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Accessibility

1. Accessibility Standards WCAG Always aim to meet the latest WCAG double-A (AA) standards for publications. Reference: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/ Colour and Contrast WCAG 2.1 AA requires a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for standard text. Use the following tool for assistance: Venngage | Accessible color palette generator Return to the manual index.

    Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read
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    Spelling and Word Usage

    2. Spelling and Word Usage Regional Standard South African English is the default for spelling, lexical choices, and grammatical conventions. Spelling Conventions Use -ise rather than -ize. Retain British forms such as colour, harbour, and behaviour. Avoid Americanised variants. Naturalised Loanwords Words that have become established in English, such as café, naïve, fiancé, and schadenfreude, do not receive italics. Non-English Words in Prose All non-English words embedded in prose are italicised every time they appear. See also: Typography and Symbols → Bold and Italics.

      Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read
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      Typography and Symbols

      3. Typography and Symbols Dash and Hyphen Spacing Hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes never take surrounding spaces. Hyphen “-” ALT + 0045 / Unicode: U+002D Used for compound terms such as self-efficacy. The standard keyboard hyphen is acceptable. En Dash “–” ALT + 0150 / Unicode: U+2013 Used for ranges such as 5–10 km or 19th–20th century. Em Dash “—” ALT + 0151 / Unicode: U+2014 Used for emphatic parenthetical insertions and clause-level clarifications. Never spaced.

        Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read
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        Numbers

        4. Numbers, Dates, and Measurement Words vs Numerals Write out one through ten unless immediately followed by a unit or symbol. Examples: three participants; 5%; 10° Celsius; 3 pm. Percentages Always use the % sign with an Arabic numeral. Time Notation Use lowercase h, m, and s in 24-hour notation. Examples: 13h00; 13h21m48s. Avoid colon-separated time (13:21:48) and avoid am/pm or “o’clock”. Dates Numeric dates use leading zeros and hyphens: 02-12-2025. Order: day–month–year. Long-form example: Tuesday, 2nd December 2025.

          Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read
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          Punctuation

          5. Punctuation Quotation Marks Double quotation marks for full quotations. Single quotation marks for nested quotations or referenced terms. Example: “Joe said, ‘Are you sure about that?’”. Oxford Comma Always used. Ampersand (&) Use “and” in prose. Use “&” only to create internal sub-pairings. Example: shoes & coat, oranges, tutu, guns & ammunition, and a cake. Mathematical Operators Use spacing around operators: x + y = z. MathJax is first preference: https://www.mathjax.org/#gettingstarted LaTeX is second preference.

            Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read
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            Grammar and Writing Style

            6. Grammar and Writing Style Pronouns Use they as the default singular pronoun unless the person’s gender is explicitly known and relevant; i.e., instead of “he/she” say “they”. Contractions Never use contractions. Slash Compounds in Prose Allowed only when the slash denotes alternation (and/or, input/output). Avoid slash constructions that distort relational meaning. Avoiding Formulaic Transitions Do not use signposting such as “In this section…”. Avoid clichés. Provide dictionary definitions only when explicitly requested.

              Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read
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              Document Structure and Formatting

              7. Document Structure and Formatting Paragraphing Use indented paragraphs rather than spaced block paragraphs. Block Quotes Block quotes longer than forty words appear without quotation marks and are rendered APA-style. In Markdown, “>” may be used but should be styled to resemble APA formatting. Callouts (e.g., GitHub [!NOTE]) are acceptable where appropriate. Formal Structures Provide set notation or syllogistic structures after the prose discussion when conceptually appropriate Return to the manual index.

                Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read
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                Citation Practices

                8. Citation and Reference Practices APA 7th Use APA in-text citations whenever possible and provide a reference list at the end of authored material. Outside APA Use superscript, hyperlinked footnotes following Wikipedia-style conventions. If superscripts cannot render, use parenthetical citations as fallback. Return to the manual index.

                  Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read
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                  Code and Technical Writing

                  9. Code and Technical Writing Code block formatting In R Markdown or Quarto, specify language using braces: ```{r} # R code ``` ```{python} # Python code ``` ```{html} <!– HTML code –> ``` In plain Markdown, specify language without braces: ```r # R code ``` ```python # Python code ``` ```html <!– HTML code –> ``` Inline code should be `marked` consistently. Variable naming Prefer camelCase for variables. Use underscores mainly for spaces in filenames.

                    Monday, January 1, 1 | 1 minute Read