HSC Style Guide: Quick Tips

When writing for HSC, we always defer to the Associated Press Stylebook. In order to make it easier for those who don’t have the time or means to go through the stylebook, we made a quick list of the biggest AP style issues we have seen.

• First instance: The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth
• Second and after: HSC, the Health Science Center and HSC at Fort Worth
• Don’t put “the” before HSC
• Register mark/trademark after first instance only
• Use sentence case in headlines
• Health care is two words (preference of Chancellor Williams)
• No Oxford commas
• Don’t capitalize a job title unless there is a name following it
• Do not stack quotes
• First ref in quotes should begin with the name of the speaker “Quote,” Smith said.
• Quote attribution comes after the first sentence
• Only use “Dr.” on first reference; last name only on other instances
• Capitalize “C” in Class of xxxx
• Don’t put abbreviations in parenthesis following first use of proper name. This is wrong: Health Science Center (HSC)
• Only capitalize proper names
• Hyphenate an adjective series before a noun: She was over-the-moon happy. Open-ended question.
• No hyphenating words that end in -ly
• Write out academic degrees when possible/ex: Dr. Soandso, whose doctoral degree is in physics, …
• Capitalize the name of proper academic degrees
• Don’t end sentences in prepositions
• Only capitalize the first letter after a colon if it is a complete sentence
• Use “more than,” not “over”
• Write out numbers less than 10, use numerals for 10 and over
  • Exceptions:
    • He is the No. 3-ranked quarterback
    • Measurements are always written as numerals
    • When referring to millions and billions
      • 8 million
      • 10 million
    • Money
      • Always the number
    • Avoid starting a sentence with a number. if you must … write it out.
    • No apostrophe – 1980s, 1970s, ’80s, ’90s
    • Toward does NOT end in an s
    • Farther – distance
    • Further – extension of time
    • Fewer – individual item
    • Less – used to describe quantity
    • Time – Always use figures except for “noon” and “midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. Do not write 3:00 (the colon and the zeros are not needed).
    • m. and a.m.
    • If you are talking about times and use the word “from,” you have to use the word “to”
      • From 8 to 10 p.m.
    • Sentences with multiple commas must be parallel
      • If you have a verb in one series, you have to have one in all of them
    • Minimal exclamation mark use … preferably none