Mnemonics article structure

Mnemonics articles are a special type of article with specific style requirements outlined below. 

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Acceptable mnemonics

Mnemonics have a long tradition in the teaching of medicine and many of the most memorable ones are at least somewhat vulgar or unexpected. This is probably one of the reasons they are memorable.

Although we (Radiopaedia) encourage you to use whatever mnemonic you find useful, our site aims to be welcoming to all visitors, regardless of gender, race, sexuality or cultural differences. As such we have fairly restrictive guidelines as to what is considered unacceptable content in a medical mnemonic, based on the idea of a reasonable proportion of reasonable people. 

Unacceptable mnemonics are those that contain:

• racist or sexist sentiments
• evoking acts of exploitation, torture or non-consensual sexual acts
• overt swearing
• animal cruelty

Acknowledging the existence of consensual sex or body parts used in consensual sexual acts is, however, permitted, provided such use does not violate the guidelines above. 

If you are not sure, it probably is best not to not include it, especially if there are other versions that are less problematic. 

User-generated mnemonics

Radiopaedia encourages original content, however, recommends that if a well-known (and appropriate) mnemonic is already on the site, no further additions should be made for that topic. In the pursuit of creating an easy-to-remember mnemonic, the subject matter is sometimes oversimplified with key components excluded. It is important that mnemonics are not only appropriate for memory aids but cover a subject matter in its entirety.

Mnemonic article structure

The title of the article should:

• relate to the topic that the mnemonic relates to, not the actual mnemonic, e.g. Salter-Harris classification, not SALTR
• relate to the specifics of the mnemonic, e.g. branches of the facial nerve, not facial nerve
• be suffixed with (mnemonic) e.g. broad ligament content (mnemonic)

The actual mnemonics should be added as synonyms, with (mnemonic) placed after each synonym entry, but not included in the listing.

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Introductory paragraph with mnemonic in bold and a link to the topic of the mnemonic. The initial paragraph will introduce the mnemonics in a bullet-list (in bold):

• first mnemonic
• second mnemonic
• third mnemonic etc.

See rickets (mnemonic) as a single mnemonic example

See accessory ossicles of the wrist (mnemonic) as a multiple mnemonic example

Mnemonic(s)

Mnemonic name (if there is more than one)

If the mnemonic is alliterative, e.g. Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, To Feel A.... there is no need to repeat it again in the heading.

• M: letter in bold
• N: colon punctuation in bold
• E: no other bold in the rest of the bullet
• M: link to appropriate articles

Remember that as per our agreed style guide, the initial letters of the first words of any bulleted list are in lowercase unless they are proper nouns (e.g. names, places, etc.).

Second mnemonic

An introductory little statement may be helpful to explain the specifics of the mnemonic, e.g. ordering of the list by incidence.

• the bulleted list