# Ward 6 Rules Checklist

**Source documents:** Ward6 House Style.docx, Ward6 References Style.docx (June 2018 baseline)
**Status:** Canonical. Built from actual source content on 19 May 2026.
**Loaded by:** ward6-proof-check-lambda via `get_skill_reference(filepath: "Ward6 Rules Checklist.md")`.

---

## How to use this file

This is the canonical list of rules the Ward 6 Proof Check skill walks against every document. Each rule has a stable `rule_id` that must be cited verbatim in proof-check output (both in items' cited-rule lines and in the audit appendix).

The skill does not extract rules from `Ward6 House Style.docx` or `Ward6 References Style.docx` at runtime. Those documents are the source-of-truth for human authors who maintain this checklist. The skill consumes this file directly.

**Yellow-highlighted [PROPOSED] sections in the source are not enforced.** They are draft additions not yet adopted by the team. Only rules listed below are enforced.

---

## Spelling

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-SP-001 | Use British spelling throughout (except when quoting from a paper or naming an overseas entity such as Centers for Disease Control or World Health Organization). | Ward6 House Style, Spelling |
| HS-SP-002 | Use `-ise` endings (randomise, organise), not `-ize`. | Ward6 House Style, Spelling |
| HS-SP-003 | Use `-our` endings (tumour, colour), not `-or`. | Ward6 House Style, Spelling |
| HS-SP-004 | Use `-ae` spellings (paediatric, anaemia). | Ward6 House Style, Spelling |
| HS-SP-005 | Use `-oe` spellings (foetus, oesophagus). | Ward6 House Style, Spelling |
| HS-SP-006 | Preserve accents on non-English names and spellings (e.g., Médicines Sans Frontières). | Ward6 House Style, Spelling |
| HS-SP-007 | Flag duplicate words ("in in", "the the", etc.) as plain spelling errors. | Ward6 House Style, Spelling (general) |

---

## Punctuation — general

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-P-001 | One space follows each full stop before the next sentence. | Ward6 House Style, General |
| HS-P-002 | Word boundaries correctly spaced (no missing space between adjacent words). | Ward6 House Style, General |

---

## Abbreviations

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-AB-001 | Abbreviations are identified in the text or as a footnote, depending on brand guidelines. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Abbreviations |
| HS-AB-002 | Spell out the phrase in full at first appearance, with abbreviation in brackets afterwards (e.g., relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS)). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Abbreviations |
| HS-AB-003 | List all abbreviations alphabetically at the bottom of each page or end of a short article. Format: "AB: full term;" (colon after abbreviation, semicolon separating entries, full stop at end). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Abbreviations |
| HS-AB-004 | Use `e.g.` and `i.e.` with full stops after each letter. Never use `etc.` | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Abbreviations |
| HS-AB-005 | Use lower case, no full stops for drug-dosing abbreviations: od (once daily), bd (twice daily), tid (three times daily), qid (four times daily), iv (intravenous), im (intramuscular), sc (subcutaneous), ip (intraperitoneal). IU (international units) is capitalised, no full stops. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Abbreviations |
| HS-AB-006 | No full stops in acronyms. | Ward6 House Style, Other — Acronyms |
| HS-AB-007 | Some clinical acronyms (HIV, AIDS) are well-recognised and need not be spelt out. | Ward6 House Style, Other — Acronyms |

---

## Brackets, bullets, capitals

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-BR-001 | Use `([…])` (square brackets inside parentheses) when more than one set is required. Example: `20% reduction (HR=0.80 [95%CI 0.68–0.91])`. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Brackets |
| HS-BP-001 | Bullet points that are part of a sentence: start with capital letter, no full stop, follow a statement ending in a colon. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Bullet point lists |
| HS-BP-002 | Stand-alone bullet points: no full stop unless brand guidelines indicate otherwise or the bullet runs to more than one sentence. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Bullet point lists |
| HS-CAP-001 | Sentence case for headings and titles of journal articles. Capitals only when essential (proper nouns). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Capitals |
| HS-CAP-002 | Institutions: upper case for the institution name, lower case for departments (e.g., "department of preventative medicine at the University of Western Australia"). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Capitals |
| HS-CAP-003 | Racial groups: always upper case — Caucasian, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Capitals |
| HS-CAP-004 | Seasons and directions: lower case (north, summer). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Capitals |

---

## Dashes

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-DA-001 | En-dash with a space either side to indicate a clause. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Dashes |
| HS-DA-002 | En-dash with no space either side to indicate ranges (e.g., aged 18–65 years). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Dashes |
| HS-DA-003 | Hyphen for compound words (e.g., placebo-controlled clinical trial). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Dashes |
| HS-DA-004 | Em-dashes are not generally used in medical writing. Use brackets instead. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Dashes |

---

## Italics, quotation marks, ellipsis

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-IT-001 | Italicise Latin and foreign-language phrases (in vivo, in vitro, post hoc). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Italics |
| HS-IT-002 | Italicise et al. and journal names or book titles in references (e.g., *N Engl J Med*). | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Italics |
| HS-QU-001 | Use double quotes for direct speech and quotations. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Quotation marks |
| HS-EL-001 | Use ellipsis points (…) without spaces to indicate missing text from a direct quote. | Ward6 House Style, Punctuation — Ellipsis |

---

## Numbers and measurements

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-NU-001 | Write one to nine in words; 10 or more in digits. Exceptions: ranges (3–5 times) and quantities of units (5 mL) use digits. | Ward6 House Style, Numbers |
| HS-NU-002 | Hyphenate two-fold, three-fold, etc. | Ward6 House Style, Numbers |
| HS-NU-003 | Use commas in numbers of five or more digits (1000 no comma; 10,000 with comma). | Ward6 House Style, Numbers |
| HS-NU-004 | Include a space between number and unit (e.g., 0.5 mmol/L). Non-breaking space preferred. Exceptions: % and °C are closed up. | Ward6 House Style, Measurements |
| HS-NU-005 | Capital L for litre always (5 L, 5 mL, 50 mL — never lowercase l). | Ward6 House Style, Measurements |
| HS-NU-006 | No space between mm and Hg in mmHg. | Ward6 House Style, Measurements |
| HS-NU-007 | Use degree symbol with no space: 37°C. | Ward6 House Style, Measurements |
| HS-NU-008 | Convert measurements from imperial to metric. Use SI units where possible. | Ward6 House Style, Measurements |

---

## Age, dates and times

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-AG-001 | Use hyphens when age is used as an adjective (a 10-year-old boy). No hyphen when age is a stand-alone phrase (21 years old). | Ward6 House Style, Age |
| HS-AG-002 | Age ranges use an en-dash (aged 12–18 months). Always state the units of age. | Ward6 House Style, Age |
| HS-DT-001 | Time: use 7 pm and 7.30 pm. Space between number and am/pm. Lower case am/pm. 12-hour clock. Full stop separates hours and minutes. | Ward6 House Style, Dates and times |
| HS-DT-002 | Use 12 pm (noon) and 12 am (midnight). | Ward6 House Style, Dates and times |
| HS-DT-003 | Use "twice weekly" / "twice a week" rather than "biweekly". | Ward6 House Style, Dates and times |
| HS-DT-004 | For decades use "the 1960s" (no apostrophe, all four digits). | Ward6 House Style, Dates and times |
| HS-DT-005 | For date ranges use an en-dash and include all digits (e.g., 1995–1996). | Ward6 House Style, Dates and times |

---

## Statistics

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-ST-001 | `p` always in lower case, no italics on the value. | Ward6 House Style, Clinical trial statistics |
| HS-ST-002 | No space before or after `=` (e.g., p=0.001). | Ward6 House Style, Clinical trial statistics |
| HS-ST-003 | Space before `<` and `>` but no space between symbol and number (e.g., `p <0.001`). Non-breaking space preferred. | Ward6 House Style, Clinical trial statistics |
| HS-ST-004 | `n` always in lower case (number of trial participants). | Ward6 House Style, Clinical trial statistics |
| HS-ST-005 | No space before or after `=` for n values (e.g., n=236). | Ward6 House Style, Clinical trial statistics |

---

## Footnotes and qualifiers (in-text)

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-FN-001 | Place qualifier/footnote symbol after the full stop at the end of the sentence and before any reference citations. | Ward6 House Style, Reference citations |
| HS-FN-002 | Footnote symbol order: `*, †, ‡, §, ¶, #, ¥, **` (repeated), `††` (repeated), and so on. The asterisk is the first marker in the sequence. | Ward6 House Style, Reference citations |
| HS-FN-003 | Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page where they are cited. | Ward6 House Style, Reference citations |
| HS-FN-004 | Start afresh from `*` for each new page in a multipage document. | Ward6 House Style, Reference citations |
| HS-FN-005 | If more than one footnote or qualifier, separate with a full stop (e.g., `†Intention-to-treat population. ‡p <0.001`). | Ward6 House Style, Reference citations |

---

## Trade names

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-TN-001 | Follow brand guidelines for trade names where available. | Ward6 House Style, Trade names |
| HS-TN-002 | Brands (trade names) always start with a capital. Generic names are all lower case. Some brands use all caps — refer to brand guidelines. | Ward6 House Style, Trade names |
| HS-TN-003 | Use ™ or ® symbol for the first mention of a trade name only. | Ward6 House Style, Trade names |

---

## Species and scientific names

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-SC-001 | Write species names in full for first mention; use abbreviated form thereafter (e.g., Escherichia coli then E. coli). | Ward6 House Style, Classification of species |
| HS-SC-002 | Use italics for species, subspecies, and varieties. | Ward6 House Style, Classification of species |
| HS-SC-003 | Use italics and capital initial for Genus names and full scientific names (Escherichia coli). | Ward6 House Style, Classification of species |
| HS-SC-004 | Phylum, Class, Order, Family names: initial capital, no italics. | Ward6 House Style, Classification of species |
| HS-SC-005 | Virus names: roman type, all lower case (e.g., herpes simplex type I). | Ward6 House Style, Classification of species |
| HS-SC-006 | Adjectival disease names: capitalised but not italicised (e.g., Staphylococcal infection). | Ward6 House Style, Classification of species |

---

## Countries, states, conjunctions

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-CO-001 | Use abbreviated forms for Australian states/territories and country names: ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA, USA (not US), UK. | Ward6 House Style, Countries and States |
| HS-CO-002 | Use of `&` or `and` should be consistent throughout the document. | Ward6 House Style, And, and/or, & |
| HS-CO-003 | Avoid `and/or` if possible. If used, ensure there is no ambiguity. | Ward6 House Style, And, and/or, & |

---

## Names, titles, collective nouns, plurals

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-NT-001 | First reference to a person: title, name, role, place of work (e.g., Professor Ivan Black, Director of Oncology at St Vincent's Hospital). | Ward6 House Style, Names and institutions |
| HS-NT-002 | Use `A/Prof` as abbreviation for Associate Professor. | Ward6 House Style, Names — Associate Professor |
| HS-CN-001 | Most collective nouns (company, government, management, team) take a singular verb. | Ward6 House Style, Collective nouns |
| HS-CN-002 | `Number`, `total`, `group` take singular when preceded by `the`, plural when preceded by `a`. | Ward6 House Style, Collective nouns |
| HS-PL-001 | Treat as plural: bacteria, criteria, data, symposia, honoraria. | Ward6 House Style, Plurals |

---

## Word usage

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-WU-001 | Use `about` for estimates, not `around` or `approximately`. | Ward6 House Style, Word usage |
| HS-WU-002 | Use `about` for the subject of a talk/book; `on` only for spatial relationships. | Ward6 House Style, Word usage |
| HS-WU-003 | When using `between`, use `and` (between 12 and 14 years, not between 12–14 years). | Ward6 House Style, Word usage |
| HS-WU-004 | `Last` = final in a sequence. `Past` = leading up to now. Not interchangeable. | Ward6 House Style, Word usage |
| HS-WU-005 | `Over` reserved for height or age. Otherwise use `more`. | Ward6 House Style, Word usage |
| HS-WU-006 | `Under` reserved for height or age. Use `fewer` for countable, `less (than)` for uncountable. | Ward6 House Style, Word usage |
| HS-WU-007 | `That` defines a subject; `which` is incidental (usually preceded by a comma). | Ward6 House Style, Word usage |

---

## Patient dignity

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-PD-001 | Patients are people. People have a disease or condition; they are not defined by it. Use "people with diabetes" not "diabetic patients". | Ward6 House Style, Patient dignity |
| HS-PD-002 | People are not well or poorly controlled — their disease or condition may be. | Ward6 House Style, Patient dignity |

---

## Graphs

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HS-GR-001 | Graphs must include: header stating what the graph shows, key/legend specifying treatments and dose, number of patients, "Adapted from [Author surname] et al. [publication year].[reference citation]". | Ward6 House Style, Graphs |
| HS-GR-002 | If a graph shows a secondary endpoint, the primary endpoint must be mentioned elsewhere in the piece or included as a footnote. | Ward6 House Style, Graphs |

---

## References — reference list format

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| RS-R-001 | Use EndNote for documents with five or more references. Manual referencing acceptable for fewer than five. | Ward6 References Style, EndNote |
| RS-R-002 | Journal reference format (single author): `Surname Initials. Journal Abbrev Year;Vol:pages.` Example: `Saglio G. Ann Hematol 2017;96:1303–13.` | Ward6 References Style, EndNote |
| RS-R-003 | Journal reference format (more than two authors): `Surname Initials et al. Journal Abbrev Year;Vol:pages.` Example: `Cortes JE et al. J Clin Oncol 2016;34:2333–40.` | Ward6 References Style, EndNote |
| RS-R-004 | Journal reference format (two authors): `Surname1 Initials1, Surname2 Initials2. Journal Abbrev Year;Vol:pages.` Example: `Mahon FX, Etienne G. Clin Cancer Res 2014;20:310–22.` | Ward6 References Style, EndNote |
| RS-R-005 | Use abbreviated journal title as per PubMed. | Ward6 References Style, EndNote |
| RS-R-006 | No spaces after colon (`:`) and semi-colon (`;`) in journal references. | Ward6 References Style, Punctuation |
| RS-R-007 | Use an en-dash to indicate page ranges. EndNote imports hyphens; update manually to en-dash. | Ward6 References Style, Punctuation |
| RS-R-008 | Always use the least possible number of digits to indicate page ranges (e.g., 304–8, 309–12, 293–303). | Ward6 References Style, Punctuation |
| RS-R-009 | Authors (single): Surname Initials (no full stops or spaces between initials). | Ward6 References Style, Authors |
| RS-R-010 | Website reference format: `Author/organisation. Name of page. URL [no http://]. Accessed [month] [year].` | Ward6 References Style, Website |
| RS-R-011 | Poster reference format: `Author(s) [as per journal articles]. Title of poster. Name of conference year, City. Poster (ID number if available).` | Ward6 References Style, Poster |
| RS-R-012 | Capitalise only the first word of any article or poster title. | Ward6 References Style, Poster |
| RS-R-013 | Book (single author): `Surname Initials. Title. Edition. Place. Publisher; Year.` | Ward6 References Style, Book — single author |
| RS-R-014 | Book (more than one author): list all authors if three or less; otherwise list first three followed by "et al." | Ward6 References Style, Book — more than one author |
| RS-R-015 | Book chapter: `Author(s). Title of chapter. In: Editor(s), eds. Book title. Place: Publisher; Year:pages.` | Ward6 References Style, Chapter from a book |
| RS-R-016 | Data on file: must provide identification of document(s). | Ward6 References Style, Data on file |
| RS-R-017 | In press references: cite by the publication which has accepted them. | Ward6 References Style, In press |
| RS-R-018 | Journal supplement format: `Surname Initials. Journal Year:Vol(Suppl N):pages.` | Ward6 References Style, Journal supplement |

---

## Reference integrity tests

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| RS-INT-001 | Marker-to-reference-list match: every footnote marker, superscript, and inline citation in body copy has a matching entry in the reference list. | Integrity test |
| RS-INT-002 | Reference-list-to-marker match: every entry in the reference list has a matching marker somewhere in body copy. | Integrity test |
| RS-INT-003 | Reference number sequence: numbered markers appear in ascending sequence with no gaps and no duplicates. | Integrity test |
| RS-INT-004 | Footnote symbol sequence: symbolic markers appear in the Ward 6 documented order (`*, †, ‡, §, ¶, #, ¥`). | Integrity test |
| RS-INT-005 | Reference list presence: if body copy contains citation markers, a formal reference list section exists in the document. Document-level Medium item if absent. | Integrity test |

---

## Dictionary — Approved Terms

| Rule ID | Statement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| DICT-001 | Brand names, drug names, ingredients, diseases, and clinical terminology are rendered exactly as specified in the loaded brand-specific Approved Terms file. Includes capitalisation, hyphenation, and trademark symbol (®, ™) usage. | <Brand> Approved Terms.md (Veltassa or Maviret) |

---

## Notes for maintainers

This file is built from the actual content of `Ward6 House Style.docx` (June 2018 baseline) and `Ward6 References Style.docx`. Sections in the source that are yellow-highlighted with `[PROPOSED]` are not included here — they are draft additions not yet adopted.

If the team adopts a proposed section, add the relevant rules to this checklist with new `rule_id`s and update the Last updated line above. Stable rule_ids matter — historical proof-check reports cite specific IDs.

If a rule is deprecated, do not delete its row. Mark it deprecated and add a replacement:

```
| HS-XX-NNN | [DEPRECATED YYYY-MM-DD — replaced by HS-XX-MMM] | — |
```