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, Shriners Hospital for Children, Jewish Hospital, Christ Hospital and the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and University Hospital.
African-American—Always hyphenated, both as compound adjective and noun. According to AP, black is the preferred term.
Abbreviations—Don’t use periods in MD, IV, USA, PhD, etc.
Note: An abbreviation is not necessarily an acronym, which is an abbreviation that can be pronounced as a word, e.g., UNESCO, NATO.
Don’t use an abbreviation of an organization’s name in parentheses following the name , e.g., Food and Drug Administration (FDA), unless the organization is referred to again in the copy. Then in subsequent references use the abbreviation.
When abbreviating units of measure, follow Webster, e.g., mm, a 20-mm instrument.
In nonscientific copy, however, it’s normal to spell out units of measure (pound, inch, year, day, month, minute, etc.).
Academic fields (specialties)—Not capped when used outside of an official name or title, e.g., "He studied radiology at Harvard." "She is now chair of radiology."
Acronyms—No periods, e.g., CORVA, HUD, ORSANCO. Note: a group of initials is called an "acronym" only when it forms a pronounceable “word.” E.g., FDA, ACS, etc., are not acronyms. They are simply abbreviations or “initialisms.” NATO is.
Addresses—Abbreviate to "St.," "Rd.," "Ave.," etc., when the street number is given, e.g., "4545 Vine St." Spell out when no number is given, e.g., "The new building is on Vine Street." When full mailing address is used with a ZIP (Zone Improvement Program) code, use the abbreviation preferred by the U.S. Post Office (computers can read them), e.g., "4545 Vine St., Cincinnati, OH 45242." This two-letter abbreviation (OH) is intended for mailing addresses only.
In other contexts, abbreviate names of states using the traditional abbreviations, e.g., "Atlanta, Ga., Birmingham, Ala." Find these listed on page 234 of AP Stylebook. Never use the "GA," "AL" zip abbreviation in these situations. Reserve these for mail addresses with ZIP codes.
Administration—Lower case when not used in a full, formal title.
Alumni—Alumnus refers to one male who attended a college or to a former student of unspecified gender. Alumna refers to one female. Alumni refers to two or more former students, all or some of whom are all male. Alumnae refers to two or more females.
Ampersand—As a general rule avoid "&," unless in corporate names, e.g., Procter & Gamble, AT&T.
Annual—Use only to describe an event that has been held every year for at least two years. Do not use the word annual to describe a first-time event. Instead explain that it is planned to be held annually. UC style calls for "annual meeting" to be lowercase in all uses. See meetings.
Apostrophe s—See AP for use in the possessive.
Don't use the apostrophe to form plurals of proper names. It's "the Simpsons" when talking about the whole family. In possessives of plurals, the apostrophe follows the s—"the Schumachers' new house."
NOTE: In italicized and boldfaced words, the apostrophe "s" (possessives and plurals of certain abbreviations and lowercase letters) should not be not italicized or bolded.
Area—Hyphenate when used adjectivally in expressions like "Cincinnati-area philanthropist John Smith."
Art (Works of)—Put in quotes. e.g., Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa." See Composition titles in AP.
Articles, papers, lectures, etc.—Enclose in quotes. John Smith's article, "The Rise of the Third Son." See Composition titles in AP.
Attribution (of quotes)—In pulled quotes or call-outs followed by an em-dash and attribution, do it this way:
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." —Thoreau.
Awards—Upper-and-lower in full reference, e.g., Nurse the Year Award. The Gold Medal of the Radiological Society of North America. Lowercase in abbreviated reference, e.g., the university’s most coveted award; the gold medal; He has received a second gold medal ...
Barrett Cancer Center— In first reference use UC Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital. In subsequent references use "the Barrett Cancer Center" or "the Barrett Center."
Birth weight—Two words.
Black—Lowercase when referring to African-Americans. Same applies to "white" for Caucasians.
Board of Trustees—Capitalize when used as a proper name: The University of Cincinnati (UC) Board of Trustees; UC Board of Trustees. Lowercase when used as a generic reference: UC's board of trustees.
NOTE: Consider Board of Trustees to be a notional singular: The measure was approved by the UC Board of Trustees at its November meeting. The UC Board of Trustees has approved the measure.
Boldface—Punctuation follows the typeface immediately preceding it. A following semicolon, comma, period, etc., should be in italic or bold. Parentheses, however, before and after should be in body type.
NOTE: Apostrophes (possessives and some plurals) of boldfaced or italicized words are not boldfaced or italicized
Boldface and punctuation—Punctuation follows the typeface immediately preceding it. E.g., "Dan Storer, MD, director of the program ... "
NOTE: Apostrophes (possessives and some plurals) of boldfaced or italicized words are not boldfaced or italicized, e.g., "Dan Storer's study ... "
Books—Use italics for titles of books, journals, newspapers and magazines. This differs from AP, which calls for quotation marks.
Boilerplate—Use the following in reference to UC's centers and programs.
Academic Health Center The University of Cincinnati is one of the largest medical centers in Ohio. It comprises the colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and allied health sciences, Hoxworth Blood Center and UC’s Genome Research Institute. Teaching and research affiliates include University Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati VA Medical Center, the Cincinnati Shriners Hospital and UC Physicians.
The Academic Health Center provides over 16,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the Greater Cincinnati area, making it the largest employer in Greater Cincinnati. The ripple effect of that direct employment generates a total of nearly 42,000 jobs in Ohio and more than 50,000 jobs in the Ohio, Indiana and Northern Kentucky Tristate area that are directly or indirectly related to the center’s operations.
Because the National Institutes of Health is the source of most grants to the Medical Center, research funding represents new dollars that infuse Ohio’s economy. Case Western and the Cleveland Clinic combined are similar in size to UC’s medical research holdings.
College of Medicine
Founded in 1819, the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine is the second-oldest public medical school in the country and the oldest west of the Alleghenies. The college has more than 1,300 faculty members and nearly 1,300 medical and graduate students. Deeply involved in research, the college and the affiliated Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center received $256.4 million in research funding in 2006.Patient care is provided by UC Physicians, a 500-member faculty group practice, and various faculty private-practice groups at University Hospital, the college's primary teaching hospital, and other area hospitals,
College of Nursing
Founded in 1889, the College of Nursing was the first school in the country to offer a baccalaureate program in nursing, and received the first endowment ever given to a nursing program. In 2002 the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredited the college for a 10-year period, distinguishing it with 71 years of continuous accreditation. The College of Nursing currently has over 800 students, including undergraduate, graduate and PhD candidates, making it the 12th largest nursing school in the United States in terms of student and faculty, according to U.S.News & World Report. The college is also in the top 6 percent in research funding.
College of Pharmacy UC College of Pharmacy, one of the oldest pharmacy colleges in the United States, offers both professional practice (PharmD) and graduate (MS and PhD) degrees. Supported by an active research faculty, the college provides students with an opportunity to develop their individual skills. Graduates of the college have a 100 percent placement rate prior to graduation, and are highly sought after by professional and pharmaceutical employers. The most recent class of PharmD graduates achieved a 100 percent passing grade on the National Pharmacy Licensure Examination (NABPLEX).
Diabetes Center UC's Diabetes Center is the only comprehensive adult diabetes center in the region and works closely with patients’ primary health-care providers to ensure the creation of a coordinated care plan. The center offers self-management education classes on topics including how to monitor blood glucose, guidelines for dining out, how to read food labels, the benefits of increased physical activity, and psychologically adjusting to living with diabetes, among others.
Joint Cancer Program For all cancer-related news releases and stories, use the following boilerplate:
___________________________(i.e., University Hospital / Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center / University of Cincinnati / UC Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital / Prostate Cancer Mobile Screening Program) is part of a joint cancer program involving the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and University Hospital. The collaborative initiative brings together interdisciplinary research teams of caring scientists and health professionals to research and develop new cures, while providing a continuum of care for children, adults and families with cancer. NetWellness NetWellness is a nonprofit, consumer-health Web site that provides high-quality information created and evaluated by medical and health professional faculty at the University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University. NetWellness is dedicated to improving the health of Ohioans and people worldwide through information that is scientifically sound, of high quality and unbiased. The 300 health professionals who respond to questions including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, dentists, genetics counselors, optometrists, athletic trainers and social workers. NetWellness NetWellness is a nonprofit, consumer-health Web site that provides high-quality information created and evaluated by health professions faculty at the University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University. Started in June 1995, NetWellness was one of the first health sites on the Internet.
NetWellness NetWellness is a nonprofit, consumer-health Web site that provides information created and evaluated by faculty physicians at UC, Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University. Started in 1995, NetWellness was one of the first health sites on the Internet.
The Neuroscience Institute The Neuroscience Institute is a collaborative effort of nine academic departments at the UC College of Medicine, the University Hospital and independent physician practice groups. The institute is dedicated to patient care, research, education and the development of new medical technologies.
The Neuroscience Institute The university, in partnership with the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, established the Neuroscience Institute in 1998 as part of an effort to build upon its national reputation for excellence in neuroscience. The institute includes or is developing research centers that focus on the main diseases of the brain and nerves such as stroke, brain tumors, brain trauma, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, ALS and multiple sclerosis.
Research Disclaimer (example) The research was funded by Celgene Corporation, based in Warren, N.J. Celgene provided medication free of charge to the study participants. Dr. Lower has no financial interests or holdings in Celgene Corporation.
Bylines—Uppercase the "b" in bylines ... "By Joan Smith"
Caps—(See also Titles, Upper and Lower, and Headlines) Unless preceded by University of Cincinnati or UC, lowercase department and division names. However, Initial cap centers, institutes and certain programs.
e.g., the nursing development department
he’s in nursing development
the Center for Gallstone Treatment
the gallstone center
the center
The University of Cincinnati Department of Surgery
The UC Department of Surgery
the department of surgery
the surgery department
the department
UC Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital
The center
Captions (cutlines)—Personal names and titles standing alone take no period in captions. Sentences end in a period.
E.g.,
Jane Smith, MD
Jane smith, MD, vice president
Dr. Smith delivers the State of the Center address.
Identification within captions—left, right, center, etc.—should be in parentheses and in same font. E.g., John Smith (left) receives the award.
Care—Do not hyphenate “care” compound adjectives preceding noun, e.g., “health care services,” “primary care physician.” However, follow the usage in other organizations’ names: South Park Healthcare Center, Hollwood HealthCare Inc.
CARE Building (CARE/Crawley Building)—The full name of the CARE Building is the Center for Academic Research Excellence. And since receipt of funding from law school alum Edith Crawley, it’s now officially the Center for Academic Research Excellence/Crawley Building, or the CARE/Crawley Building.
Caregiver—Now one word according to Webster.
Center—Cap when full, formal name is used: the University of Houston Medical Center, the University of Cincinnati Gallstone Treatment Center. Thereafter it’s “the center,” “this center,” etc. E.g., “The procedure is now being used in every major medical center in the United States.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—CDC on second reference.
CDC—See above.
Chemical terms—Follow Chicagoin texts for general audiences, i.e., no superscripts—e.g., technetium 125, carbon 14. See Chicago for superscripted version in technical texts. Vitamins use subscripts.
Children's Hospital—First reference is Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Thereafter: "Cincinnati Children's."
Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation (CCRF): They have dropped use of "Hospital" in this title.
Cholesterol—LDL cholesterol (no hyphen). HDL cholesterol (no hyphen). LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein, the “bad” cholesterol. HDL stands for high-density lipoprotein, the “good” cholesterol. "LDL cholesterol” and "HDL cholesterol” can be used on first reference.
Cities—The following cities (source AP) are so well known they don’t need to be followed by their state name in body text:
Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
Colon-rectal—Hyphenate, or colorectal.
Colons—Follow by one space only. Use cap following them in headlines.
E.g., Mister Magoo: A Man of Vision
Commas—Come inside quotes. Semicolons and colons fall outside. AP does not use a (serial) comma before the last element in a series, E.g., Nouns, pronouns, verbs and adverbs. However, in some constructions, if each element is unavoidably long, it should be used for clarity.
Committees—Capitalize full names. Lowercase otherwise: She served on the college’s Continuing Education Committee. Lowercase in general use, e.g., “A committee will be formed,” and ‘An advisory committee was established.”
Compound adjectives with “ly”—”rapidly increasing,” “naturally occurring,” etc., aren’t hyphenated.
The em-dash: This one "—." Use to introduce quotes and as parenthesis. Use em-dash flush left and right—like this.
Dates—Don't use a comma between the month and year, as in "August 1992." Use comma when day is used: “Aug. 24, 1939.” Dates following "from" or "between" should not be connected by a dash (en-dash in type) WRONG: He served from 1975–79. RIGHT: He served from 1975 to 1979. WRONG: He did it sometime between 1980–85. RIGHT: He did it sometime between 1980 and 1985. Use dash in locutions like "The period 1985–86 ... "; "The meeting will be held May 3–4." The key is the governing preposition.
Daylight-saving time—See Time zones.
Abbreviate months in body text when used with a number ... Oct. 4. Spell them out if you like in "display text," e.g., invitations, plaques, etc., but be internally consistent.
Decades and centuries—Spell out numbers under 10 and lowercase century. "The 20th century is ... "; "in the ninth century." Don't use apostrophes when referring to decades: Wrong: the ’60s. Right: the 1960s. See Plurals of numbers.
Degrees (academic)—As a rule, avoid "Dr." in internal publications. " Write "David Jones, MD," in first reference and "Jones" thereafter. Exceptions are allowed for certain external uses, e.g., speeches, obituaries, etc.
Don't use undergraduate and master's degrees—BA, MA, etc.—with the exception of RN in internal stories. In external releases, however, avoid RN but describe the person as a nurse.
OK to cite undergrad degrees in references such as "He earned a BA in industrial design from DAAP."
Don't use society memberships and fellowships with physicians' names. Keep to "John Donne, MD," and drop FRCS, FACS, etc.
Degrees (measure)—In general spell out in body text. Use superscript oto save space in tables and parenthetic material.
Distance learning—No hyphen, even as compound adjective.
Dos (as in dos and don’ts)—Webster gives dos as first choice for plural of do. Second choice is do's. For consistency use Webster's first choice.
Doctor—See Degrees.
Drug names—Always use generic drug name. On first reference, include generally known trade name in parentheses following generic name.
E.g.—Follow by a comma, e.g., like this! Note, e.g. is the abbreviation for exempli gratia, Latin for "for example." Don't confuse with i.e., id est, which means "that is."
Eden Garage—Initial caps
Ellipsis points—Those little dots ... AP Style calls for space before, space after, and none between. See AP Punctuation section on how to use ellipsis points with other punctuation.
E-mail—Hyphenate, and lowercase every letter in an e-mail address.
Em-dashes—Don't space before and after the dash—like this!
En-dash—Longer than a hyphen, shorter than an em-dash. Use between numerals when a span or range is expressed, e.g., 1939–45; children aged 10–15. Also used when "hyphenating" elements that are themselves compounds, e.g., The Licking Valley–Campbell County Hospital Consortium. However, use a preposition or conjunction instead of a dash when the number combination is preceded by a preposition:
E.g., He served from 1986 to 1989 (not “from 1986–89”)
They treated between 30 and 50 patients a day. (not “between 30–50”)
Use en-dashes when prepositions don't govern the thing:
E.g., Sally lived in Europe during the 1939–45 war.
Floors—Lowercase "floor" and follow numbers-under-10 rule. E.g., first floor, 10th floor. In MSB identify lettered levels as such, e.g., E-level, G-level, and the numbered ones as floors, e.g., third floor, seventh floor. Used hyphen with lettered floor addresses: G-187, R-101.
Foreign names—Follow AP under this heading for capping of von, van, le, la and other particles in foreign names. They are always capped when they begin a sentence, but within a sentence usage varies depending on the nationality of person named and whether or not the particle follows a first name. Americans tend to cap them. Speakers of the original language tend not to. Follow the person's preference if known, check biography or find solution in Chicago's thorough treatment.
Fort—See Place names.
French Building—properly the Hastings L. and William A. French Building
HDL cholesterol—No hyphen. HDL cholesterol can be used on first reference. HDL stands for high-density lipoprotein, the “good” cholesterol.
Headlines—According to AP, capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.Capitalize articles (the, a, an) or words of fewer than four letters if they are the first or last words in a title.
NOTE: With upper-and-lower style, when headline is a two- or three-decker and more, don’t cap each new line, just first and last words.
e.g., Legislature Rules on Abortion Issue
Health care, health-care—See Care.
HIPAA—HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, enabled in 1996.
Hospital—Lowercase when word stands alone. “This procedure was first used at University Hospital.” “Our staff worked closely with OB-GYN surgeons at the hospital.” It's University Hospital, without a "the" or "The." Drop the article in other hospital names, regardless of what their usage is.
Places—Lowercase cafeteria, lobby, main lobby, information desk, coffee shop, gift shop, third floor, etc.
Hyphens—Follow Webster. It’s “reexamine,” “coworker,” “preemployment.” Most words with prefixes, e.g., “non,” “post,” “co,” etc., are nonhyphenated. Compound qualifiers ending with “ly”—“rapidly increasing,” “naturally occurring,” aren’t hyphenated.
Hyphenated numbers—Use en-dashes, not hyphens, in expressions like 1989–91. However, use a preposition or conjunction instead of a dash when the number combination is preceded by a preposition:
E.g., He served from 1986 to 1989 (not “from 1986–89”)
They manufactured between 300 and 500 trocars a day (not “between 300–500”)
Use hyphens (en-dashes) when prepositions don’t govern the thing:
E.g., Kelly Douglas lived in Europe during the 1939–45 war.
I.e.—Abbreviation for Latin, “id est,” meaning “that is,” not to be confused with e.g., “exempli gratia,” meaning “for example.”
“In the French-speaking areas of Europe, i.e., France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland, our marketing is managed locally” implies these are the French-speaking areas of Europe ... all of them.
Use e.g. when what follows are just a few of what you’re talking about, the implication being that there are more: “Some of the more recently arrived ethnic groups, e.g., Koreans, Indians and Pakistanis, are successfully establishing themselves in small community businesses ... ” Implied is that other recent immigrant groups are doing the same thing.
Initials—See Names.
Institute for the Study of Health—In second reference use “institute” ... formerly Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research
Information desk—Lowercase.
Italics and punctuation—Punctuation follows the typeface immediately preceding it (with exception of parentheses marks). E.g., He said what?
NOTE: Apostrophes (possessives and some plurals) of boldfaced or italicized words are not boldfaced or italicized, e.g., “Dan Smith’sstudy ... ”
Joint Cancer Program For all cancer-related news releases and stories, use the following boilerplate:
___________________________(i.e., University Hospital / Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center / University of Cincinnati / UC Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital / Prostate Cancer Mobile Screening Program) is part of a joint cancer program involving the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and University Hospital. The collaborative initiative brings together interdisciplinary research teams of caring scientists and health professionals to research and develop new cures, while providing a continuum of care for children, adults and families with cancer.
Journal articles, papers, lectures, etc. (magazine, journal and book sections)—Enclose in quotes.
Kingsgate Marriott Conference Hotel at the University of Cincinnati—Hotel and conference center operated by Marriott International and located on the East Campus of the University of Cincinnati. Kingsgate Marriott is acceptable on second reference.
LDL cholesterol—No hyphen. LDL cholesterol can be used on first reference. LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein, the “bad” cholesterol.
Lectures—Put in quotes.
Less—Does not take hyphen with two-word modifier, even when it precedes the noun. Nor does “more.” Level 1—See Trauma Centers
Lists—Introduce with a colon.
e.g.,
Besides surgeons, consider other potential customers:
Operating room head nurses Materials management directors Consortium purchasing agents
Don’t use a colon if the list is a complement or object of an element in the introductory statement.
Candidates include (or are)
Department managers
Division managers
Staff with appropriate education or experience
NOTE: Don't follow elements in such lists with commas. If an element is a complete sentence, use a period. However, try to avoid mixing punctuated and nonpunctuated elements.
Mail location—Spell out lowercase in text. In lists or when copy must be tight, use “ML” without periods.
Meetings—Uppercase names when full, formal name is used: second annual meeting of the Society of Gerontology, 12th annual meeting of the Pershing Society, the Marting Lecture Series. Note that a meeting is not "annual" until there's been at least one. UC style calls for "annual meeting" to be lowercase in all uses.
Middle initials—UC style says generally avoid them.
Months—Abbreviate in texts when used with a number. Spell out in “display texts” like announcements, invitations, plaques, etc.
More—Does not take a hyphen when used as two-word modifier before the noun. Nor does “less.”
Movies—Put in quotation marks.
Mount (Mt.)—See Place names.
More than vs. over—It’s a "superstition endemic to newspapers," started by Ambrose Bierce in 1909, that “more than” is preferable to “over” as in "Over 10,000 people attended." American Usage and Style: The Consensus (Cupperud) says it's "recognized without cavil by all dictionaries."
Names—Avoid middle initials, except in formal texts, e.g., invitations, programs, etc.
National—Don’t claim that UC is a national leader in anything unless you can prove it with a credible source or data.
NetWellness—NetWellness is a nonprofit, consumer-health Web site that provides high-quality information created and evaluated by medical and health professional faculty at the University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University. NetWellness is dedicated to improving the health of Ohioans and people worldwide through information that is scientifically sound, of high quality and unbiased. The 300 health professionals who respond to questions including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, dentists, genetics counselors, optometrists, athletic trainers and social workers.
See Boilerplate for other stock descriptions.
Neuroscience Institute—Stock description to be used in releases mentioning the institute: The university, in partnership with the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, established the Neuroscience Institute in 1998 as part of an effort to build upon its national reputation for excellence in neuroscience. The institute includes or is developing research centers that focus on the main diseases of the brain and nerves such as stroke, brain tumors, brain trauma, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, ALS and multiple sclerosis.
Newspaper names—Use italics without quotes. Use capped “The” only if actually included in the newspaper’s nameplate (top of Page 1).
No.—Abbreviation for “number.” Use with initial cap in body text. “We are No. 1 in the whole nation.” Don’t use #.
Non—As a prefix, nonhyphenated most of the time.. See Webster. See Hyphens.
Noon—Use “noon” for midday. Never 12 p.m. or 12 noon.
Note to Editors—Should be placed on news releases between contact information and the news release headline. Links should take the reader directly to the page containing the information on healthnews.uc.edu. Must take the following form:
NOTE TO EDITORS: High-resolution images of John Smith, MD, are available at healthnews.uc.edu.
NOTE TO EDITORS: High-resolution images of John Smith, MD, and Mary Jones, PhD, are available at healthnews.uc.edu.
NOTE TO EDITORS: High-resolution images of the brain transplant procedure are available at healthnews.uc.edu.
Numbers—With some exceptions (see next paragraph), spell out up to nine. Use numerals from 10 on. Never begin a sentence with a numeral, unless it's a year. However, if numbers are grouped for comparison, it’s often better not to mix them—use either all numerals, e.g., 10 dogs, 6 cats, 97 hamsters and 9,734 rabbits, or spell them all out. However, numerals obviously will work better if you’re dealing with high numbers.
Units of measure and percentages are always expressed in numerals, e.g., 3 mm, 4 percent. However, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years in lay text are not usually treated as units of measure. In technical text, clinical study results, tables, graphs, etc., they can be seen as units of measure (and save space). In general, spell out under 10 in general body text, but use numerals for tables and graphs. Above all, be internally consistent. See Units of measure.
Always use numeral and cap P when "page" is used with a figure: Continued on Page 2, See Page 123.
Beginning sentences with numbers: the general rule is “don’t,” but AP permits years expressed as numbers to open a sentence: “2004 was a very good year.” AP appears to be an exception.
OB-GYN—As given in Webster’s Collegiate and Webster’s Medical Dictionary.
OK—Webster's first choice, so use instead of “okay.” OK?
“One or more” is a “notional plural,” according to Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, and Bernstein says the same applies for “one or two.” In phrases like “One in four people (has or have?) ... both singular and plural are used, but in modern English the plural predominates: “One out of ten soldiers are unable to recognize the enemy in the dark.” The singular is in the minority but “still in respectable use.”
ORDINAL NUMBERS—Spell out under 10. Use numerals thereafter. E.g., second annual meeting of the American Board of Physical Therapy; 12th annual meeting of the ....
Pap test(or smear)—It’s Pap, initial cap (named after George Papanicolaou and sometimes written Papanicolaou test.
Page numbers—Spell out and capitalize Page when used with a page number. E.g., “See related story Page 3." Always use numerals.
Parentheses—Parenthetic material within a sentence does not need a capital letter, e.g., “It’s generally believed (don’t take my word for it) that ... ” Stand-alone text in parentheses should take normal cap and punctuation: (Turn to next page for complete price list.)
Percentages—Always with numeral, even if nine or under. Spell out “percent” in body, but use “%” in lists, charts, etc., where space is tight. Percent compounds are not hyphenated: 10 percent increase.
Percent, singular or plural?—You decide. Singular or plural here is “notional,” determined by the noun. “Eighty percent of family doctors make house calls,” but “25 percent of the population was overweight.”
Periods—Don’t use in most abbreviations and acronyms, e.g., MD, IV, CORVA, but UC (without periods) uses periods in U.S.
Phase—As in clinical trials, lowercase and use Arabic, not Roman numerals, e.g., in phase 2 of the trial; the phase-3 clinical trial.
Place names—Go by Geographical Names section in Webster’s Tenth, page 1439. Use first choice given, e.g., Vietnam, not Viet Nam or Viet-Nam. But use “St. Louis” rather than Webster’s choice, “Saint Louis”—the abbreviated version is far more common. Same applies to “Mt.” instead of “Mount.”
Possessives—See Apostrophe s.
Plurals of numbers—Don’t use apostrophe to form plurals. Make it: in the 1960s. See also reference under Decades and Centuries.
Prefixes—Follow Webster’s spellings. Many found in table format. See Hyphens above.
Preventive vs. preventative—Preventive is UC's (and just about everybody’s) style, but use source’s usage in titles of papers, meetings, etc.
Program—Cap “P” when used in formal name, e.g., Employee Benefits Program. Subsequent references would be to “the program.”
Punctuation and boldface—Immediately following boldface, italics, etc., punctuation takes boldface, italics, etc. E.g., In “Dan Storer, MD, director of the program,” the comma following boldface text is in boldface.
Quotes (Attribution of)—In pulled quotes or call-outs followed by an em-dash and attribution, do it this way: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” —Thoreau.
Radioactive elements—Lowercase name and use number on same line: e.g., “technetium 123.”
RN—Use RN for internal stories. In external releases, explain in context that the person is a nurse.
Reverend (or Rev.)—Always use with “the” before a person’s name in first reference. “The Reverend Jones was defrocked.” Abbreviate to “the Rev.” when full name is used, “the Rev. Joseph Smith gave the benediction.” Use name without “the Rev.” in second references.
Semicolons (and colons)—Come outside quotes, e.g., Speakers and their topics were: Geetha Bhat, “Heart Transplantation 1991”; Curt Bubel, “Viruses: The Most Efficient of All Living Things”; and Eric Gruenstein, “Looking inside Living Cells with Video Image Analysis.” Commas always come inside. (In older texts and British style they frequently came outside, but this usage is no longer standard in the United States.)
Serial commas—AP doesn’t use the “serial comma” in lists, i.e., a comma before the final “and” in a series. E.g., Cheryl, Leigh, Jaymie and Ray. However, use the serial comma if clarity requires it in a long sentence or complicated list. Shriners Hospitals for Children—The official name of the hospital system. Use full name on first reference. For subsequent references, Shriners Hospitals is acceptable.
When referring to the system as a whole, follow with a singular verb, even when using Shriners Hospitals: Shriners Hospitals was separately incorporated in 1936. When referring to two or more individual hospitals, follow with a plural verb: The Shriners Hospitals providing burn care are located in Boston, Cincinnati, Galveston and Sacramento.
Society memberships and fellowships—Don’t use society memberships and fellowships with physicians’ names. Keep to “John Donne, MD,” and drop FRCS, FACS, etc.
So-called—The word following it should not be in quotes.
Specialties—See Academic fields.
Spelling—When a choice of spelling is given, accept the first in Webster. Use also for abbreviations and place names. When a choice of spelling is given, accept the first.
States—Abbreviations of; see also ZIP codes.
Ala., AL
Ky., KY
N.Dak. (N.D.), ND
Alaska, AK
La., LA
Ohio, OH
Ariz., AZ
Maine (Me.), ME
Okla., OK
Ark., AR
Md., MD
Oreg. (Ore.), OR
Calif. (Cal.), CA
Mass., MA
Pa. (Penn., Penna.), PA
Colo., CO
Mich., MI
R.I., RI
Conn., CT
Minn., MN
S.C., SC
Del., DE
Miss., MS
S.Dak. (S.D.), SD
D.C., DC
Mo., MO
Tenn., TN
Fla., FL
Mont., MT
Tex., TX
Ga., GA
Nebr. (Neb.), NB
Utah, UT
Hawaii, HI
Nev., NV
Vt., VT
Idaho (Ida.), ID
N.H., NH
Va., VA
Ill., IL
N.J., NJ
Wash., WA
Ind., IN
N.Mex. (N.M.), NM
W.Va., WV
Iowa (Ia.), IA
N.Y., NY
Wis. (Wisc.), WI
Kans. (Kan.), KS
N.C., NC
Wyo., WY
Styrofoam—Is a trade name, so initial cap it. Likewise Ping-Pong, Caterpillar tractor, Frisbee, etc.
Sub- and superscripts—See The Chicago Manual of Style. Note, chemical elements take neither in general texts. Write number on same line, e.g., carbon 14. See Chicagoif you have to work with technical texts.
Telephone numbers—Use AP style: (513) 558-4559. Don’t include the “1” before area codes or 800 numbers.
Time zones—Starting in 2007, daylight time (Eastern Daylight Time/EDT) begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March (March 11, 2007) and ends on the first Sunday in November (Nov. 4, 2007) becoming Eastern Standard Time/EST). On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3 a.m. local daylight time. On the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour at 2 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1 a.m. local standard time.
We should use embargo times identified as EDT until Nov. 4, 2007. If we’re giving a Pacific time, it would be PDT, but but always use the time zone local to us in our releases.
Titles—Civil, military, religious and professional titles and titles of nobility used before names are capped when they immediately precede a personal name, as part of the name. Used in apposition to the name (i.e., more or less as a description) they are not capped.
E.g., “The address was given by President Gray of the University of Chicago,” “Hanna Gray, president of the University of Chicago,” "UC president Nancy Zimpher," “Edward Smith, president of Smith Corporation.” “Smith has been president of the company for 10 years.” Don’t cap titles like director, chairman, or manager before or after a name:
More examples:
Senior Vice President Jane Henney told the meeting …
The institution’s senior vice president, Jane Henney, MD, …
He put the question to Professor Singer.
Sandra Singer, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School … When I first met General Schwartzkopf …
Norman Schwartzkopf, the general who led U.S. troops in Kuwait …
Unlike U.S. presidents, corporate presidents are not usually addressed formally as, e.g., “President Jones.” Make it “Acme president Jones told the meeting …”
He asked company director Joanne Berkoff to speak.
The committee honored chairperson Phineas Ford.
(The only exception would be Chairman Mao!)
However, such titles are usually capitalized before and following the name in formal usage, as in acknowledgments, lists of contributors or speakers, programs, etc.
According to Chicago, “named” professorships are upper and lower, e.g., Lauren Kile, MD, Marie and Arthur Beatty Professor of Geriatrics. Unnamed professorships aren’t: Amanda Smith, MD, professor of radiology.
Trademarks and symbols—We are not required to use ™ and ® marks. That’s the responsibility of the owners of the product or intellectual property in their own marketing/promotional materials. When it’s a proprietary name, we merely initial cap it: Anacin, Pyrex, Ping-Pong, etc. If the product owner uses unorthodox capitalization, all we have to do is provide an initial cap. E.g., They might label them DIXIE® cups, but we call them Dixie cups.
Trauma centers—Lowercase the levels and hyphenate before the noun: University Hospital has a level-1 trauma center; The center is designated as level 1.
Tristate—No hyphen and initial cap for our southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana region.
Units of measure—AP style spells out “inch,” “pound,” “foot,” etc. Follow Webster for metric abbreviations, e.g., cm, mm, ml. Spell out for clarity in releases in first reference; 7 centimeters (cm) ...
Note also that numbers in units of measure are generally not spelled out, even when nine and under, e.g., 4 pounds 6 ounces (4 lb 6 oz). Plurals of abbreviated units do not require an “s.” To complicate matters, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, etc., usually are not regarded as units of measure in general stories, whereas in technical copy, e.g., columns of data, they often are. Be consistent. Stay calm.
University—Lowercase when used alone. E.g., “The university has made significant progress."
University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees (UC Board of Trustees)—See Board of Trustees.
University Hospital—It's University Hospital, without a "the" or "The." Drop the article in other hospital names, regardless of what their usage is.
U.S.—UC style uses periods in this abbreviation. We normally don’t use periods in initialisms and acronyms (e.g., UC, MAB, MSB). Also, use U.S. as a preceding adjective only. Spell out “United States” when standing alone.
U.S.News & World Report—Thus displayed on mag’s nameplate. No space between U.S. and News.
VA—Is now the Department of Veterans Affairs, no longer Veterans “Administration.” Describe the local hospital in first reference as Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, and thereafter as the VA Medical Center or the VA .
Veterans Affairs—See VA.
Vontz Center—properly the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies
ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) codes (abbreviation of state names with)—When a ZIP code is used in a mailing address, use the two-letter, uppercase state name abbreviation (see States above) preferred by the U.S. Post Office (computers can read them), e.g., “4545 Creek Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45242.”
In other contexts, however, use the traditional abbreviations. Do not use the two-letter, all-cap abbreviations in body text. Write “1234 Magnolia Ave., Atlanta, Ga.,” “He lives on Eden Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio.” Ala." Never use the “CA,” “AL” ZIP abbreviation in these situations. For list of ZIP and traditional state abbreviations, see States above.
