Use this guide for all nonacademic print or electronic text (other than materials created specifically for use by the news media, which follow the most current edition of The Associated Press Stylebook). 

• The Chicago Manual of Style, Fifteenth Edition (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/)
• Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (m-w.com)

Unless superseded by

• MSU style guide (http://cabs.msu.edu/marketing/msu-editorial-style-guide.html)  
• College style guide (college style supersedes MSU style)

Chicago Manual of Style handy list: “Good usage versus common usage”

Exceptions to standard acronym style:

• Michigan State University in institutional pieces does not need to be followed by (MSU).  [Michigan State University (MSU)]
• Commonly-understood acronyms (e.g., GPA, ACT, SAT with prospective students) can be used on first reference.
• Do not use periods in acronyms (VTH, CVM, USA, MSU, etc.).
• Do not use rDVM in web copy.

The preferred attribution is “says.”

Hospital specialty services and medical specialties

• Capitalize specific services
• Lower case general specialty medicine
  • You can contact the ECCM Service at …
  • You can find information about our Internal Medicine Service on …
  • You can find information about our Ophthalmology Lab at …
  • He has practiced internal medicine since 1901.
• Capitalize College when referring to MSU CVM. Avoid acronym CVM.
• Capitalize Hospital when referring to MSU VTH. Avoid acronym VTH.

Use serial commas when separating items in a list of three or more items, including a comma before “and” or “or” preceding the final element in a series: The flag is red, white, and blue. The cafeteria offered a choice of cake, pie, or ice cream for dessert.

If the items in the series contain internal punctuation, especially commas, use semicolons between the items to make the distinct items clear: The letters in question are dated August 7, 1989; May 15, 1990; and January 4, 1991.

em dash (—): no space before or after. Keystroke shortcut: Ctrl-Alt-Num – (or Alt+0151)

en dash (–): no space before or after. Keystroke shortcut: Ctrl-Alt-Num –

• No periods in degrees: DVM not D.V.M; PhD not Ph.D.
• Veterinary Medical Degree from University of Pennsylvaniaà VMD, not DVM
• Veterinary Medical Degree from the UK (seven institutions):
  • Royal Veterinary College - Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine BVetMed
  • Bristol and  Liverpool - Bachelor of Veterinary Science BVSc Cambridge - Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (VetM) or  Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine BA VetMB
  • Edinburgh - Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery BVM&S
  • Glasgow - Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery BVMS
  • Nottingham - Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, Bachelor of Veterinary Surgery with integrated Bachelor of Veterinary Medical Sciences BVM BVS BVMedSci
• Commas between degrees
• Order of titles: DVM, MS, PhD, DACV (Not Dipl. ACV)
• MSU alum—year of graduation in parenthesis after degree—Johanna Smythe, DVM (’69), MS, PhD, DACV
• He has a master’s in pathology
• She is board certified to practice in Michigan. She is a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist.
• DECCM not Dipl. ECCM

• email  [NOT e-mail]
• online

• Titles of books and periodicals are italicized (see8.166); titles of articles, chapters, and other shorter works are set in roman and enclosed in quotation marks (see 8.175).
• Do not italicize descriptors that are not part of a title: Newsweek magazine. 
• In running text, do not italicize or capitalize “the,” even if it is part of the title of a periodical or a newspaper: the New York Times.

Stubby the beagle, who had her ears clipped as a puppy, looked absurd without her beagle ears. After the veterinary team attached prosthetic floppy ears, she looked a little better. Still, clipping is a cruel practice—one that the AVMA opposes.

Beagles that have their tails docked are very rare. They look funny. If a beagle has its ears clipped it is even more funny looking. The AVMA opposes both of these practices.

• no https/www, etc.
• include periods after URLs and email addresses if at end of sentence