CAOT Style Guide

The CAOT Style Guide will help you write for the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy (CJOT) and Occupational Therapy Now (OT Now) and help to assist us with maintaining a consistent style for our publications.

You should also refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition), used for CJOT and OT Now. The Canadian Press Handbook (12th Edition) is a reference for OT Now. 

The style guide is organized in the following subject headings:

1.  Copyright
2.  Language
3.  Punctuation
4.  References
5.  Spelling
6.  Tables and figures
7.  Internet references

1.  COPYRIGHT

• Authors of papers published in OT Now are required to assign copyright to CAOT Publications ACE.
• Copyright for CJOT paper remain with the author.

2. LANGUAGE

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
(Abbreviations pronounced as words)

• Use these sparingly. 
    For CJOT in all circumstances other than in the reference list and in the abstract (which should not have any abbreviations), you must decide whether to spell out the given expression each time it is used throughout the text, or whether to spell it out initially with the abbreviation in parenthesis immediately following, and then abbreviate further.
    Do not use acronyms or abbreviations except for ones that are commonly accepted.
    In OT Now, spell out the expression when it first appears, followed immediately by the abbreviation in parentheses. Use the abbreviated form thereafter.
• Unless the abbreviated form spells a word; for example, United States (U.S.) do not use periods in the abbreviation; for example Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM).
• Do not abbreviate occupational therapy or occupational therapist. There are occasional exceptions in promotional materials such as fact sheets or pamphlets.
• Canada Post abbreviations for the provinces are preferred. AB for Alberta, QC for Quebec, BC for British Columbia.

AMPERSAND (&)

• Do not use in the body of the text.
• Do not use in headlines.
• Use in bylines for OT Now.
• When referencing a text in OT Now or CJOT, use when two or more authors are cited in the text in parenthesis, and when listing the authors in the reference list. For example, (Smith & Smith, 2003) or Smith, A. & Smith, B., 2003).

ACADEMIC TITLES

• Degrees are placed after the name and should be listed from the highest level down.
• Eliminate punctuation in the degree designation but place a comma between each category.
• Do not combine one academic title with another, within the same punctuation, or academic and professional titles; for example, write Mary Smith, BScOT, OT(C ) or Jeanne Sauvé, BScOT, Erg(C).
• Do not use an academic title before and after a name; for example, either Dr. Mary Smith or Mary Smith, PhD.
• When writing out a degree in full, the apostrophe ‘s’ is used depending on context; for example, Bachelor of Science but Master’s in Education.

ACCORDING TO

• Avoid in attributions, if it seems to cast doubt on the source’s credibility.

AFFECT, EFFECT

• Affect as a verb means to influence, to produce an effect on. Effect as a noun means result, outcome, or general intent.  Effect as a verb means to bring about, to accomplish, to cause or produce.

AS, LIKE

• As introduces clauses: It works on gravel surfaces as an all-terrain wheelchair should.  Like introduces a noun or pronoun not directly followed by a verb: He drives like a skilled pilot.

ASSESSMENT, EVALUATION

• Assessment refers to specific tools or instruments used in evaluation. Evaluation refers to the whole process and the need for intervention.

AMONG, BETWEEN

• Between is a preposition and takes an object, and has two to consider. Among considers several (more than two).

CLICHÉS

• Avoid using them.

CITE, SITE

• Cite means to quote or mention as an example.  Site means ground on which a building stands or where an event took place.

COMPLEMENT, COMPLIMENT

• Complement denotes completeness and applies to things that complete, reinforce or supplement another thing or each other.
• Compliment applies to expressions of praise or courtesy.
• Complimentary means given free of charge.

COMPARE TO, COMPARE WITH

• Compare to means to show similarities and differences between unlike kinds.  Compare with means to show similarities and differences between like kinds.

CONFIDANT, CONFIDENT

• Confidant is a person who is trusted. Confident is an adjective meaning with confidence.

DATA

• This is always plural and therefore takes plural verbs and pronouns. When not reporting statistics, consider substituting information, facts, or figures.

DATES, TIMES AND SEASONS

• Give the day of the week as well as the date, the exact time is not necessary.
• Use figures except for noon or midnight.
• Avoid redundancies such as 12 p.m. noon or 12 a.m. midnight, 8 p.m. Monday night.
• Listing the figure with a.m. or p.m. (7 a.m.) is preferred to 7 o’clock in the morning.
• At times (such as in the CJOT Conference Program Supplement), a.m. and p.m. may be written as am and pm for ease of reading.
• Lower-case the seasons.

DISCREET, DISCRETE

• Discreet means prudent, judicious tactful.  Discrete means individually distinct.

ENSURE, INSURE

• Ensure means to make sure or to guarantee. Insure means to assure against loss, to underwrite as insurance.

FARTHER, FURTHER

• Farther denotes physical distance. Further is used for anything else.

FEWER, LESS

• Fewer is used with plural, e.g. fewer bills. Less is used with singulars,
  e.g. less sugar.

JARGON

• When writing for audiences outside the occupational therapy profession use jargon with care. When it is necessary, provide an explanation. If the explanation comes first all the better. Where there is a choice, choose the everyday word. For example: An extended handle on a back brush, a non-slip bath mat, and a properly installed grab bar in the bathtub are just a few of the assistive devices (jargon placed after) occupational therapists recommend for seniors who want to manage on their own, but safely in the bathroom.

NAMES

• In academic and scientific publishing, as in CJOT, first names are not used.
• In OT Now, for very informal articles the first and second names are used the first time, and then the first name is preferred to the last in any subsequent mention. The exception is individuals with titles such as Governor General, members of parliament, municipal council, etc.

NUMBERS
When to use figures …

• For numbers 10 and above.
• For numbers below 10 that are grouped for comparison with numbers 10 and above.
• For measurements of time, points on a scale, exact sums of money, and for dates and ages.
• For numbers in a scientific abstract.
• In monetary units preceded by a symbol, e.g. $2 (not $2.00), $1 million (but one million people).
• When using telephone numbers, do not include a “1” before the area code, place area code in brackets and hyphenate the number. For example, (800) 434-2268, ext. 234.

When to use words …

• Use words to express numbers below 10.
• At the start of sentences and for common fractions.
• In casual usage. There were thousands of attendees.
• Do not use an apostrophe s to form the plurals of numbers; for example, sixes and sevens; 1980s; 10s and 20s.
• All references to physical measurements, where feasible, should be expressed in metric units.

POLITICALLY CORRECT LANGUAGE

• Texts should be free of any sexual or anti-social remarks and should avoid language with a bias against race or gender. Choice of terminology used to describe a person with a disability should reflect respect, protect dignity and should be free of stereotypes. For example, chairperson is the preferred term but use chairman or chairwomen if the gender is known and the individual is named or if the gender is known and the individual is named.
• When describing persons with disabilities, always put the person before the disability; for example, persons with traumatic brain injury, not traumatically brain-injured persons or  a brain injury person; a person with arthritis, not an arthritic person; a person with schizophrenia, not a schizophrenic, nor an alcoholic, diabetic, psychopath, etc.
• Language consistent with client-centred practice includes using the term intervention rather than treatment and client rather than patient. There are certain exceptions, such as a specific practice description, where the term patient may be used.

PRACTICE, PRACTISE

• Practice, noun, as in the practice of occupational therapy.  Practise, verb, as in occupational therapists practise in the community.

PRIOR TO

• Use "before".

PRINCIPLE, PRINCIPAL

• Principle means basic truth or rule, code of conduct.  Principal means chief, most important.

TRADE NAMES

• Use the generic term unless they make a point, or add colour or impact to a story.  For example, the doctor refused to prescribe Prozac. She uses cotton swabs (vs. Q-Tips) to apply the glue.

3. PUNCTUATION

COMMAS

• For formal writing such as in CJOT, a comma is necessary in a succession of items.; for example, “The study examined the impact of the environment, spirituality, and ethnicity. For more informal writing, such as in OT Now, it is not necessary to include a comma before the word ‘and’. For example, "You can order your car in red, green or blue.”

EXCLAMATION MARK

• Do not overuse this. Use it to express great surprise, commands, deep emotion, emphasis and sarcasm. Do not use it to end a mildly exclamatory sentence.
• Put an exclamation mark inside quotation marks when it is part of the quoted material, outside when it is not; for example, “That’s unprofessional!” a student shouted in debate. Imagine calling a practising therapist “unprofessional”!

HYPHENS

• Most words formed with prefixes do not require a hyphen; for example, retest, antisocial, posttest, underdeveloped, coworker, coordinator.
• The hyphen is used to connect compound words; for example, client-centred, left-handed, part-time.
• Do not hyphenate compounds used with "tele", e.g. telehealth, teleoccupational therapy.
• Prefixed words requiring hyphens include words that could be misread or misunderstood re-pair (paired again), anti-intellectual.
• Some words are hyphenated when used as an adjective; for example, health-care workers, but not hyphenated when used as a noun; for example, health care is underfunded.
• All self-compounds, whether they are adjectives or nouns, are hyphenated; for example, self-care, self-help, self-report technique.
• When community-based or evidence-based is used as an adjective, hyphenate it.
• On-line and e-mail are hyphenated, but not web site.

ITALICS

• In CJOT, italics are not used for emphasis. They are used for items such as titles or key terms.

QUOTATION MARKS

• Incorporate a short quotation in text, and enclose in double quotation marks.
• Display a quotation of more than 40 words in a free-standing block (indent both from left and right) and omit the quotation marks.
• In OT Now, if a quotation is long identify the speaker at the beginning.
• Do not use to enclose titles, slogans, books or terms.
• Periods and commas always go inside closing quote marks; colons and
  semi-colons outside.
• The question mark and exclamation mark go inside the quote marks when they apply to the quoted matter only; outside when they apply to the entire sentence. [See above]
• In all texts, material directly quoted should be reproduced word for word.

SEMICOLON

• Use this sparingly.
• Use to separate statements too closely related to stand as separate sentences.
• Use to separate phrases that contain commas.
• Use to separate items in bulleted or numbered lists when they contain a comma.

4. REFERENCES

• In CJOT and OT Now, authors bear responsibility for referencing all material used from other sources and for the completeness and accuracy of these references. They should be presented following APA style as outlined in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition, 2009).
• CAOT Publications ACE is the official bilingual name of the Association’s publishing department.

5. SPELLING

ACCENTS

• Use accents on French capitals

CAPITALIZATION
Capitalize:

• Major words in titles of publications and the titles of books and articles that are cited in the body of the text (see references under “R”).
• Both words in a hyphenated compound if the first word is capitalized (Client-Centred).
• Names of university departments or hospital departments if they refer to a specific department; for example, Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta; the Occupational Therapy Department, Royal Victoria Hospital, but a university occupational therapy department.
• Complete titles of published and unpublished tests and assessment tools; for example, Canadian Occupational Performance Measure.
• Complete titles of models; for example, the Occupational Performance Process Model
• Adjectives derived from the names of people and places; for example, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimers disease, Spanish flu.
• Association titles; for example, President, Board Director, Executive Director, National Office and CAOT Conference
• Only capitalize the first word in French titles; for example, Association candienne des ergothérapeutes.
• The word "Internet".

DICTIONARY

• CAOT Publications ACE uses the Canadian Concise Oxford Dictionary style of spelling; for example, behaviour, colour, program, organization, and centre.
• This spelling style is used consistently, except when an alternative style is used in an already published title or established heading

6. TABLES AND FIGURES

• Tables and figures should only be used to supplement, not duplicate the text. When submitting a paper, indicate their placement in the body of the paper, citing in numerical order.  Each table should be presented on a separate page with an accompanying title, and follow APA style.

7. INTERNET REFERENCES

University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre
http://www.hswriting.ca/

Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/

A Way with Words and Images. (2002). Guidelines for the portrayal of persons with disabilities.
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/gateways/topics/pyp-pup.shtml

Back to the CJOT Author's Guidelines

Back to the OT Now Author's Guidelines