USciences Style Guide

• Punctuation
• Word Styles
• USciences-Specific Information/Names
• Affiliations
• Degree Abbreviations
• Scholarly Activity

---

 

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

top

---

Commas:

Use final commas in a series

Example: teachers, staff, and students

top

---

Ellipses:

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

top

---

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

top

---

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.”

top

---

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)

top

---

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

top

---

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

top

---

Affiliations

National Organizatons and Honor Societies

+ National Organizations

Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP)

Academy of Student Pharmacists, American Pharmacists Association (APhA-ASP)

Accreditation Council for (not “of”) Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE)

Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)—as of 2003, no longer American Council on Pharmaceutical Education

American Chemical Society (ACS)

American College of Apothecaries (ACA)

American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE)

American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)

American Medical Students Association (AMSA)

American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA)

American Pharmacists (not “Pharmaceutical”) Association (APhA)

American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)

American Physical Society (APS)

American Public Health Association (APHA)

American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP)

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)—note hyphen

Assisted Living Pharmacy Association (ALPhA)

Drug Information Association (DIA)

Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA)

International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)

Mathematical Association of America (MAA)

National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA)

Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group, Student Chapter (PCPediatric)

Pre-Medical Society (Pre-Med) includes students interested in Pre-Vet and Pre-Dental

Society of Physics Students

Student Association of Medical Lab Scientists

Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA)

Student Physical Therapy Association (SPTA)

Student Research Society (SRS)

Student Society of Health-System Pharmacy (SSHP)

+ Student Honor Societies

Alpha Chi, National College Honor Scholarship Society

Alpha Lambda Delta, National Honor Society of First-Year Students

Rho Chi, National Honor Society of Pharmacy, inducted during degree program

Pi Theta Epsilon, National Honor Society for Occupational Therapists

Psi Chi, International Honor Society in Psychology

Delta Mu Delta, International Business Honor Society

Alpha Eta Society, National Scholastic Honor Society for the Allied Health Professionals

Sigma Beta Delta, International Business Honor Society

top

---

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

top

---

Scholarly Activity

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

Scholarly Activity Templates

+ Awards

Format: NAME (relation to USciences) received/earned (the name of award if there is one) from/with (Name of Award-Granting Organization/Company) for (“Title” if there is one OR lower-cased descriptor with no quotation marks) at the (Event— if awarded at one, City, State, if not well known), (Date).

Award samples:

LISA HOGLUND (faculty), K. G. Silbernagel, N. R. Taweel earned a 2016 International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy Best Case Study Award for “Distal Fibular Stress Fracture in a Female Recreational Runner: A Case Report with Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Imaging Findings” at the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) at the Sports Section Awards Ceremony, Anaheim, California, February 18, 2016.

JUSTIN EVERETT (faculty), J. H. Shanks were nominated for The Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction given by the Horror Writers Association for their book The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror, presented at StokerCon, Las Vegas, May 14, 2016.

CHRISTOPHER JANETOPOULOS (faculty) received the 2014–15 Newcomb Cleveland Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for the coauthored study “Lattice Light-Sheet Microscopy: Imaging Molecules to Embryos at High Spatiotemporal Resolution,” published in Science, October 24, 2014, at the 182nd AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., February 12, 2016.

ROBERTO RAMOS (faculty) was honored as one of nine faculty nominees nationwide for Outstanding Chapter Advisor of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) by the American Institute of Physics and the Society of Physics Students, based on leadership, student leadership development and encouragement for the local SPS chapter.

NATASHA J. STUCKEY (student) was one of two students to receive Comcast’s Gustave G. Amsterdam Leadership Award, which included a $5,000 scholarship, at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Mayoral Luncheon, Wednesday, February 17, 2016.

+ Grants/Contracts

Format: NAME (relation to USciences) received a _____-year $________ (name of grant if there is one) (grant/contract) from/with (Name of Granting Organization/Company) for (“Title” if there is one OR lower-cased descriptor with no quotation marks).

Grant samples:

GAURI SAXENA (faculty) received a mini grant from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Suicide Prevention Coalition for health promotion resource cards and trainings for Student Health and Counseling (SHAC).

ZACHARY KLASE (faculty) and CHRISTOPHER JANETOPOULOS (faculty) received a one-year $99,615 research grant from W. W. Smith Charitable Trust for “High Resolution Imaging of Nuclear Events in HIV-1 Latency.”

G. Wells, M. Pack, and JOHN R. PORTER (faculty) received a one-year $56,272 grant from the National Institutes of Health for “Isolation, Identification and Characterization of a Toxin Causing Biliary Atresia,” a continuation of an R01 grant project.

SHAWN CURTIN (staff) received a grant from Omnicare for “Omnicare Geriatric Pharmaceutical Care Guidelines.”

Contract samples:

AMY JESSOP (faculty) received a $49,973 contract with Gilead.

SHANAZ TEJANI-BUTT (faculty) received a one-year $75,000 Taiwan research service contract from the Development Center for Biotechnology.

+ Presentations of any type (poster, workshop, keynote, seminar, etc.)

Format: NAME (relation to USciences), “Title” at the (Name of the Event/Organization Where Presented), City, State (if needed), Date.

Conference presentation samples:

GAURI SAXENA (faculty), “Treating Stress & Anxiety in University Counseling Centers: Challenges and Solutions” at the 41st Annual Delaware Valley Student Affairs Conference, Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, February 13, 2015.

Knoster, A. Herman, C. Persaud, GAURI SAXENA (faculty), “Mental Health Awareness Endeavors on Campus” at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Suicide Prevention Conference, Philadelphia, March 7–8, 2016.

LUKE CONOVER (student), TAYLOR SCOTT (student), “Fibonacci Sequence” at the Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, November 14, 2015.

ROSS RADISH (staff), JOSEPH CANADAY (staff), JAN LYONS (staff), “Probation to Success: Academic Improvement Plan” at the Delaware Valley Student Affairs Conference (DVSAC), February 15, 2013.

Seminar/continuing education presentation samples:

LAURA FINN (faculty), “Pharmacy Services in Long Term Care,” four-hour seminar to nursing home administrator candidates at Pennsylvania College of Osteopathic Medicine, March 8, 2016.

MICHAEL J. CAWLEY (faculty), “Hyponatremia: The Latest Thinking about Diagnosis, Evaluation and Treatment,” continuing medical education, Medical Grand Rounds Series at St. Mary’s Medical Center, Evansville, IN, August 2014; Beckley Veterans Administration Medical Center, Beckley, WV, August 2014; and M. R. Pardee Hospital, Hendersonville, NC, June 2014.

GREG THIELMAN (faculty), “Structuring Practice to Facilitate Use of the Upper Extremity Post Stroke,” a continuing education session for Main Line Health, Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital. 

+ Professional Activity

Format: NAME (relation to USciences) (past-tense verb) (what was done/received/earn/etc.), date.

Dissertation sample:

MARC CASERIO (faculty) successfully defended his dissertation, “The Charter School of Wilmington: A Case Study of the Factors Influencing Institutional Development and Success,” January 2015. 

Honor/position samples:

ANDREW PETERSON (alum, faculty) was elected a fellow of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, December 2014. ROBERTO RAMOS (faculty) served on the PhD final examination panel and as PhD advisor of Drexel University physics graduate student Joseph Lambert on his dissertation, “Correlated Electron Phenomena in 2D Materials,” at Drexel University, February 5, 2016. 

Quoted-as-expert samples:

LISA T. HOGLUND (faculty) was quoted in the January 2016 issue of Lower Extremity Review concerning studies presented at the Patellofemoral Pain Research Retreat in Manchester, United Kingdom. STEPHEN METRAUX (faculty), MAGDI STINO (student) were coauthors of a study on the aging of the homeless population that was featured in “A Devastating Pattern of Homelessness among Late Baby Boomers Could Repeat in Millennials,” Business Insider, July 10, 2014. 

Certification/training/education sample:

KIMBERLY WARD (faculty) earned the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) designation from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, January 2016.

+ Publications

Format: See subsections for various formats

Articles in journals/magazines/newspapers and online

Format: NAME (relation to USciences), “Article Title,” PeriodicalTitle It Appeared in, numeric combination [no spaces] of volume#(issue#, if applicable):page number(s), date. (If published online ahead of print, add that at end; see fourth example below.)

Article samples:

SONJA L. ARNEAUD (alum), JOHN R. PORTER (faculty), “Investigation and Expression of the Secoisolariciresinol Dehydrogenase Gene Involved in Podophyllotoxin Biosynthesis,” Molecular Biotechnology, 57(11–12):961–973, 2015.

NATHAN J. BAIRD (faculty), J. Inglese, A. R. Ferré-D’amaré, “Rapid RNA-Ligand Interaction Analysis Through High-Information Content Conformational and Stability Landscapes,” Nature Communications, 6(8898):1, December 7, 2015.

MARK H. NESTOR (faculty), “Increased Efficiency and Productivity Through Cloud ERP,” Education Technology Insights, pgs. 31–32, March 2016.

DANA A. PAPE-ZAMBITO (faculty), Z. Jiang, H. Wu, K. Devarajan, C. M. Slater, K. Q. Cai, A. Patchefsky, M. B. Daly, X. Chen, “Identifying a Highly Aggressive DCIS Subgroup by Studying Intra-Individual DCIS Heterogeneity among Invasive Breast Cancer Patients,” PLoS ONE, 9(6):e100488, online June 30, 2014.

GRACE EARL (faculty), “Look-Alike/Sound-Alike Drug Names,” Advance for Nurses, 2015.

Cuffe, H. Hon, X. Qiu, K. Tobros, C. K. A. Wong, B. De Souza, G. McFarlane, S. Masroor, A. K. Azad, E. Hasani, N. Rozanec, N. Leighl, S. Alibhai, W. Xu, AMALIA M. ISSA (faculty), G. Liu, “Cancer Patients’ Acceptance, Understanding, and Willingness-to-Pay for Pharmacogenomic Testing,” Pharmacogenomics and Genomics,  24(7):348–355, 2014.

 AMY B. JESSOP (faculty), FELICIA DEL BUONO (alum), GLENN SOLOMON (alum), MARGIE MULLEN-FORTINO (student), J. M. Rogers, “Police Exposure to Infectious Agents: An Audit of Protective Policies,” Occupational Medicine, 64(7):546–548, 2014.

Book chapters/case studies:

Format: NAME (relation to USciences), “Chapter/Case Title,” book chapter (and chapter # if known) in the PeriodicalTitle It Appeared in, Editor(s) (if applicable), Publisher, page number(s), date.

Book chapter samples:

CHRISTINE FLANAGAN (faculty), “From Earth to Eternity: Ecocritical Approaches to ‘Greenleaf’ and ‘A View of the Woods,’” chapter in Critical Insights: Short Fiction of Flannery O’Connor, R. C. Evans, ed., Salem Press, February 2016.

LAURA H. WAITE (faculty), YVONNE L. PHAN (faculty), “Dyslipidemia,” book chapter in Pharmacotherapy Self-Assessment Program, 2016 Book I:Cardiology, American College of Clinical Pharmacy, January 15, 2016.

DAVE LOGERSTEDT (faculty), “ACL Rehabilitation,” case in Physical Therapy Case Files: Sports, J. Brumitt, E. Jobst, eds., McGraw-Hill, 2016.

GARY E. SLOSKEY (faculty), “Managing People,” chapter 9 in Leadership and Management in Pharmacy Practice, 2nd edition, ANDREW PETERSON (faculty), W. E. Kelly, eds., CRC Press, pp. 127–164, December 2014.

Book reviews

Format: NAME (relation to USciences), book review of Name of Reviewed Book by Name of Book Author in the PeriodicalTitle It Appeared In, then numeric combination (no spaces) of volume(issue, if applicable):page number(s),  date.

Book review samples:

CHRIS WIEMAN (faculty), book review of Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers by Nick Offerman in Library Journal, online Xpress Reviews, March 15, 2015.

GINA KAISER (faculty), book review of Take This Man by Brando Skyhorse in Library Journal, 139(7), April 15, 2014.

Books

Format: NAME (relation to USciences), Title of Book, publisher, date.

Book samples:

W. Kraft, ARA DERMARDEROSIAN (faculty), The A–Z Guide to Food as Medicine, CRC Press, December 22, 2015.

ROGER I. IDEISHI (faculty), E. Cohn, G. Orsmond, J. Wintrol, M. Whalen, S. Nickolaus, J. Swanson, B. Siegel, Sensory Friendly Programming for People with Social and Cognitive Disabilities: A Guide for Performing Arts Settings, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2013.

JENNIFER REINHOLD (alum, faculty), GRACE EARL (faculty), editors, Clinical Therapeutics Primer: Link to the Evidence for the Ambulatory Care Pharmacist, Jones & Bartlett, September 2012.

Continuing education materials (print or online)

Format: NAME (relation to USciences), “Project Title,” PeriodicalTitle (if applicable) OR Organization continuing education program, date.

Continuing education samples:

JENNIFER A. REINHOLD (faculty), “Wake-Up Call: Engaging the Pharmacist in Individualizing Treatment and Optimizing Patient Outcomes in Insomnia,” Pharmacy Times continuing education program, July 7, 2015.

LAURA H. WAITE (faculty), “Pour Some Sugar on Me: New Drugs for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus,” Pharmacy Technician Education for Association Members (TEAM) Series continuing education, offered through The Collaborative Education Institute, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), Universal Activity Number 0107-0000-14-005-H01-T. 

top