The general rules for capitalising titles in English state that the first word of the title, the first word after a colon, and all other words except articles and unstressed prepostions and conjunctions are capitalised.
In microbiology, the causal organism of a disease is capitalised and italicised, but the disease condition is neither capitalised nor italicised, even when it is derived from the generic name:
INCORRECT: Cercosporidium henningsii induces Cercosporidium Brown Leafspot in cassava.
CORRECT: Cercosporidium henningsii induces cercosporidium brown leafspot in cassava.
Disease names are written in lowercase, unless the name contains a proper noun that would otherwise be capitalised.
lung cancer
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Alzheimer's disease
Spell out ordinal numbers one through nine and use numerals for ordinals 10 and higher (that is, first not 1st, 15th not fifteenth). All numbers should be expressed as numerals except:
Contractions (can't, isn't, I'll, etc.) should not be used in formal writing.
When there are two spellings for a word (e.g. judgment, judgement) the first spelling listed in the dictionary should be used. This is the `preferred' spelling.
The word data is considered plural. The singular form, rarely used, is datum: `The data were analysed by Jack Sprat, who examined them datum by datum.'
The words while and since should be used only in their temporal senses. Otherwise, while can be replaced with whereas or although, and since can be replaced with because or given that.
A relationship is usually by blood or marriage. When comparing the relation between two things, use relation instead.
By rewording a sentence, non-sexist language can often be achieved without resort to clumsy pronouns such as he or she. Avoid writing the therapist, the patient, and so on; instead, write therapists or patients, which can be referred to by plural pronouns such as they or them.
Participial phrases must be placed next to the noun they modify (i.e. no `dangling' participles):
INCORRECT: Thinking about his girlfriend, a car almost hit him.
CORRECT: Thinking about his girlfriend, he was almost hit by a car.
For items in a series, use commas after each item except the last.
INCORRECT: He had roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans for lunch.
CORRECT: He had roast beef, mashed potatoes, and green beans for lunch.
For expressions enclosed in quotation marks, the ending quote mark goes after any comma or period appearing at that point:
INCORRECT: His cat, nicknamed `Stripes', often preferred to eat alone.
CORRECT: His cat, nicknamed `Stripes,' often preferred to eat alone.
Commas must be placed between two independent clauses in a sentence and after a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence. For example:
INCORRECT: Henry Jones entered the data and Janine Hinderson analysed them.
CORRECT: Henry Jones entered the data, and Janine Hinderson analysed them.
INCORRECT: After Henry Jones entered the data Janine Hinderson analysed them.
CORRECT: After Henry Jones entered the data, Janine Hinderson analysed them.
Restrictive clauses, which are essential to the meaning of the sentence, are not set off by a comma. Nonrestrictive clauses, which are not essential to the meaning of the sentence, are set off by a comma. For example:
INCORRECT: Men, who are tall, are better at basketball than men who are short.
CORRECT: Men who are tall are better at basketball than men who are short.
A special case of this rule concerns the use of which versus that. Restrictive clauses begin with that and are not set off by a comma; nonrestrictive clauses begin with which and are set off by a comma. For example:
INCORRECT: The lemmings, that performed well in the first race, were not included in the second race.
CORRECT: The lemmings that performed well in the first race were not included in the second race.
INCORRECT: The lemmings which performed well in the first race were all fuzzy animals.
CORRECT: The lemmings, which performed well in the first race, were all fuzzy animals.
Because which is more often misused, one should occasionally conduct a `which hunt.'
Some believe that however should not be placed at the beginning of a sentence if it can be appropriately placed elsewhere. The purpose of conjunctions such as however, but, and and is to join, and a word beginning a sentence should not be a joining word.
Regarding verb tense, procedures (methods and analyses) and results occurred in the past. Inferences occur in the present.
Pearson product moment correlations were calculated. Given that the correlation between tongue-tying and arm-twisting was not significant, it appears that our original hypothesis is incorrect.
Avoid referring to `the doctor,' `the patient,' etc. No such generality as `the doctor' exists. If this term is used then clumsy pronouns such as she/he, her/him, need to be used. Doctors do exist, and doctors can be referred to by plural pronouns --- e.g. they, them.
Apostrophes are used for possessives, not plurals. The play was boring. The plays were boring. The theme of the play was boring. The play's theme was boring. The themes of the plays were boring. The plays' themes were boring. 1952 was a boring year. The legacy of 1952 was boredom. Boredom was 1952's legacy.
The plural of numbers, letters, and signs considered as words are formed by adding an apostrophe and an s.
INCORRECT: In the equation are two ts.
CORRECT: In the equation are two t's.
That versus which. Restrictive clauses, which are essential to the meaning of the sentence, begin with `that' and are not set off by a comma.
INCORRECT: The rats which performed well in the first experiment were used in the second experiment.
CORRECT: The rats that performed well in the first experiment were used in the second experiment.
Do not hyphenate adverbs, which usually end in -ly.
INCORRECT: The hotly-debated topic was interesting.
CORRECT: The hotly debated topic was interesting.
Hyphens. The primary function of the hyphen is to indicate that two or more words are to be read together as a single word with its own meaning. Recommendations:
Use `compared to' to state or suggest a similarity. Use `compared with' to examine or set forth the details of a supposed similarity or estimate its degree.
`He compared me to Demosthenes' means that he suggested that I was in the same class as Demosthenes.
`He compared me with Demosthenes' means that he conducted a comparison of my characteristics with those of Demosthenes.
The modifiers `any' or `no' imply a singular noun.
INCORRECT: No inferences are possible.
CORRECT: No inference is possible.
Use a noun after the word `this.'
INCORRECT: This shows ...
CORRECT: This finding shows ...
`Prior to' is pretentious jargon. Use `before' instead.
`Minimise' means to reduce to a minimum. Do not use it when you mean simply `to reduce.' For example, in the phrase `We asked detailed questions to minimise misclassification', you should use reduce in place of minimise unless you think that the approach achieved the maximum possible reduction.
A period always comes before a closing quotation mark.
INCORRECT: George said, `I don't get it'.
CORRECT: George said, `I don't get it.'
A period always comes after a closing parenthesis.
INCORRECT: The species centipede feeds mostly on other insects (although some large species will eat small rodents.)
CORRECT: The species centipede feeds mostly on other insects (although some large species will eat small rodents).
A possessive form of a noun signifies that the noun owns something. Possessive forms call for a properly placed apostrophe. The possessive form of a singular noun is an apostrophe followed by the letter `s':
Kramer's hair
Daphne's patience
the car's engine
For words ending with s, z or x the `s' is omitted:
Dr. Seuss' sense of humour
In order to place the apostrophe correctly in plural nouns, you must first be certain of the plural form. For plural nouns ending in `s' add only an apostrophe:
Singers' voices
The cousins' favorite uncle
For plural nouns not ending in `s' add an apostrophe and an `s.'
Men's clothing
Children's books
`... age at first calving (mean 800 days, SE 2.47 days).'
`... age at first calving varied between groups (F = 42.25; df 4 291; P < 0.01).'
`... the F-value for Variable 1 was 5.74. This value is not significant at the 0.05 level, for 1 and 995 degrees of freedom.'
`... the proportion conceiving post-treatment did not differ from the proportion conceiving pre-treatment (c2 = 0.91; df 1; P = 0.84).'
`... the difference between mean calving to conception in herd A and herd B was 6 days with a 95% confidence interval from 4 to 11 days; the t test statistic was 2.41 with 198 degrees of freedom and an associated P value of 0.02.'
`Mean 6 days, 95% confidence interval 4 to 11; t = 2.41, df = 198, P = 0.02.'
`Chi-squared test' (not Chi-square test).
Quote test statistics to 2 decimal places.
Tests of significance:
INCORRECT: The P-value approached significance.
CORRECT: The p-value approached significance.
When doing `exotic' statistical tests, as long as you state the type of test you're doing in the materials and methods, you don't need to re-state the whole name of the test when quoting results.
It is rarely necessary to quote percentages to more than one decimal place. Quote standard deviations or standard errors to one extra decimal place. These remarks only apply to the presentation of results --- rounding should not be used before or during analysis.
Spelling of statistical terms and tests:
Characterising correlations (after Cohen, 1988, pp. 24 - 27):
It is desirable for reliabilities to be in the 0.90s. Hence, one might characterise a reliability of 0.91 as `good' and a reliability of 0.97 as `very good.' Reliabilities in the 0.80s are `acceptable,' and reliabilities of less than 0.80 indicate that the test needs improvement (although a new test with a reliability of 0.78 might be `promising').
Do not underline for emphasis (or foreign words or phrases, booktitles in the text, or terms being defined). Use italics instead.
Titles, section headings, and captions, should not end with a full stop. For section headings and captions capitalise the first word and proper names only.
To follow a British style, use single quotation marks for direct speech and for referring to words or phrases (American style dictates the use of double quotation marks). Distinguish between left and right quotes.
Use the percent sign, even in text, without a space between the numeral and the sign. For example:
INCORRECT: 34 %
CORRECT: 34%
Use the term to or through and never a hyphen to report a range of numbers. For example:
INCORRECT: 2 - 5 mL.
CORRECT: 2 to 5 mL.
Units need only be presented at the end of a range. Ranges involving percentages should include the percent sign with both numbers. For example:
INCORRECT: 200 mg/dL to 240 mg/dL.
CORRECT: 200 to 240 mg/dL
INCORRECT: 200 to 240%
CORRECT: 200% to 240%
1 km2 is equal to the area of a square measuring 1 kilometre on each side (1000 m × 1000 m = 1,000,000 m2). 3 km2 is equal to 3,000,000 m2 and not 3000 m2. Talk about something as being `1 kilometre squared' in size.
Use the virgule (/) for proportions and rates and a colon (:) for ratios: `about 1/3 of the samples', `the infection rate averaged 50/100,000 people', `the ratio of men to women was 3:4.5.'
Spell out common fractions when they modify nouns: `half the cases', `a two-thirds majority.'
In printing, the hyphen comes in various lengths: -, --, and ---.
In LaTeX the hyphen, en dash and em dash are entered by typing the hyphen one, two or three times respectively. A fourth type of dash is the minus sign, which in LaTeX is entered in math mode as $-$.
Statistical symbols and relational symbols (=, etc.) should be treated as distinct words, and should therefore be separated from other words by spaces (e.g. F = 4.31).