AAHA Style Guide

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A

AAHA Can abbreviate AAHA on first reference. For all other organizations (except for the AVMA), spell out in full on first reference. If organization or term is used subsequently in article, provide the abbreviation in parentheses following full name in the first reference, and use abbreviation exclusively thereafter. See also ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.

AAHA Standards of Accreditation: Italicize when full term used.

AAHA compliance study: Please note there are two, published by AAHA Press in 2003 and 2009. Refer to them by title and/or year of publication (2009 compliance study)

2003: The Path to High-Quality Care, sponsored by a grant from Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc.
2009: Compliance: Taking Quality Care to the Next Level, sponsored by a grant from Pfizer Animal Health

AAHA-accredited practices

Always “AAHA-accredited practice” or “accredited practice.” Never “AAHA practice” or “AAHA-certified” practice. If a practice named in Trends (or any other publication) is accredited, state that it’s accredited.

AAHA Periodicals and Publications:

AAHA Press products
JAAHA, Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association
Trends magazine
NEWStat
AAHA Update
Pet health brochures but Pet Health Brochure series
AAHA Press Catalog
AAHA Standards of Accreditation (italicize and capitalize when using full name only)
[Year] AAHA [Topic] Guidelines for Dogs and Cats (italicize and capitalize when using full title only)

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

Be consistent in abbreviating or spelling out terms throughout a publication. Spell out all terms in full on first reference (veterinary medical associations, and US government organizations). If organization or term is used subsequently in article, provide the abbreviation in parentheses following full name in the first reference, and use abbreviation thereafter. Use a small “s” without an apostrophe to indicate a plural. For example: biological safety cabinets (BSCs).

EXCEPTION: AAHA and AVMA may be used on first reference.

Spell out units of time and measurement, e.g., four hours, 367 feet, unless constricted by space. See also NUMBERS.

Exception: time (e.g., four years, six minutes), but a specific time is written with numerals (1 pm)

(See also TIME.)

Spell out VMA on first reference, along with spelled-out name of state, country, or province. Use “the” with AVMA, but not with AAHA.

CE (continuing education); CE is OK on first mention if context is clear.

Chair (not “chairman” or “chairperson.”) Can also use in verb form: He chaired the meeting.

A list of common abbreviations and acronyms can be found in Appendix C.

ABOVE AND BELOW

Use “above” and “below” with elevation, not with amount. Use “more than” and “less than” with amount. Use “over” and “under” with location.

ACADEMIC TITLES (ACADEMIC DEGREES)

Doctoral and master’s degrees are listed and not spelled out (e.g., DVM, VMD, PhD, MA, MBA). (Veterinarians’ degrees should always be checked to be sure whether they are DVMs DMVs, or VMDs.) See also PROFESSIONAL TITLES and APPENDIX E.

Do not use periods in between letters when listing credentials (e.g., PhD, not Ph.D).

Specialty board certification is presented with “Diplomate” abbreviated to D (DACVIM or DABVP, not Diplomate ACVIM or Dipl. ABVP).

Certifications are listed (CVT, LVT, RVT, CVPM).

Do not include associate’s degrees. Do include bachelor’s degrees for technicians if they’d like to include them.

Degrees are listed in the order in which the source provides them but DVM should always be first.

Degrees are listed after the person is first referenced, and placed after their last name, set off by a comma. For example: The committee chair was Link Welborn, DVM, DABVP. Do not insert an honorific (e.g., “Dr.”) prior to the name.

Veterinarians and other doctors are referred to only by their last name after the first reference, not as “Dr. X.”

Academic degrees in bios: Abbreviated academic degrees should be listed after the name, but spelled out in subsequent references. Example: Debra Horwitz, DVM, DACVB, received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine and is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (ACVB).

Academic specialties: Listed in parentheses (no dashes, etc.) and capitalized.

Examples: DABVP (C/F); VTS (Behavior)

ACCREDITED VERSUS CERTIFIED

When referring to an accredited hospital, it is AAHA accredited, not AAHA certified.

ADDRESSES

Use the two-letter US Postal Service abbreviations for states in full addresses that include ZIP codes (e.g., PO Box 123, Denver, CO 80101-0101). Also use US Postal Service abbreviations where necessary if space is a concern (e.g., in a table), but maintain consistency (either all abbreviated or none abbreviated). Spell out the name of a state when used alone or with a city name (e.g., Denver, Colorado).

Spell out and initial capitalize First through Ninth when used as street names; use figures for 10th and above (e.g., 500 E. Fourth Street SW, but 1200 W. 14th Street).

Superscript should not be used with ordinals (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)

ANIMALS

Personal pronouns (animals, unidentified): Unless first identifying the animal with a gender-specific name, alternate he and she between articles or chapters, but not within articles or chapters unless it is very clear to whom the pronoun is referring. Do not use he or she, he/she, it, or them.

Also, use “who” or “whom” (rather than “that”).

Breeds: Follow spelling and capitalization in Appendix D. In general, capitalize words derived from proper nouns; use lowercase elsewhere:

basset hound

Boston terrier

AMPERSANDS

Do not use ampersands unless space is an issue (e.g., in the CE calendar listings) or if they are part of a proper name.

am, pm

Use lower case letters without periods.

APPENDIXES

Detailed background or technical information, derivations, equations, or data are included in appendixes. If there is more than one appendix, use letters in the titles (Appendix A, B, C) and include the appendix designation in captions for figures and tables (Figure A.1, Table B.3). Capitalize “Appendix” unless referring generically to the sole appendix (e.g., “see the figures in the appendix.”).

AREA CODES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Use dashes only—no slash, no parentheses. Do not use the leading “1” in 1-800.

303-986-2800

800-252-2242

List phone extensions as follows: 303-986-2899, ext. 289

B

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A bibliography contains a list of literature related to the subject but not necessarily cited, either by author or by number, in a publication. A list of all the literature referred to specifically in the text is a list of references. See also REFERENCES.

BRACKETS

Use square brackets to enclose editorial comments, explanations, and additions to direct quotations that are not what the person actually said or wrote. Use square brackets for parenthetical material inside parentheses.

BRAND NAMES, TRADEMARKS, AND SERVICE MARKS

Proprietary names are often legally registered as trademarks. Replace trademark names with lowercase generic terms if possible, e.g., “tissue” rather than “Kleenex.” If the brand is important to the text, give it in parentheses with the brand name capitalized.

Check AP or Chicago for brand name spellings such as Coca-Cola. Check under specific product name.

Drugs: Avoid brand names, but if you must use them, capitalize brand names. Lowercase generic drug names.

Do not use registered (®), trademark (™), or service mark (^SM) symbols.

BULLETS

No punctuation ending bulleted items.

EXCEPTION: Punctuate ALL bulleted items if ANY of them NEED to be punctuated. You may need to rewrite some items so they’re suitable for punctuation (i.e., a full sentence).

C

CAPITALIZATION

Use capitalization sparingly in copy. Capitalize proper names of programs, groups, organizations, companies, titles (when they precede a name, but see exception below), specific geographic areas, and ethnic groups. Capitalize regions of the United States when they appear by themselves, e.g., the East, the Southwest. Do not capitalize general areas of the country or of a state (e.g., the eastern United States, southwestern Nebraska).

In scientific writing about botanical and zoological divisions, capitalize the names of all those higher than species: genera, families, orders, classes, and phyla. Capitalize “state” when used with the entire official name (e.g., the State of Colorado), but not in general (e.g., the authority for enforcing this regulation resides with the states). Capitalize trade names; do not add a trademark, copyright, or other symbol.

Websites: all lowercase

aaha.org

press.aaha.org

trends.aaha.org

myveterinarycareer.com

vetfolio.com

devtp.org

Email addresses: all lowercase

[email protected]

When referring to sections of websites, note that redirect links are strongly preferred. (If you are unable to create a redirect, please contact IT.) If impossible to avoid, capitalize the section name.

Visit aaha.org and click on the Accreditation tab.

Official titles of publications, meetings, departments, groups, and places are capitalized.

Accounting department

Member Experience

Board of Directors (lowercase the shortened version, “the board”)

AAHA Nashville 2017 Yearly Conference (BUT: The yearly conference, AAHA’s yearly conference)

Connexity

AAHA Press

AAHA Custom Publishing

AAHA-Accredited Veterinary Management Groups

But a shortened name of an organization or title (without using the complete name) is lowercased.

the association (even when used for AAHA)

Titles of persons are capitalized preceding the name, but not following the name.

Garth Jordan, MBA, CSM, CSPO, chief executive officer of AAHA

Chief Executive Officer Garth Jordan, MBA, CSM, CSPO

AAHA Chief Executive Officer Garth Jordan, but AAHA’s chief executive officer Garth Jordan

Exceptions include positions in which there may be many people in an organization sharing the same title (e.g., Veterinary technician Amy Snow held the cat.)

Scheduled drugs are always lowercased, as in schedule III drugs.

See HEADLINES AND TITLES for capitalization rules within headlines.

See TITLES, PUBLICATIONS for capitalization rules within titles of books, educational sessions, etc.

CHAMPIONS

All terms associated with the Champions program are capitalized:

Be a Champion

Champions

Champions for Excellent Care

CHEMICAL TERMS

Do not hyphenate chemical and molecular terms when they are used as modifiers, e.g., carbon dioxide levels. Hyphenate prefixes in chemical terms, e.g., L(+)-2, 3-butanediol. Symbols can be used for chemical elements, ions, or compounds. If the compound has a common name, include it in the text on first mention, e.g., HCl (hydrochloric acid). Italicize hyphenated prefixes (like cis-, trans-, o-, m-, and p-) to chemical formulas. See also the American Chemical Society’s Handbook for Authors.

COLON

Capitalize the first word after a colon if it begins a complete sentence. Lowercase the first word of a single word, phrase, or incomplete sentence after a colon, unless the first word is a proper noun.

Examples:

Assessment must include the following: complete physical examination, evaluation of available medical history, nutritional assessment, and environmental assessment.

When the economy is good, college numbers go down: People feel they don’t need to go to school because they have jobs.

In titles, use colons rather than en dashes or em dashes and capitalize the word after the colon (this includes headers, too).

Obesity: Why What You Feed Your Pets Matters

When there is a different font treatment for a title and subtitle or if they are split on two lines, no colon is necessary.

Example:

Stem Cells

What You Need to Know About Stem Cell Therapy

Use colon when introducing bulleted, numbered, or unnumbered lists, even in cases where it is unnecessary grammatically. Do not use a colon in sentences containing a list where it is unnecessary grammatically (e.g., Joe Smith, DVM, is licensed to practice in Maine, New York, Ohio, and Vermont—no colon should follow “in”). See also LISTS.

CONNEXITY

Capitalize Connexity as the official name of AAHA’s conference. Lowercase the word “connexity” when referring to it as a conceptual term (connection plus community).

CUSTOM CONTENT

Custom content adheres to our house style, except for the guidelines themselves. Those are initially printed in JAAHA using AMA style. They are not recopyedited to match house style. This may introduce some inconsistency between the guidelines and other toolkit pages regarding abbreviations and use of numerals. That’s OK.

D

DASHES

Use em dashes (—) in text, with no spaces between the word and the em dash. Use an em dash to enclose and set off parenthetical (nonessential but illustrative) information in a sentence and to signal that an important point is going to be made or that a change in the construction of the sentence follows.

The program was beneficial to me—and particularly my staff—because the speaker focused on one of our biggest issues.

Use en dashes (–), with no spaces between the characters and the en dash, to show ranges and in compound modifiers. Use an en dash (rather than the smaller hyphen or the larger em dash) to show a range or to substitute for the word “to.” Use the word “and” rather than a dash or hyphen when expressing the concept of between (e.g., between 25 and 30).

30%–40%

post–World War era

Shortcuts for em and en dashes on a Mac:

em dash — option shift hyphen
en dash – option hyphen

Shortcuts for em and en dashes on a PC:

em dash — Alt 0151
en dash – Alt 0150

DATA

Use as a singular noun.

DATELINES

Datelines for press releases should include both the location and date:

April 19, 2020

Lakewood, Colorado: Today, AAHA sent out a press release.

DATES

Always put a comma between day and year, and spell out the names of months.

But, months may be abbreviated as follows if space is a concern (e.g., in tables or the meetings calendar):

Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Apr.
May
June
July
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.

When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not separate the year with commas. When a phrase refers to a month, day, and year, set off the year with commas.

This style guide was updated on April 20, 2020, by the Style Committee.

This style guide was updated in April 2020 by the Style Committee .

See also MONTHS AND YEARS.

Use full four digits on first reference of a year (e.g., 1940). Be sure to include all four digits for the year 2020 (and beyond).

When referring to a decade, use “s” not “apostrophe s” (e.g., 1940s, not 1940’s).

Also acceptable: ’40s (though this use should be consistent throughout article and note the direction of the apostrophe).

E

e.g., and i.e.,

Note that e.g., means “for example,” and i.e., means “that is to say.” Use periods followed by a comma. Use a semicolon before “e.g.” and “i.e.” when they introduce a clause having a subject and verb.

Examples:

Jill loves dogs; e.g., she once rescued 20 dogs in one weekend!

Sheila has a positive outlook; i.e., she’s happy all the time.

ELLIPSES

Ellipses indicate material that was not included in a quotation. Use three dots between words within a sentence (word . . . word); use a period followed by three dots to indicate missing material following a full sentence: (word. . . . New sentence.)

I wasn’t sure how to continue . . . and then it came to me.

I wasn’t sure how to continue. . . . I decided to end it there.

Use sparingly in quoted material.

To insert a nonbreaking space (in instances where breaks mid-ellipses might occur, such as in Trends):

MS Word (PC): Ctrl+ Shift + Space OR Insert->Symbol->Special Characters-> Nonbreaking Space

MS Word (Mac): Control + Shift + Spacebar

InCopy: In the toolbar, select Type->Insert White Space-> Nonbreaking Space

EQUATIONS

Ensure that authors verify the accuracy of all equations. Define all terms used in an equation the first time they are used. Break out long equations from the text. Use a “where” list to define all variables in the equation.

F

FEAR FREE

Fear Free practices gentle control and gradient touch techniques as well as considered approach. Its protocols and procedures aim to reduce fear, anxiety, and stress in patients.

FEWER AND LESS

Use “fewer” to describe people and things that can be counted. Use “less” to describe things that are expressed in amounts or as mass. “Fewer in number; less in amount.”

FIGURES

For books, number figures, including drawings, charts, photographs, etc., with double-digit numbers keyed to the chapter number in which the art appears (e.g., Figure 2.1, Figure 4.5). For other media (e.g., a Trends article), use sequential numbering (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2, . . . ). Place a figure’s caption (number and title) flush left beneath the figure. Capitalize the initial letter of only the first word, proper names, and geographical terms in the figure title. End figure captions with a period. A figure should follow its first mention in the text as closely as possible. If art will look best at the top of the page, it may be placed before its reference on the same page. A figure that is less than ¾ of a page should be placed on a page with either text or another piece of art and positioned either at the top or bottom of the page.

FOOTNOTES

Footnotes contain detailed explanatory or supplementary information. Print symbols for footnotes outside most punctuation marks but inside colons, semicolons, and dashes.

Use the following symbols in this sequence for footnotes within tables: *, ┼, ╪, §, ║, ¶, **, ┼┼, and so on.

FOREIGN WORDS AND PHRASES

Italicize uncommon foreign words and phrases such as supra, infra, or inter alia. Do not italicize words or phrases commonly used in the field such as “in situ.” Do not use italics with common foreign words such as “et al.” Use italics for less common foreign words and phrases.

FRACTIONS

Write out simple fractions in text (e.g., one-fifth its actual size). Display complex fractions on a separate line.

G

GUIDELINES

Though this is technically a singular document, this should be treated as plural when referred to as guidelines.

For example:

The 2020 guidelines recognize the importance of cat owners in the spectrum of care.

Not:

The 2020 guidelines recognizes the importance of cat owners in the spectrum of care.

Italicize and capitalize the full title of the guidelines (2016 AAHA Oncology Guidelines for Dogs and Cats), but otherwise refer to them as “guidelines” (roman, lowercase).

H

HEADLINES AND TITLES

Native online material and marketing pieces are sentence case (first word and proper nouns are capitalized; rest of title is lowercase); print material uses title case (all nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are uppercase; all conjunctions and prepositions [fewer than five letters] are lowercase).

Follow story style for spelling, but use numerals (1, 2, 3…) for all numbers.

Capitalize “That” and “Which.” but lowercase “as”

See also APPENDIX F for additional examples.

Avoid bad breaks (a head with more than one line should not split a prepositional phrase, and adjective and noun, and adverb and verb, or a proper name.

WRONG: Biden hosts White

House dinner

RIGHT: Biden hosts dinner

at the White House

No end punctuation in heads and subheads unless it is for effect (!, ?)

Use end punctuation in decks that are full sentences.

Don’t break phrases or compound words. Don’t create a cliff, where the first line is longer than the second line. The bottom line should be the “shelf” where the top line sits. When forced to choose between breaking a compound word or creating a cliff, create the cliff.

Use the numeral in headings/titles for grabbing reader, no matter what the number.

Small heads at bottom of cover (Trends and custom content): title case.

Trends and custom content:

Level 1 heads are title case.

Level 2 heads are styled the same as level 1 in terms of capitalization, but they will appear smaller in the text. So please identify level 2 heads when they appear. (e.g., <level 2 head>Weight Management).

Level 3 heads do run into the text and are followed by a colon (e.g., Under 20 pounds:).

All heads are in bold, and none are italicized.

HEALTHCARE (NOT HEALTH CARE)

“Healthcare” is one word, unless it is two words in the name of a company or organization.

HYPHENS

Hyphens are joiners. Use them to avoid ambiguity, modify adjectives (big-hearted vet) but not adverbs (happily married couple), or to form a single idea from two or more words.

Compound adjectives are hyphenated.

Hyphenate a compound adjective before a noun.

AAHA-accredited practice

first-quarter touchdown

full-time job

human-animal bond

DO NOT hyphenate if not followed by a noun.

The practice is AAHA accredited.

He scored a touchdown in the first quarter.

DO NOT hyphenate adverbs that modify adjectives

newly fallen snow (NOT newly-fallen snow)

This is because “newly” is an adverb modifying “fallen,” the two words do not form a compound adjective. That is, if a word ends in “-ly” (e.g., sparingly, sadly), do not use a hyphen!

Hyphenate words with duplicated vowels and tripled consonants

anti-intellectual
re-evaluate
re-elect
co-owner
shell-like

That being said, many prefixes are used without a hyphen (co-, over-, post-, pre-, and re-) unless the above rule applies.

overdue
postoperative
redistribute
nonaccredited
nonmember
cooperate
onsite
offsite
coauthor
cochair
Hyphenate prefixes that indicate favor for an idea or system.
pro-choice
anti-labor
anti-Trump

I

ITALICS

Use italics to emphasize a word or phrase. Use italics for genera, species, viruses, varieties (e.g., Escherichia coli), and court cases. When you refer to a word as a word or to a phrase as a phrase, italicize the word or phrase, e.g., The word footnote is often used in place of reference. See also CHEMICAL TERMS; FOREIGN WORDS AND PHRASES

INTERNET REFERENCES

email
homepage
hotspot
internet
log in (not log on): two words if it’s a verb; one word (login) if you’re talking about a login name
online
website
the web
webpage
web conference
WiFi
#connexity (all lowercase)
@laurae (all lowercase)
emoji (all lowercase)
Facebook
LinkedIn
TikTok
Twitter
Google+
Pinterest
Instagram
YouTube
Foursquare
Instagram
Tumblr
WhatsApp

Drop the http:// and www. from website addresses unless its omission is confusing or the address does not work without it.

aaha.org
jaaha.org
press.aaha.org
trends.aaha.org
careers.aaha.org

When referring to sections of websites, note that our own redirect links/vanity links for AAHA’s site/content are strongly preferred. (If you are unable to create a redirect, please contact our in-house IT team.) If impossible to avoid, capitalize the section name.

Visit aaha.org and click on the Accreditation tab.

DO NOT italicize websites or email addresses. Do not capitalize email addresses or websites (e.g., [email protected]).

Break website and email addresses at slashes, underscores, or at the “@” symbol at the end of a line. DO NOT break in the middle of a word. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, avoid breaking at the dot or after a hyphen; if impossible, put the dot or hyphen at the beginning of the next line.

J

K

KILL/NO-KILL

Do not refer to shelters or other rescue organizations as “kill” or “no-kill.”

Facilities typically referred to as “kill” shelters may be referred to as “open admission.” Refrain from using “no-kill” altogether.

L

LISTS

Use numbered lists for procedural steps and for items in lists referred to in the text by number. In all other cases, use bulleted lists. Use parallel construction in lists; that is, make all listed items similar in style and format. Include at least two items at each level in a bulleted or numbered list. Add an extra space before and after lists to set them apart from the surrounding text; no extra space is necessary between items within a list. Capitalize the first word of each item. No punctuation is necessary at the end of each item in a list unless items are complete sentences. If any list item is a complete sentence, all items in that list receive terminal punctuation.

M

MAILING ADDRESSES

US
PO Box
ZIP Code

See also ADDRESSES and STATES AND COUNTRIES.

MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS

Print mathematical symbols used as operation signs with a space on both sides, with the exception of the solidus (/). Do not leave a space between numerals and the symbols for degrees, dollars, cents, and percentages (e.g., 52%). Leave a space between numerals and symbols of measurement (e.g., 2.5 cm).

MEMBER EXPERIENCE

DO NOT use the terms “Member Service Center” or “MSC” to refer to Member Experience (MX). In copy, this department or members of this department should be referred to as “Member Experience team,” or “your AAHA team.”

MONTHS AND YEARS

Spell out the names of months. A comma is not necessary when the month and year appear together (e.g., October 2019). Insert a comma after the year when a full date is given (e.g., he left on January 1, 2020, to see his aunt in New York).

But, months may be abbreviated as follows if space is a concern:

Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Apr.
May
June
July
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.

MULTIPLICATION

Use one multiplication symbol throughout a document whenever possible (i.e., use ´ [the symbol, not the letter x] throughout rather than ´ in some places and • in others).

N

NUMBERS

Spell out one through nine, use numerals for 10, 11, 12, . . .

EXCEPTION: Use numerals (1, 2, 3 . . . ) for all numbers in headlines (but this exception does not apply to books or other press products or JAAHA).

If beginning a sentence with a number, spell it out.

Twenty-five people were employed by the practice.

Spell out units of measurement (including the number, if under nine) unless constricted by space.

Exception: time (e.g., four years, six minutes), but a specific time is written with numerals (1:00 pm)

(See also TIME.)

Exception: Use numerals in more technical publications, with fractional units, or units that are abbreviated (e.g., 5 in.)

Two numbers describing the same thing in the same paragraph should both be numerals if one of the numbers is more than 10.

The 3 cats who had kidney disease died, while 16 cats did not.

Exception: If a number begins a sentence, spell it out (or reword so that the number doesn’t begin the sentence).

Use commas in numbers over 999 (unless it’s a year)

The 2007 yearly conference had more than 3,900 attendees.

Use the en dash (–) in ranges of numbers 10 or higher (See also RANGES and DASHES)

Use percent symbol (%) unless spelling out number (e.g., four percent, never four %). Also use numerals for all percentages, unless they start a sentence.

For example:

Four percent of cats are named Seymour.

Did you know that 4% of cats are named Seymour?

Spell out ordinal numbers

Twelfth, thirteenth

For numbers of 1 million or more, use the numeral (and a decimal, if necessary) and the words million, billion, and so on (e.g., 1.1 million households).

Spell out the first of two adjacent numbers unless the first one requires three or more words (e.g., ten 5-foot boards, thirty-two 4-cm² devices).

Align numbers that share a common unit of measurement (such as m, cm, kW, etc.) on the decimals in columns of table. When all numbers in a column do not share the same unit of measurement, center the numbers in the column.

Use numerals to imply arithmetical values or manipulation (e.g., a factor of 4, multiplied by 2). Express measurement errors as follows: 6 m ± 0.2 m; note the space around the operations sign. When the measurement error appears by itself, close up the sign and the number, e.g., The error is ±0.2 m.

O

OVER VERSUS MORE THAN

Use “more than” to express countable quantities. Use “over” to express quantities that cannot be counted.

P

PARENTHESES

In text, use brackets inside parentheses if necessary. (The [male] cat was orange.)

In equations, use parentheses, brackets, and braces in a repeated progression from parentheses inside to braces outside, i.e.,{[( )]}.

PERCENT, PERCENTAGE

Spell out “percent” as one word when it accompanies a number spelled out at the beginning of a sentence. Elsewhere in text, and in figures and tables, use the numeral and the % symbol. When there is no number, use percentage, e.g., This table shows the percentage of accredited practices in Canada.

PERMISSIONS

Permission from the copyright holder is required if you plan to use someone else’s work (be it text from an article or book, a photo or image, or a quotation). The copyright holder will typically be listed in (or on) the work. You should seek electronic rights as well as printed rights unless you are only reproducing it in one medium. Begin requesting permission from the copyright holders of the material as soon as you possibly can. To determine what might require permission to be obtained, see Appendix G.

PROFESSIONAL TITLES

Titles of people are capitalized directly preceding the name, but not following the name.

For example:

Sasha Johnson, the medical director at Legacy Veterinary Hospital, said her virtual accreditation was great!

Medical Director Sasha Johnson is a big fan of AAHA.

See Appendix E for examples of commonly used professional titles.

How to list a veterinarian’s title

Joanna Smith, DVM, DABVP (C/F) is preferred over Dr. Joanna Smith

Always put a comma after a person’s name and before their professional title.

Joanna Smith, DVM, DABVP (C/F)

Always put a comma after professional titles inside a sentence.

Finn Esterman, CMP, was not able to attend the meeting.

Speakers will include Jensen Simpson, DVM; Terry Nichols, CPA; and Jim Speck, MA.

Note that semicolons are used between different people, since the commas are used to delineate their titles. This is common when listing items within a sentence—if commas are used within one list item then semicolons are used between list items.

PRONOUNS

Personal pronouns (people, unidentified): “They” may be used when referring to an unidentified person. You may also alternate he and she between articles or chapters, but not within articles or chapters unless it is very clear to whom the pronoun is referring. Do not use “he or she” or “he/she.”

Also, use “who” or “whom” (rather than “that”).

Personal pronouns (animals, unidentified): Unless first identifying the animal as a specific gender, alternate he and she between articles or chapters, but not within articles or chapters unless it is very clear to whom the pronoun is referring. Do not use “he or she,” “he/she,” or “it.” “They” may be used when referring to an animal if a gender has not been mentioned.

Also, use “who” or “whom” (rather than “that”).

See also ANIMALS

PUNCTUATION (GENERAL)

Serial (or Oxford) commas (a comma in a series of items before the conjunction) are used in all AAHA publications

Dogs need food, water, and shelter.

Only one space between sentences, not two.

Placement of quotation marks with other punctuation:

The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks.
The question mark and the exclamation point go within quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

Q

R

RANGES

Spell out one through nine using the word “to.” Use numerals and en dashes (–) for 10 or higher. For a combination, defer to the higher number’s style. Examples: One to four cases per year; 15–23 cases per year; 3–30 cases per year.

REFERENCES AND SOURCES

Use the author-date format for citing references within the text (see Chicago Manual of Style). Include enough information for the reader to locate the source easily. The most essential information is the author or organization names, the title, the publication date, and the publisher (including the city and state of the publisher). Include the month and year or the volume, series number, and year, with the page range of articles for periodicals.

Shorthand in-text sources

Cite the sources of the figures and tables used in all publications. Insert the source below a figure caption; insert the source after any notes in a table. Include all figure and table sources in the reference list or bibliography. Use the following format for source notes within tables or figures:

Source: last name of author(s) year of publication.

Source: Jones and Smith 2020.

Source: AAHA 2020.

Sources in presentations (e.g., PowerPoint)

Use the citation methods for shorthand/in-text sources (author/organization names and year of study or publication) directly following the cited material (text, image, table, etc.). Include full citations at the bottom of each slide.

(See also PERMISSIONS.)

S

SAYS VERSUS SAID

Use said when quoting material (e.g., Kelly Thomas, DVM, DABVP (C/F), said, “AAHA is amazing!” and says (or say) when referring to a truism (e.g., Many veterinarians say brushing your dog’s teeth prevents tartar buildup).

SHARED CONTENT

AAHA collaborates with many partner companies that have their own house styles (AVMA, AAFP). In general, AAHA style is preferred; however, in these cases, both the publication and the nature of the content determine which style should be followed.

If the content is an advertisement or other type of marketing material sponsored by the partner company (e.g., a full-page Fear Free ad in Trends), the partner company’s preferred style should be followed (e.g., Fear Free® [we typically would not include the registration mark]).

If the content appears in AAHA publications, such as NEWStat or AAHA Update, and is not sponsored by the partner company, AAHA style should be applied (e.g., Fear Free).

STATES AND COUNTRIES

Put commas around state names when they appear with cities in the middle of a sentence (e.g., The facility in Golden, Colorado, is nearing completion). Spell out state names when used alone or with only a city name. In full addresses with ZIP codes, use the Postal Service abbreviations:

AL DC IN MA NV OH TN WI

AK DE IA MI NH OK TX WY

AZ FL KS MN NJ OR UT

AR GA KY MS NM PA VT

CA HI LA MO NY RI VA

CO ID ME MT NC SC WA

CT IL MD NE ND SD WV

Use Postal Service abbreviations where necessary if space is a concern (e.g., in a table), but maintain consistency (either all abbreviated or none abbreviated).

Canada: list country after city and province or province only (e.g., Vaughan, Ontario, Canada or Manitoba, Canada).

Do not abbreviate the names of countries when used as nouns. Put commas around the names of countries when they appear with cities or states (or both) in the middle of a sentence.

Use “US” and “UK” (without periods in between the letters) whether being treated as an adjective or noun. For UN, treat as any other acronym (See ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.)

Spell out state names when standing alone.

The meeting will take place in Colorado.

Use a comma after a state name in a sentence if additional copy follows.

The meeting will take place in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday.

T

TABLES

For books, number tables with double-digit numbers keyed to the chapter number in which the table appears (e.g., Table 2.1, Table 4.5). For other media (e.g., a Trends article), just use sequential numbering (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, . . . ). Place a table’s title (number and title) above the table. Use title capitalization. Define all abbreviations in footnotes to the table if they are not obvious. A table should follow its first mention in the text as closely as possible. If a table will look best at the top of the page, it may be placed before its reference on the same page. A table that is less than ¾ of a page should be placed on a page with either text, a piece of art, or another table and positioned either at the top or bottom of the page. See also FOOTNOTES.

THAT/WHICH

Use “that” when the clause following “that” is vital information that could not be omitted from the sentence without changing its meaning (restrictive clause).

Veterinary practices that are accredited adhere to the highest standards in care.

The words that are accredited restrict the kind of practices you’re talking about. Without them, the meaning of the sentence would change, and we all know that not all veterinary practices adhere to the highest standards in care.

Use “which” when the clause following “which” is just added information and is not vital to the sentence’s meaning (nonrestrictive clause). When using “which,” always use a comma before the word.

The veterinary practice, which was accredited, took the best care of my pet.

Leaving out the which was accredited clause would not change the meaning of the sentence, so we use “which” rather than “that.”

Note that “who” should be used when referring to people or animals. (See also PRONOUNS)

TIME

Use “to” in a timespan when the timespan is introduced by “from.”

From 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Otherwise, use an en dash.

4:00–6:30 pm (do not repeat “pm” unless it’s confusing without it, e.g., in the Connexity program).

TITLES, PUBLICATIONS

TV shows, titles of books, blogs, magazines, newspapers, plays, albums, works of art, and movies in italics

According to Trends magazine, team bonding is a high priority for practices today.

Articles, songs, television show episodes, educational sessions, and shorter works in “quotes”

According to “The Human-Pet Bond,” from Medicine Today, nearly 10% of pets are given human names.

Title Case:

Always capitalize the first and last words of the title; all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives; any conjunction or preposition of five letters or more. Short verbs such as “is” and “are” should be capitalized.

Unless the first or last words of the title, DO NOT capitalize the following:

a of

an on

and or

at so

but the

by to

for up

in yet

nor

Educational Sessions:

Set in title case.

In titles, use colons rather than en dashes or em dashes.

Obesity: Why What You Feed Your Pets Matters

TITLES, WORK

Use lower case when the person’s title comes after his or her name. Capitalize only when the title immediately precedes the name and is not simply a descriptor of the type of position held:

Daisy Hopkins, the AAHA executive director, asked for figures to back up the proposal.

The editor, Elaine Benes, copyedited the second proofs.

AAHA Executive Director Daisy Hopkins chaired the meeting.

TEMPERATURE

Use a degree symbol for temperatures expressed in the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales but not for Kelvin (use K). There is no space between the symbol and the letter for degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit; leave a space between the number and K (e.g., 16^oC, 55 K). Repeat the degree symbol when expressing a range in temperature.

U

V

VERSUS

Use the abbreviation “v.” with the names of court cases, (e.g., Brown v. Board of Education); spell out the word in all other instances.

VETERINARY TECHNICIAN, VETERINARY ASSISTANT, and VETERINARY NURSE

Use “veterinary technician” when referring generally to credentialed technicians with CVT, LVT, or RVT designations.

Use “veterinary assistant” when referring to veterinary support staff and noncredentialed technicians

If an individual’s credentials aren’t clear, write around the term “technician” if possible, using alternatives like “team member,” “veterinary professional,” “staff member assisted the doctor,” and so forth.

When the subject involves training support staff to perform technician skills or duties, always include some version of the following clarification: “be sure to check your state’s regulations on which specific tasks veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants may perform.”

Allow the use of “veterinary technician,” “technician,” or “tech” when a source is referring generally to veterinary support staff in the practice and it’s not feasible or practical to pin the source down on the credentialed status of each individual referenced (e.g., Howell says, “The veterinarians and techs meet every other week to review X, Y, and Z.”)

We do not use the term “veterinary nurse.” Although AAHA is supportive of the initiative, we have not adopted the term as of this update (2020).

W

X

Y

Z

Appendices

Appendix A: Preferred Usage
Appendix B: Substitutes for Wordy Expressions
Appendix C: Scientific Acronyms and Abbreviations
Appendix D: Dog Breeds
Appendix E: Professional Titles
Appendix F: Title Case Cheat Sheet
Appendix G: Permissions
Appendix H: AAHA Online Style Guide Additions
Appendix I: Trends magazine/Custom Content Style Guide Additions
Appendix J: About this Style Guide

APPENDIX A

PREFERRED USAGE

AAHA Board of Directors, the board (only capitalize when full name is used)
Accredited Practice of the Year Awards (capitalize “Awards” when the entire phrase is used (the Accredited Practice of the Year Awards). Use lowercase in other instances. (e.g., The awards were a lively event at Connexity!)
accuracy (agreement between true value and amount obtained by measurement)
acknowledgment
affect (v., influence; rarely, n., a feeling or emotion)
amok (not amuck)
and, or (choose one or the other, in most cases; avoid and/or and state the meaning exactly:
Annual physical examination (references should be worded along these lines: “Every pet should have a physical exam at least annually, and sometimes more frequently, depending on age or health.”)
“Let X or Y or both be equal to . . .”)
appendix (sing.), appendixes (pl.)
as a result of (usually preferable to due to)
assure (promise, reassure)
backup (adj., n.)
back up (v.)
because of (usually preferable to due to)
before (preferable to prior to)
begin (preferable to initialize)
body condition scoring (lowercase, no hyphen). May be abbreviated to BCS on second reference.
bookkeeping
breakdown (n.)
break down (v.)
break-even (adj.)
breakthrough (n.)
buildup (n.)
build up (v.)
byproduct
catalog
CE (continuing education); CE is OK on first mention where meaning is clear
clinical signs (not “symptoms” when referring to animals)
companion-animal medicine, companion-animal practice (hyphens)
complete (usually preferable to finalize)
concept (n. only; do not use it as a verb)
criterion (sing.), criteria (pl.)
cross section (n.)
cross-sectional (adj.)
database (n.)
database (adj.)
decisionmaker (n.)
decisionmaking (adj.)
decisionmaking (n.)
due to (use only to refer to a noun: “The result was due to careful modification.” Otherwise, use caused by, because of, as a result of, or owing to.)
economic (may mean money-saving or belonging to the science of economics)
economical (used only in the sense of money-saving)
effect (n., result; less often, v., to bring about)
end-of-life care (but care at the end of life); 2016 AAHA End-of-Life Care Guidelines
end use (n.)
end-use (adj.)
ensure (to make certain)
etc. (“and so on” is not preferable in formal writing; do not use with such as)
exhibit hall (lowercase)
farther (distance), further (time or quantity)
fewer (number), less (quantity or amount)
finish (usually preferable to finalize)
follow-up (adj., n.)
follow up (v.)
Founding Members (when referring to Connexity)
formulas
free-radical (adj.)
full-time (adj.)
full time (n.)
gauge
gray (not grey)
half-life
healthcare (one word, unless it is two words in the name of a company or organization)
home care
hospital or practice (do not use clinic)
human-animal bond (hyphen, not en dash)
hydrolysis
hydrolyzate
hydrolyze
impact (n.; as a verb, it might be better to use affect, influence, or has an impact on)
in-house (used as both an adjective or adverb, per Merriam-Webster)
initial (adj.; do not use initialize to mean begin)
initialize (v., meaning to set to a starting position or value)
least-squares fit
life span
lifestyle
low-stress handling (EXCEPT when referring to Fear Free, in which case use something along the lines of “Fear Free practices gentle control and gradient touch techniques as well as considered approach. Its protocols and procedures aim to reduce fear, anxiety, and stress in patients.”)
make-up (adj.)
make up (v.)
makeup (n.)
multiyear (adj.)
nonaccredited, nonmember (one word, no hyphens)
nonprofit
"number one" not "No. 1" or "#1" (spell out when used in body copy: “The group of veterinarians agreed that their number one concern is pain management.”)
OK (not okay)
onsite, offsite (one word, no hyphens)
owing to (usually preferable to due to)
patient (when referring to animals in a medical setting or a veterinarian’s point of view. Owners are referred to as “clients” or “pet owners”)
Peak (learning program, do not set in all caps)
pet (when referring to the animal in relation to their owner. Not “fur baby”)
pet owner or client (not “pet parent” or “pet guardian”)
phenomenon (sing.), phenomena (pl.)
postoperative (one word, no hyphen. BUT, post-op has a hyphen, for clarity)
preaccredited (one word, no hyphens)
President-elect (include hyphen. Capitalize “P” only when title comes immediately before name)
President-elect Dennis Feinberg brought a motion to the floor.
preventive (not preventative)
prior (adj.)
priority, priorities (n. only; do not use prioritize as a verb)
profitsharing (no hyphen whether using as a noun, verb, or adjective)
recordkeeping
self- (n. and adj. forms take hyphens)
self-assessment (n. and adj.)
set priorities (do not use prioritize)
setup (n.)
set up (v.)
shutdown (n.)
shut down (v.)
significant
size (when using this word as a compound adjective like “pocket-size book.” Do not use “-sized;” there is no “d” at the end of “size”)
small-animal practice (hyphens)
staff/team: An individual noun; can be used in singular or plural form depending on its use in a sentence.

The staff is in a meeting.
Staff is acting as a unit here.
The staff are in disagreement about the findings.
The staff are acting as separate individuals in this sentence. The sentence would read even better like this:
The staff members are in disagreement about the findings.

state-of-the-art (adj. only)
state of the art (n. phrase)
start (v.; preferable to initialize)
startup (n.)
start up (v.)
T-shirt
veterinarian (Use in full; avoid abbreviating to “vet” unless quoting someone who used “vet” or if “vet” works better for marketing purposes)
walkthrough (not walk-through)
wellbeing (not well-being or well being)
X-ray/radiograph

APPENDIX B

SUBSTITUTES FOR WORDY EXPRESSIONS

*Expression*	*Substitute*
a certain portion	part, some
after the conclusion of	after
along the lines of	such as
a number of	few, many, several
as a result	because, therefore
as far as our own observations are concerned, they show	we observed
ascertain the location of	find
as per	according to
as previously mentioned	as stated, again
as regards	about
at that point in time	then
at the present time	now
at this point in time	now
be capable of	can
be in a position to	can
be deficient in	lack
by means of	by, with
close proximity to	close to (or near or proximate to)
come to a conclusion	conclude
concerning this matter, it may be asserted that	we assert
consensus of opinion	consensus
due to the fact that	because
during the time that	while
equally as well	as well, equally well
fewer in number	fewer
for the purpose of	for; to
for the reason that	because
general consensus of opinion	consensus
give consideration to	consider
give indication of	show, indicate
happen to be	are
if conditions are such that	if
in accordance with	as, by, under
in a manner similar to	like
in case	if
in conjunction with	with
initial prototype (model)	prototype
in light of the fact that	since; because
in order to	to

*Expression*	*Substitute*
in reference to	about
in regard to	about
in relation to	about
in such a manner	so
in terms of	in
in the direction of	toward
in the event that	if
in the matter of	about, in
in the vicinity of	near
in view of the above	therefore
in view of the fact that	because
is in a position to	can
it is our opinion that	we think
it is possible that	Perhaps, possibly
it was discovered	I (we) discovered
it would thus appear that	apparently
necessitates the inclusion of	needs, requires
notwithstanding the fact that	although
of such hardness that	so hard that
on the basis of	from, by, because
pertaining to	about
present in greater abundance	more abundant
prior to	before
reach a conclusion	conclude
red in color	red
round in shape	round
rules and regulations	rules, regulations
serves the function of being	is, functions
similar in nature	similar
so as to	to
subsequent to	after
the question as to whether	whether
there can be little doubt that	probably
two equal halves	halves
utilize or utilization	use
with reference to	about
with the exception that	except that
with the result that	so that

APPENDIX C

SCIENTIFIC ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Term Abbreviation

adenosine diphosphatase.................. ADPase

adenosine 5’-diphosphate (adenosine

diphosphate)......................................... ADP

adenosine 5’-monophosphate

(adenosine monophosphate,

adenylic acid)...................................... AMP

adenosine triphosphatase.................. ATPase

adenosine 5’-triphosphate

(adenosine triphosphate)....................... ATP

adrenocorticotropic hormone

(adrenocorticotropin)......................... ACTH

bacille Calmette-Guérin........................ BCG

basal metabolic rate.............................. BMR

body temperature, pressure,

and saturated....................................... BTPS

central nervous system.......................... CNS

coenzyme A............................................ coA

deoxyribonucleic acid.......................... DNA

dihydroxyphenethylamine............ dopamine

electrocardiogram................................. ECG

electroencephalogram........................... EEG

enteric cytopathogenic human

orphan (virus).................................... ECHO

ethyl........................................................... Et

ethylenediaminetetraacetate............... EDTA

gas-liquid chromatography................... GLC

guanosine 5’-monophosphate

(guanosine monophosphate,

guanylic acid)...................................... GMP

hemoglobin.............................................. Hb

logarithm (to base 10).............................. log

logarithm, natural...................................... ln

methyl...................................................... Me

Michaelis constant.................................... K_m

negative logarithm of hydrogen

ion activity.............................................. pH

partial pressure of CO₂………………...PCO₂

partial pressure of O₂……………………PO₂

per................................................................ /

percent....................................................... %

radiation (ionizing, absorbed dose........... rad

respiratory quotient.................................. RQ

specific gravity...................................... sp gr

standard atmosphere............................... atm

standard temperature and pressure......... STP

ultraviolet.................................................. uv

volume..................................................... vol

volume ratio (volume per volume).... vol/vol

weight....................................................... wt

weight per volume.............................. wt/vol

weight ratio (weight per weight)......... wt/wt

Statistical Terms

correlation coefficient................................. r

degrees of freedom.................................... df

mean............................................................ x

not significant.......................................... NS

number of observations............................... n

probability................................................... p

standard deviation.................................... SD

standard error of the mean.................... SEM

“Student’s” t test................................... t test

variance ratio.............................................. F

Units of Measure and Their Abbreviations

acre-foot............................................. acre-ft

actual cubic feet per second................... acfs

alternating current.......................... ac or AC

air mass................................................... AM

air mass 1.0........................................... AM1

ampere........................................................ A

angstrom .................................................... Å

ante meridiem (morning)......................... am

antireflective............................................ AR

atmosphere.............................................. atm

atomic percent...................................... at. %

atomic weight....................................... at. wt

atto............................................................... a

bar............................................................... b

millibar................................................... mb

barn............................................................. b

barrel........................................................ bbl

base (genetics)............................................ b

thousand bases.......................................... kb

base pairs.................................................. bp

Baume....................................................... Be

becquerel.................................................. Bq

biological oxygen demand.................... BOD

boiling point.............................................. bp

British thermal unit................................. Btu

bushel........................................................ bu

calorie....................................................... cal

candela...................................................... cd

Celsius (degree)....................................... ºC

cent.............................................................. ¢

centi............................................................. c

centigram................................................... cg

centiliter.................................................... cL

centimeter................................................ cm

Chapter (not used in text).................... Chap.

chemical vapor deposition.................... CVD

circa (about)............................................. ca.

coefficient of lift...................................... CL

coefficient of performance.................... COP

concentrated (tables only).................... conc.

confer (compare)...................................... cf.

cosine....................................................... cos

coulomb...................................................... C

counts per minute................................... cpm

counts per second.................................... cps

cubic centimeter..................................... cm³

cubic feet per minute............. cfm or ft³/min

cubic feet per second.................... cfs or ft³/s

cubic foot.................................................. ft³

cubic inch................................................ in.³

cubic meter............................................... m³

cubic millimeter.................................... mm³

cubic yard.................................. cu yd or yd³

curie........................................................... Ci

current-voltage......................................... I-V

cycles per second (hertz).......................... Hz

day............................................................... d

deci.............................................................. d

decibel...................................................... dB

degree (angular).................................. º, deg

degree Celsius.......................................... ºC

degree Fahrenheit..................................... ºF

degree Rankine........................................ ºR

deka........................................................... da

diameter (tables only).......................... diam.

direct current.................................. dc or DC

disintegration per minute....................... dpm

disintegration per second......................... dps

dissolved oxygen..................................... DO

dollar........................................................... $

thousands of dollars................................. $K

millions of dollars (tables only).............. $M

year of dollars....................... year $ (1992 $)

domestic hot water............................... DHW

electromagnetic interference................. EMI

electromagnetic unit............................. EMU

electromotive force................................. emf

electron volt.............................................. eV

electrostatic unit.................................... ESU

equation(s)........................................... Eq(s).

equivalent................................................. Eq

equivalent weight........................... equiv. wt

et ali(i,ae) (and others).......................... et al.

exempli gratia (for example)................... e.g.

et cetera................................................... etc.

exponential.............................................. exp

experiment (tables only)....................... expt.

farad............................................................ F

feet per minute.................................... ft/min

feet per second......................................... ft/s

femto............................................................ f

fill factor................................................... FF

foot............................................................. ft

foot-pound............................................. ft-lb

foot-second.............................................. ft-s

freezing point............................................. fp

fiscal year................................................. FY

fiscal year 2020............................... FY 2020

gallon....................................................... gal

gallons per day........................ gal/d (or gpd)

gallons per minute............. gal/min (or gpm)

gallons per second................... gal/s (or gps)

gallons per year..................... gal/yr (or gpy)

gas (in chemical formula)........................... g

gauss........................................................... G

giga............................................................. G

grains per second.................................... gr/s

gram............................................................ g

gram-atom......................................... g-atom

gravity (force of)......................................... g

gray.......................................................... Gy

gross national product........................... GNP

hectare....................................................... ha

hecto............................................................ h

henry.......................................................... H

hertz.......................................................... Hz

horsepower................................................ hp

hour............................................................. h

hundred....................................................... C

id est (that is)............................................ i.e.

inch........................................................... in.

inch-pound............................................ in.-lb

inches per second................................... in./s

industrial process heat............................. IPH

infrared............................................... ir or IR

inside diameter.......................................... ID

(use abbreviation only in such

phrases as 3-cm-ID tube)

international unit....................................... IU

joule............................................................. J

kelvin.......................................................... K

kilo............................................................... k

kilocalorie............................................... kcal

kilocycles per second (kilohertz)............ kHz

kilogram..................................................... kg

kilograms per cubic meter................... kg/m³

kilograms per second.............................. kg/s

kilometer.................................................. km

kilometers per second............................ km/s

kilopascal................................................. kPa

kilovolt...................................................... kV

kilovolt-ampere...................................... kVA

kilowatt.................................................... kW

kilowatt-hour......................................... kWh

langley.................................. no abbreviation

liquid (in chemical formula.......................... l

liter.............................................................. L

local area network................................. LAN

logarithm (common)................................. log

logarithm (natural)..................................... ln

lumen......................................................... lm

lux............................................................... lx

maximum (tables only).......................... max.

mean sea level......................................... msl

mega (million)........................................... M

megacycles per second (megahertz)..... MHz

megavolt.................................................. MV

megawatt................................................ MW

megawatt electric.................................. MW_e

megawatt thermal.................................. MW_t

melting point............................................ mp

metal-organic chemical vapor

deposition...................................... MOCVD

meter.......................................................... m

meter-kilogram..................................... m-kg

micro........................................................... μ

microampere............................................ μA

microliter.................................................. μL

micrometer............................................... μm

microvolt.................................................. μV

microwatt................................................. μW

mile........................................................... mi

miles per hour......................................... mph

miles per hour per second.................... mph/s

milli............................................................ m

milliampere.............................................. mA

milligram.................................................. mg

milligram percent................................. mg %

milliliter................................................... mL

millimeter................................................ mm

million (mega)........................................... M

million Btu......................................... MBtu*

milliradian............................................. mrad

millivolt................................................... mV

milliwatt.................................................. mW

minimum (tables only)........................... min.

minute..................................................... min

molar.......................................................... M

mole......................................................... mol

mole percent........................................ mol %

molecular weight................................ mol wt

moles per liter (molar) .............................. M

month (tables only).................................. mo

municipal solid waste.......................... MSW

nano............................................................. n

nanogram................................................... ng

nanometer................................................. nm

nanosecond................................................ ns

newton........................................................ N

normal (concentration)................................ N

normal pressure and temperature........... NPT

nuclear magnetic resonance...... nmr or NMR

number...................................................... no.

oersted........................................................ oe

ohm............................................................. Ω

open-circuit voltage................................. V_oc

osmole................................................. osmol

ounce.......................................................... oz

ounce-foot.............................................. oz-ft

ounce-inch............................................ oz-in.

outside diameter

(see inside diameter)............................... OD

page(s)................................................... p(p).

parts per billion........................................ ppb

parts per million..................................... ppm

pascal......................................................... Pa

peak watt.................................................. W_p

per................................................................. /

percent........................................................ %

peta.............................................................. P

photovoltaics............................................ PV

pico.............................................................. p

post meridiem (after noon)....................... pm

pound.......................................................... lb

pound-foot.............................................. lb-ft

pound-inch............................................ lb-in.

pounds per cubic foot............................ lb/ft³

pounds per square foot............................ lb/ft²

pounds per square inch............................... psi

pounds per square inch absolute............... psia

pounds per square inch gauge.................. psig

public law................................................. P.L.

radian......................................................... rad

reference(s).......................................... Ref(s).

request for proposals................................ RFP

research and development...................... R&D

research, development,

and demonstration.............................. RD&D

revolutions per minute.............................. rpm

revolutions per second............................... rps

root-mean-square...................................... rms

safe operating procedure.......................... SOP

second (time)................................................. s

Section (reports)....................................... Sec.

Section (laws)................................................ §

short-circuit current..................................... I_sc

siemens............................................................ S

sievert ........................................................ Sv

simultaneous saccharification and

fermentation............................................. SSF

sine ........................................................ sin

solid (in chemical formula)........................... s

species (sing.)............................................. sp.

species (pl.)............................................... spp.

specific heat................................................ C_p

square centimeter...................................... cm²

square foot................................................... ft²

square inch................................................. in.²

square kilometer....................................... km²

square meter............................................... m²

square millimeter..................................... mm²

standard (tables only)................................ std.

standard cubic feet.................................... scf

standard temperature and pressure......... STP

steradian...................................................... sr

synthetic natural gas.............................. SNG

tangent...................................................... tan

temperature (tables only)...................... temp.

tera............................................................... T

tesla............................................................. T

thousand (used with money only)............... K

thousand (kilo)............................................. k

ton (metric)(10³ kg)*.................................... t

torr........................................................... torr

ultraviolet........................................ uv or UV

unit.............................................................. U

variety...................................................... var.

versus (tables only)................................... vs.

videlicet (namely).................................... viz.

volt.............................................................. V

volume percent..................................... vol %

volume per volume................................... v/v

watt............................................................ W

(peak) watt................................................ W_p

watt electric.............................................. W_e

watt-hour.................................................. Wh

watt thermal.............................................. W_t

weber....................................................... Wb

week.......................................................... wk

weight........................................................ wt

weight percent....................................... wt %

weight per weight................................... w/w

yard............................................................ yd

year............................................................. yr

APPENDIX D

DOG BREEDS

Affenpinscher
Afghan hound
Ainu
Airedale terrier
Akbash dog
Akita
Alaskan Klee Kai
Alaskan malamute
Alpine Dachsbracke
American black and tan coonhound
American bulldog
American Eskimo
American foxhound
American pit bull terrier
American Staffordshire terrier
American water spaniel
Anatolian shepherd
Anglo-Francais de Mayen Venerie
Anglo-Francais de Petite Venerie
Appenzeller
Ariegeois
Australian cattle dog
Australian kelpie
Australian shepherd
Australian terrier
Azawakh
Barbet
basenji
Basset Artesian Normand
Basset Bleu de Bascogne
Basset Fauve de Bretagne
basset hound
Bavarian mountain hound
beagle
bearded collie
Beauceron
Bedlington terrier
Belgian Malinois
Belgian shepherd dog
Belgian Tervuren
Berger de Picard
Berger de Pyrenees
Bernese mountain dog
bichon frise
Billy
black and tan coonhound
Black Forest hound
black mouth cur
Black Russian terrier
bloodhound
bluetick coonhound
Bolognese
border collie
border terrier
borzoi
Boston terrier
Bouvier des Flandres
boxer
Boykin spaniel
Bracco Italiano
Braque D’Auvergne
Braque du Bourbonnais
Braque Francais, de Grande Taille
Braque Francais, de Petite Taille
Braque Saint-Germain
briard
Briquet Griffon Vendeen
Brittany
Brussels griffon
bulldog
bull terrier
bullmastiff
Cairn terrier
Camus cur
Canaan dog
Canadian cur
Canadian Eskimo dog
Cao de Serra de Aires
Carolina dog
Caucasian.mountain dog
Cavalier King Charles spaniel
Cesky Fousck
Cesky terrier
Chart Polski
Chesapeake Bay retriever
Chien D’Artois
Chien Francais Blanc et Noir
Chien Francais Blanc et Orange
Chien Francais Tricolore
Chihuahua
Chinese crested
Chinese shar pei
Chinook
chow chow
Clumber spaniel
cockapoo
cocker spaniel
collie
Coton de Tulear
curly-coated retriever
dachshund
Dalmatian
Dandie Dinmont terrier
Danish Broholmer
Denmark feist
Deutsche Bracke
Deutscher Wachtelhund (German spaniel)
Doberman pinscher
Dogue de ·Bordeaux
Drentse Patrijshond
Drever
Dunker
Dutch shepherd
East Siberian Laika
English bulldog
English cocker spaniel
English coonhound
English foxhound
English pointer
English setter
English shepherd
English springer spaniel
English toy spaniel
Entlebucher
Epagneul Blue de Picardie
Epagneul Picard
Epagneul Pont-Audemer
Estonian hound
Estrela mountain dog
Eurasian
field spaniel
fila Brasileiro
Finnish hound
Finnish lapphund
Finnish spitz
flat-coated retriever
French bulldog
French spaniel (Epagneul Francais)
German longhaired pointer
German pinscher
German shepherd dog
German shorthaired pointer
German wirehaired pointer
giant schnauzer
Glen of Imaal terrier
golden retriever
Gordon setter
Grand Anglo-Francais
Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen
Grand Bleu de Gascogne
Grand Gascon-Saintongeoi s
Grand Griffon Vendeen
Great Dane
Great Pyrenees (plural is the same)
Greater Swiss mountain dog
Greenland dog
greyhound
Griffon Fauve de Bretagne
Griffon Nivernais
Hamiltonstovare
Hanoverian hound
harrier
Havanese
Hovawart
Ibizan hound
Iceland dog
Irish red and white setter
Irish setter
Irish terrier
Irish water spaniel
Irish wolfhound
Istrian Gonic
Italian greyhound
Jack Russell terrier
Jagdterrier
Japanese chin (plural is the same)
Jindo
Kai
Kangal dog
Karelian bear dog
keeshond (plural is keeshonden)
Kemmer Stock cur
Kerry blue terrier
komondor (plural is komondorok)
Kooikerhondje
Krasky Ovcar
Kromfohrländer
Kuvasz (plural is Kuvaszok)
Labrador retriever
Lagotto Romagnolo
Lakeland terrier
leonberger
leopard cur
Lhasa apso (plural is Lhasa apsos)
Louisiana Catahoula leopard dog
Lowchen
Lundehund
Maltese (plural is the same)
Manchester Terrier
Maremma sheepdog
mastiff
miniature bull terrier
miniature pinscher
miniature schnauzer
Mudi
Mullin’s feist
Munsterlander, Large
Munsterlander, Small
Neapolitan Mastiff
New Guinea singing dog
Newfoundland
Norrbettenspets
Norfolk terrier
Norwegian buhund
Norwegian elkhound
Norwich terrier
Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever
Old Danish bird dog
Old English sheepdog
otter hound
Owczarek Podalanski
papillon
Patterdale·terrier
Pekingese (plural is the same)
Perdiguero de Burgos
Perdiguero Navarro
Perro de Presa Canario
Peruvian Inca Orchid
Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen
Petit Blue de Gascogne
Petit Gascon-Saintongeois
Petit Griffon bleu de Gascogne
pharaoh hound
Pit bull terrier
Plott hound
Podengo Pequeno
Podengo Portuguese Medio
pointer
Poitevin
Polish hound
Polish Lowland sheepdog
Polski Owczarek Nizinny
Pomeranian
poodle
Porcelaine
Portuguese pointer (Perdigueiro Portugueso)
Portuguese water dog
Pudelpointer
pug
puli
Pumi
rat terrier
redbone coonhound
Rhodesian ridgeback
rottweiler
Russo-European Laika
Saint Bernard
saluki
Samoyed
Sarplaninac
Schapendoes
schipperke
Scottish deerhound
Scottish terrier
Sealyham terrier
Shetland sheepdog (do not say “Sheltie”)
Shiba Inu
shih tzu (plural is the same)
Siberian husky
Silky terrier
Skye terrier
Sloughi
Slovak Cuvac
smooth fox terrier
soft-coated wheaten terrier
South Russian Ovcharka
Southern blackmouth cur
Spanish hound, large (Sabueso Espanol de Monte)
Spanish hound, small (Sabueso Espanol Lebero)
Spanish mastiff
Spinone Italiano
Stabyhoun
Staffordshire bull terrier
standard schnauzer
Stephen’s cur
stumpy tail cattle dog
Sussex spaniel
Swedish Lapphund
Swedish Vallhund
Teddy Roosevelt terrier
Thai ridgeback
Thornburg feist
Tibetan mastiff
Tibetan spaniel
Tibetan terrier
Tosa Ken
toy fox terrier
treeing cur
treeing feist
Treeing Tennessee brindle
Treeing Walker coonhound
vizsla
Weimaraner
Welsh corgi, Cardigan
Welsh corgi, Pembroke
Welsh springer spaniel
Welsh terrier
West Highland white terrier (do not say “Westie”)
West Siberian Laika
whippet
White shepherd
wirehaired fox terrier
wirehaired pointing griffon
Xoloitzcuintli
Yorkshire terrier

APPENDIX E

PROFESSIONAL TITLES

BScPhm	Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy
BS	Bachelor of Science
BVMS	Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery
BVSc	Bachelor of Veterinary Science
CertSAO	Certificate in Small Animal Orthopaedics
CertVA	Certificate in Veterinary Anesthesia
CertVOphthal	Certificate in Veterinary Ophthalmology
CFP	Certified Financial Planner
CLU	Chartered Life Underwriter
CPA	Certified Public Accountant
CVPM	Certified Veterinary Practice Manager
CVT	Certified Veterinary Technician
DABVP	Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners
DACAW	Diplomate of the American College of Animal Welfare
DACVAA	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia
DACVB	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
DACVCP	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology
DACVM	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists
DACVP	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pharmacists
DACVD	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Dermatology
DACVECC	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care
DACVIM	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine
DACVR	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Radiology
DACVS	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons
DACVSMR	Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation
DAVDC	Diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College
DACZM	Diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine
DSAO	Diploma in Small Animal Orthopaedics
DVM	Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
DMV	Doctorat en Médecine Vétérinaire
FRCVS	Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons [UK]
JD	Juris Doctor (doctor of law)
LVT	Licensed Veterinary Technician
MBA	Master of Business Administration
MEd	Master of Education
MHA	Master of Health Administration
MPH	Master of Public Health
MRCVS	Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons [UK]
MS	Master of Science
PharmD	Doctor of Pharmacy
PhD	Philosophiae Doctor (doctor of philosophy)
RVT	Registered Veterinary Technician
VetMB	Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine [University of Cambridge]
VMD	Veterinariae Medicinae Doctoris/Veterinary Medical Doctor [U Penn and Canada]

APPENDIX F

TITLE CASE CHEAT SHEET

General Rules

Native online material and marketing pieces are sentence case (first word and proper nouns are capitalized; rest of title is lowercase).
Print material uses title case (all nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are uppercase; all conjunctions and prepositions [fewer than five letters] are lowercase).
Capitalize the first and last words in a title, unless it should be lowercase for scientific accuracy, e.g., gene, species name, miRNA, mRNA
Capitalize the first word after a colon, hyphen, or dash in a title.
Capitalize prepositions when they compose part of a Latin expression used adjectivally or adverbially (De Facto, In Vitro, In Utero, In Vivo, ) and italicize the phrase if it’s italicized consistently in the body text.
Capitalize words preceded by a symbol or number: α-Interferon, 5-Hydroxytryptamine.
Lowercase the articles the, a, and an.
Lowercase all types of conjunctions fewer than five letters, including and, but, for, or, yet, so, and nor.
Lowercase the word “to” in infinitives (a verb with the word “to” in front of it).
Lowercase the part of a proper name that would be lowercased in text, such as de or von.
Capitalize prepositions when they are five or more letters. Also capitalize when prepositions are used adverbially or adjectivally or are infinitive markers (up in to Look Up, down in to Turn Down, on in the On Button, to in Come To, etc.).
Lowercase the second word in species names, such as Homo (genus) sapiens (species), even if it is the last word in a title, and italicize the phrase. If in doubt, leave as the author provided.
Check the Oxford Learner's Dictionaries (many plain English examples) if you are not certain.

AAHA Examples

Seminal Vesiculitis in Three Pet Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) | JAAHA article

This Is How You Do It: Compliance Strategies for Men Versus Women | conference proceeding

Lowercase (unless the first or last words of the title, DO NOT capitalize)

amid

and

anti

as, if conjunction, preposition

but

for

from

into

like, preposition

mRNA, miRNA

nor

off

on, if preposition

onto

over

past, if preposition (to or on the further side of.

“he rode on past the crossroads”) per

plus

save

than

that, if conjunction

the

to, including infinitive use

until

up, if preposition

upon

via

when, if conjunction

with

yet

Capitalize

Aboard

About

Above

Across

After, if adverb, adjective, or preposition

Against

All

Along

Although

Among

Around

Are

As, if adverb, pronoun

Because

Been

Before, if adverb, adjective, preposition

Behind

Being

Below, if adverb, preposition

Beneath

Beside

Besides

Between

Beyond

Both

Can

Carry On

Circa

Concerning

Considering

Could

Did

De Novo

Despite

Does

Done

Down

Due, Due to (adjective, adverb, noun)

During

Except

Excepting

Excluding

Follow Up

Following

Had

Has

Have

How

In Vitro

In Vivo

Including

Inside

It’s

-Like (adjective combining form)

Look Up

May

Might

Minus

Must

Near

Not

One

Opposite

Outside

Past, if adverb (to pass from one side of something to the other. "large fish swim past")

Regarding

Round

Since

Shall

Should

Take Off

Take On

That

Their

Them

These

This

Those

Through

Too

Toward(s)

Turn Down

Under

Underneath

Unlike

Versus

Was

Were

When, if adverb, noun, pronoun

Which

While, if transitive verb, noun, conjunction

Who

Will

Within

Without

Would

APPENDIX G

PERMISSIONS GUIDE

It’s important to begin requesting permission from the copyright holders of the material as soon as you possibly can.

Obtaining permissions can take a long time, so get an early start. Missing permissions will delay publication, so, at the very least, you should have all permissions requests submitted before you send your first draft to production, and you should include copies of these requests.

Keep copies of all permissions for your records and submit them to production.

WHAT REQUIRES PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE?

Poetry and song lyrics of any length. Such permissions are often hard to get or expensive. We recommend that you do not include such material in your book unless absolutely necessary.
Fiction, drama, and letters. You must obtain permission to reprint any portion of these. Some copyright holders of fiction are extremely vigilant about reproduction of their works.
Photos and artwork. Be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder and that you correctly determine who that is. The person or institution who holds the physical photo is not always the copyright holder. Artwork such as tables, figures, and graphs may not require permission if you are reprinting a few works from a single source, as long as you provide the source. However, if you are reproducing many tables or figures from a single source, or tables or figures that are elaborate (in which case the arrangement of the material has special value), permission should be obtained.
Personal photos. A signed release should be obtained from all individuals appearing in photos used in your book.
Consent forms must be obtained from interviewees if you are quoting long passages (more than a few paragraphs) or if the content might be considered controversial; the interviewee should know that her words will be published and sold throughout the world, and she must give written consent for that. Short, noncontroversial quotations do not require permission, but you should provide a note explaining the source (or, in some cases, you might briefly explain the circumstances of the interview within the text). If you are quoting portions of an interview with a person to whom you have promised anonymity, you must still get their written consent; you can submit the consent to the publisher or provide a letter in which you attest to your possession of the consents.
There is no legally mandated number of words that can be quoted without permission (i.e., considered fair use). If you use more than one quotation from a single source, you should add together the number of words in each quote. If the total for all quotations from one source (not per quotation) constitutes a significant portion of the original work, you must get permission; 500 words is a good rule of thumb but is not absolute. The Chicago Manual of Style offers some guidelines on whether your quotation is fair use:
- How significant a portion of the original work are you using? Quoting 1,000 words from a 5,000-word article is less acceptable than quoting 1,000 words from a 50,000-word article.
- How significant a portion of your work does the quotation constitute? The quoted material should not begin to “overshadow” your own material, and you should not over-quote to avoid drafting an argument yourself.
- Would the use have an effect on the potential market for, or value of, the original work?
- If the quotation itself is the subject of your work, and is not being used to support your argument or replace what you might write yourself, your use might be considered fair use, but you should be very conservative in this approach.
Unpublished material. Guidelines for fair use are even stricter for unpublished material than for published material. Unpublished material is protected whether its copyright has been registered or includes the copyright symbol. Anonymous or works for hire are protected until 120 years from date of creation. Unpublished works written before 1978 by a named author are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years and in no case will have expired before December 31, 2002.
Web-based material. Do not assume that illustrations or other material you find on a website can be freely downloaded and used. Copyrighted works on the internet include news stories, software, novels, screenplays, graphics, pictures, Usenet messages, and email. If you are considering using material that is under a Creative Commons license, be sure to check the creator’s licensing conditions, which can limit commercial reuse.
Contributions toward an edited volume. If you are the editor of a collected volume, your editor should send you release forms for each contributor to sign. This form can be obtained from your editor.
For an additional discussion of fair use, see org/fair-use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education

Several types of material don’t require permission:

Material in the public domain. Material that has been copyrighted for more than 95 years is considered to be in the public domain in the United States. Work that has been created before 1978 but not published is considered to be in the public domain 70 years after the death of the author, but in no case will copyright have expired earlier than December 31, 2002. However, copyright laws vary from country to country, and your book may be marketed abroad. In the United Kingdom and many other countries, an author’s work is copyrighted for 50 years after his/her death. See the website of the US Copyright Office for details. See also Cornell University's copyright guide for a useful overview of types of material in the public domain, as well as the Chicago Manual of Style. You should thoroughly research the copyright status of any book you believe to be in the public domain, unless it is so old (say, before 1850) that it could not possibly be copyrighted in any country.
Some material is always in the public domain and never copyrighted (e.g., works of the US government). Note that works funded by but not created by the U.S. government are likely not in the public domain and that state and local governments (unlike the federal government) can choose to copyright their works.

HOW TO OBTAIN PERMISSION

Determine the Copyright Holder

You must request permission from the copyright holder. Check the copyright page of the source from which you are quoting. If the publisher holds the copyright, write to their Rights/Permissions Department. If they cannot give you permission to reprint, they will tell you who holds the rights and where to contact them.

If you have questions about whether a work is copyrighted or who holds copyright, you may search the digital records of the US Copyright Office: cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First (1978 to present). Otherwise, you may contact the Copyright Office, and it will research the matter. It will charge a fee for this service but will send you an estimate before proceeding: Copyright Office, Reference and Bibliography Section, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20559.

Note: If the author is deceased or the publisher has gone out of business, the work may still be copyrighted. You must determine copyright status by contacting the Copyright Office.

Write a Request for Permission

The sample letter at the end of this appendix shows what information to include in your request. If sending via mail, you might also enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope to expedite the reply.

Send Granted Permissions to Production

Label permissions clearly (e.g., write “Permission for Figure 4.1” in the top right corner). Keep copies for your files. Be sure to include the credit lines that each grantor has specified.

Pay Any Permissions Fees

Permission grantors may request fees; paying such fees is usually the responsibility of the author. These fees can vary based on print run, use of material, and end format. If the grantor denies use for a particular format (e.g., electronic publication), in your permissions log, note this restriction. As a condition of granting permission to reproduce a work of art, some sources—museums, for example—may request a color proof of the piece; be sure to alert production of any specific requirements.

Incorporate Credit Lines into Your Manuscript

You must include a credit line acknowledging the source of the material in your permissions log and in the text. If the letter granting you permission to reprint requires a specific credit line, you must follow it exactly. Credit lines should appear at the end of your acknowledgments section. Credit lines for photos may appear at the end of the relevant captions. Credit lines for tables may appear in a source note at the bottom of the table.

WHAT IF I DON’T HEAR BACK FROM THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER?

You may use material for which you haven’t received permission if you can demonstrate that you have made a good-faith effort to contact the copyright holder and the copyright holder has not responded. You should have copies of several letters requesting permission, receipts from any guaranteed delivery services you may have used (either from the US Postal Service or a private company like UPS), information on your efforts to track down the copyright holder (if, e.g., the first publishing company you contacted directed you to another), and evidence that you gave the copyright holder enough time to respond (e.g., letters spanning several months).

SAMPLE LETTER REQUESTING PERMISSION TO REPRINT

Dear Editor:

I am writing to request permission to reprint the following material from your publication: [Author, title, date of publication, pages on which material appears or other identifying information].

This material is to appear as [originally published or with changes as noted] in the following work to be published by the American Animal Hospital Association: [Author/Editor, Title].

This work is scheduled to be published in [month/year]. I am requesting nonexclusive world rights in all languages in paper and electronic formats.

Unless you indicate otherwise, the following credit line will appear in the book: [credit line].

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to a timely response.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Appendix H

AAHA Online Style Guide Additions

The AAHA Style Guide rules apply to online content. These are exceptions and additions to the AAHA Style Guide specific to online content.

CAPITALIZATION

Page head, box head, and other titles: Sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized)

About our accreditation
Information for sponsors
Connexity to be held in Denver

LINKS

Links need to clearly display where they are leading. DO NOT hyperlink terms like “click here.”

RIGHT: Read the AAHA Pet Food Handling Position Statement.

WRONG: Read the AAHA Pet Food Handling Position Statement here.

DO NOT include punctuation marks in links.

EXCEPTION: Question marks can be included in links if necessary

DO NOT link entire sentences.

DO NOT underline any word that is not a link.

DO NOT spell out complete URL for links. Omit http:// and www. from URLs.

RIGHT: Visit AAHA’s website for more information.

RIGHT: Visit aaha.org for more information.

WRONG: Visit http://www.aaha.org for more information.

WRONG: Visit www.aaha.org for more information.

Any hyperlink that leaves AAHA’s site should open in a new window.

When URLs must be spelled out, lowercase, and use underscores (_) in place of spaces.

Visit my_account.aspx to update your information.

MULTIMEDIA

Each online page/article should have the goal of including at least one multimedia element (photo, video, etc.).

All images should have a description for SEO.

Embedded YouTube videos should not show related videos. When embedding a video from YouTube, uncheck the “show related videos” box before copying the code. Alternately, add “?rel=o” directly after the embed code.

READING LEVEL

Online content should be written at an eighth grade reading level.

Each page/article should include META tags and keywords.

All images should include a description (alt tag).

MISC. STYLE COMPONENTS

Use “and” NOT “&”

EXCEPTION: Book titles can use &

All paragraphs should be block. DO NOT indent the first sentence.

DO NOT use a custom font or text size—choose from the predetermined styles available in our CMS (H1, H2, Paragraph, etc.).

All headers and body copy should be left aligned. Avoid centering or justifying text.

Avoid headers longer than one or two lines.

Appendix I

Trends magazine/Custom Content Style Guide Additions

The AAHA Style Guide rules apply to Trends magazine. These are exceptions and additions to the AAHA Style Guide specific to Trends magazine content.

BOXES

Style Heading Like Side Bars (title case)

CONTINUED LINES

Use continued lines when a story jumps past the following page or following spread. If a story breaks on page 20 (left-hand page) and continues on 22 or 23, use “continued” to help reader navigate. If a story breaks on page 21 (right-hand page) and continues on page 22 or 23, no “continued” line is needed, since we can trust the reader to turn one page.

DEPARTMENT NAMES

Client Centric
Connected Care
Culture in Practice
Feline Friendly
Get Smart
Health and Wellness
Home Team
In My Experience
Infographic
Inside AAHA
Legal Ease
Money Matters
Notebook
Pain Management Case Study
Practice Design
Reach Out
Tech Support

DESIGN

Boxes—Style Heading Like Side Bars (title case)

Column lengths—Even column lengths are desirable as time/priorities allow. Designers will adjust line spacing within reason. Editors may mark places designers miss; or, if reasonable line spacing won’t fix the problem, editors may rewrite copy to avoid jagged bottoms.

Indents—Every paragraph is indented except for the first paragraph of feature and department articles (which begin with a drop cap), and the first paragraph under a heading. All paragraphs are left-aligned. No indent in Q&As in Notebook.

No manual hyphen should be inserted between words in a URL or email address.

Line-end hyphens—In laid-out Trends, allow only two line-end hyphens in a row.

Side Bars—Titles Are Title Case.

Widows and orphans—Undesirable as time/priorities allow. Designers will try to avoid them. Editors may mark them and, if it doesn’t appear that kerning will work, editors may rewrite copy to avoid widows and orphans.

INTERVIEW FORMATTING

Use boldface for interviewer/interviewee and follow with a colon. The interviewer/interviewee should be identified once in full on the first mention, but may be abbreviated to initials thereafter with no periods. For example:

Trends: How do you celebrate your accreditation?

Russ Wilkinson: We love to post AAHA images on our Facebook page!

Trends: That sounds great!

RW: It sure is.

TITLES

Book and magazine titles are italicized. Article titles are placed in quotation marks. For books, include publisher and copyright year in parentheses, separated by a comma.

The Source, by Chelsea Baker-Hauck (Houghton-Mifflin, 1998).

If the source is a newsstand or trade magazine, follow the author with a comma and the italicized source, followed by publication month and year.

“How to Create an Isolation Ward,” by Jennifer Merchant, Trends magazine, December 2019.

If the source is a journal, follow the author with a comma and the italicized source name, followed by the volume and number, and then the URL (if the journal is published online).

“Daybreak as a Shakespearean Trope,” by Laurie Selkie, Journal of Shakespearean Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2, william.org.

Appendix J

About this Style Guide

Created April 2017, Updated May 2020

AAHA style is based on an amalgamation of several style references:

Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition
American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style
Merriam-Webster
Dorland’s Medical Dictionary
Stedman’s Medical Dictionary (28th Edition), if Dorland’s is unhelpful

This style guide is updated frequently. If you have any questions, please ask a member of the Style Committee (Karie, Laura, and Cara) for clarification or email [email protected].