An ellipsis (a row of three dots: ...) must be used whenever anything is omitted from within a quoted passage--word, phrase, line, or paragraph-- regardless of its source or use. It would, therefore, apply to all usage, including technical, non-technical, medical, journalistic, fiction, etc. The usual form is a "bare" ellipsis (just the three dots, preceded and followed by a space), although the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers recommends that the writer enclose an ellipsis in brackets [...] when omitting part of an original quotation, to differentiate instances of deleted text from ellipses included in the original text. In all cases, the entire quoted passage, including ellipses, is preceded and followed by quotation marks and the source properly cited.

Two things to consider: 1) using ellipses is a form of "editing" the source material, so be certain that the final outcome does not change the original meaning or intent of the quoted passage; and 2) if quoted text ends up with more ellipses than words, consider paraphrasing rather than using direct quotes. --Charlene, Kentwood, MI

The OWL has a great section on hyphens, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_hyphen.html, which will explain and provide exceptions better than I can. That being said, the following would seem to apply to both medical and other applications:

• "Follow up" is usually used as a verb, as in, "The nurse will follow up with instructions."
• "Follow-up" is usually used as a modfier in front of a noun, as in, "You need to schedule a follow-up visit."
• "Followup" is usually used as a noun, as in, "Followup is highly recommended in such situations."

--Rachel, Texas

To make the personal statement look professional, I recommend labelling it in the header of the document. This provides you with a place to include page numbers, your last name, as well as any title you wish to include. As well, since most personal statements accompany resumes, I tailor the first page of the personal statement to mimic the identification section of the resume. It makes for a very streamlined package and avoids the cluminess of introducing yourself in the first line of the statement.--Beverly, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Corner Brook, NL Canada

Clarity of meaning is the rule to follow. Even though the dictionary may present an example of "rises up," the phrase most often is used redundantly and should be avoided. Concise writing is preferred in our present era. Can you rise down? Exceptions of this type of use may exist, such as the military command, "Stand-down." But the use is deliberate, referring to a military unit or force to relax from an alert or operational posture. Even in this case, a hyphen is used to combine the terms. Safer to write concisely, unless a specific definition/usage is intended. The dictionary example did present a case that is necessary for clear meaning. To write "The road rises over the hill" is awkward and perhaps confusing. To avoid this, the word "up" becomes necessary, in contrast to, "Sir, will you please rise up?" --Derrell Thomas, Norwalk, CA

"Rising Up Towards Excellence" is not grammatically incorrect ("Up" is an adverb, modifying the verb "Rising"), but it would be redundant in business or academic writing. The word "rising" implies "up", so the word "up" should be omitted in most contexts to make a more concise phrase.

However, in this particular example, the author has clearly included "Up" to create a more dramatic title for a book or article. Titles, advertising copy, and captions often use constructions which would be incorrect in other contexts. In this particular context, using "Up" is perfectly acceptable and appropriate.

In your dictionary example, "The road rises up and over the hill", the author probably included the word "up" (again, an adverb) to call attention both to the road's rising AND to its path "over the hill" (a prepositional phrase acting as an adverb). The author clearly wishes to communicate that the road is rising, AND that the road goes over a hill--probably to create an image of the road's steep climb before it reaches the hill's summit.

Again, you probably would omit "up" in business or academic writing, but it could create a desired effect in fiction or add a personal touch to non-fiction (perhaps an essay or biography).--Aaron Minnick, Columbus, OH

"The road rises up and over the hill" implies two actions; the road rises up, then it disappears over the hill.

Similarly, one could "rise to excellence", or, "rise up then stretch to excellence" resulting in the phrase "rise up to excellence."--Tim Wyatt, MaxLite Marketing/ Copywriting

The second phrase (2) is correct as to use 'up' with the word 'rise' is tautology. Other examples include 'He reversed the car back' and 'Two twins won the bowls tournament'. In the first example, 'back' is unnecessary as it repeats the meaning of 'reverse'. Similarly, 'twins' means there are two so the word 'two' is redundant. Regarding the sentence you found in the dictionary, I would suggest that 'up' has been used because without it this sentence could have a slightly different meaning, suggesting that the road rises only once you have gone over the hill. In short (1) Rising up...is incorrect as 'up' repeats the meaning of 'rise'.--Zita Makins, EFL teacher, Italy