Adhering to certain rules of formatting and punctuation, including conventions for style and grammar, helps us keep our content clear and consistent.
There are a lot of guidelines in this section – be sure to use the navigation menu on the left-hand side to help you find what you’re looking for.
Abbreviations and acronyms
Avoid using abbreviations and/or acronyms whenever possible (e.g., do not use CCDS externally when referring to the pan-Canadian Cancer Data Strategy).
When using an acronym, spell it out in the first citation and place the acronym in parentheses immediately or shortly after. An acronym can start a sentence as long as it has already been spelled out.
Cervical cancer is nearly always caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV primary screening is proven to be more effective than the Pap test.
Widely familiar abbreviations do not need to be preceded by the full name (e.g., CBC, RCMP). The same applies for terms known primarily by initials (e.g., DNA, HTML, URL, CT, MRI).
Ampersand (&)
Do not use an ampersand (&) unless it’s part of a proper name (e.g., H&M, A&W Canada, etc.).
Bold, italics and underline
In general, refrain from using bold, italics and underline for emphasis or style.
Use italics for:
- Legislation: the Canada Health Act
- For words or terms being defined, first mention only: The term scope of practice refers to the “who does what” in health professions.
- Titles of books, reports, presentations, products: see section on Product names.
- Note: Headings or larger font text in callout boxes do not get italicized. E.g., If “Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control” is used as a heading, it does not need to be italicized.
Commas
CPAC follows Canadian Press Style for serial commas (also known as the Oxford comma). Generally, this means that there is no comma before the “and” and the last item in a list.
eggs, milk and butter
eggs, milk, and butter
The palliative care competency framework is a curriculum guide and reference manual for nurses, physicians, social workers, personal support workers and volunteers.
The serial comma is only used where it is needed to help clarify the text.
I admire my parents, Tommy Douglas, and Céline Dion.
In the example above, the serial comma clarifies that the person admires four separate individuals.
The serial comma can also be used to clarify a phrase that functions as the final item in a list.
Convened in Halifax by the Partnership, the summit brought together decision-makers, healthcare professionals, patients, community and equity partners, and other change agents in the health system from across Canada.
Headings and sub-headings
Use sentence case in all our headlines, titles, etc. That is, capitalize the first word of each individual sentence, as well as any proper names.
For sub-headings, if it’s a complete sentence, use a period. If it’s a fragment, do not use a period.
Heading: Celebrating First Nations, Inuit and Métis cancer care progress in Canada
Sub-heading: Sharing outcomes and lessons from six years of action on Peoples-specific, self-determined cancer priorities
Subtitles on the website (Topics, About Us, News)
If it’s a complete sentence, use a period. If it’s a fragment, do not use a period.
H1: Road to recovery: Cancer in the COVID-19 era
Subtitle: As COVID-19 continues to disrupt Canada’s cancer system, attention needs to be given to three key focus areas to boost system capacity and save lives.
Hyphenation and dashes
Hyphens are generally used to connect a two-word description.
two-week waiting period; two- to three-week waiting period
10-year plan
evidence-based benchmarks
24-hour delay
team-based care
Do not use hyphens for breaks within a sentence or in ranges of numbers, use dashes instead.
There are two main types of dashes: the en (–) and the em (—).
Use the en dash (–) to indicate a range of dates, fiscal years or values.
1978–1990
Sep–Dec
fiscal year 2023–24
2–8%
Use the en dash (–) for breaks within sentences, with a space before and after each dash.
She tended to overuse – yes, overuse – dashes for effect.
Use an em dash (—) to explain or emphasize.
Many people living with cancer live with the fear of the disease coming back — a persistent worry that can lead to anxiety, depression and other issues that significantly affect their well-being.
Lists, bullets
We use numbered lists only when the order of the items matters (a process or a hierarchy).
- Set best practices and standards for care delivery and promote their adoption.
- Eliminate low-benefit practices and adopt high-value practices.
- Design and implement new models of care.
If the bulleted items in a list are complete sentences, capitalize the first word at the beginning of each bullet and add a period at the end.
Highlights of partner-led initiatives include:
- Developing and implementing the first-ever organized colorectal cancer screening program for all regions in the Northwest Territories.
- Removing barriers to care for Métis people with cancer by offering support such as reimbursement of fuel costs and accommodation, and a healthy food allowance, through the Métis Nation–Saskatchewan Travel Assistance Pilot Program.
- The First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission supporting community-led cancer control projects such as the Cancer Info-Kit for First Nations of Quebec.
For simple bullet lists, use lowercase at the beginning of each bullet and no punctuation.
For this cake, you will need:
- milk
- eggs
- butter
Lists should be consistent and should not mix complete and incomplete sentences. If necessary, punctuate a mixed list.
Product names
Italics
Italicize names of titles of books, reports, presentations, and products (whether it’s PDF or digital).
- Do not italicize subpages of a digital product, just the title of the product.
- It is preferable to use italics rather than double quotes when referring to a product or project.
Physical activity and cancer in Canada supports Priority 1 of the Strategy.
The report Equity-focused interventions to increase colorectal cancer screening suggests strategies to improve screening rates.
Learn more: Road to recovery: Cancer in the COVID-19 era.
Use the Models of care toolkit.
Casing on Partnership products
Use sentence case on names of CPAC products. But if we refer to PDFs that use title case on the cover, we can then use title case.
Healthy eating and cancer in Canada was just released.
Casing on external products
For external products, copy whatever casing is used on the external document.
MN–S has published the Métis Patient Cancer Care Guidebook and Journal.
Provinces and territories
The Canadian Press Style’s abbreviations for provinces are as follows: Alta., B.C., Sask., Man., Ont., Que., N.B., N.S., P.E.I., Nfld., and N.W.T. Write out Yukon and Nunavut.
Write out all names in full in general text except for B.C. and P.E.I., which can be used at your own discretion. In text, refer to Yukon and Northwest Territories.
In figures and tables, use the following acronyms: BC, AB, MB, SK, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL, NU, NT, YT, CAN. No periods. Acronyms can be used at your discretion in footnotes and in general text where there are multiple references to jurisdictions.
When listing all the provinces and territories, list them in the most logical order according to the given context, but be consistent within the document. You may choose west to east, (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador), or alphabetical.
Quotation marks
Use quotation marks sparingly – to set off direct quotations or truly novel terms. For words or terms being defined, use quotation marks for the first mention only.
Use double quotation marks. Single quotation marks are used only for a quote within a quote and in news headlines when quotation marks are needed to enclose a quoted phrase or title of a work (e.g., song title).
Periods and commas go within quotation marks. Question or exclamation marks can go inside or outside, depending on the sentence.
While the term “cancer survivor” is used in some instances, to be more person-centred and inclusive, we use “people living with cancer.”
“Then the board chair said to me, ‘How do you know?’ and I had to say, ‘I don’t’.”
Colons and semicolons go outside quotation marks.
Spelling
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary is the standard reference for spelling.
