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Acronyms. Spell them out the first time.
Ampersands. Do not use these in the main text or headings. It is fine to use them in menus, if you need to save space.
Capitals. Do not use all capitals for emphasis or in headings.
Data. Treat as singular (“Data is…”). (Whether “data” is singular or plural is contentious - see the Wikipedia article and this Guardian article.)
Dates. Use Wednesday 7 July 2021 (not Wednesday 7th July 2021, or other variations).
Datasets. Not “data sets”.
Email. Not “e-mail”.
Email addresses. Spell these out and make the email address the link, e.g. fairservicedesk@health-ri.nl. Do not hide the email address behind a word or phrase like “contact us”.
E.g. Use a comma, colon, or dash before e.g. and i.e., but no comma after them. If a footnote begins with them, they nevertheless remain in lower case. If a list begins with e.g. do not end it with etc.
Etc. Instead of etc. try using “for example” or “such as” or “including” at the start of a listing. If etc. is used, put a comma before it if it is in a list, like “A, B, etc.”. If a list begins with e.g. do not end it with etc.
FAIR Metroline. When referring to the FAIR Metroline, use a capital “M”. If possible, refer to it as FAIR Metroline and not as Metroline.
Gender. Avoid using gender-specific words like “he” or “she”.
Headings.
Only the first word is capitalised, unless other words are proper nouns.
Headings must be hierarchical. They must go down in order (level one, level two, level three) and not skip a level.
-ise/-ize. Use the “-ise” form.
Life cycle. Not “lifecycle”.
Links. Make the link text say where the link goes e.g. “the contribute page”, not “click here”. Avoid using the url as the link text.
Lists. The four basic types of list are illustrated below. In multi-level lists, follow the same rules for each level.
Lists of short items (without main verbs) should be introduced by a full sentence and have the following features:
introductory colon
no initial capitals
no punctuation (very short items) or comma after each item
a full stop at the end.
Where each item completes the introductory phrase, you should:
begin with the introductory colon;
label each item with the appropriate bullet, number or letter;
end each item with a semicolon;
close with a full stop.
If all items are complete statements without a grammatical link to the introductory phrase, proceed as follows:
introduce the list with a colon;
label each item with the appropriate bullet, number or letter;
start each item with a lower-case letter;
end each one with a semicolon;
put a full stop at the end.
If any one item consists of several complete sentences, announce the list with a main sentence and continue as indicated below.
Do not introduce the list with a colon.
Label each item with the appropriate bullet, number or letter.
Begin each item with a capital letter.
End each statement with a full stop. This allows several sentences to be included under a single item without throwing punctuation into confusion.
Numbers. Spell the numbers one to nine out. After that, write the numbers (10, 11, 12, 13, etc.).
Quotations. Use single quotation marks to signal direct speech and verbatim quotes, and double quotation marks for quotations within these.
References. Add references directly as a text with hyperlink, e.g. “According to FAIRifcation models, such as FAIRopoly, ”.
Run-in side heads. These are followed by a full stop not a colon. An example of a run-in side head is the start of this entry - “Run-in side heads.”
That/which. Use “that” when you are defining something and “which” when you are adding extra information about it e.g.:
“The cat that was on the table suddenly got up” is telling us which cat it was. It is important to the meaning of the sentence because you are not talking about any cat, just the cat on the table.
“The cat, which was sitting on the table, suddenly got up” is giving us extra information about the cat. The information is not necessary to understand the sentence. You can remove the clause and the sentence will still be clear. Clauses starting with “which” usually begin with a comma.
Titles (the “title” in the front matter of pages). Only the first word, proper nouns and acronyms are capitalised.
Training. Training is an uncountable noun and cannot have a plural. You can write “training courses” and “training materials” but not “trainings”.
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