Editing Principles

Acronyms

Site names and organizations – the long format is to be used in the first instance with the acronym in parentheses, for example:
Southern Health-Santé Sud (SH-SS)
Boundary Trails Health Centre (BTHC)
Bethesda Regional Health Centre (BRHC)
Portage Regional Health Centre (PRHC)

Bullets

use to delineate listing of points, typically more than three lines
left-aligned whenever possible
when used listing full sentences – use a capital on first word and period at end of each bullet
when used listing short phrases – no capital on first word, exception if a proper name, place or organization and no punctuation at the end of each bullet

Capitalization

English

Titles or program names utilized in a general sense (within a document/article) do not have capitals (for example: Clients benefit from the home care program.)
The word ‘region’ used in a general sense does not require a capital
Use capitals when referencing:
- Governing Board
- Board
- Board Members

French

Titles or program names utilized in a general sense (within a document/article) do not have capitals (for example: Les clients ont profité du programme de soins à domicile.)
The word ‘région’ used in a general sense does not require a capital
Use capitals when referencing:
- Conseil d’administration
- Conseil
- Membre du conseil

Language Settings

English

Use Canadian English vs American English
(for example behaviour, labour, centre – vs. behavior, labor center)

French

Use French Canadian vs. France

Number Formats

English

$1 000.50
0.2%
100 000

French

1 000,50 $
0,2 %
100 000

Punctuation

English

Colon & Semi-colon
two spaces after colon or semi-colon

Period
only one space between the period and the next sentence.

Comma
do not use a comma before ‘and’ or ‘or’
Example: I want to choose blue, red and green.

Ellipse (…)
No space before… and one space after

Quotation Marks
use “double quotation marks” or ‘single’ for emphasis or within a double quote phrase

French

Colon & Semi-colon
only one space before and after a colon or semi-colon

Period
only one space between the period and the next sentence.

Comma
do not use a comma before ‘et’ or ‘ou’
Example: Je veux choisir bleu, rouge et vert.

Ellipse (…)
No space before… and one space after

Quotation Marks
« double French quotation marks » with one space before the first word and one space after the last word or punctuation

Always reference the Stationery Buddy to ensure consistency re. naming conventions, for example – titles, site, program and service names; address layout, etc.

Editing Principles

Resources