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USciences Style Guide

 

Punctuation

Colons:

Do not use colons to introduce a list that flows in a sentence of copy; only use if it is a stacked list

Examples:

Chem majors need to take biology, statistics, and physics.

Chem majors need to take:

  • Biology
  • Statistics
  • Physics

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Commas:

Use final commas in a series

Example: teachers, staff, and students

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Ellipses:

No space before or after an ellipsis, and use computer-generated mark (…, on a Mac: option + ;)

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Hyphens and Dashes:

Hyphens (-) are used to connect two words that form a compound; only used with prefixes when new word could be misunderstood as another word (see prefixes under Word Style for illustrations)

En Dashes (–, on a Mac: option + hyphen) are used to indicate a range, such as dates, times, or days, and have no spaces before or after them; if the range is preceded by the word “from,” use the word “to” not the en dash; if using the word “between,” use “and”

Examples: 1957–1965, Monday–Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., between 15 and 20 students

Em Dashes (—, on a Mac: shift + option + hyphen) are used to indicate a break, to insert a separate thought, or to begin a list, and they have no spaces around them

Example: priorities—science, healthcare

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Quotation marks:

With other punctuation (U.S. style)—

  • Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks
  • Colons and semicolons always go outside
  • Question marks and exclamation points go inside if they are part of the quote and outside if not
  • Don’t include two forms of punctuation (one inside and one out); the stronger one wins and the other disappears (a period indicating an abbreviation [like e.g., Jr.] may be followed by a comma)
  • A comma goes before the start of the quotation unless it fits seamlessly into the flow of the sentence (and the first word is not capped in that case)

Examples: John said, “You’re the worst professor ever.” Donald replied, “Why don’t you shut up?” Should John have answered, “I don’t have to”? Not if he didn’t want to “bite the hand that feeds him.”

Versus italics for composition titles—

  • Names of long works (books, movies, magazines, TV series, plays) should be italicized (The AP Stylebook says to use quotation marks, but I checked a variety of magazines and all use italics)
  • Names of smaller components (articles, chapters, individual shows) and of unpublished works (theses, dissertations, presentations) should be in quotation marks

Examples: My article “Chemistry for a New Century” will appear in The Bulletin. His presentation, “Science in a New Century,” was a hit at the conference.

Single vs. double quotation marks

The only use for single quotation marks is for a quote within a quote; even quotes around a single word or phrase in text use the double quotation marks (and do this sparingly)

Examples: Dave said, “I wish she hadn’t warned, ‘Don’t throw up on me,’ just before I did.” He really feels “smacked” now.

Words added to quotes

Use brackets [ ], not parentheses

Example:

original quote: “He was the best ballplayer I ever saw.”

changed for clarity: “[John] was the best ballplayer I ever saw.”

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The Bulletin layout special punctuation standards:

  • Use periods in descriptive copy in TOC
  • No periods on subhead paragraphs in articles
  • Use periods on photo captions
  • List all degrees in pull quotes and captions as listed in the article

When listing degrees:

  • No periods in degrees—PharmD, PhD, MS, etc., and set off with commas for non-USciences degrees

Example: Joe Smith, MS, PhD, has been…

  • No spaces when listing degree and graduation year for alumni, and do not set it off by commas

Example: Joe Smith P’69 has been…

  • Use commas between multiple degrees except as described below
  • Add to Class Notes section degrees earned elsewhere, placing the information in parens; include graduation years if available

Example: (PhD’06, Delaware)

  • When listing multiple degrees in someone’s bio, along with the institution where earned, use commas between degrees earned at the same institution, semicolons between those earned at different institutions and place institution names in parentheses

Example: BS, MS (Delaware); PhD (USciences); JD (Widener)

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Word Styles
  • advisors
  • a.m., p.m.—lower case with periods
  • board of trustees—lower case
  • campus-wide—retain hyphen
  • centuries—spell out if under ten, otherwise 19th, 20th, 21st
  • class—lower case, as in “the class of 2013”
  • college names—no “the” before names of the four colleges (may be some exceptions to this based on awkwardness of wording)
  • coursework—one word
  • degree names—

master of biology (no ’s on master, bachelor, etc.); no caps

master’s program in biological sciences, etc.; bachelor’s degree in chemistry, etc.; doctorate in physics, etc.; no caps

  • departments—initial caps for all departments at USciences (for example: Department of Occupational Therapy, Facilities Department) but do not cap department or division names for companies and organizations
  • directions—cap directional words that form part of a region name but not as a general direction

Examples: South Jersey, southern New Jersey, the Northeast, northeast Delaware

  • e-mail—lower case, with hyphen
  • firsthand—one word, no hyphen
  • fundraising—one word, no hyphen
  • GPA—no periods
  • healthcare—one word
  • hyphenated words in article titles—be sure to cap the portion of the word after the hyphen, not just first word (College’s Cutting-Edge Work)
  • in-depth—with hyphen
  • interim—lower case interim always; cap actual title (President, Dean) if it precedes the name, lower case after name
  • internet—lower case
  • interprofessional—one word, no hyphen
  • lifelong—no hyphen
  • military—U.S. Army or the Army, (same for all) the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard
  • online—one word
  • on-site—hyphenate
  • orthopedics—not orthopaedics
  • part-time, full-time—hyphenate before or after a noun
  • periodical volume/page info—use this style: volume #(issue #):page # (use en dash for range), no spaces

Example: 11(22):156–8

  • personal names in copy—after first mention, use Dr. on second reference

Example: Mary Smith, PhD, becomes just Smith on second and subsequent references

  • phone number style is with dashes

Examples: 215-111-1111, 1-800-111-1111

  • prefixed words—for most prefixed words, do not use a hyphen

Examples: preclinical, nondegree, noncitizen, nonmatriculating

Exceptions: words that could be misread as another word and certain university-specific words that wouldn’t appear in the dictionary, which will be listed here:

Example: re-create (to make something again, recreate means to play)

Exceptions:

non-laboratory  
non-patient post-baccalaureate
non-pharmacy pre-med
nonn-research pre-professional
non-thesis sub-council
  • preventative—not preventive
  • R&D—no spaces
  • “said” not “says” in article quotes
  • semesters—fall, spring, or summer, all lower case
  • service learning/service-learning—hyphenated as adjective, not as compound noun
  • state names in The Bulletin, use full name of state (no abbreviation) in articles; but in “Scholarly Activity,” “Alumni News,” and “Who’s Who” sections, use two-letter, capped state abbreviations; no need for state name with recognizable cities

Examples: DE (not Del.), NJ (not N.J.), PA (not Pa.)

  • titles—do not cap titles that follow a name (see exception for endowed positions below); cap titles that precede a name only if they are one or two words that can substitute for the person’s first name (do not capitalize job titles); if the long title is only theirs, you can insert a comma before and after their name, cannot cap the title if “Dr.” is inserted after it

Examples: Professor Susan Geller; professor of biology Susan Geller; Vice President Jim Steel; vice president of advancement, Jim Steel, spoke to…; Dean Barb Davis; dean of students, Barb Davis, greeted the new arrivals; dean Dr. George Smith; activist Joe Green; USciences president Paul Katz vs. President Paul Katz, or Dr. Paul Katz, president of USciences

Endowed positions such as named professorship or dean—retain capitalization in ALL instances: Andrew Peterson, John Wyeth Dean

  • University—always initial cap when referring to USciences, as in “the University,” “this University,” or “their University,” referring to students or alumni
  • upperclass, upperclassmen—no hyphen
  • URLs—no http://; do not insert hyphen if it goes to a second line, instead break at a natural point (end of word, at a /, etc.)
  • S.—use the periods in copy
  • vice president—no hyphen
  • web—lower case
  • website—one word, lower case
  • well-being—hyphenated
  • World Wide Web—initial caps

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USciences-specific information/names
  • Admission Office—no “s” on Admission
  • Athletic/Recreation Center (ARC)—do not forget the “/”
  • Carpenters' (not Carpenter’s) Hall Society
  • Founded in 1821 as Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
  • Founders of six of the top pharmaceutical companies are USciences grads—be sure it no longer says “top ten pharmaceutical companies”
  • Founders' Day (not Founder's)
  • Integrated Professional Education Complex (IPEX)
  • Institute for Geriatric Studies (not “of”)
  • W. England Library (add space between initials, which is correct since stands for Joseph W.)
  • McNeil Science and Technology Center—not “&”; McNeil STC on second reference
  • USciences Benefactors Society—no apostrophe in Benefactors
  • Woodland Avenue Building—not Woodland Hall

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Affiliations

National Organizatons and Honor Societies

National Organizations
Student Honor Societies

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Degree Abbreviations
  • BAC              Bacteriology
  • BC                 Biochemistry
  • BI                  Biology
  • BInf              Bioinformatics
  • BMS             Biomedical Science
  • BW               Biomedical Writing
  • C                   Chemistry
  • CB                 Cell Biology
  • CS                 Computer Science
  • DPT               Doctor of Physical Therapy
  • DrOT             Doctor of Occupational Therapy
  • ES                 Environmental Science
  • ESWM          Exercise Science and Wellness Management
  • HonAlm       Honorary Alumnus/a
  • HonDSc       Honorary Degree (Science)
  • HPsy            Health Psychology
  • HS                Health Science
  • HumSci        Humanities and Science
  • IndP             Industrial Pharmacy
  • MB               Microbiology
  • MBA            Master of Business Administration
  • MedC          Medicinal Chemistry
  • MOT            Master of Occupational Therapy
  • MPH            Master of Public Health
  • MPT             Master of Physical Therapy
  • MS               Master of Science
  • MSPAS        Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies
  • MT               Medical Technology
  • OrgC            Organic Chemistry
  • P                   Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy
  • PA                 Physician Assistant
  • Pad               Pharmacy Administration
  • PharmD        Doctor of Pharmacy
  • PhB               Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business
  • PhC               Pharmaceutical Chemistry
  • PhCog          Pharmacognosy
  • PhD               Doctor of Philosophy
  • PhG               Graduate in Pharmacy (equivalent to P that is used today)
  • PhSci            Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • PhTech         Pharmaceutical Technology
  • PH/TX           Pharmacology and Toxicology
  • PHYS            Physics
  • PMM             Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management
  • PrePro          Pre-Professional
  • Psy                Psychology
  • STC               Certificate in Science Teaching
  • TX                  Toxicology

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Scholarly Activity

Use USciences standards throughout and format according to the below Scholarly Activity templates.

Scholarly Activity Templates

Awards
Grants/Contracts
Presentations of any type (poster, workshop, keynote, seminar, etc.)
Professional Activity
Publications

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Contact:

Jenna Pizzi
Communications Manager

Phone:

215-596-8864

Email:

j.pizzi@usciences.edu