House Style Guide
for
Assessment Materials
© OCR 2016
Contents
Introduction • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •5
Editorial Style • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •7
Spelling
7
Accents
Plurals
Abbreviations
Capitalisation
Titles (of books, etc )
Dates
Time
Numbers
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Punctuation
16 Grammar
22 Lists
24 References/Bibliographies
28 Copyright statement
33
Full stops
Commas
Colons
Semicolons
Apostrophes
Quotation marks
Hyphens
Long dashes (en dash/rule and em dash/rule)
Ellipsis
Brackets
Solidus
Vertical or upright rule
Punctuation for lists
Sentence voice
Nouns
Verbs
Prepositions
Determiners
Punctuation for lists
Numbered lists
Bulleted lists
Running text lists
Books
Reports
Articles
Theses and dissertations
Audiovisual
Audio
Digital
Subject-specific referencing styles
Modified extracts
Quick Reference Guide
Common OCR errors
A note about bias and stereotyping
OCR Vocabulary Guide
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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 34
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Typography and Layout • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 40
Headings
40 Type style
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Graphics
47 Question Papers
Non-Question Paper material
Fonts and sizes
Tables
Pie charts
Flow diagrams
Keys
Graphs
Maps
Photographs and drawings
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OCR Question Papers • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 54
Templates
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Sample front covers
Question Paper elements
56 59 General style points for Modified Papers
67
Front cover rubric bank (for new specifications from Sept 2016)
Controlled Lists and section optionality
Rubrics
Headings
Additional Answer Space statement
Blank Pages
Continuation
Turn over
Copyright page (back page)
Spacing
Numbering and formatting of answer lines
Multiple-choice questions
Mark allocation
Mark totals
Mark boxes
End of Question Paper statement
Modified Enlarged (ME)
Modified Language (ML)
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Appendices • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 73
Appendix 1: Miscellaneous
73 Appendix 2: Style sheets
74 Appendix 3: Copyright guidance
80 Requests to use illustrations
Photographs
Grids and Graphs Library; Step Wedges
OCR GCSE Mathematics (J562, J567, J925, J926)
OCR Science papers
Religious Studies
Economics
Maths Progression Papers
English Progression Papers
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Copyright Information text
OCR third-party material waiver text
Why does OCR need to clear copyright?
What the OCR Assessment Materials Team needs from you:
Research assistance
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Index • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 83
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Introduction
This revised and updated OCR House Style Guide (HSG) for Assessment Materials provides an editorial
system within which authoring, editing and proofing work can be undertaken effectively and efficiently. This
release supersedes the 2014 version of the HSG
Where is the OCR House Style Guide for Assessment Materials found?
The HSG is available on the OCR website at:
http://www.ocr.org.uk/assessor-communications/
Who is it for?
The HSG is the essential reference tool for everyone involved in creating, writing, managing, editing,
proofreading and delivering OCR’s assessment-related materials
Why use a style guide?
The HSG defines a house style for OCR’s published assessment-related materials and provides a single
reference for OCR staff, external stakeholders who work with OCR, and Canon The aim is to provide clarity
to ensure that written communication is presented in a style that is consistent, clear and professional
Since consistency and an excellent level of English are essential elements of good assessment practice, it
is crucial that OCR's materials are published to a high standard in a professional style, free of errors, and
Right First Time
Consistently presented materials will also improve efficiency in the workflow and help to ensure that key
deadlines are met
This HSG is not intended to be exhaustive, but acts as a reference guide for the main style points relevant
to OCR copy and assessment materials It is a living document that will be reviewed annually and updated
as and when requests for change have been ratified through the formal process and the OCR Proofreading
Team has been notified. Once the amendments have been incorporated, the revised HSG will be uploaded
to Insite and onto the OCR website, with an email alert to all relevant teams
OCR proofreading
Regardless of the category, format, version or delivery method of the material, the editing/proofreading
rules followed will be the same; these are based on high-quality, good-practice standards recognised in the
publishing industry
The four Cs – consistency, continuity, coherence and cohesiveness – are achieved through:
1 Succinct, cohesive, uncomplicated sentence structure that flows, makes sense and avoids ambiguity,
misinterpretation and repetition
2 Correct use of grammar and spelling, and appropriate use of punctuation
3 Avoiding inconsistencies: where there is an inconsistency but either version is acceptable, for
consistency, the first or most frequently used version will usually be followed and subsequent versions
marked up to be coherent with that version
4 Formatting that does not disrupt or distract the reader
How is this HSG organised?
Editorial Style defines the textual style and addresses topics such as grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Quick Reference Guide lists some common errors and frequently misspelt words
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Typography and Layout defines the style for typography and the layout for text, graphs, charts and
illustrations
OCR Question Papers explains the new rubric bank and assessment material front cover templates to be
used for new specification papers from 2016 onwards. It also provides guidance on the various elements
that should be consistent across all question paper materials, regardless of qualification, unit or component.
Special Requirements outlines how the content in Question Papers is amended for the visually impaired
(Modified Enlarged) and for Modified Language needs.
Appendices provides miscellaneous information that is desirable but not essential to know, and additional
style sheets or information which detail subject-specific requirements.
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Editorial Style
Spelling
Unless set or published text, English UK spelling should be used, i e ‘s’ instead of ‘z’, e g realise not
realize; ‘re’ instead of ‘er’, e g theatre not theater; where US spelling drops the ‘u’, UK spelling does not,
e g neighbour not neighbor
For frequently used words that are commonly misspelt, see OCR Vocabulary Guide on pp 37–40
Accents
Where accents appear on foreign names and words, they must be used:
Médecins sans Frontières
São Paulo
Plurals
With nouns which, in English, have alternative plural forms ending in ‘i’ or ‘s’, use the ‘s’ plural:
focuses not foci syllabuses not syllabi
Abbreviations
There are four types of abbreviations:
• abbreviations formed by omitting the ending of a word (assoc )
• contractions formed by omitting the middle of a word (Dr)
• acronyms created using the initial letter(s) (not necessarily capitalised) from a string of words to create a
new, pronounceable word (sonar, scuba, awol)
• initialisms created using the first letter (usually capitalised) from a string of words (BBC); all initialisms
are acronyms but not all acronyms are initialisms
For any further clarification on abbreviations, refer to the New Oxford Style Manual, Oxford University
Press, 2013
Abbreviations for plurals
• cm is used for centimetres, i e 65 cm not 65 cms
• equations/formulae, tables and labelling may use ‘h’ for hours,‘min’ for minutes and ‘s’ for seconds (see
Appendix 2: Style sheets); however, in formal documents, abbreviations should be avoided
Italic abbreviations
Italic abbreviations are used for words that are normally italicised, such as book and journal names
In biology, binomial nomenclature uses italics The genus can be abbreviated to one letter, still in italics:
Homo sapiens becomes H. sapiens. (See also Modified Enlarged.)
Abbreviations in roman
Common Latin abbreviations, such as those listed below, appear in roman and not italics:
e g = for example
i e = that is
etc (not &c) = and so on
c = circa (c 18th century or c 600 BC)
cf = compare
NB = nota bene
vs = versus
(See also Full stops in abbreviations and acronyms )
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Acronyms and initialisms
If the words represented by an acronym or initialism are used more than once in a document, the first time
the acronym/initialism is used, the words should be spelled out in full Subsequently, the acronym/initialism
should be used on its own
For example:
Teachers will assess students against Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC) issued by the
awarding organisations The CPAC will be piloted with centres to ensure that they can be applied
consistently and effectively
However, if it is a very common acronym, such as NATO, and more easily recognised by the acronym than
by the words it represents, the acronym can be used in every instance
When writing out the words represented by an acronym, the words only have initial capitals/upper case if
they would normally take capitals, i e if they are proper nouns:
but
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (NB US spelling, so ‘z’ rather than usual ‘s’)
computer-aided design (CAD)
Full stops are not used in acronyms
An apostrophe is not used in plural acronyms: NCOs not NCO’s
Be guided by the pronunciation of the first letter as to whether to use ‘a’ or ‘an’ before the acronym (see
also Determiners)
Capitalisation
General principles are as follows (Regarding the capitalisation of particular words, consult the OCR
Vocabulary Guide or refer to Collins English Dictionary or the New Oxford Style Manual )
Capitalisation is used for:
Job titles and titles of office, rank and relationship
When titles immediately precede or follow a named person, initial upper case is used but not when titles
are common nouns
For example:
but
Head Teacher Jane Moffett
Professor Higgins
Please send all the correspondence to Beatrix Carter, Department Administrator
Prime Minister Cameron’s speech was not well received We asked Chairperson Leong to join us at the meeting The administrator of the department sent out an important memo to the team The decision must be made by the prime minister or the president Mr Jones, the editorial advisor, helped to draft the article There are some exceptions where capitals are always used:
Her Majesty
the Foreign Secretary
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Names of people, places, businesses and companies, organisations, institutions and movements
The Australian, Alexander Finch, finished the race in second place. (person)
The exhibition opens in London next week (place)
We’ll be flying to Dubai with British Airways. (organisation)
The rate was set by the World Bank (institution; NB ‘the’ is not capitalised as it is not part of the title)
War Against Want made an appeal on the radio (movement) The centre’s name is City College (institution)
‘Centre’ and ‘awarding body’ when referred to in a general context are not capitalised:
Be sure to send the information to the centre well in advance
The awarding body will make the decision
Geographical names, locations and famous buildings
but
the Black Forest
Southeast Asia
the Eiffel Tower the east coast of Scotland
the Black Forest is situated in southwestern Germany
North/South/East/West, and any combinations, are capitalised when they are part of the title of a
geographical region/area or a political division (e g Eastern Europe, North Africa) or when they refer to
something or someone originating from a geographical region (e g Western philosophy) They are lower
cased when used in general descriptions (e g southern England, the north of Italy, eastern shores)
Religious denominations
Use upper case for ‘church’ in names of religious denominations and names of specific buildings, and when
‘church’ is used in an abstract or legal sense:
the Church of Scotland
All Saints Church (but note use of lower case in, e.g. ‘a fine old village church’)
Church and State
Adjectives and names relating to religious groups are usually capitalised For example:
Buddhist
Anglican
Muslim
Jewish
Political parties and movements
The names of political parties are always capitalised:
the Conservative Party
the Democratic Party
the Civil Rights Movement
Nouns and adjectives relating to political parties can appear in capitals or lower case, depending on
context For example:
a republican government
Leading Democrat members of Congress are questioning the proposal
the Liberal leader
liberal democracy
Dates and periods
Good Friday
the Middle Ages
Seasons are lower case unless personified:
It happened in the spring
‘O Spring, with your beguiling blossoms!’ (personified)
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Events
the First World War the French Revolution the Great Fire of London
Legislation and official documents
the Factory and Workshop Act 1911 the Declaration of Independence
the Corn Laws
Religious names and terms
but
the Almighty the Lord
the Mass the Pope the goddess of the dawn the god of war
evening mass
Personification
O Freedom, what liberties are taken in thy name!
Nationality (and languages)
Adjectives and nouns denoting nationality are capitalised:
American
Austrian
French
Adjectives based on nationality tend to be capitalised:
Brussels sprouts
Venetian blinds
Words derived from proper nouns
Shakespearean
Dickensian
a Casanova
Trade names
Hoover Kleenex Levi’s
Some trade names do not need to be capitalised when used as verbs (e g google, hoover)
Others need to be capitalised even when used as adjectives or noun modifiers (e.g. a Lycra top).
Proprietary drug names, e g Herceptin, are sometimes capitalised when new to the market
If in doubt, consult a dictionary
NB: Although there is no legal requirement to add a ® or ™ symbol next to trademark names in text, it is
worth bearing in mind that some companies are adopting a strict approach, and require the use of such
symbols Trademark names are best avoided, if at all possible, and generic names should be used instead
Ships, aircraft and vehicles
Use initial capitals. Use italics for individual names of ships, aircraft and vehicles but not for specific types,
models or marques:
the Cutty Sark
a Mini Cooper
a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet
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Names that include a number or letter
Room 101
Flight 16
Route 66
Unit J567/01
Latin names
Binomial nomenclature is a two-word naming system in science in which the first letter of the genus name
(first word) should always be capitalised. The species name (second word) should never be capitalised.
The whole should appear in italics:
Homo sapiens or H. sapiens (humans)
Erithacus rubecula or E. rubecula (robin)
Titles (of books, etc•)
In general text, initial capitals and italics should be used for the titles of books/plays/films/operas/musicals/
ballets/television and radio programmes/book subtitles/magazines/newspapers/booklets/periodicals/
journals/CDs/DVDs/visual art/:
Book at Bedtime (radio programme)
Waiting for Godot Pride and Prejudice The definite article is lower case roman in newspaper/magazine names, unless it is the initial word in a
sentence or part of the name of the newspaper or magazine:
but
the Daily Mail
the National Enquirer
The Daily Mail was founded in The Times
Initial capitals/upper case are used for words in titles apart from ‘a’, ‘and’, ‘for’, ‘from’, ‘in’, ‘of’, ‘the’,
‘to’ (unless they form the first word):
Diamonds Are Forever
Game of Thrones
The Comedy of Errors
Initial capitals/upper case are also used for sections of books and chapters and their titles if they have one
(not bold or italics):
Chapter 2
Section 12
Part 1: Genes and Genomes
Appendix A: Glossary
For details about the style used for titles of songs and poems, and the titles of chapters in books, see
Quotation marks
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Dates
Do not use endings such as st, rd or th, as in 1st, 3rd or 8th December 2004, for year dates unless the date
is quoted from a source (Dates quoted from documents such as letters must be quoted according to the
original )
Use cardinal numbers (i.e. 1, 2, 3 …), not ordinal numbers (i.e. first, second, third …). Dates can be written
in any of the following formats, and should be presented consistently in a single document (apart from
quoted material):
20 June 2015
20 June
June 2015
The following formats are American style Avoid using them unless required by the context:
June 20, 2015
June 20
June, 2015
If a day precedes a date, it should be followed by a comma:
Tuesday, 8 December 2004
A span of dates is written with a closed en dash/rule:
22–25 July 2013 (not 22nd – 25th July 2013)
However, in more informal body text, use ‘from’ and ‘to’ or ‘between’ and ‘and’:
The conference takes place from 22 to 29 June
The conference takes place between 22 and 29 June
Days and months should normally be written out in full but the following abbreviations may be used, where
appropriate:
Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec
Do not use an apostrophe for decades:
1980s (not 1980’s)
Date ranges are joined using a closed en dash/rule (those in the same decade are elided):
1970–75 (same decade)
1966–1989
1860–1903
For academic and tax years, use an oblique/solidus:
The academic year 2001/2 brought many changes
The financial year 2010/11 saw a substantial increase in turnover.
Centuries
It is preferable to spell out centuries:
fifteenth century (noun) and fifteenth-century (adjective)
twenty-first century (noun) and twenty-first-century (adjective)
AD, AH, BC, CE and BCE should only be used to avoid the possibility of confusion or ambiguity
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AD and AH (=anno Hegirae, used in Islamic dates), in upper case and without full stops, precede the year:
AD 39 (but third century AD)
AH 720
BC, CE (Common Era or Christian Era) and BCE (Before Common Era), in upper case and without full
stops, follow the year number:
300 BC
529 CE
678 BCE
Time
Time should always be presented consistently in a single document How time is expressed can vary and
one of the following styles must be consistently followed The appropriate form will vary depending on the
context. However, unless otherwise specified, hour(s), minute(s) and second(s) should be written in full,
not abbreviated
Use numbers with am or pm Leave a half space between the number(s) and am/pm Where possible, align
am/pm when in a columnar list:
4 am
4 30 am
10 pm
10 30 pm
6 pm
For round numbers such as 4 am, it is not necessary to use a decimal point and two zeros (i e use 4 pm
and not 4 00 pm)
12 pm is noon and 12 am is midnight but it may be necessary to use ‘12 noon’ and ‘12 midnight’:
Use ‘o’clock’ when the hour is exact and when time is written out in words, but not with am or pm:
10 o’clock
He arrived at ten o’clock The 24-hour clock avoids confusion (12:00 is noon and 00:00 is midnight) If in a vertical list, the : should be
aligned:
1:00
14:30
8:00
23:30
Sometimes, depending on the context, words may be used:
ten past one
a quarter to eleven
Seconds/minutes/hours should use numbers:
The bell will ring in 30 seconds The exam lasts for 1 hour 45 minutes In maths and science, seconds/minutes/hours can be abbreviated (see Abbreviations) as ‘s’, ‘min’ and ‘h’
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Numbers
General rule of thumb:
• one to nine appear in words
• 10–99 appear as figures.
Avoid using a figure at the beginning of a sentence. The number should be written out in words or the
sentence turned around so it does not begin with a figure.
Be consistent in a sentence:
not
‘Between the ages of 8 and 15’ or ‘Between the ages of eight and fifteen’
‘Between the ages of eight and 15’
When the range includes a number lower than 10, both should be in figures.
Use metric and not imperial units
Figures should be used for measurements
For numbers of four digits or fewer, there should not be any commas or spaces between the first and
second digits:
1000
For numbers with five digits or more, there should be a half space between each group of three whole
numbers (no commas), working from right to left:
10 000
However, in situations where 4- and 5-figure numbers need to be aligned in a column, a half-space should
be used for both
A half space should be used between a number and its unit or compound units:
10 cm
50 kg
60 m s–1
Specific units, levels and measurements should be in figures:
Unit 3 1 Level 2
7 cm (rather than seven centimetres) Ordinal number indicators should be roman not superscript (see Sub/Superscript):
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th
not
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th
If the sense is general or colloquial, numbers should be in words:
You’re one in a million He talked nineteen to the dozen There were hundreds of queries Page numbers in body text should always be figures:
Look at the graph on page 8 On pages 1–20 OCR House Style Guide Feb 2016
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Marks and candidate numbers should always be in figures:
The candidate received 10 marks
Over 3 million students gain OCR qualifications each year.
When referring to sections, phases, exam papers, questions, tests and components, numbers should
always be figures:
See Section 4 5
Paper 3: Reading
Phase 3 of Part 2
Please refer to Questions 6–10
A span of numbers should always be in figures (elide with care, depending on the context):
Refer to pages 320–30
When writing sums of money in thousands or millions, use the following format:
€2000 (rather than two thousand euros)
£3 2 million (rather than £3 200 000 or £3 2 m)
NB: The meaning of the following terms is now the same in US and British usage:
billion = a thousand million (109)
trillion = a million million (1012)
Amounts of money can be written out in words, in which case the currency should always be lower case,
e g euro, dollar, pound
For percentages, use figures and the per cent symbol (%) except when starting a new sentence:
7% not 7 per cent
new sentence: Seven per cent
According to the survey, 20% of the population agreed with the proposal.
Notice the use of hyphens when talking about people’s age:
a three-year-old
three-year-old children
Five-year-olds are creative and enthusiastic
a 45-year-old man
17 years of age
The house is seven years old
Notice the use of hyphens when talking about measurements and distances:
a 100-metre race
a five-minute interval
a six-foot-high statue
it's three inches high
a 250-page book
the book is 250 pages long
See Appendix 2 for subject-specific formatting of numbers.
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Punctuation
The role of the punctuation mark in writing good English cannot be underestimated Using punctuation
marks correctly can clarify meaning and prevent ambiguity
Full stops
Full stops mark the end of a complete thought and the start of a new one They control the length of
sentences; where possible, sentences should be kept short
For the use of full stops with parentheses, see Brackets
A full stop should appear at the end of a website address if it ends a sentence:
Download the resources today from www ocr uk/cambridgenationals
Full stops in abbreviations and acronyms
Full stops should not appear in the following instances:
units, e g mm, kg
contractions, acronyms and abbreviated forms of national and international organisations, e g NATO
abbreviations that include the first and last letter of a word, e.g. Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr, St, Ltd
country abbreviations such as UK or USA
am/pm
people’s initials in text, e g VS Naipaul (but Naipaul, V S in reference lists)
NB (nota bene: take special note)
Full stops are used for the following:
cf (compare)
ch (chapter; no full stop for plural ‘chs’)
e g (for example)
ed (editor/edition; no full stop for plural ‘eds’)
etc (etcetera)
f (following) and ff
Fig (no full stop for plural ‘Figs’)
i e (that is)
no (number; no full stop for plural ‘nos’)
p (page) and pp (pages)
vol (volume; no full stop for plural ‘vols’)
When a sentence ends with an abbreviation that takes a full stop, it is not necessary to add another
Commas
The comma is the most versatile of all the punctuation marks Use it after an introductory clause or adverb
and before direct speech Use commas for itemising words and word groups, enclosing additional thoughts
or qualifying statements, and setting apart interjections Always use a comma before ‘etc ’, ‘e g ’ and ‘i e ’
A common comma error is the comma-splice – the use of a comma where a linking word or a semicolon,
colon, dash or full stop is needed. For example, the first comma in the sentence below should either be a
semicolon or a full stop – ‘it’ introduces a new thought:
Anything that follows an e g is illustrative, it should be noted that where e g is used, learners
Other common errors include the absence of a comma before direct speech, before etc , i e and e g , and
after an introductory clause
For example, the correct use of a comma is:
William said, ‘I don't understand what you mean ’
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Give two different perspectives, i e the person who uses services and service provider/practitioners
Interviews with health/social care workers, e g community psychiatric nurse, support worker,
counsellor, social worker, etc
In this practical-based unit, candidates will further develop skills and abilities gained while undertaking
Unit A511 (introductory clause)
Lack of a comma after an introductory clause can cause ambiguity For example, which of the following
says what you mean:
Previously, archived question papers were used for reference Previously archived question papers were used for reference Commas are not used at the end of items or sentence fragments in a list They are not used at the end of
the introductory sentence for a bulleted or ordered list (See Lists )
When two or more adjectives are ‘qualitative’, i.e. they qualify a noun, and can be modified by a word such
as ‘very’, they should be separated by a comma:
An expensive, luxurious, private limousine was parked outside
but where the adjectives are ‘classifying’ adjectives (like ‘black’ or ‘American’), or a combination of the two,
a comma should not be used:
A large (qualitative) black (classifying) sports car was parked outside
The French (classifying) medieval (classifying) poets' society
Colons
A colon replaces words such as ‘for example’, ‘because’, ‘that is to say’ and ‘namely’ It indicates the
transition from a cause to an effect, from a general statement to an example or from an introduction to a
main point
A colon is also used to introduce a list
For example:
Before you travel, check that you have the following:
• a passport
• your plane ticket
• the details of your destination
Semicolons
OCR does not normally use semicolons at the end of items in a list but they can be used at the end of long
phrases, at the author’s discretion
Semicolons should never be used to introduce a list
A semicolon is an economical way of joining two closely related sentences/clauses:
He knew the event would be a success; it had been planned meticulously and everyone knew exactly
what they had to do
A semicolon can also be used as a ‘super comma’ where a sentence has a list of items that already uses
commas. The semicolon clarifies what needs to be separated from what by identifying similar groups/
clusters of items
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For example:
The company has offices in four Canadian cities: Vancouver, British Columbia; Montreal, Quebec;
Ottawa, Ontario; and Regina, Saskatchewan (grouping of place names already separated by a
comma allows clarity in the text)
This may include verbal communication, either telephone or face to face; written communication,
either hard copy, e g a letter, or digital copy, e g email; sign language, either BSL or Makaton
(continuous list grouped into clusters by the semicolon)
Apostrophes
Apostrophes are required in the following instances
Before a possessive in the singular:
This is Peter’s book This book is Peter’s
After a possessive ‘s’ in the plural:
When the twins arrived at the party, Maria put the girls’ coats in the hall
(Where a possessive noun already ends in ‘s’ and an additional ‘s’ would cause difficulty in pronunciation,
the possessive ‘s’ can be omitted:
Nicholas’ (or Nicholas’s) essay was impressive )
To indicate where letters have been omitted (i e contractions, which should be kept to a minimum in formal
documents):
The cat wasn’t interested in eating
He’s fine.
Sometimes, apostrophes may be used after lower-case letters:
‘Dotting the i s’ and ‘Dotting the i’s’ are both correct
Acronyms ending in ‘s’ should take the apostrophe only; those ending in any other letter should
take ‘’s’:
UCLES’ recruitment policy
NATO’s policies
Where a name or term is italicised, the apostrophe and the possessive ‘s’ should be roman (i e not italics):
EL Gazette’s copy deadline (’s is roman)
Research Notes’ last issue (’ is roman)
Incorrect use of apostrophes
Apostrophes must not be used to indicate plurals
Look out for incorrect apostrophes in possessive pronouns: its, yours, ours, hers, theirs
For example:
The snake shed its skin slowly (not it’s skin)
Do you want to have the party at my house or yours? (not your’s) He didn’t mention that the tools he was using were ours (not our’s) Her car was easy to mend but it wasn’t obvious how to fix theirs. (not their’s)
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Where there is more than one noun to a single possession, a single possessive apostrophe comes at the
end of the last noun and serves both
For example:
not
but
They were looking for Peter and Paul’s car (one car)
They were looking for Peter’s and Paul’s car
They were looking for Peter’s and Paul’s cars (two cars)
Quotation marks
Single quotation marks are used instead of italics for poem and song titles:
‘The Wasteland’ by TS Eliot
‘Bennie and the Jets’ by Elton John
Single quotation marks, not italics, should be used for the titles of chapters in books, shorter poems, articles
in periodicals (not in bibliographies), unpublished theses and individual episodes in broadcast series:
Panorama: ‘Why did No to AV win the referendum?’
The best chapters in this craft book are: ‘Making cards’, ‘Crocheting’ and ‘Constructing models’ ‘Examinations uncovered’ by Lee Knapp (an article)
Single quotation marks should be used for direct speech and quoted material in text:
William said, ‘I don't know what you mean ’
When the announcement ‘That is the end of the test’ is heard, candidates should stop writing In his preface to The Secret Agent, Conrad calls London ‘a cruel devourer of the world’s light’ (quoted material in text)
Double quotation marks should be reserved for quotes within quoted text (which should not be italicised)
For example:
‘At present, the UK uses the “first past the post” system to elect MPs to the House of Commons.
Should the “alternative vote” system be used instead?’
‘In answer to my question about antisocial behaviour, the police officer said, “Learning respect starts
at home” and politely refused to offer any further opinion.’
To highlight specific words in a sentence, or if a term is to be defined in a question, the term should be
separated out with single quotation marks:
Explain what ‘gravity’ means
In direct speech and quotations, punctuation marks generally come before the closing quotation mark:
‘I didn’t do it,’ she said, ‘but I know who did ’
Where one quotation is contained within another, and both end with the sentence, the punctuation mark
should come before the final closing quotation mark:
‘As it started to rain, John opened his umbrella and said to his friend, “It’s big enough for both of us,
you know”.’
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Where a quotation is part of a sentence, the punctuation mark should be after the closing quotation mark:
Arguably the most famous is Hamlet’s soliloquy, ‘To be or not to be’
With partial quotations or citations of short expressions, punctuation marks remain outside the closing
quotation mark:
He was referring to the Salisbury Doctrine or ‘Convention’, as it is sometimes called
Hyphens
A compound adjective that precedes a noun should be hyphenated to prevent ambiguity:
a four-poster bed
the well-reared pigs
If a compound adjective follows a noun, it is not hyphenated:
but
but
a well-known book
the book is well known up-to-date information the information is not up to date
Prefixes, e.g. non-, mid-, pre-, post-, semi-, are not words in their own right, and should always be joined
directly or by a hyphen to the word that they qualify
A hyphen is not needed after an adverb ending in 'ly' which forms the first part of a compound adjective,
since it is clear that the adverb qualifies the adjective and not the noun:
a practically focused test internationally recognised exams Long dashes (en dash/rule and em dash/rule)
Dashes should not, generally, be used as punctuation marks in running text; it is preferable to use
parentheses
En dash/rule
An en dash/rule is about twice the length of a hyphen (or the length of an ‘n‘, hence its name)
Closed en dash/rule
The closed en dash/rule is used to indicate a range and is used to replace the word ‘to’ in a specified range.
It is also used to express a connection/relation between words (meaning roughly ‘to‘ or ‘and’):
Bake for 20–25 minutes Dates and times: 1–7 July, 15:00–15:40
The Paris–Rome marathon takes place in May every year
oil–water interface
Spaced en dash/rule
The spaced en dash/rule has a space on either side of the en dash/rule It is often used as an alternative to
parentheses or commas
For example:
All 45 scripts – 15 at each level – were selected
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The team was asked to put together a plan of action – to formulate new ideas about how to move
forward with the new project – which could be presented to the CEO at the next meeting
Em dash/rule
Some publishers use the closed (unspaced) em rule for parenthetical dashes, but OCR uses the spaced en
rule
Ellipsis
An ellipsis usually represents missing information The missing text is marked by a series of three full stops,
with a single space before and after
For example:
(b) Translate lines 4–7 (nam cum … reliquit)
It can also represent continuation
For example:
(a) El joven …
A … había caído por la montaña
B … había quequado atrapado en una avalancha
C … no sabía hacia dónde dirigirse
And it is often used in prose for dramatic effect:
He thought there must be a better way to approach the problem … What if he wrote to them first?
If, as in the example above, an ellipsis occurs at the end of a sentence, there is no need to add a full stop
However, if the incomplete sentence falls within a quote at the end of a sentence, the full stop should be
added:
He said, ‘There’s little we can do …’ (here, the ellipsis serves to indicate the speaker’s trailing off)
In a list, between commas or following a comma, a normal ellipsis is used to mean ‘and so forth’ It can also
indicate the omission of values in a repeated operation
For example, in computer programming:
int a_function ( int x,
)
In maths, the ellipsis is used to replace various areas of a complex formula where repetition is introduced or
infinite terms of a progression are being demonstrated.
For example:
Sn = a + ar + ar2 + … + arn–1
Brackets
( ) Round brackets, or parentheses, are used for information or comments that digress from the main point
or add explanatory information They are also used as an alternative to commas or dashes Where nested
brackets are needed, parentheses within parentheses is standard practice; round brackets can be used
within or encompassing curly or square brackets
[ ] Square brackets are normally used for digital referencing (see References/Bibliographies: Digital),
subject-specific references, e.g. classics and law (see References/Bibliographies: Subject-specific
referencing styles), and comments or corrections that are added by someone other than the original
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author of a text Square brackets should not be used within square brackets but may be used within or
encompassing braces or parentheses
{ } Curly brackets, or braces, are mostly used in music, maths, computing and textual notation A single
brace can be used to link together several lines of information and may be used within or encompassing
parentheses, curly (usually in computer programming) or square brackets
When a bracket occurs at the end of a sentence and the bracketed text is part of a longer sentence, the full
stop should remain outside of the closing bracket If the bracketed text is a stand-alone sentence, the full
stop should be within the closing bracket
For example:
Justify your answer with reference to the kinds of reasoning (such as report, argument, explanation,
emotive persuasion)
Justify your answer with reference to the kinds of reasoning (Use Document 5 for examples )
Solidus
The solidus is also known as a separatrix, slash, forward slash, stroke, oblique and diagonal Most
commonly, it is used to express alternatives such as either/or, he/she
It should be closed up when separating two words (he/she) or part words (s/he) There should not be a
space on either side of a solidus, with the exception of some subject-specific uses. (See Appendix 2 )
A solidus can also be used:
• as part of abbreviations: ‘He sent it c/o his friend ’
• to separate elements in a web address: http://www worldwideweb com/news
• to indicate a period of one year, e.g. a financial or tax year: 2003/4; 2011/12
• to indicate line breaks in poetry when successive lines in a poem are run into one line
Vertical or upright rule
The vertical rule or line | , used with spaces on either side, can be used to show where lines are separated
when text is run on instead of being displayed – for instance in poems, plays, correspondence,
libretti or inscriptions
When more than one speaker is indicated in a run-together extract, two verticals || (set together closed up)
distinguish between the lines of different characters
Punctuation for lists
See Lists
Grammar
In general, it is useful to bear in mind that complex sentences with multiple clauses can become hard to
follow; grammatical errors can easily slip in, so they need to be written and puctuated with care
Sentence voice
Active
Sentences that use the active voice, with the subject acting rather than being acted upon, are usually easier
to read and understand than those written in the passive voice
For example:
Centres (subject) should conduct (act) the controlled assessment tasks with these aims in mind and
should avoid violating these aims by leading candidates too much
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Passive
The passive voice is often used in technical, scientific and academic texts where it is necessary for the
writing to be formal and impersonal (In less formal contexts, the passive voice can obscure meaning )
For example:
Controlled assessment tasks should be conducted (act) by centres (subject) with these aims in mind,
and centres should avoid violating these aims by leading candidates too much
Nouns
Proper nouns
These identify a unique or named/titled example, e g Alzheimer's, Unit R31, The Homicide Journal They
are invariably capitalised (See Capitalisation )
Common nouns
These are general names that broadly identify a category or categories, e g assessors, government,
moderator Common nouns do not require capitalisation
Collective nouns
These are groups of things, people, animals and ideas The effect of a collective noun is to create a single
entity OCR, UCLES, Ofqual, the government and most businesses are collective nouns, i e single
entities and are treated as singular nouns, e g OCR is a national awarding body, Tesco is a public limited
company Panels and committees are also treated as single entities unless individuality is implied
For example:
The committee is unanimous in its decision (correct – singular noun)
The panel are divided in their preferences (also correct; could also be reworded as: The members of
the panel are divided in their preferences )
British English allows a plural verb to be used with a collective noun
Both of the following are grammatically correct:
The family now lives in London The family now live in London Verbs
Agreement
Units in a sentence, e g nouns and verb forms or participles, must harmonise
Dangling participles and gerunds
Avoid and reword
For example:
After finishing the research, the essay was easy to write. (dangling gerund – a subject is needed)
After finishing the research, Amy found the essay easy to write. (corrected)
Rushing for the bus, Ben's phone dropped out of his pocket (Ben's phone is not rushing The sentence needs to be rewritten so that Ben is the subject ) Ben's phone dropped out of his pocket while he was rushing for the bus (corrected)
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Split infinitives
A split infinitive occurs when a word is inserted between the ‘to’ and the rest of the verb.
For example:
He decided to quickly cross the street. (‘quickly’ splits the infinitive ‘to cross’)
He decided to cross the street quickly. (the infinitive is not split)
Splitting infinitives should generally be avoided in formal writing. However, in less formal usage, attempting
to avoid the split infinitive can sound awkward.
Prepositions
Prepositions (such as ‘to’ , ‘at’ , ‘for’ , ‘with’ and ‘into’ ) should not appear at the end of a sentence if at all
avoidable, but this is an element of usage that is changing; sometimes it is better to end a sentence with a
preposition than to create an unnecessarily stilted sentence
Determiners
When using initialisms, the determiner ‘an’ or ‘a’ should match the proununciation of the first letter of the
initialism, not the verbalisation of the first word creating the initialism.
For example:
an SMT (not: a S[enior] M[anagement] T[eam])
a UV lamp
When using an acronym, the determiner should match the verbalisation of the acronym, not the
pronunciation of the first letter of the acronym.
For example:
a NATO action
an UNDRO initiative
(See also Acronyms and initialisms )
Lists
Lists arrange related items in a linear, logical and structured way A list may be embedded in text or pulled
out and ‘displayed’ for easy reference
There are three types of displayed lists:
• lists marked by numbers or letters
• lists with bulleted points
• simple lists with no markers
Displayed lists draw the reader’s attention to the information, making it easier to find and to read; they
break up dense text, making it quicker for the eye to scan
All displayed lists should be left-aligned, not indented, as above
When it is necessary to show the hierarchy or order of the content of a list, it is best to number the items
Punctuation for lists
The sentence preceding a list can end with a full stop or a colon but not a hyphen, en dash, semicolon or
comma
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OCR does not use semicolons at the end of each item in displayed lists
Items in a list that form a complete sentence, or are composed of more than one sentence, should end with
full stops and generally start with upper case (If the introductory text is more of a fragment than a complete
sentence, it should be made into a complete sentence Sentences must have both a subject and a verb,
i e ‘radio and television warnings of the storm’ is not a sentence but ‘Radio and television warnings of the
storm were broadcast ’ is a sentence )
For example:
Roses have varying histories and uses:
• Rosa mundi is an ancient rose and became the famous red rose emblem of the House of
Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses
• The Apothecary’s Rose was used for medicinal purposes
What are the benefits to teachers and students of delivering this new OCR specification?
• The new specification maintains a link with previous OCR specifications, allowing teachers to use
existing resources
• It builds on aspects of the range of OCR (and other boards’) GCSE specifications; deliverables are
SMART
• It reduces the repetition of topics covered at GCSE/KS4 level and provides continuity and
progression in geographical understanding
• It provides an excellent foundation for students wishing to go on to study geography at degree
level Topics are explored in depth using individual research and investigation techniques
Where items in a list are phrases (more than three words) that complete the introductory sentence, a full
stop can be used at the end of each item, since the items create a sentence that can stand alone However,
because the phrases continue a sentence, they do not start with upper case
For example:
Tom liked to play sport at the weekend because: A it was good for his health B it was a great way to meet new people C it was fun Where items in a list are sentence fragments or short phrases that do no serve to complete the introductory
sentence, the list items start with a lower-case letter (unless they are proper nouns) and a full stop appears
only at the end of the last item
For example:
Severe weather options to be discussed:
• radio and television warnings
• underground bunkers
• evacuation plan
• rescue plan
For the party, he was asked to decide several things:
• when it would be
• where it would be held
• what kind of drinks would be available
• the type of food that would be served
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The leisure activities on offer were varied:
• canoeing
• water-skiing
• seal-watching
• crabbing
Numbered lists
Numbered lists are used to show hierarchy or sequential order
The sentence preceding a numbered list should end with a full stop or a colon Start numbered sentences
with upper case and end with full stops
Numbers in numbered lists are left-aligned (not indented) and are not followed by a full stop
For example:
To ensure success when baking a cake:
1 Measure the cake tin carefully and make sure the dimensions are exactly right 2 Measure the ingredients carefully
3 Preheat the oven to the right temperature For subnumbering, right-aligned roman numerals are used, introduced by a colon
For example:
Steps to a successful meeting:
1 Set a clear agenda 2 Invite participants:
i) decide who is essential ii) check their diaries
iii) book a meeting room Bulleted lists
Bullet points are ideally used for emphasising short, specific points within text. Unlike with numbered lists,
there is no particular hierarchy to the elements in a bulleted list
Bullet points are left-aligned and not indented
Bullet points are introduced with text and a colon, and each line normally begins with a lower-case
letter As described above, there is no punctuation at the end of each line, unless it is a sentence A full stop
is used at the end of the last item to indicate the end of the list
For example:
Benefits of using language effectively in the classroom include:
• a positive learning atmosphere
• clear instruction
• control and discipline
• learner interaction
• greater understanding
Notice, in the example above, that the text in each bullet point follows on grammatically from the
introductory text This is often the case, and care should be taken to carry this through consistently with all
items in the list
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For example:
Before your job interview, remember to:
• find out as much as possible about the company
• prepare some questions for the interviewer
• get a good sleep the night before
Normally, bullet points are avoided for lengthy blocks of text but sometimes this isn’t possible Where
individual list items contain more than one sentence, the copy should be in sentence case
For example:
Here is a summary of the business manager’s comments:
• ‘The financial reports will be ready at the end of each month. It will be essential for the directors to
review them carefully to determine the projected profitability of the venture as well as the ongoing
financial health of the products.’
• ‘As far as the shareholders are concerned, the company needs to increase profit levels
significantly each quarter.’
Sub-bullets
Sub-bullets use a spaced en dash (for sub-sub-bullets use an open bullet point) Punctuation is the same
as for main bullets, with the final sub-bullet taking the full stop.
For example:
Learners must be taught:
• maintenance strategies and associated operations, i e :
– planned
or scheduled maintenance
– preventative
maintenance
– predictive
maintenance
• analysis of different maintenance strategies, i e :
– advantages and disadvantages
– cost
of repair vs cost of prevention
Incorrect use of bullets and sub-bullets
Bullet and sub-bullet points should not be used instead of commas or to break up a perfectly good
sentence in the attempt to give more clarity or emphasis
For example, the following sentence:
‘Your evaluation might include an explanation that compares and contrasts internal with external ’
should remain a full sentence, not become bullet and sub-bullet points as follows:
Your evaluation might include:
• an explanation:
– that compares and contrasts:
◦ internal with external.
Running text lists
With a colon
An ‘in-text’ list does not normally need numbers or letters to aid the reader and is introduced by a colon:
Four types of birds regularly visited her garden: sparrows, blackbirds, collared doves and wrens
With commas
OCR house style is to not use the serial, or Oxford, comma before the final item in a list and before the
words ‘and’ or ‘or’
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For example:
not
It suddenly spun out of control, descended rapidly, skimmed the tops of several houses and finally
landed with a bang (no comma before ‘and’)
It suddenly spun out of control, descended rapidly, skimmed the tops of several houses, and finally
landed with a bang (‘Oxford’ comma appears before ‘and’ )
But, where a second ‘and’ joins a concluding or change-of-subject statement, a preceding comma is used:
or
He installed an integrated database, spreadsheet and word processing application onto his computer,
and found none of them worked
He started downloading an integrated database, spreadsheet and word processing application, and
went to make a cup of tea
Sometimes lower-case letters or roman numerals are used to separate points and, if so, they appear in
parentheses after a colon:
He volunteered to look after several stalls at the school fête: (a) the coconut shy, (b) face painting,
(c) the cake stall and (d) the lucky dip
Where ‘etc ’ is used, the previous item is followed by a comma, e g shoes, scarf, etc
References/Bibliographies
OCR house style follows the author–date (Harvard) system: in-text references provide author surname and
date, with full bibliographical details given in a reference list or bibliography:
• Alphabetise by surname of main author or editor (regardless of the number of authors/editors), ignoring
accents and treating Mc as Mac and St as Saint. When the surname has a prefix (e.g. de Gaulle),
alphabetise by the prefix and ensure that the prefix is also included in the text reference.
• Multiple works by the same author or group of authors should be listed in chronological order
• Alphabetise works with no author by the first significant word in the title.
• If the author is a corporate body, then alphabetise by the first significant word of the name (e.g. The
Association of Language Testers in Europe would come under A)
• If no date is given for a work, use (n d )
• Use italics for titles of books, periodicals, newspapers, DVDs, etc
• Page numbers should be included for all articles in journals and in collections
• Normally, publishers’ names should be spelled out in full, e g Cambridge University Press not CUP
Books
Books should appear in the following format:
Author(s)/Editor(s) (Year) Title of book. Edition Place of publication: Name of publisher
One author
Smith, F (1985) Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Two authors
Bevis, P and Murray, M (2008) AQA Physical education AS: Student’s book Cheltenham: Nelson
Thornes Ltd
Three or more authors
Nolan, Y , Pritchatt, N and Railton, D (2011) Level 3 Health and social care (Adults) Diploma:
Candidate book (Level 3 Work-based learning Health and social care) London: Heinemann
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Corporate author
The Association of Language Testers in Europe (1998) ALTE handbook of language examinations
and examinations systems Cambridge: UCLES
Ofqual (2009) A levels: The official student guide to the system. Coventry: Ofqual
Editors
Kinsella, V , ed (1978) Language teaching and linguistics: surveys Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Oller, J W and Richards, J C , eds (1973) Focus on the learner: pragmatic perspectives for the
language teacher Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House
No author or editor
Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 6th ed (2014) Harlow: Pearson Education
Editions
Fromkin, V , Rodman, R and Hyams, N (2013) An introduction to language 10th ed
Boston, Massachusetts: Wadsworth
Cohen, J (1977) Statistical power analysis for the behavioural sciences. Rev ed New York: Plenum
Press
Reports
Reports should appear in the following format:
Authorship/Organisation (Year) Full title of report Place: Publisher
Department of Health (2001) National service framework for older people London: Department of
Health
Coulter, A and Collins, A (2011) Making shared decision-making a reality: no decision about me,
without me London: The King's Fund
E-versions
Authorship/Organisation (Year) Full title of report [type of medium] Place: Publisher Available at: include
web address/URL [Access date]
Department of Health (2001) National service framework for older people [PDF] London:
Department of Health Available at: <http://www dh gov uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_
digitalassets/@dh/@en/ documents/digitalasset/dh_4071283 pdf> [Accessed 12 September 2011]
Coulter, A and Collins, A (2011) Making shared decision-making a reality: no decision about me,
without me [pdf] London: The King's Fund Available at: <http://www kingsfund org uk/publications/
nhs_decisionmaking html> [Accessed 12 September 2011]
Articles
Journals/Periodicals
Articles in journals and periodicals should appear in the following format:
Author(s) (Date of publication) Title of article Title of Publication, volume number, page number(s)
One author:
Abercrombie, D (1968) Paralanguage British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 3, 55–59
More than one author:
Guiora, A Z , Paluszny, M , Beit-Hallahmi, B , Catford, J C , Cooley, R E and Dull, C Y (1975)
Language and person: Studies in language behaviour Language Learning, 25, 43–61
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Articles in press:
Johns, A M (in press) Written argumentation for real audiences TESOL Quarterly, p 6
Magazines
Gardner, H (1981, December) Do babies sing a universal song? Psychology Today, 70–76
Newspapers
James, R (1991, 15 December) Obesity affects economic social status The Guardian, p 18
Acid attack ‘scarred girl for life’ (1986, 21 October) The Guardian, p 4
Theses and dissertations
Theses and dissertations should appear in the following format:
Author (Year) Title. Type of thesis/dissertation, Name of institution, Location of institution
Herrington, R (1996) Test-taking strategies and second language proficiency: Is there a relationship?
Unpublished MA dissertation, Lancaster University, Lancaster
Audiovisual
Audiovisual material should appear in the following formats
DVDs or videos
Full title of DVD or video (Year of release) [type of medium] Director (if relevant) City/Country of origin:
Film studio or maker (Other relevant details)
Great films from the 80s: a selection of clips from Warner Brothers’ top films from the 1980s (2005)
[DVD] New York: Warner Brothers
Health for all children 3: the video (2004) [video] London: Child Growth Foundation (Narrated by
D B M Hall)
Films
Title (Year of release) [Medium] Director Country of origin: Film studio
Macbeth (1948) [Film] Directed by Orson Welles USA: Republic Pictures
Broadcasts
Series title and episode name and number if relevant (Year of broadcast) [type of medium] Broadcasting
organisation: Channel, date and time of transmission
Little Britain (2006) [TV programme] BBC: BBC2, 30 January 2006 20:00
YouTube videos
Screen name of contributor (Year) Video title, Series Title (if relevant) [type of medium] Available at:
include website address/URL [Access date]
Mrgeorged (2009) Top Gear The Stig revealed Full [video online] Available at: <http://www youtube
com/watch#!v=eTapK5dRaw4> [Accessed 23 June 2009]
Defra (2007) Sustainable development: the bigger picture [video online] Available at: <http://youtu
be/keZmg56ahdM> [Accessed 23 June 2012]
Audio
Audio material should appear in the following formats
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Broadcasts
For a broadcast obtained through Box of Broadcasts:
Little Britain (2006) [TV programme recording] BBC: BBC2, 30 January 2006 20:00 Available
through: Box of Broadcasts database [Accessed 12 August 2011]
Recordings
Originator/composer (Year) ‘Song/Part title’, from Title of Work [medium] Name of recording artist/
performer/conductor Place of distribution: Record Label
Tippett, M (1993) Symphony no. 4 [Sound recording] Performed by the Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox Colchester: Chandos Records
Gallagher, N (1994) ‘Live forever’, from Definitely Maybe [CD] Recorded by Oasis Manchester:
Creation Records
CDs
Artist (Year) Title of recording [CD] Place of distribution: Record label
Oasis (1994) Definitely Maybe [CD] Manchester: Creation Records
Digital
Websites
Websites should be referenced consistently within and across a suite of documents, e g either with or
without the website’s byline, which identifies the organisation not the content, in the following format:
www ocr org uk
or
www ocr org uk – OCR
www bps org uk or
www bps org uk – British Psychological Society
NB: where a web address appears at the end of a sentence in body text, it should be followed by a full stop
For pages/documents found on the worldwide web, the required elements for a reference are:
Authorship or Source (Year) Title of web document or webpage [type of medium] (date of update if
available) Available at: include website address/URL [Access date]
NHS Evidence (2003) National library of guidelines [online] Available at: <http://www library nhs uk/
guidelinesFinder> [Accessed 10 October 2009]
If the URL appears to be exceedingly long, provide routing details to the site’s homepage (from which the
reference can be found)
Online articles
For an article from a web-based magazine or journal which is freely available over the web, the required
elements for a reference are:
Authorship (Year) Title of article Full Magazine Title [online] Available at: web address (quote the exact
URL for the article) [Access date]
Kipper, D (2008) Japan's new dawn Popular Science and Technology [online] Available at: <http://
www popsci com/popsci37b144110vgn/html> [Accessed 22 June 2009]
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For newspaper articles found in online newspapers, the required elements for a reference are:
Authorship/Corporate authorship (Year) Title of document or page Newspaper Title [online] (additional
date information) Available at: web address (quote exact URL for the article) [Access date]
Chittenden, M , Rogers, L and Smith, D (2003) Focus: Targetitis ails NHS Times Online [online]
(1 June) Available at: <http://www timesonline co uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article1138006 ece>
[Accessed 17 March 2005]
Mortgage Advisors Inc (2009) Is this the start of a new home loan war? HSBC vows to lend
£1 billion to homebuyers with 10% deposits. Daily Mail [online] (last updated 9 47 am on 9 April
2009) Available at: <http://www dailymail co uk/news/article-1168461/Is-start-new-home-loan-war­
HSBC-vows-lend-1billion-homebuyers-10-deposits html> [Accessed 20 April 2009]
PDFs
Authorship/Corporate authorship (Year) Title of documents [type of medium] Place of publication (if
known): Publisher Available at: include web address/URL for the actual PDF [Access date]
Bank of England, (2008) Inflation report [PDF] Bank of England Available at: <http://www
bankofengland.co.uk/publications/inflationreport/ir08nov.pdf> [Accessed 20 April 2009].
Department of Health (2008) Health inequalities: progress and next steps [PDF] London:
Department of Health Available at: <http://www dh gov uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/
PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_085307> [Accessed 9 June 2008]
Subject-specific referencing styles
Biblical
The style for referencing verses from the Bible is to list the name of the book in the Bible followed by the
chapter and verse:
John 3:16
Classics
Citations should appear in the following format:
Author, Title of work Book number (upper-case roman numerals), chapter number, page number(s)
[Publisher, Year/Book number, Chapter number, trans /ed ] Each segment of the citation should be
separated by a comma except title and book number, where there should be no punctuation
Cicero, In Verrem II, 1, 53–4
Plutarch, Lycurgus, 24 [Penguin, 1988, trans Talbert] Plutarch, Life of Pericles XII, 1 [LACTOR 1, 66] Adapted from Suetonius, Caius Caligula III–VI
Virgil, Aeneid I, 102–22
Note that line references for classical texts usually refer to the lines in the original text, which will
sometimes be replicated identically in the Question Paper or accompanying assessment material Extracts
from literature with up to five lines are not numbered, but any extract over five lines should have lines
numbered in multiples of 5 (numbers are in italics)
Law
• The usual format for referencing UK case law is plaintiff (italics) v (roman) defendant (italics), e g Smith
v Anderson or, in an appeal case, appellant v plaintiff
• Where a government department is involved, it is usually the Secretary of State for that department who
is named, e g Berry v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
• Where a local authority is a party in the proceedings, it is simply named, e g Alexander v Lambeth
London Borough Council
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• In a criminal case, the state is referred to as R, e g R v Callahan (Murray Donald). The first names, in
parentheses, are only used if the surname is common, otherwise they would not normally be stated
• A judicial review should be referenced as R (Callahan) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
• Case citations can either be in a simple format of name followed by year in square brackets, e g Kelsey
v Duke of York [1402], or a longer format comprising case name, year, volume name and number, case
page number, name and year of volume (if there is more than one in a year), and page number Some
citations also reference the paragraph number So a full citation would look like: Brown v Frederickson
[2003] 2 WLR 1125; [2003] 1 All ER 261, para 27 Paragraph 27 will be the same paragraph in both
WLR and All ER
Copyright statement
‘© OCR 2016’ (relevant year) appears in the bottom left-hand corner of all pages (including the back page)
in the standard assessment materials
The date should be the earliest date the assessment material will be in the public domain So, materials
‘for assessment between June 2016 and June 2018’ should be dated © OCR 2016 Similarly, a Controlled
Assessment or Case Study released on 15 May 2016 would be dated © OCR 2016
A copyright statement appears under the OCR logo on the last page of the Question Paper, in Arial 8pt For
more information, see Appendix 3: Copyright guidance
Where the copyright statement would increase the page count significantly, the entire statement must be
reduced in size and inserted onto the front page
Where third-party material is used and there are mistakes in the text, the OCR waiver statement must
appear with the copyright statement (See Appendix 3: Copyright guidance )
Modified extracts
Care should be taken when using modified or adapted third-party source material. Where text, maps, tables
or line drawings are modified for assessment purposes, either by omissions, insertions (which should be
enclosed in square [ ] brackets) and/or contraction/extraction, the credit line must include a phrase such as
‘adapted from’, ‘based on’ or ‘modified from’ and the source. If the publisher is quoting from another source,
the original source or author and title must be cited
For example:
Thousands of microbes found in house dust
The dust in our homes contains an average of 9000 different species of microbes, a
study suggests. Dr Noah Fierer, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
said:
"We have known for a long time that microbes live in our homes. What we are doing
now is old-fashioned science, to see how they vary across space."
These [types of fungi] included well-known moulds such as Aspergillus, Penicillium,
Alternaria and Fusarium.
Morelle, R (2015) Thousands of microbes found in house dust BBC News [online] Available at:
http://www bbc co uk/news/science-environment-34056549 Adapted from: The ecology of microscopic
life in household dust (2015) Royal Society Publishing Proceedings B Available at: http://rspb
royalsocietypublishing org/content/282/1814/20151139 [Accessed 28 August 2015 ]
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Quick Reference Guide Common OCR errors
Inconsistent, and often incorrect, capitalisation If the word(s) is a proper name or being used as a
proper name, use initial upper case If initial upper case is used in one heading and/or subheading, all
subsequent headings and subheadings of that title level must follow the same format
Inconsistent, and often incorrect, punctuation of lists Displayed lists should be introduced with a
colon; don't interchange with commas, semicolons or nothing at all There should be no semicolon at the
end of each list item The last item should have a full stop at the end of it
Inconsistent subheadings If a particular font style, size or emphasis is used for a particular subheading,
all subheadings in that ‘family’ throughout the whole document and across all material in that unit, should
use the same font style, size or emphasis
Inconsistent, and often incorrect, referencing style Choose the appropriate format for the type of
material being referenced, and ensure the format remains consistent (See References/Bibliographies )
‘Amongst’ instead of ‘among’ As with whilst, amongst is considered outdated However, there are times
when amongst may sound better Only use amongst to reference an individual or object immersed in a
larger group
‘e’ after ‘c’ or ‘g’ before suffixes, e.g., judgement, noticeable. If the verb ends with a soft sound leave the
‘e’ in; if the verb ends in a hard sound omit the ‘e’, e g likable Double quote marks for emphasis or titles Use double quote marks only for quoted speech or quoted statements within a passage that is already in single quotes (See Quotation marks ) ‘Might’ instead of ‘may’ Use might when an outcome is very unlikely, e g ‘The astronomers might see aliens tonight’, and use may when the outcome is more likely, e g ‘The student may need extra tutoring’ Might is also the past tense for may; therefore, use might for a possible past outcome, e g ‘The student might have gone to the party last night’, or when the statement is hypothetical and an ‘if’ is implied, e g ‘I might have died (if … )’ Use may for a likely future outcome, e g ‘The candidates may be more successful tomorrow’ Use may for permission, e g ‘Candidates may use a calculator’ People’s or peoples’ People is treated as a singular entity when it comes to the possessive apostrophe, e g : the people’s reaction or other people’s grammatical mistakes The plural form, peoples, is used to refer to a nationality or race of people, e g : Who were the gods of the other native peoples? Were these peoples' gods one and the same, or did they vary from tribe to tribe? ‘Which’ or ‘that’ ‘That’ provides essential information to define, identify or narrow down a particular item.
‘Which’ is nearly always used to provide additional information about an item already identified. It is almost
always preceded by a comma, parenthesis or open en dash to separate the clause from the rest of the
of sentence. ‘Which’ should only be used to define when preceded by a preposition, e.g. ‘The situation in
which or the extent to which ’)
‘Though’ instead of ‘although’ ‘Although’ is more formal and therefore usually more appropriate for
written text At the start of a sentence use ‘Although’ or ‘Even though’
‘Whether’ instead of ‘if’ and vice versa Use whether when giving two or more conditions/alternatives and
when ‘or’ or ‘or not’ is stated or implied (e g whether to choose Option 1 or …), i e when there is another/
are other options Use ‘if’ when there is only one condition
‘Whilst’ instead of ‘while’ Whilst is considered outdated by the publishing industry Avoid
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‘Within’ instead of ‘in’ Only use within when specific spatial or time parameters are defined, i.e. the
noun’s location is placed firmly within one of these parameters, not beyond, e.g. ‘your field research must
take place within the ring road’ (i e spatial – inside/not beyond) or ‘the task must be completed within two
hours’ (i e time – inside of/ before the end of)
‘Utilise’ instead of ‘use’ Only use utilise to imply an unusual use, or an extension of usual application:
not ‘The learners will utilise the knowledge gained in the classroom in the workplace ’ (The
knowledge is meant to be used in the workplace, by definition.)
but ‘Unit 2 uses the knowledge, skills and experience gained in Unit 1 ’
and ‘Learners can utilise the communications theory taught in health and social science to create a computer program ’ (Health and social science communications theory is not explicitly taught for use in computer programming but can be usefully applied when creating a computer program )
Unnecessary use of ‘those’ If the sentence works without the word ‘those’ then don’t use it, e g
‘summarise the benefits of partnership-working to those individuals with physiological disorders’ works just
as well as ‘summarise the benefits of partnership-working to individuals with physiological disorders’ with a
bonus of one less word to write and read
‘Upon’ instead of ‘on’ As with whilst and amongst, ‘upon’ is considered outdated Always use ‘on’ except
in specific idiomatic phrases, e.g. the weekend is upon us already; Once upon a time … .
A note about bias and stereotyping
Images should be appropriate to nationality and culture For example, if the storyline involves a group of
African students discussing their Muslim personal names, and an image is used, ensure that the image is
appropriate to that storyline. Images depicting British society should reflect its multicultural nature.
Avoid gender bias by using language that includes both men and women equally For example, avoid using
‘man’ or ‘mankind’ to mean ‘all men and women’ In preference, use, e g ‘people’ or ‘humankind’ Use
gender-neutral words for occupations, e g ‘chairperson’, rather than ‘chairman’, ‘actor’ rather than ‘actress’
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OCR Vocabulary Guide
Sources: Collins English Dictionary; New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors
A
acknowledgement
aftercare
ageing
Almighty (in reference to God, as in ‘the Almighty’, ‘Almighty God’)
among (not amongst)
Answer Booklet
antivirus
am (8 am; half space between number and abbreviation)
app (no full stop when used as a technical noun)
apps (no full stop)
arguable
artwork
autoimmune
awarding body
B
backup (noun); back up (verb, e.g. to back up files)
bar code
benefit (of/to): it is of benefit to the company; also, as verb, benefiting, benefited
borderline
break even (verb); breakeven (noun – accounting term: one word)
C
capitalisation (not capitalization)
cardiovascular
CD-ROM (computing)
checklist
childcare
coeliac (not celiac [US])
centre
cf (meaning ‘compare’ and not ‘see’)
chair-bound
c (circa)
computer-aided design (CAD)
computer-based
contraindication
coordination
cooperation
D
data (properly a plural noun, especially in research, although often used as a singular) desktop
desktop publishing (DTP)
E
eAdministration
Earth (caps only in astronomical contexts and in a list of planets)
eAssessment
ebook
ecofriendly
E. coli
e g (with a comma before but not after)
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email
eNewsletter
etc (with a comma before but not after)
F
face-to-face (as preceding adverb, e g face-to-face training)
face to face (as following adverb, e g let’s meet face to face with him) fetus
Fig (Fig 12) but Figs (no full stop)
figure (when not followed by a numeral)
fit for purpose (no hyphens)
flashcard
flowchart
focused, focusing
follow up (verb: to follow up)
follow-up (noun or adjective: I will review your follow-up report; follow-up visit)
freestanding
full stops
G
gameplay
government (lower case even when specific, e.g. Afghanistan government, UK government)
H
hand-out
handwritten
house style
I
i e (comma before but not after ‘Do it this way, i e as in Question 1’)
in-depth
Insert (unit-related proper noun)
instil (not instill [US])
internet (lower-case ‘i’)
interpersonal
J
judgement
L
labelled
layout
life cycle
life span
lifestyle
log on (verb: log on to – phrasal verb is ‘log on’; logon (noun)
lower case; lower-case as adjective
M
macroeconomic(s)
macromanagement
mark scheme
masterclass
MEI (mathematics in education and industry)
microeconomic(s)
micromanagement
microorganisms
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midpoint
MP (‘an’ MP not ‘a’ MP)
multiagency
multidisciplinary
multilayer
multimeter
multinational
multipage
multipurpose
Mr, Mrs, Ms
N
NATO
NB (no full stops) no (number) no one (no hyphen)
nonlinear
nonparticipative
O
off-site
Olympics
ongoing
online
on-site
overall
overarching
P
p a (per annum)
partnership-working
pentathlon
photoshoot
playability
pm (6 pm)
postproduction
preproduction
preset
print out (verb); printout (noun)
pro rata
Q
qualification
quality of written communication
Question Paper
Question Paper Insert
R
recognise
resit
Resource Booklet
resubmit
reuse
rework
role-play
rollover (technical)
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S
saleability
self-harm
shelf life
skilful (not skillful [US])
SMART (specific measurable achievable realistic time-bound)
socioeconomic
solar system
stakeholder
standardise
story flow
storyline
storytelling
straightaway
straightforward
subset
sulfur (science only, otherwise sulphur)
Sun (caps only in astronomical contexts and in a list of planets)
syllabus
syllabuses
synthesise
T
teamwork
test tube (noun)
textbook
timeline
timescale
timetable
troublemaker
troubleshoot
two-day course
U
ultrasound UNESCO
universe
until (not untill [US])
up-to-date (as preceding adjective, e g up-to-date information)
up to date (as following adjective, e g the information was not up to date)
V
versus: abbreviated as ‘vs’
viva voce
W
web page
website (one word)
wellbeing
while (not ‘whilst’)
Wi-Fi
word processing (noun); word-process (verb)
workplace
worldwide
wrongdoing
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Typography and Layout
Headings
Question Papers
See Sample front covers and Question Paper elements: Headings
Non-Question Paper material
In general, main headings should be left-aligned either in bold UPPER CASE or bold Title Case,
Arial 16 pt Subheadings should be left aligned in bold Title Case, Arial 14 pt Sub-subheadings should be
left-aligned in Sentence case, not bold
For example:
or
BUSINESS STUDIES
Business Functions
G492 Understanding Processes/Experimentation and Data Handling
Overview
The three papers taken in January 2010 showed a range of responses from the very …
However, different types of material require style-specific headings using a combination of infill, bold, italics
and underline for emphasis
For example:
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comprehension
Type style
Fonts and sizes
Arial 11 pt is the default font for all OCR assessment materials. Any specialist fonts should be specified
before they are typeset
Footers appear centred and in 8 pt (except ‘Turn over’)
Exceptions to using Arial 11 pt are as follows and must be specified for the typesetter:
Maths (GCE)
Times New Roman 11 pt is used throughout standard assessment materials for GCE maths (apart from
on the front cover and in the copyright acknowledgement)
Chemistry
An italic Bookman Old Style 11 pt l is used in the periodic table for some atomic symbols, e g Cl or Al
Oxidation states should be set in a serif font (e g Times New Roman) Cu(II)
Classics
Verdana (same font size as the rest of the text, i e 11 pt) should be used in Latin words for the capital
letter ‛I’ in quoted material, for example:
‘nam Iuppiter Atlantem iussit caelum in capite portare’ (lines 4–5): what did Jupiter say?
Computing/Computer Science
Courier New is used for examples of computer code
Languages
As appropriate, other fonts are used for languages such as Persian, Biblical Hebrew and Gujarati The
required font must be clearly specified when the material is sent for typesetting.
Entry Level
Comic Sans can be used for Entry level papers A slightly larger Arial font size is also possible
Special Requirements
The standard typeface and point size for modified enlarged assessment materials is Arial 18 or 24 pt bold
on 20 pt leading, left-aligned (ragged right) It may be necessary to use an alternative typeface/point size if
required by the assessment
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Italics
Italics can be used for emphasis, but should not be over-used
Line numbers in quoted set text should be in italics for standard Question Papers but not in modifed
Question Papers
Italics should be used for foreign words or phrases (unless their usage is so common that they can be
viewed as English words/phrases):
It lacks a certain je ne sais quoi
It was my fault: mea culpa
See also Titles
Sub/Superscript
Sub/superscript should be used only for footnotes, citations, equations, formulae and standard
abbreviations such as ©, ® and ™ Ordinal number indicators are not superscripted
See also Numbers
Bold
In general, bold should be used, sparingly, to draw attention to, or emphasise, important information
Bold can be used in questions in the Question Papers in the following instances:
• to emphasise the number of required responses when a candidate is asked to provide more than one:
Mount St Helens is regularly monitored Describe two monitoring methods and how they may give
warning of a new eruption
• to emphasise the word ‘and’ where a response comprises two parts:
Provide the standard cost for the total production in December 2010 and the standard cost per unit
• to highlight choice in a question:
The travel company’s customer has the choice of going either to Rome or to Paris for their summer
break Which should he choose?
• to ensure that the student’s attention is drawn to the specific intention of the question:
Discuss why a business would not be interested in corporate responsibility
Analyse the negative impacts that a growing awareness of the carbon footprint may have on the airline
industry
• to draw attention to the need to give differing points of view in a question:
Give one advantage and one disadvantage of genetically modified food.
• in language papers to indicate in which language an answer should be written:
Answer the question IN ENGLISH
Figures or tables
Important instructions, such as to which figure to refer, can be indicated in bold: ‘Refer to Fig 2’ or
‘Complete Table 2 1’
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Maps
Where maps and graphs have a key and legend, all text should be in sentence case If the legend has
subsections with headings, these should be bold Title Case:
Key:
Country
• Japan
• China
Population
• over 2200
• 1201–2200
Area
• urban
• rural
Demographics
• A, B, C
• D, E
Age group
• 50–60
• 61–70
Special Requirements
See Special Requirements
Tables
Headings
Table headings are essential for establishing context for the data contained in the rows and columns of a
table. There are two types of table headings: horizontal (top row of cells) and vertical (first column of
cells), and these headings are explicitly tied to the data they describe in their relevant rows and columns
For example:
Horizontal headings
Vertical headings
Horizontal headings should be top-aligned in bold Sentence case and, from the second cell onwards,
centred
Vertical headings should be bold Sentence case and left-aligned
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For example:
or
There may be exceptions where the heading of the first column is long and the content of the cells below
consists of one letter/number or one short word/number In this case, heading and content may be centred
For example:
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Some tables may also have multiple horizontal and vertical headings These should all be bold
Sentence case with the first column left-aligned and other columns centred.
For example:
Table 1 2
Body text
The style for body text in a table is as follows and is determined by how many words are in the table cells
In column 2 onwards, the following applies
One or two words, a hyphenated word, a letter or group of letters:
• centred
• lower case (except for proper nouns)
• roman
More than two words:
• left-aligned
• lower case
• roman
A sentence:
• left-aligned
• sentence case with a full stop
• roman
For example:
Food tested
Potato
Sausage roll
Jam tart
Colour with iodine
solution
blue-black
blue-black
blue-black
Observations with Benedict’s solution
A pale blue solution forms
A small amount of light green precipitate forms
A brick red precipitate forms
Table 1 Food test results
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Italics
Binomial nomenclature text should be in italics, as below
Bat
Distribution
Pipistrellus pipistrellus
Pipistrellus pygmaeus
Pipistrellus austriacus
across Europe
across Europe
central and south
Europe
First triplet of bases
in mRNA
UAG
CAG
UAC
Numbers
Numbers in tables appear in roman type Where there are decimals, numbers are decimally aligned with
the longest number, which should be centred
For example:
Adam
100 00
2000 10
50 00
Bill
99 00
31 100 00
17 500 00
Charlie
101 00
42 600 30
100 000 20
Table 3
Labelling
There are two approaches to the labelling of tables; similarly for figures (see Photographs Labelling)
In Question Papers with multiple tables within individual questions, the table number should correspond to
the question number (so Question 3 would have Table 3 1, Table 3 2, etc ); note, however, that if there is
only one table in, say, Question 4 of a paper using this approach, the table should be labelled Table 4 and
not Table 4 1
If a question has a combination of tables and figures, number them as follows:
Table
Fig
Table
Fig
14 1
14 1
14 2
14 2
In Question Papers that do not have multiple tables in individual questions, numbering should start at 1,
regardless of question number, and continue sequentially
Table labels should appear below the table in bold sentence case It is optional to name a table but a table
should always be numbered
(All images, including photographs, drawings, charts, maps and diagrams, must be referred to as Fig and
not by the type of image, i e Fig 3 and not Diagram 3 (see Photographs Labelling) )
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Graphics
Flow diagrams
On flow diagrams, box borders should be 1 pt thick and the flow line joining each segment should be 0.5 pt.
For example:
Pie charts
Where applicable, the outer circle should be the same line thickness as the section lines Pie charts should
normally be drawn with the sectors in rank order, beginning at ‘noon’ and proceeding clockwise
If a comparison is to be made between two or more pie charts, the subsequent pie charts should keep their
segments in the same order as the first diagram, regardless of the relative size of the sections in other pie
charts
For example:
Keys
Where a key is not included in an image of a chart, graph or map, and one needs to be added, the key
should be positioned to the right of the graphic
When adding a title for the key, it should be ranged left above the body of the key and appear in bold
sentence case If the word ‘key’ is used as a heading, it should be ranged left in bold, initial upper case,
followed by a colon
The text for the legend in a key should be lower case and positioned to the right of the symbols or shaded
boxes
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For example:
Graphs
All graphs should be set on one of the agreed templates (see Grids and Graphs Library held by Canon)
Graph axis arrows
XY-labelled arrows are used when xy coordinates are involved The y-axis is marked vertically and the
x-axis is marked horizontally in line with the x- and y-axes, respectively Where xy coordinates are not
relevant, e g in a bar chart, the arrows are not labelled
For example:
Graph axis title
Roman, lower case or sentence case, centred 3 mm from/below the axes or any numbers on the axes
The y- (vertical) axis label should be centred on the y-axis and, on rare occasions, depending on the length
of the title and space available, it can be rotated along the axis The x- (horizontal) axis label should be
centred on the x-axis
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Where the xy axes form a + and the labels are not xy, they can appear in the xy positions:
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OCR maths Question Papers (not MEI) have an italic O for origin for non-numerical graphs Upper case
letters denoting points on the graph are also in italics MEI maths and GCSE and A level science papers
have a roman O for origin and roman letters denoting points on the graph:
Maps
Most map images will be published/third-party material and have their own style for keys, titles and legends
However, there will be times when maps require additional information
Keys
See Graphics: Keys
Main title or heading
These appear in sentence case roman
Labelling features on maps
Labels added to maps to provide information should appear in sentence case roman Italics may be used
sparingly for differentiation
North point
This should be included in all maps (unless otherwise instructed) It appears as an upward arrow with a
horizontal cross bar through the vertical line ‘N’ appears above the arrowhead It should be positioned in
the top right-hand corner inside and parallel to the image frame or border. If this is difficult, place in any
easily visible spot inside the frame
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Countries and continents
The names of countries and continents should normally be in initial upper case roman Sometimes, for the
sake of clarity and to differentiate between categories (i e to separate countries from towns) or, for
example, to make a name stand out on a coloured background, the names of countries and continents can
appear in bold upper case
Names of towns and cities, regions and islands
These appear with initial upper case
Water features
Streams, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans appear with initial upper case (i e North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, River
Swale) and may be in italics for greater clarification.
Scale bars
Ordnance Survey maps may have specific layouts. Scale bars usually appear in the inside bottom right
corner. Where possible, OCR maps should follow suit. If this is difficult, place within the key and abbreviate
‛kilometres’ to ‛km’. Where only one value and unit is given, position in a line above the bar. Where a
second value and unit is given, position in a line below the bar
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Photographs and drawings
Images are usually centred under the question they refer to, with the caption or label appearing centred
below the image in the same way that the names of tables appear centred below tables
Captions and source referencing
Captions that are titles for images should appear centred under the material in roman Arial 11 pt
A meeting of the Radical Reformers took place on
Monday 16 August on St Peter's Field, Manchester
Where material needs a source reference in addition to the caption, the wording should be right-aligned
with or inside the border or frame of the image, not the page margin, and in italic Arial 11 pt
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Labelling
As with table labels, in Question Papers with multiple figures within individual questions, the figure
should always be labelled Fig and the number should correspond to the question number (so Question 3
would have Fig. 3.1, Fig. 3.2, etc.); note that if there is only one figure in Question 4 of a paper using this
approach, the figure should be labelled Fig. 4 and not Fig. 4.1.
In Question Papers that do not have multiple figures in individual questions, numbering should start at 1,
regardless of question number, and continue sequentially
All photographs and drawings that are referenced in the text should be labelled as figures and should
always have a numerical identifier (i.e. Fig. 1, Fig. 2), with a heading or title if relevant. If an illustration is
not directly referred to in the text, labelling is optional There should be no punctuation, i e colon, hyphen or
dash, after the figure number where a heading or title follows.
If an image is not referred to in the text, a caption or labelling is optional
Fig 6 A cartoon about global inequalities
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Unreferenced image – no caption or label
53
OCR Question Papers
Templates
The OCR assessment material templates (e g Question Papers, Inserts and Resource Sheets) are Word
documents and can be provided by the Assessment Materials team The templates should follow the format
of the respective house style depending on whether the assessment materials are following a legacy
specification or a new specification (for first teaching from Sept 2016).
Front cover rubric bank (for new specifications from Sept 2016)
To maintain consistency across OCR assessment materials, a front cover rubric bank is available for OCR
Question Papers, Inserts and other relevant assessment materials The rubrics bank provides all approved
rubrics for front covers, both for Instructions for Candidates and Information to Candidates There is a
fixed order that the sections and generic rubrics must follow. All rubrics must follow the HSG and may not
be changed, merged or removed The rubrics bank also follows CCMS convention The OCR assessment
materials team and Senior Managers (Chairs of Examiners) have access to this rubric bank
For internal use only:
The rubric bank can be found here:
X:\OCR\Exam_Series\QP_Tracking\CCMS_QP_Fcovers\rubrics
Any changes or additions to the rubric bank must be requested via the ‘Change Control Process’ by the
Chair The Request for Change to Front Cover Form should be submitted to the Assessment Production
Manager for approval
The change control form can be found here:
X:\OCR\Exam_Series\QP_Tracking\CCMS_QP_Fcovers\Change_Control\
Controlled Lists and section optionality
The section optionality rubrics can be built in their entirety using the Controlled Lists Each list is a building
block One element from a Controlled List is added after another until the whole rubric is complete See
examples below
The Controlled Lists have been devised to allow rubrics to be built simply and flexibly while maintaining
consistency across all qualifications. Additional text other than the options found in the Controlled Lists is
not permitted Any additions to this Controlled List must be requested by the Chair via the ‘Change Control
Process’ and submitted to the Assessment Production Manager
The rubrics must follow the pattern/order shown in the examples
For section optionality, only the section title is allowed in the free text field following a <CL2><XXX>.
Adding page numbers or question parts is not permitted
The section optionality rubric is built using the Controlled List
For example:
Section A: Answer two questions Question 1 or 2 and Question 3 or 4
would look like this:
<CL2>:<CL6><CL5> <CL5><CL8><CL5>
and:
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Part 1: Choose one of the following sections Either
Section A: The Inter-War Years, 1919–1939 or
Section B: The Cold War, 1945–1975 or
Section C: A New World?, 1948–2005
Answer Question 1 and one other question from the section you have chosen
Part 2: Answer Question 4 and one other question
would look like this:
<CL2>:<CL6><CL5><CL1> < CL8>
<CL2>:<XXX><CL8>
<CL2>:<XXX><CL8>
<CL2>:<XXX>
<CL6><CL2><CL5><CL1><CL8><CL1><CL5>
<CL2>:<CL6><CL2><CL5><CL1>
and:
Answer two questions
You must answer your two questions from different sections
Section A: Responsibility for the planet
Section B: War, peace and human rights
Section C: Prejudice and equality
would look like this:
<CL6><CL5>
<CL6><CL6><CL8><CL5><CL5>
<CL2>:<XXX>
<CL2>:<XXX>
<CL2>:<XXX>
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Sample front covers
H/F
Oxford Cambridge and RSA
Qualification Name
Unit Number/Component Title (Tier)
…day … Month Year – Morning/Afternoon
Time allowed: # hours # minutes
* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 *
You must have:
• (e.g. the Resource Booklet)
You may use:
• example
• example
Do not use:
• example
First name
Last name
Centre
number
Candidate
number
INSTRUCTIONS
• Use black ink.
• Complete the boxes above with your name, centre number and candidate number.
• Answer all the questions.
• Write your answer to each question in the space provided. If additional space is
required, use the lined page(s) at the end of this booklet. The question number(s) must
be clearly shown.
• Do not write in the barcodes.
• Additional Rubric must be added as last bullet in list (optional)
INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is #.
• The marks for each question are shown in brackets [ ].
• Quality of written communication will be assessed in this paper.
• This document consists of # pages.
• Additional Rubric must be added as last bullet in list (optional)
© OCR 2016 […/…/…]
DC (…) 000000
OCR House Style Guide Feb 2016
OCR is an exempt Charity
Turn over
56
remove if not needed
Oxford Cambridge and RSA
Qualification Name
H/F
Unit Number/Component Title(Tier)
…day … Month Year – Morning/Afternoon
Time allowed: # hour # minutes
* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 *
You must have:
• theOCR12-pageAnswerBooklet
(OCR12sentwithgeneralstationery)
You may use:
• example
• example
Do not use:
• example
Additional rubric
relevant to QP
can be added if
needed*
INSTRUCTIONS
• Useblackink.
• Answerallthequestions.
• WriteyouranswersintheAnswerBooklet.Thequestionnumber(s)mustbeclearly
Will be
shown.
amended to
•
Donotwriteinthebarcodes.
suit the needs
point 3 can change
•
AdditionalRubricmustbeaddedaslastbulletinlist(optional)
of QP, must
depending on
stay in bullet
paper
INFORMATION
2 position
• Thetotalmarkforthispaperis#.
• Themarksforeachquestionareshowninbrackets[ ].
• Qualityofwrittencommunicationwillbeassessedinthispaper.
• Thisdocumentconsistsof#pages.
• AdditionalRubricmustbeaddedaslastbulletinlist(optional)
Any additional information
must be added here.
Not all papers will have
additional information so
this can be removed.
Delete if not
required
*indicates where
additional instruction
can be added (e.g.
HB pencil)
©OCR2016 […/…/…]
DC(??)123456
OCR House Style Guide Feb 2016
OCRisanexemptCharity
Turn over
57
remove if not needed
Oxford Cambridge and RSA
Qualification Name
H/F
Unit Number/Component  Title(Tier)
ResourceBooklet/Insert/AdvanceNotice/CaseStudy
…day … Month Year – Morning/Afternoon
* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 *
Time allowed: # hour # minutes
this will be
added and will
be different
for each paper
INSTRUCTIONS
•
•
INFORMATION
•
• Thisdocumentconsistsof#pages.
©OCR2016 […/…/…]
DC(??)123456
OCR House Style Guide Feb 2016
OCRisanexemptCharity
Turn over
58
Question Paper elements
Rubrics
Answering the questions
The rubric on the front cover for how many and which questions to answer must be replicated at the top of
the first page, or relevant section, of all Question Papers, centred under the page number/section heading.
Where, at the top of the page, the rubric is placed differentiates whether all questions in the paper have to
be answered regardless of how many sections there are, or whether a specific number of questions must
be answered for that particular section
For example, if the rubric on the front cover is, ‘Answer all the questions ’, the exact rubric will appear
immediately below the page number:
2
Answer all the questions SECTION A (if there is one)
If, however, there are several sections and the rubric appears as follows on the front cover:
Section A and B: Answer all the questions Section C: Answer one question the relevant rubric is repeated for each section under the section heading:
2
SECTION A
Answer all the questions 5
SECTION B
Answer all the questions 8
SECTION C Answer one question Where the rubric on the front cover is:
Answer three questions
Section A: Answer either Question 1 or Question 2
Section B: Answer either Question 3 or Question 4
Section C: Answer one question
only the relevant section rubric is repeated under the section heading; ‘Answer three questions’ does not
need to appear on the first page of questions.
Quality of written communication
To identify when the quality of written communication will be assessed, the following statement will be found
on the front cover, in sentence case roman
or
or
Quality of written communication will be assessed in this paper
Quality of written communication will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*)
Quality of extended response will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*)
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Spelling, punctuation and grammar
To identify when spelling, punctuation and grammar will be assessed, the following statement will be found
on the front cover, in sentence case roman
Marks will be awarded for spelling, punctuation and grammar in questions marked with a pencil ()
Headings
If a section or option heading is required and the section or option has no title, the section heading should
be centred in bold upper case
SECTION A
OPTION 1
If, however, a section or option does have a title, the heading should be centred, with ‘Section’ in bold
upper case, followed by the section title in bold sentence case after an en dash/rule:
SECTION A – The language of reasoning
OPTION 1 – Literary prose
Usually, if the section has a title, the full heading only appears in the body of the Question Paper and
should be truncated for rubric purposes on the front cover, where it appears in list format and sentence
case:
Section A: Answer all the questions Section B: Answer one question Further subheadings should always be bold sentence case (whether left-aligned or centred)
Additional Answer Space statement
Where necessary, additional answer space is provided after the last question or part question and the
following statement will appear on the front cover:
Write your answer to each question in the space provided If additional space is required, you
should use the lined page(s) at the end of this booklet The question number(s) must be clearly
shown
In the Question Paper, the following heading and statement will appear (the heading centred in bold upper
case):
ADDITIONAL ANSWER SPACE
If additional space is required, you should use the following lined page(s) The question number(s)
must be clearly shown in the margin(s)
All additional answer space at the back of the assessment materials will have a margin ruled down it 2 cm
in from the left-hand side
Where additional space is not provided in the Question Paper but additional paper is allowed, or answers
are written in an OCR Answer Booklet, the following statement will be used on the front cover:
Additional paper may be used if necessary but you must clearly show your candidate number,
centre number and question number(s)
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Blank Pages
For a variety of reasons assessment materials sometimes have blank pages A blank page should have the
following statement at the top of the page, centred in bold upper case, under the page number:
BLANK PAGE
If answers are written on the Question Paper, the following statement should appear in the centre of the
page:
PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE
If a page is left blank intentionally and further questions follow, the BLANK PAGE and PLEASE DO
NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE statements should be included in bold upper case at the top and centre of the
page, respectively, under the page number, but an indication that further questions appear on the following
pages should be included in the centre of the page below PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE:
10
BLANK PAGE
PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE
Turn over for the next question
Continuation
If a question begins on one page but continues on the next, the question number should not be repeated
If a question finishes above the midpoint of the page and the next question begins on the next page, the
following statement should appear to direct the candidate to the next question:
Turn over for the next question
or, for part questions,
Question 3(c) begins on page 4
Turn over
This instruction occurs in bold on odd pages only in the bottom right-hand corner of a page when additional
questions are found overleaf:
Turn over
This should not be expanded to ‘Turn over for Question…’ as ‘Turn over’ is used to indicate that there are
more questions to answer
‛Turn over’ should not appear after the ‘END OF QUESTION PAPER’ statement
‛Turn over’ should not appear before:
• blank pages
• additional answer space
• a page displaying copyright information only
Where answers are written on the Question Paper and the last answer space/lines go over more than one
page, a ‛Turn over’ instruction should be used as normal except on the final page of the answer space.
(See also Modified Enlarged Blank pages and Turn over.)
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Copyright page (back page)
Technically, the back page or copyright page is not a blank page because the copyright notice appears
here Therefore, the blank page statement should not appear on the copyright page
However, if answers are written on the Question Paper, the following sentence appears halfway down the
back page or copyright page, centred in bold upper case:
PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE
(As on other pages, the back page has a page number at the top and a copyright date in the footer )
Question setup and layout
Question numbers always appear in bold The numbering convention for questions is as follows:
1 Question
2 (a) Part question
(b) Part question
3
(a) (i)
(ii)
(iii)
subquestion
subquestion
subquestion
(b) Part question
4
(a) (i) (A) Sub-subquestion
Subquestion roman numerals in parentheses are always right-aligned Below are two examples of question
setups. The first shows a question with answer spaces included and the second shows a question without
answer spaces because the answers are written in an Answer Booklet
Where answers are written on the Question Paper:
1 Question
(a) Part question
(i) subquestion
(ii) subquestion
(b) Part question
Where answers are written in an Answer Booklet:
3
Question
(a) Part question
(i) subquestion
(ii) subquestion
(iii) subquestion
(b) Part question
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Spacing
Once a Question Paper is typeset, spacing should be as follows:
• Between questions there should be two clear line spaces
• Between subquestions there should be an 8 pt vertical space
• Between part questions there should be one clear line space where there are questions only and no
answer lines/spaces required
• Between two sentences there should only be one interword space
Slight variations may be necessary to cater for different types of assessment material but these should be
kept to a minimum (See Appendix 2 for subject-specific spacing.)
Numbering and formatting of answer lines
Where a number of responses are required to answer a question and each line is given a number, the
numbers should not be in bold There should not be any punctuation after the number
For example:
6 Give four examples of how the Second World War has had a negative impact on the British
economy
1
2
3
4
[4]
Where more than one response is required to answer a question and each line has a text leader, the text
should all be lower case except where there is a proper noun, and should not be in bold There should not
be any punctuation after the line text
For example:
(a) Respiratory dysfunction is often treated with drug therapy
Describe the general principles of treatment with the following types of drug steroids antibiotics
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[4]
63
Where more than one response is required to answer a question and each line has a subheading with
numbered lines, the subheading may be in bold if emphasis or clarification is required. The numbers should
not be in bold and there should not be any punctuation after the line number
For example:
Give two different features of the housing of pigs and cattle which are the same and two features
which are different
the same
1
2
different
1
2
See also Modified Papers
[4]
Multiple-choice questions
For multiple-choice questions, the candidate's response should be given in the box provided The following
format should be used:
1 During which time period was the velocity of the ride at its greatest?
A
0 to 2 5 seconds
B
2 5 to 5 seconds
C
5 to 7 5 seconds
D
7 5 to 10 seconds
Your answer
[1]
2 Which of the following is an example of a fiscal policy?
A
a change in the exchange rate
B
a change in the level of government spending
C
a change in the rate of interest
D
a change in the money supply
Your answer
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[1]
64
The following style, where tick boxes are joined together, is not permitted:
4
Patrice is … A 14 years old B 15
years old C 16
years old
A table incorporating tick boxes joined together is, however, permitted
Effect on growth
Light
Pests
Drought
Fertiliser
Positive

Negative


Circling an answer
An alternative to tick boxes is for candidates to circle the correct answer, as shown below:
(ii) What is the best estimate of the true value for the level of particulate carbon in the flue
gases on Tuesday? Put a ring around the correct answer
131
132
133
134
135
[1]
Mark allocation
All mark allocations for OCR assessment materials should be in bold in square brackets If a mark can be
clearly attributed to a question, the mark should appear in line with the answer line on the final line:
(ii) Identify the method used to enter these items of information
[1]
If a mark cannot be clearly attributed to a question and is split between a number of parts to the question,
the mark should appear below the line:
1 (a) question
[1]
(b) (i) question
(ii) question
[3]
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Where the answer lines continue onto the next page, the mark allocation should be placed right-aligned at
the end of the question text:
2 (a) question
[10]
Turn over
If there is no answer line (e g when the answer involves completing a table, loci or constructions), then it
should be placed right-aligned, at the bottom of the loci, construction area or table/diagram
For example:
(c) Show how a 4-bit output of a microcontroller can be made from D flip-flops.
Label the inputs from the data bus and the outputs
[4]
Mark totals
The total mark for the paper appears on the front cover only and should not appear anywhere else in the
paper Section totals should not be used
Mark boxes
Where there are mark boxes for examiners/teachers to manually enter the marks on the front cover, one of
the following should be used
End of Question Paper statement
If answers are not written on the Question Paper, the following statement should appear centred in the
logical place after the last question in bold upper case and the copyright page left blank:
END OF QUESTION PAPER
Where answers are written on the Question Paper, the statement should appear, centred and in bold upper
case, after the answer space for the final question but before the ‘additional answer space’ or ‘blank page’
heading
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Special Requirements
General style points for Modified Papers
This is generic house style guidance for the production of modified assessment materials. For subjectspecific guidance, please contact the Special Requirements Team.
Modified Enlarged (ME)
This is written in line with RNIB Best Practice Guidance for the modification and production of assessment materials for candidates with a visual impairment The standard typeface and point size for ME assessment materials is: Front cover:
Content:
Arial 16 pt bold, ranged left (ragged right) Arial 18 or 24 pt bold on 20 or 26 pt leading respectively, ranged left (ragged right) It may sometimes be necessary to use an alternative typeface/point size if required by the assessment For an 18 pt paper the minimum font size is 16 pt in exceptional circumstances, e g subscript and superscript Front cover
‘Plus your additional time allowance’ should be added underneath the assessment ‘Duration’
‘MODIFIED ENLARGED’ (for 18 pt) or ‘MODIFIED ENLARGED 24 pt’ should be written in the centre of the
page, directly beneath the assessment details, above the rubric/instructions
All additional materials must be fully referenced on the front page, including inserts and loose sheets
unique to the ME version
All inserts/loose sheets unique to the modified paper must include reference to the associated question.
Bullet points are deleted
‘Instructions’ and ‘Information’ text will appear on the next page(s), following enlargement
The standard Question Paper statement, ‘Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the
boxes above’ should be amended to ‘on the first page’.
Boxes and/or margins for examiner use should be removed in all instances
The asterisk (*) denoting questions that carry ‘Quality of written communication’ marks should be retained
but enlarged This should be consistent throughout all ME versions
The  denoting questions that carry ‘Spelling, punctuation and grammar’ marks should be retained, but
enlarged
Where an icon, e g a calculator, appears on the originating standard Question Paper, it should be removed
in all instances on the ME paper, but the statement ‘A calculator may be used’ or ‘A calculator may not be
used’ should be retained, enlarged and written across the page in an unshaded box
All ME assessment materials should have a unique article number which is assigned by the
administrator and should appear in the bottom left-hand corner of the front cover
The bar code, including article number, should appear in the bottom right-hand corner of the front cover,
aligned horizontally with the footer on the left-hand side
The following should be omitted from the front cover of all ME materials:
• ESM (electronic script management) overlays
• ‘Turn over’ instructions
• ‘OCR is an exempt charity’
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The following should be omitted from the Instructions and Information:
• ‘Do not write in the bar codes’
• ‘This document consists of ** pages’
General layout
All content should be left-aligned or on the left, unless otherwise stated in the mark-up This includes
images, all captions and titles for images (which should appear above the image), labels for images (which
should appear as close to the item they are labelling as is spatially possible) and vertical lists of words or
phrases (which may appear in a horizontal line in the standard paper)
Single words that are in bold in the standard version should be made bold upper case in the ME version
Long headings/titles will normally be kept in sentence case and marked up by the modifier. This will also be
the case with some table headings
Underlining will only be used to emphasise upper case 'Instructions' and 'Information' from the front cover,
and in exceptional circumstances where marked up by the modifier. For example, the use of italics for Latin
can be removed but must be replaced with an underline, e g Homo sapiens Where possible, however,
italics for Latin should be retained
Units of measurement should not be made upper case For example:
Standard paper
ME paper
Volume in cm²
VOLUME IN cm²
TIME IN s
Time in s
Where bold is used for entire sentences or tracts of text in the standard paper, it may not be suitable to use
upper case entirely in the ME version, particularly if the text is already separated by lines, or placed in a
box, as it is already distinguishable
Italics will not usually be retained; the exceptions being Latin words and science and maths variables
Where italics have been used for emphasis in the standard Question Paper, they should be replaced with
upper case, which is more accessible Where they have been used for quotations or titles, quotation marks
around roman text should be used as an alternative
Line numbers for quoted set texts are in roman
Body text bullet points to be deleted will be marked up by the modifier.
Body text typography will be retained in the appropriate point size unless otherwise marked up by the
modifier.
All answer lines should be made solid:
• All copyright information must be retained on the back page
• Page numbers should be placed at the bottom of the page and centred
• All instructions to ‘Turn over’ should be removed
In instances where candidates answer on an Answer Booklet rather than on the Question Paper, or the
answer lines are extensive and spread across multiple pages of a Question Paper, the mark allocation
should be placed immediately after the text of the question:
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Do you agree? Show that you have thought about different points of view [5]
[5]
Where candidates answer on the Question Paper and answer lines are not spread across multiple pages:
the marks should be positioned at the end of the answer line(s), e g :
Give a suitable venue for this type of dance
[1]
or
in maths, right-aligned at the bottom of white space for workings, e g :
Show that x = 2y + (3 x 5a)
[1]
or
in maths, right-aligned at the end of the question if the answer is to be shown on an image, e g :
Plot a point on the grid
[1]
Where text is set in columns in the standard version, it should be set as a continuous passage in the ME
version
For example:
Standard version
the quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog the quick
brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog the quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog the quick
brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog the quick brown
OCR House Style Guide Feb 2016
fox jumps over the lazy dog
the quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog the quick
brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog the quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog the quick
brown fox jumps over
the lazy dog the quick brown
fox jumps over the lazy dog
the quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog the quick
brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog
69
ME version
the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog the quick brown
fox jumps over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps over
the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog the
quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog the quick brown
fox jumps over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps over
the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog the
quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog the quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps over the
lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Where multiple-choice answers are provided, they should be presented in list format as shown below:
(a) A scientist tests a drink with litmus paper
(i) Which of these words BEST describes the litmus
test?
Put a ring around the correct answer
qualitative
quantitative
semi-quantitative
[1]
The format of the same question in the standard version is shown below:
(a)
A scientist tests a drink with litmus paper
(i)
Which of these words best describes the litmus test?
Put a ring around the correct answer
qualitative
OCR House Style Guide Feb 2016
quantitative
semi-quantitative
[1]
70
Blank pages and ‘Please do not write on this page’ instruction
On blank pages in modified papers, ‘BLANK PAGE’ appears in bold upper case, centred at the top of the
page
Where ‘Please do not write on this page’ appears on blank pages in the original standard paper, in the
modified version, this phrase is omitted.
Neither ‘Blank page’ nor ‘Please do not write on this page’ appear on the back cover of a modified paper.
Diagrams/images
Titles for diagrams and images should be placed above the image, left-aligned in bold upper case, e g
FIG 1 or FIGS 3 and 4
Where an image is removed and a description of the image inserted in its place, the question stem must be
edited to reflect the change.
Reference to the positioning of diagrams/source material such as ‘above’ or ‘below’ should be retained
in the question stem, despite repagination Where the positioning is not originally stated and/or it is not
obvious as a result of repagination, the correct reference should be made to it in the stem, e g ‘Using Fig
1 on page 2’ or ‘Using Table 3 opposite’
Where the standard material includes a scale diagram/image, it should not be enlarged unless it is deemed
to be inaccessible in its original size In such cases, advice from the OCR assessment specialist and the
external modifier may be sought and, where appropriate, the image should be enlarged and the scale
altered. The mark scheme should be amended to reflect the change. Where Not to scale appears next to a
diagram in the standard paper, this should appear in bold upper case in the ME version
Where label lines are used in diagrams/images, bobbles or solid arrowheads should be added to the end of
the line for clarity
Line weights in tables and boxes should be increased to 1 pt; line weights in diagrams should be increased
proportionately
ME mathematics
Maths and science papers that are written in Times New Roman font must have the body text amended to
Arial for clarity
The exception to this is formulae and variables, which should all remain in Times New Roman font
ME standard font size
Subscript/superscript/fractions
24 pt
18 pt
18pt
16 pt
Where the mark allocation appears next to a formula, refer to the modifier's notes to ensure correct spacing
between the two entities to avoid misinterpretation of the question
Modified Language (ML)
These materials are produced for candidates with hearing impairments and/or learning/language
comprehension difficulties. Only the text is subject to change and, other than slight changes where the
addition or omission of words may change the pagination, the general layout should reflect the standard
paper in every way
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Front cover
‘Modified Language’ should appear under the bar code, beneath ‘Duration’, on the front cover
All ML assessment materials should have a unique article number
ESM overlays and bar codes should be retained where included on the standard version
General layout
References to line numbering within passages should always be checked as they may need to be altered
following the omission or addition of words
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Miscellaneous
Requests to use illustrations
To request the use of an illustration or diagram that has been used before, indicate which Question Paper
the illustration/diagram has appeared in previously Include the Series/Year/Unit No /Component No (where
applicable)/Qualification/Unit Title and the reference no. found in the bottom left-hand corner of
the assessment material, e.g. 23749/3. This five-digit number is called the Tharston number and is the
unique number which identifies the paper at Canon. The number after the solidus indicates the version
number, e g in the example above, 23749/3, the version number is ‘3’
You must clearly indicate where an image is to be inserted in the new assessment material
Photographs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
PEs/Authors/Test Constructors must submit original photographs, preferably as a high-resolution (min
300 dpi final size)digital file with a hard copy of the correct size at which it should be published.
If an original photograph is not available, the PE/Author/Test Constructor should provide a textbook
Photocopies are not acceptable
Where a high-quality photograph is required to enable candidates to answer questions, original prints
should usually be the same size as the final reproduction required, although up to 1.5 times the final
size is acceptable
Prints should be unmarked, i e no marks from paperclips, staples, writing on the back of the
photograph, finger marks, scratches or blemishes (these marks become very obvious when the original
is reproduced or enlarged)
Avoid grainy photographs (unless specifically required).
Avoid overexposed photographs (overexposure reproduces a weak rendering of colour)
Avoid underexposed photographs (underexposure reproduces muddy, ill-defined colours).
Use a photocopy to show position and size Never paste the original into position
The photograph should accompany the assessment material in an envelope
Avoid selecting photographs showing nudity unless this is an absolute requirement
Black-and-white photographs
Photographs should have wide tonal range, but without over-strong black/white contrast If a photograph
is provided in full colour and needs to be presented in black and white, a request to convert it to grey-scale
should be included
Grids and Graphs Library; Step Wedges
This information must be provided as printed material It cannot be referred to onscreen but must be printed
to show exactly how it will look on paper If you need a copy, please contact the Assessment Materials
Team
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Appendix 2: Style sheets
Subject-specific style sheets are specialised style sheets for maths, sciences and languages which detail
subject-specific style requirements that may, in principle, override general style information in the HSG.
OCR GCSE Mathematics (J562, J567, J925, J926)
Answer lines
Unless units are required from the candidate they should appear at the end of the
answer line, e g (b) ………………………………… cm [2]
Where a question has multiple levels, the first answer line reflects the first part of
the question, e g :
(g) The moon has a radius of 1750 kilometres
(i) Use the rule to find how far away the horizon is for an astronaut standing
on the moon Give your answer as it appears on your calculator
(g)(i)
km [2]
(ii) Give your answer to part (i) correct to the nearest kilometre
(ii)
Graph paper
Basic grid
Axes
Origin
Variables
Indices
Decimal points
Negative signs
km [1]
OCR Graph Grid 2 (2 mm dotted squares with 1 cm lines and 2 cm lines identified
with denser dots)
OCR Graph Grid 4a (1 cm dotted squares)
Bold lines with arrowheads, which extend beyond the grid Include ‘pips’
Vertical axis label written horizontally if space permits, otherwise vertically
(standard non-bold text)
Axes labels to start with upper-case letter
For axes with numerical scales, use a figure 0; for non-numerical graphs (not
MEI), use an italic O
Two zeros are used for graphs in the first quadrant only, except algebraic graphs
(i e xy graphs) which have one zero
Written in italic, and only appear on answer lines for simultaneous equations and
other special cases
Often need to insert a half space between a number/variable and an index
On the line
Square roots
Pictograms, xy tables
GCSE papers: short raised negatives e.g. 1 − –3 = 4 (Standard hyphen: Format,
font, character spacing, position: raised, by 2 pt)
Fractional indices: negative not raised, i e at mid-level
With tops (vincula)
As per HSG Table formatting with:
• heavy (1 5 pt) line underneath or to the right of headings
• heavy (1 5 pt) line before Total column and/or Total row
• points already plotted on scatter diagrams to have 20% tint in table.
Fractions
Printed vertically, e g
Long numbers
Mixed numbers: fraction to be 9 pt (if standard font size used, or 2 pt smaller than
non-standard font sizes)
Half space to group digits, e g 82 539 Not needed for 4-digit numbers
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2
74
Shapes
Not to scale
Scales
(on scale drawings)
Vectors
Stem and leaf
Place in order
Histograms
Inequalities
Ratio
Time formats
Coordinates
If ‘naming’ a shape with a single letter (e g shape B), use bold, non-italic on
diagram and in text, e g for transformations
If labelling vertices/points (e g triangle PQR), use non-bold, non-italic on diagram
and in text
Not to scale (bold, non-italic) – not needed for solid shapes
Scale: 1 cm represents 10 m (in bold)
(On modified papers the units must remain in lower case, e.g. SCALE: 1 cm
REPRESENTS 10 m )
→
PQ
(capitals and non-bold); p (lower case and bold)
Key: 5 | 3 represents 53 minutes
(not bold with spacing approximately as here)
Smallest numbers placed at top, largest numbers at the bottom
…………… …………… …………… …………… ……………
smallest (lower case, 9 pt, italics)
Shaded (20%) with grid lines showing.
Number lines for representing single inequalities to have an arrowhead and
variable label; open circle for non-included value and closed circle for included
value
No colon on answer line; spaces between numbers and colon, e g 1 : 8 in text
Time may be presented in a variety of different formats – see OCR HSG
Space after comma e g (8, 4)
See also Modified Enlarged mathematics.
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OCR Science papers
All science papers are set in Arial 11 pt Special characters used include:
Verdana
11 pt
I = iodine
Times New Roman
12 pt
Oxidation states,
eg:
copper(II) oxide
manganese(VI)
oxide
Symbol font
11 pt
Arrows →
(not Wingdings )
In = indium
(I only, not n)
Monotype Sorts
11 pt
Bookman Old Style
11 pt italic
Ticks and
crosses,  
(non-bold
versions)
Cl = chlorine
Al = aluminium
Lower-case ‘l ’ set in
italic; if followed by
another character,
add a half space for
clarity
Variable l, usually
length or specific
latent heat
(not Times New
Roman l)
Ir = iridium
(I only, not r)
Multiplication
symbol × (not
lower case x)
I (italic) as a
variable
(usually
current or
intensity)
Degree symbol
°C, °F
(not superscripted
‘o’, ‘0’, ‘O’, etc )
Greek variables
φΦλµθρωε
italic
µm (micrometre)
µ only, not italic
Other Greek letters:
∆Ωπ
not italic
(not Arial Δ, Ω, π)
α-, β-, γ-radiation
not italic
prime,′
(not ’or ')
Items set in Arial:
• chemical states – (s), (l), (g), (aq), e g Zn(s), O2(g)
• groups in the periodic table, e g Group II, Group VI
• groups in the periodic table for Pre-U are numbered 1–18 (not roman numerals) and are also in Arial font
•
bullet points – manually inserted using Arial 11 pt bullet ●, not bulleted list option
• fractions – use reduced-size vertical fractions in Equation Editor and change to font size 7 pt 23 , or use
11 pt, superscript numeral, non-superscript forward-slash, then subscript numeral, 2/3
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Use of italic:
• variables set in italic, e g a, b, c
• subscripts should not be italicised, e g NA, µ0, Ek, hfinal
• sin, cos, tan, log, ln, lg, exp, rad, all not italic
• exponential ‘e’ in Arial, not italic, e g e–λt
Spaces between characters:
• (Mr : H2, 2) – full spaces throughout
• full space for expressions such as time (s), weight (kg)
half spaces should be non-breaking to ensure they don’t get stretched due to justification – keyboard
•
shortcut: highlight the half space and press Ctrl + Shift + Space
• half spaces either side of a solidus, e g time / s, velocity / time, v / m s–1
no space between value and percentage symbol, e.g. 50%
•
• half space between number and unit, e g 1 0 cm3
• units separated by half space, e g m / s, m s–1, kJ / (kg °C)
• half space after italic characters, if followed by a roman (non-italic) character, e g m v
• half spaces for numbers over 9999, e g 10 000, 300 000 000
• X (g) + Y (g)
Z (g) – half space between italic upper-case letter and bracket; with non-italicised
elements, there should be no space, e g Zn(s)
• degree symbol: for temperatures, half space between number and symbol, e g 20 °C, for angles there is
no space, i e 45°
• no space between element name and the bracketed oxidation state, e g copper(II) oxide
prefixes not separated by space, e g µm, ms
•
• where a part question is referred to, there are no spaces between (b) and (ii) – e g ‘What does test
(b)(ii) tell you about ’
• no spaces in chemical formulae, either stand-alone or in equations, e g H2SO4, 6Mg(OH)2
Spacing:
• single spaces between sentences, not double
• non-multiple choice part-questions: where possible, two line spaces between part (a) and (b) but only
one line space between (i) and (ii)
• one line space between last part of question and total number of marks
• double spaces throughout equations: 2X–  X2 + 2e–
En dash or hyphen:
• en dash should always be used for minus signs in chemical symbols, e g NO3–, not hyphen
• negative powers use en dash, not hyphen: 6 0 × 10–3 (not 6 0 x 10-3)
• negative powers in units use en dash: m s–1, N m–2 kg–2
• chemicals, e g propan-1-ol, butan-2-ol: hyphens, not en dash
• en dash should always be used for minus signs in numbers
Punctuation, capitalisation, abbreviations and alignment:
• periodic table – lower case
• Data Booklet – should appear with upper-case ‘D’ and ‘B’
• names of units lower case when written out in full: newton, joule, coulomb
• pH – lower-case p, upper-case H, no space between
• abbreviations: full stop after each letter, e g e m f p d r t p
• (i), (ii), (iii), etc should be right aligned on the closing parenthesis
numbers
• chemical symbols not set using Equation Editor: subscript then superscript, e g SO42–
• nuclide notation should be set in Equation Editor, e g 235
92  , all in Arial, with nucleon and proton
(in this case 235 and 92) in 7 pt, right aligned, and the chemical symbol in 11 pt
Spelling:
• test tube as a noun is not hyphenated but test-tube as an adjective is hyphenated, e g ‘the test tube in
the laboratory …’ but ‘the test-tube baby … ’
•
sulfur, sulfate, sulfide, sulfuric, sulfurous, etc. (not sulphur, etc.).
Graphs:
• axis labels should be centred
• if the axes are not numerically graded, a solid-head arrow is used 
• the size of the axis arrows should be consistent throughout the paper
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Special characters:
• ‘Underground’ logo (theta) used in enthalpy equations, lower case ‘o’, strikethrough, superscripted, e g
∆rHθ
• proportionality sign ∝ (not alpha α)
• equilibrium symbol
This is a special character that has been generated by QPM
• greater than or equal to, and less than or equal to signs are in Mathematical Pi 1 font (not underlined
greater than, less than >, < ,and also not symbol font ≥, ≤)
• plus/minus sign ± (not underlined plus +)
Miscellaneous:
• currents on circuit diagrams and optics rays have an open arrow, e g
• GCE chemistry equations have the label to the right, in bold:
—›—
Shortcuts
en dash –
degree °
plus/minus ±
multiplication ×
non-breaking space
non-breaking hyphen ­
superscript (use same to toggle back)
subscript (use same to toggle back)
half spaces (should be non-breaking to ensure they
don't get stretched due to justification)
ctrl-minus (on numeric keypad)
alt-0176 (on numeric keypad)
alt-0177 (on numeric keypad)
alt-0215 (on numeric keypad)
ctrl-shift-space
ctrl-shift-minus (on main keyboard)
ctrl-shift-=
ctrl-=
highlight the half space
ctrl + shift + space
Religious Studies
GCE Religious Studies
•
•
‘Peace be upon him’ JPEG to be used after Muhammad on G578 and G588
‘God’ to be written as ‘G-d’ on G573, G579, G583 and G589
GCSE Religious Studies
•
•
•
In Judaism, the ‘o’ in God is replaced with a dash so any question on Judaism should read ‘G-d’
‛gods’ in relation to Buddhism and Hinduism is never capitalised.
In Islam, every mention of Muhammad is followed by the Arabic symbol for ‘peace be upon
him’ (The JPEG for ‘peace be upon him’ is with Docprod and Canon )
Economics
•
‘USA’ for the country, ‘US’ for American, e g ‘US economy’ or ‘US$’
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Maths Progression Papers
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Type size: Entry Level 1 and 2 papers should be typeset in Arial 14 pt
No number should have a full stop after it (including years, times, etc , unless it follows a percentage
sign or bracket) The same is true for a letter representing a number in a formula which should also be
italicised
Division symbols should be in Arial 14 pt
An ‘I’ representing ‘litres’ should be in Times New Roman and italic (l )
Pi should be set in Times New Roman, 16 pt and italic
There should be half spaces between a number and a unit where the unit is abbreviated (5 cm) There
should also be half spaces between numbers and colons in ratios (e g 1 : 5)
Where candidates are being asked to identify two answers from multiple choice questions, Entry Level
1–3 papers should be worded as ‘Tick () the two …’ Levels 1 and 2 should be worded ‘Tick () both
…’
Coin images should be of the following diameters:
£2 – 28 mm
£1 – 23 mm
50p – 28 mm
20p – 20 mm
10p – 24 mm
5p – 17 mm
2p – 25 mm
1p – 20 mm
English Progression Papers
•
•
Entry Level 1 and 2: 14 pt Arial for question stems and content
In the options, all sentences have a full stop, but phrases do not
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Appendix 3: Copyright guidance
Copyright Information text
OCR is committed to seeking permission to reproduce all third-party content that it uses in its assessment materials OCR has attempted to identify and contact all copyright holders whose work is used in this paper To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced in the OCR Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download from our public website
(www ocr org uk) after the live examination series If OCR has unwittingly failed to correctly acknowledge or clear any third-party content in this assessment material, OCR will be happy to correct its mistake at the earliest possible opportunity
For queries or further information, please contact:
Assessment Materials Team, First Floor, 9 Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 1GE
OCR is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group; Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itself a department of the University of Cambridge OCR third-party material waiver text
The text(s) in this Question Paper/Resource Booklet/Case Study have been faithfully reproduced, including
any errors, from the original OCR does not accept responsibility for any errors in the original texts
Why does OCR need to clear copyright?
OCR has a legal obligation to ensure that all necessary permissions are sought for third-party materials that are used in Question Papers, Resource Booklets, etc Without this, OCR will not be able to make its past papers available to centres or students in any format A failure to make these materials available for mock exams and for classroom or private study purposes will lead to complaints and could have an impact upon the overall reputation of OCR OCR is at risk of letting its customers down – if it cannot get copyright permission OCR has to remove text/
images before the paper appears on our website Therefore, when deciding on source materials, please ask yourself the following:
1
2
3
Is the proposed item essential to the question?
Does the material need copyright clearance and, if so, is there an alternative I can use that doesn’t?
Can I provide the information necessary to enable the process manager to find and obtain permission
from the copyright holder?
What the OCR Assessment Materials Team needs from you:
Copyright form
This must be completed with all details and signed for each paper that you work on
Materials
A hard copy of the material you use The OCR team appreciates that you may well need to make
adaptations to the original work but, where you do this, please supply the following:
• copy of your adapted material and of the original version clearly marked with changes
• copy of any copyright details from the original source material
Book
A copy of the imprints page – this contains vital copyright information; in addition, a copy of the page where
the extract appears Where images have been taken from a text book, please also provide a copy of the
acknowledgements page from that book
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Website
A web address for the page where you actually got your material from, not just the home page
If you have any questions regarding the above or if you would like to discuss any specific copyright item,
please email: ocr copyright@ocr org uk
How to complete the copyright form
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Question No: Please make sure numbering is consistent with the current draft
Brief description of material:
– Text in style of a newspaper article
– Image of a …
– Adapted diagram (original diagram included)
– Table showing (description of what the table is showing)
Title and page number of publication: e g The Natural Environment, p 107, Fig 3 2
Author(s): Name of the author(s) or Developed by the PE/setter
ISBN/ISSN No: Book reference, etc
Date of publication (or date of access): If a website and no date shown, then date of access
Full website address: The source’s full website page, not just the home page
Name and address of publisher: As it is stated
Name and address of copyright holder: As it is stated
Please do not use:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
materials for which you are unable to provide copyright information
blogs – the blogger is always difficult to trace and may have used material that does not actually
belong to them in their blog
images and characters linked to major film or TV franchises; this includes Disney.
real company names or logos – unless related to factual information or data Due to exam
confidentiality we are not allowed to tell a company how their name will be used and this automatically
leads them to assume that they will be subject to criticism
Google Images, Google Maps, Google Earth or Wikipedia – unless their original source is specified
clearly on the relevant web page
photographs from books – unless full copyright information is available on the imprints page of the
book and is submitted with the copyright form
images from the BBC website or photographs from national newspapers – unless the original photo
library is acknowledged either within or alongside the image
third-party items used in previous papers: unless all the copyright details are available (permissions
are granted for single-use only, i e solely for that Question Paper in that exam series only)
photographs of unidentified people, especially of children.
If you have any questions concerning material that you are planning to use as part of an exam, please do
contact the Assessment Materials Team The earlier a question is asked, the easier it will be to arrive at a
suitable solution
Contact: ocr copyright@ocr org uk
Research assistance
The Assessment Materials Team are able to help with any assistance that you require with regard to
sourcing potential materials; this is particularly relevant to images They have access to numerous
image libraries and archives, and will only suggest images for which a high resolution copy and relevant
permission can be obtained
Therefore, if you are looking for a photo, a piece of artwork, an illustration or a cartoon, please contact OCR
by email and the team will happily send you a number of potential images from which you can choose The
image libraries currently used regularly include the following:
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Alamy – art and historical news-based photography (www alamy com)
Bridgeman – art and cultural images (www bridgemanart com/en-GB)
Corbis – worldwide news, history, scenic and wildlife photography (www corbisimages com)
Getty – worldwide news, history, art and science (www gettyimages co uk)
i-Stock – general imagery and illustrations (www istockphoto com)
Mary Evans – history, particularly British (www maryevans com)
NASA – space and satellite imagery (www nasa gov)
Science Photo Library – imagery from across the sciences (www sciencephotolibrary com)
Shutterstock – general imagery and illustrations (www shutterstock com)
Topfoto – news-based historical photography from around the world (www topfoto co uk)
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Index
A
Abbreviations
acronyms, 8
contractions, 7, 16
days and months, 12
full stops, 16
plurals, 7
seconds/minutes/hours, 13
Accents, 7
Acronyms, 8
apostrophe, 18
determiners, 24
full stops, 8, 16
initial capitals/uppercase, 8
plural, 8
Apostrophes
acronyms, 18
contractions, 18
decades, 12
possessives, 18
B
Bibliographies
articles, 29–30, 31
bible, 32
books, 28–29
broadcasts (AV, audio), 31
CDs, 31
classics, 32
DVDs or videos, 30
films, 30
law, 32
PDFs, 32
recordings, 31
websites, 31
YouTube, 30
Bold text, 42
Books
bibliography, 28
chapter titles, 19
titles, 11, 28
Brackets
curly (braces), 22
round (parentheses), 21
square, 21
Bulleted lists
ME papers, 67, 68
Standard papers, 26–27
C
Capitalisation
geographical locations, 9
names, 9
nationality, 10
proper nouns, 9, 23
titles, 8, 11
Colons
lists, 24, 26, 27
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Commas
comma-splice, 16
etc , 16
i e and e g , 16
lists, 27
Copyright guidance, 80
Copyright statement, 33, 62
ME papers, 68
D
Dashes, 20
Dates, 11
capitalisation, 9
ranges, 20
E
Ellipsis, 21
En dash
date spans, 12
science usage, 77
sub-bullets, 27
F
Figures See Images
Full stops
abbreviations, 16
acronyms, 8, 16
brackets, 22
lists, 24–27
quotes, 21
web addresses, 31
G
Graphs, 48–50, 74, 77
keys, 43, 47
H
Headings
capitalisaiton, 34
main, 40
maps, 43
ME papers, 68
option, 60
section, 60
sub-, 40
tables, 43–45
Hyphens, 20
science usage, 77
I
Images, 46, 52–53
Italics
binomial nomenclature, 7, 11, 46
book titles, etc , 11, 28
foreign words, 42
graph origins and points, 50
headings, 40
83
map labelling, 50
ME papers, 68
source references, 52
variables, 68, 74, 76, 77
quotes within quotes, 19
titles, 19
R
Keys, 47
Reference lists See Bibliographies
Rubrics, 59
Rubrics bank, 54
L
S
Labelling
graphs, 48
ME papers, 68, 71
photographs, 53
tables, 46
Lists, 24
Sentence voice
active, 22
passive, 23
Sub-bullets, 27
Subheadings, 40
K
M
Maps, 46, 50–51
keys, 43
Mark boxes, 66
Mark totals, 66
Modified papers
answer lines (ME), 68
blank pages (ME), 71
front covers, 67, 71
general layout, 68, 72
italics (ME), 68
underlining (ME), 68
T
Tables, 43–46
Time, 13, 20, 75
U
Underlining
ME papers, 68
URLs, 31
W
Websites, 31
N
Numbering
answer lines, 63
Numbers, 14–15
candidate numbers, 15
currency, 15
dates, 12
graphs, 48
lists, 26
marks, 15
negative, 74, 77
page, 14, 28, 68
question, 62
spacing, 14
tables, 46
time, 13
P
Photographs, 52
Progression papers, 78
Q
Question Paper elements
answer the question rubrics, 59
circling an answer, 65, 70
quality of written communication, 59, 67
spelling, punctuation and grammar, 60, 67
tick boxes, 65–66
Quotation marks, 19
double, 19, 34
punctuation, 19–20
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