A style guide ensures all conference materials maintain professionalism, clarity, and academic credibility by adhering to consistent standards. It helps writers avoid ambiguity, enforces a coherent structure, and signals attention to scholarly detail. The SSD Style Guide provides consistent formatting and citation rules for a student research conference. All SSD abstracts and titles should follow the guide below. 

Titles

Capitalize all nouns; no ampersands (&); spell out abbreviations.

Abbreviations

• Spell out full terms at first mention (e.g., "tuberculosis (TB)").
• Do not use abbreviations in titles.
• Subsequent uses of the term may use the abbreviation without redefinition.

Scientific Names and Terms

• Family, genus, species, and variety/subspecies: Italicize all; capitalize family/genus; do not capitalize species or lower terms (e.g., *Rhopalodia gibba var. boryana*).
• Taxonomic levels above genus (family, order, etc.): Capitalize but do not italicize.
• Designators (e.g., cf., aff., var.): Lowercase, not italicized.
• Always ensure botanical or zoological names are correct and consistent with discipline norms.

Citations and References

• Use the citation style endorsed by the academic discipline of your work.
• All sources, data, images, and quotations must be properly cited.
• For AI-generated content or assistance, provide clear attribution (e.g., "Portions of this work were developed with the assistance of AI tools.")
• Acknowledgements should list any individuals, mentors, or collaborators who contributed but do not meet the standards for authorship.

Citations and References

• Use the citation style endorsed by the academic discipline of your work.
• All sources, data, images, and quotations must be properly cited.
• For AI-generated content or assistance, provide clear attribution (e.g., "Portions of this work were developed with the assistance of AI tools.")
• Acknowledgements should list any individuals, mentors, or collaborators who contributed but do not meet the standards for authorship.

Co-Authoring and Acknowledgements

• All co-authors must agree to be listed and approve the final version of the title and abstract.
• Use an Acknowledgements section to recognize funding, support, or feedback that does not meet authorship criteri

Final Recommendations

• Proofread carefully for alignment with style requirements.
• Consult with the Knowledge Market for abstract writing and style guides.
• If in doubt, default to clarity and professionalism as primary objectives.

Commonly Used Style Guides

Chicago Manual of Style: Used in publishing and academic writing. Associated Press (AP) Stylebook: Journalism and communications. Modern Language Association (MLA): Humanities, literature, language. American Psychological Association (APA): Social sciences. ACS, AMA, ASA, CSE, IEEE: Discipline-specific for sciences and engineering (use these when appropriate for your field).