SEO medical web copywriting dialect and grammar has been influenced by electronic communication via the Internet. Medical web copywriting involves a mindset of creating an outline architecture for “scanners”, unlike the journalist writing technique for “readers”. The prose of medical web copywriting is mainly flat, punchy, and declarative. Goggle Algorithm programmers have designed search to give straightforward, easy-to-read grade level 12 results. – James L. Rothschiller, MD 2013
Medical Web Copywriting Technology
The art of medical web copywriting is to deliver concise informational and educational material. The technology behind medical web copywriting is data deduplication, which is to reduce the number of bytes that must be transferred, which can reduce the amount of bandwidth required. In medical web copywriting this occurs with the use of acronyms, abbreviations, initialism, and apostrophes. Along with eliminating, hyphens, double- and triple-spacing between sentences and paragraphs reduces energy, bandwidth, and precious cache space being spent.
Acronym
Acronyms are a subset of abbreviations. While they are a shortened form of a word, acronyms form a word from the beginning letters, syllables, or parts of a name or phrase. An acronym forms a new word and is usually, but not always, in all capital letters. “NATO” for example, is an acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Acronyms are formed using only the initial letters, as is the case with “NATO” and “scuba” (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus); others are formed using a combination of the first letters and some of the following ones from particular words, as is the case with “radar” (radio detection and ranging).
Abbreviation
Abbreviations are the shortened form of a word or phrase. For example, “Sat.” is an abbreviation for “Saturday.” Most commonly used abbreviations are official, and they are easily found in an online dictionary should you find a word where you are unsure of the proper abbreviation. Some words are sometimes abbreviated in multiple ways. The abbreviation is shorted to “abbr.,” or “abbrev.,” for example. Some miscellaneous abbreviations require periods at the end (etc.) or an “s” to show the plural form (“vols.” for volume); others do not require either (“pp” = page or pages, 9 mg = 9 milligrams).
Initialism
Initialisms are another subset of abbreviations. They differ from acronyms in that they do not form new words. Instead, the first letter of each word from a name or phrase is used with each letter pronounced (or read) separately. Whether the periods are necessary for grammatical correctness is not official in most cases, so if you are unsure, you should attempt to look up the most common way one is used to making a determination. For example, “US” or “U.S.” is an initialism for the United States. The initialism for the United States is somewhat unique, though. When used as a noun, it can appear as US or U.S.; however, when used as an adjective, it should appear as “U.S.” Consider the following example:
- The United States is a large country, and there are more than 400 United States Congressional Districts.
- The US (noun) is a large country, and there are more than 400 U.S. (adjective) Congressional Districts.
The key difference between acronyms and initialisms is that one creates a new word and one is simply a series of letters that are read separately. Both of these types of abbreviations are more acceptable in formal and professional writing. When using ones that are very common, such as U.S. or AIDS, it is not necessary to provide the full, spelled-out version of the abbreviation. However, for more obscure types of these abbreviations or those that are not common knowledge, it is best to first use the full version with the shortened form in parentheses immediately following. After this initial use, it is okay to switch to the abbreviation periodically. In fact, this helps make any piece a bit more readable by providing alternative phrasing. Consider the following:
- NATO is an acronym because it is spoken as a word (nay-to).
- FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) are initialisms because the letters are pronounced individually (F-B-I and M-I-T).
Example for formal/professional writing:
First use: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI or F.B.I.) is driven by intelligence gathering to enforce the law and provide national security.
Second use: The FBI has existed for more than 100 years.
Apostrophes
Apostrophes and plural forms http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/55970/plurals-of-acronyms-letters-numbers-use-an-apostrophe-or-not
The general rule is that you should not use an apostrophe to form the plurals of nouns, abbreviations, or dates made up of numbers: just add -s (or -es, if the noun in question forms its plural – es).
For example:
- MP MPs (e.g. Local MPs are divided on this issue.)
1990 1990s (e.g. The situation was different in the 1990s.)
It’s very important to remember this grammatical rule.
There are one or two cases in which it is acceptable to use an apostrophe to form a plural, purely for the sake of clarity: * you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single letters: I’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s. Find all the p’s in appearing. * you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single numbers: Find all the number 7’s.
These are the only cases in which it is generally considered acceptable to use an apostrophe to form plurals: remember that an apostrophe should never be used to form the plural of ordinary nouns, names, abbreviations, or numerical dates.