THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS. Style Guide

Transcription

1 THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS Style Guide SEPTEMBER 2016

2 Contents Introduction...3 Why do we need a style guide?...3 What s in this guide?...3 What do I need to apply the style guide to?...3 How we refer to the College...3 How we refer to the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine...4 Our programmes and publications...5 Programmes...5 Publications...5 Talking to members and stakeholders...5 Make it personal...5 Write in plain English...5 Use simple sentences...6 Avoid wordiness...6 Avoid jargon...6 Use the active voice...6 Abbreviations...7 Shortened words...7 Acronyms...7 Acronyms and apostrophes...7 Bulleted and numbered lists...8 Bulleted lists...8 Capital letters...9 Job titles and capital letters...9 Headings and titles and capital letters...9 College capitalisations...9 Dates and times...10 e-terminology...10 Website and addresses Fonts...11 Footnotes...11 Gender-neutral language...11 STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

3 Headings and subheadings...12 Hyphens...12 Numbers...13 Plurals...13 Punctuation...13 Quotation marks...14 Referencing...14 Spelling checker...14 Tables, figures, diagrams and graphs...14 Te reo Māori and macrons...15 Visual style and brand guidelines...15 Web style...15 STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

4 Introduction Why do we need a style guide? A style guide helps everyone in the College produce written material that is consistent, straightforward, easy to read and easy to understand. We can achieve this by using plain English and simple sentences, and avoiding passive language and long sentences. What s in this guide? This guide has advice on: our name abbreviations acronyms capital letters fonts and point size Te reo Māori and macrons numbers punctuation references and footnotes spelling checker tables, figures, diagrams and graphs. What do I need to apply the style guide to? This style guide applies to all written material produced by The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners that is produced in-house or published online. It applies to official correspondence sent by or letters on letterhead, and to mass s sent to members. It does not apply to informal s sent between colleagues or to members. How we refer to the College We are: The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners the College. We are not: the college the RNZCGP the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners The Royal NZ College of General Practitioners the College of GPs (except in media headlines where it can be used for brevity). STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

5 The College s name is always written in full the first time it appears in a document or online, followed by an abbreviation in enclosed in quotation marks inside brackets. The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners ( the College ) is a membership organisation Once the abbreviation has been written in the document, you can use the abbreviation throughout the rest of the document or the webpage instead of the full name. The College has more than 4000 members How we refer to the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine It is: the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine the Division It is not: The Division of Rural Hospital Medicine the DRHM DRHM The Division s name is always written in full the first time it appears in a document or online, followed by an abbreviation in enclosed quotation marks in brackets. The Division of Rural Hospital Medicine ( the Division ) is another name for the Rural Hospital Generalist Chapter. Once the abbreviation has been written in the document, you can use the abbreviation throughout the document or the webpage instead of the full name. The Division s goal is high quality medical practice in rural hospitals. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

6 Our programmes and publications Programmes CORNERSTONE All capitals, with a superscript registered trademark symbol GPEP1 All capitals, no spaces GPEP2/3 All capitals, no spaces MOPS All capitals Publications Aiming for Excellence epulse GP Pulse Journal of Primary Health Care JPHC Title case, italics Small e, capital P, no spaces, italics Title case, italics, space between GP and Pulse Title case, italics Capitals, italics (acronym of above that can be used after the first reference, which must be spelt out in full) If you are writing for an academic publication, please follow their preferred style guide. Talking to members and stakeholders The College says in its content strategy that its tone of voice is: clear and succinct friendly, supportive and approachable credible, professional and transparent educational. Here are some tips to help you achieve that tone in your writing: Make it personal Please call your readers you and call the College or your team we or us. It makes our communication more personal and less bureaucratic. However, only use you if it s clear who you are referring to. If you re addressing more than one specific group, you have to specify who those groups are. Write in plain English Unless you have a specific reason not to, use words that the average person can read and understand. Many people mistakenly believe that using bigger, more complex words makes their writing seem more professional. It doesn t. It makes it seem more formal and bureaucratic. Your audience may be highly intelligent professionals, but they re also likely to be very busy and will only want to read something once to be able to understand and act on it. Choose words that make your writing easy to understand and most people will appreciate it. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

7 Use simple sentences Keeping your sentences as simple as possible will make your writing easier to read and understand. As a rule, aim for sentences of fewer than 25 words. Avoid wordiness If you have a piece of writing that is longer than it might otherwise be due to the excess use of words that aren t strictly essential, trim those unnecessary words away so all that remain are those that are strictly essential. Or in other words, use only as many words as you need to convey your message or information. Avoid jargon Jargon is words and phrases that sound good, but have little real value. It can also include technical words and phrases that are in common use in the health and education sector. Don t assume that every member of your audience will know what they mean. Here s an example of what using jargon can do to a sentence: At the end of the day, going forward, if everyone pulls together as a team to define the strategic value of the paradigm shift, it should be a win-win situation for all involved. They really meant to say, If we all work together, we should be able to achieve our goals. Use the active voice Active sentences where the subject of the sentence actively performs a task tend to be more engaging. Using the active voice can help to gain and keep your reader s attention, which is important when communicating with busy GPs. It also makes our written communications seem more timely and relevant. Passive sentences are those where the subject of the sentence has performed the task passively. They re used more often in academic writing, where the goal is to be impersonal, for example: Tim wrote the document. (Active voice) The document was written by Tim. (Passive voice) Keep paragraphs short and simple Paragraphs should be as short and simple as possible. They should clearly express the subject concerned and then stop. Start a new paragraph when you start a new idea. When writing a paragraph, structure it so that the most important sentence comes first. And, as with sentences, vary the length of your paragraphs to maintain your audience s attention. A single sentence can form a paragraph all by itself. Large paragraphs tend to be off-putting. If you offer your reader the choice of reading exactly the same text expressed in either a single paragraph or split over several paragraphs, they ll almost always choose the multi-paragraph option. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

8 Abbreviations Abbreviations can be confusing, so it is better to avoid using them if you can. Shortened words Modern publication style is not to use a full stop at the end of a shortened word. The College follows this style because fewer full stops in the sentence make it easier to read (and it stops Word from automatically capitalising the next word in the sentence). It is fine to use contractions such as don t and won t, or eg and ie in s as these are usually informal communications. In official correspondence (either by or on letterhead), please write all words in full. This includes do not and will not, and for example and that is. College style Not eg e.g. ie i.e. etc etc. Inc Inc. Prof Prof. Dr Dr. and & percent % Acronyms An acronym is a group of initial letters that can be pronounced as a word, such as MOPS. Spell out acronyms the first time you use them and then write the abbreviation in brackets. Throughout a three-year cycle, all members of the College complete 150 credits towards their Maintenance of Professional Standards (MOPS). Acronyms and apostrophes The plural of an uppercase abbreviation has no apostrophe, eg GPs. Only use an apostrophe and a lowercase s to show possession. The archived CDs are kept in IT s section of the Lundia. Using acronyms on the website Acronyms must be written in full on every page they are used, and then followed by the acronym. The Accident Compensation Corporation ( ACC ) STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

9 Bulleted and numbered lists Lists are useful for breaking up text, but they can be distracting if there are too many of them. A bullet-point list should contain seven or fewer points. Use bullet points for informal lists instead of numbered lists. Use a numbered list over a bulleted list: 1. when the order of what you re presenting is important 2. when you ve introduced a set number of points 3. if you re referring back to a specific point. If your list doesn t meet these criteria, you need to use bullets. Bulleted lists Use a bulleted list if a sentence contains a list, if you want to make a series of statements and to list items that are not complete sentences. First level bullets use a black dot symbol and are aligned with the margin. The text is indented to 0.75cm. Second level bullets use a black dash symbol and align with the text of the first-level bullet and are also indented by 0.75cm. First-level bullet is like this Second-level bullet looks like this Please note that the College does not use commas or semi-colons at the ends of points in a bulleted list or have, and before the last item in the list. This style of bulleted list: starts each point with a lowercase letter has each point reading on from the introductory phrase ends with a full stop. This bullet-pointed list has three main features: Each bulleted point is at least one full sentence. A capital letter begins each bulleted point. A full stop ends each bulleted point. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

10 Capital letters Capital letters are used for: the start of a sentence days of the week and months of the year proper names languages nationalities religions holidays, eg Easter, Queen s Birthday professional distinctions, eg Fellow of the College specific academic degrees, eg Bachelor of Science, Doctor of Philosophy (but a bachelor s degree, a doctorate for non-specific degrees) awards, eg Order of New Zealand trademarks, eg Snap Lock TM bags, Sellotape TM computer programs and systems, eg Windows, Microsoft Word Laws, Acts and Bills, eg the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (referred to as the Act after its first mention). Job titles and capital letters Job titles have a capital when they are used with the person s name. They do not have a capital when the role is being talked about in general terms. College President Tim Malloy is a general practitioner in Northland. The College president always opens the annual conference. This means that nouns such as general practitioners, nurses, doctors, surgeons, specialists, nurse practitioners and so on are not capitalised. Headings and titles and capital letters Always use sentence case for document headings and subheadings, as well as for the titles of books and reports. Sentence case capitalises the first word and all other words use lowercase letters. College capitalisations College style annual practising certificate Associates/Associates in Training College Fellows Conference for General Practice Distinguished Fellow Fellow Fellow by Reciprocity Fellowship Not Annual Practising Certificate associates college fellows conference for general practice distinguished fellow fellow fellow by reciprocity fellowship STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

11 College style general practitioners general practice health care Honorary Fellow internet intranet Life Fellow membership nurse practitioners primary health care registrars rural hospital medicine Quality Symposium Te ORA web website WellChild Not General Practitioners General Practice Health Care honorary fellow Internet Intranet life fellow Membership Nurse Practitioners Primary Health Care Registrars Rural Hospital Medicine quality symposium te ORA or TEORA Web Website well child Dates and times Write the names of days and months in full. The College writes dates like this (note there are no commas): 2 February 2016 Please do not use: 2 February, nd February 2016 the 2 nd of February /2/16 February Write times with a full stop, not a comma or colon, and no spaces, eg 2.30pm. When referring to a decade in time it is written without an apostrophe, eg 1970s. e-terminology If you insert an e before a word to mean electronic, then insert a hyphen between the e and the main word. The only exception is . e-learning, e-business, but The words intranet and internet are not capitalised. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

12 Website and addresses In printed documents, do not underline or highlight web and addresses. In Word, you can remove this formatting by right-clicking on them and selecting remove hyperlink. Do not include at the beginning of web address unless it is necessary, eg rather than However, when including a secure website, include the full address beginning with It is good practice to check any web addresses you use in a Word document do actually go to their intended destination as web links can quickly become out of date. Fonts The College uses sans serif fonts on its website and in other electronic communication, because these are easier to read on screen. The approved College fonts are: 10-point, black Arial for letters 10-point, black Verdana for new s. Footnotes Use footnotes for additional information and endnotes for references. The following (superscript) symbols should be used for footnotes, and they should always be used in the following order: asterisk (*), dagger ( ), double dagger ( ), section mark ( ), parallel mark ( ), and paragraph mark ( ). To insert these symbols in Word, either use Insert / Symbol and select the relevant symbol or use the following shortcuts: (dagger) hold down the Alt key while you type 0134 on the numeric keypad (double dagger) hold down the Alt key while you type 0135 on the numeric keypad (section mark) hold down the Alt key while you type 0167 on the numeric keypad (paragraph mark) hold down the Alt key while you type 0182 on the numeric keypad. The parallel mark does not have a shortcut key hold down Shift while you type \ twice. Double the symbols if you have more than six footnotes, for example ** or. Gender-neutral language Please use gender-neutral language. Only identify a person s gender if it s necessary, and then do so by using male or female before the gender-neutral noun, such as a male nurse, a female GP. When referring to the chair of a committee, use chair or chairperson unless chairman or chairwoman is the official job title. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

13 Headings and subheadings Use sentence case for headings and subheadings and do not underline. Only number the headings if it is a very complex document with many internal references to other sections. Use only three levels of subheadings. Hyphens Hyphens are used to indicate a closer-than-normal association between words. They clarify the meaning of the sentence or phrase. For example, take three daily means something quite different from take three-daily. Hyphens are often, but not always, used in compound words, eg evidence-based medicine, patientcentred care, well-known doctor. Using a hyphen to indicate a relationship or a range is incorrect. In these circumstances, use an en-dash ( ). In other words, use an en-dash instead of a hyphen if it conveys the same meaning as to. College style Not after-hours afterhours or after hours cooperate co-operate coordinate co-ordinate cross-cultural cross cultural or crosscultural doctor patient (en-dash for relationship) doctor-patient full-time full time, fulltime health care healthcare interdisciplinary inter-disciplinary log-in as the noun/adjective (but log in as the verb) login multidisciplinary multi-disciplinary on-call oncall or on call newborn new-born pages (en-dash for range) pages part-time part time percent per cent postgraduate post-graduate undergraduate under-graduate website web-site, web site, Web site wellbeing well-being x-ray xray or x ray STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

14 Numbers Spell out all ordinal numbers from first to ninth, and use numerals from 10th onwards. Spell out all numbers from one to nine, and use numerals for all numbers 10 and above. Unless the numbers are grouped for comparison and any of those numbers are over 10. She completed nine reports. She completed 9 out of 11 reports. Always spell out numbers at the beginning of sentences. Four thousand vocationally registered GPs are members of the College. One hundred percent of members pay their subscription in 20 cent coins. Use commas to separate hundreds from thousands unless there are only four digits. Currency always uses a comma between hundreds and thousands. 12, $6,745 But: 1 million or $1 million, not 1,000,000 Plurals Organisations and businesses are single entities so are an it rather than a they. The plurals of abbreviations do not use a comma. GPs, not GP s CDs, not CD s Punctuation Punctuation aids clarity in written language but it only aids clarity if it s consistent. In general, punctuate sparingly. You can leave out punctuation only if its absence has no impact on the reader s ability to understand what you are saying. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

15 Quotation marks At the College, use double quotation marks for quotes and use single quotation marks for figures of speech or turns of phrase. If a quotation is needed within a quote, use single quotation marks. Referencing The College uses the Vancouver style of referencing. In this system, each source is allocated a number the first time it is used and this becomes a consistent identifier for that source throughout the text. The superscript text reference is placed after any punctuation and a comma is used to separate multiple text references. A complete list of references should be included at the end of the document. Information on how to present references can be found on the US National Library of Medicine s website: Spelling checker Use New Zealand spelling. The spelling checker for MS Word defaults to US spelling, so from time to time please check your document is using New Zealand English, as a different setting may have been applied to some of the documents you work on. To change the language preference on your computer to English (New Zealand) click on the Review tab, then Language and Language Preferences. Tables, figures, diagrams and graphs Use a consistent format for all tables, figures, diagrams and graphs in your documents, including presentations. The College uses the convention of titles above tables and captions below figures, diagrams and graphs. The College also: numbers all tables, figures, diagrams and graphs (Arabic numbers, not Roman numbers) places labels horizontally rather than vertically uses sentence case for labels clearly identifies units of measurement references all figures, diagrams, graphs taken from another source. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER

16 Te reo Māori and macrons Te reo Māori, like English and New Zealand Sign Language, is an official language of New Zealand. Always use the correct spelling of Māori words, including macrons. Depending upon the audience, include the English translation in brackets after the te reo, or as a subtitle or subhead. Refer to a Māori dictionary, such as if you re not sure where macrons go. When the target audience is international, include a glossary of the te reo Māori words you have used. If you use te reo Māori greetings in s and letters, then you should also use te reo Māori to close the letter. Visual style and brand guidelines All documents being published on the website or being sent to members and stakeholders in a printed format must follow the College s brand guidelines. The marketing and communications teams will proof and edit your content for you, brand your document correctly, obtain quotes for professional printing and coordinate the publication process for you. Please speak to the communications manager if you want to publish a print document or upload content to the College website. Some internal documents may also need reviewing by marketing and communications to make sure they are consistent with the College style guide. Web style As well as the style guidelines set out above, when writing for the College s website please consider: audience content headings links images search engine optimisation file-naming conventions accessibility. In general, when writing for the web use shorter sentences and paragraphs, more subheadings and make greater use of lists than when writing for print. STYLE GUIDE SEPTEMBER