Edinburgh University Press Journals Style Guide

International Research in Children’s Literature

Key general points

Anonymity: name and affiliation: to appear only on title page; please try to avoid identifying yourself in the body of the essay.
Key-words (5): to appear above the title.
Length: 5-7,000 words, including all notes and list of works cited
Language: English; computer set to UK spelling (-ise; -our [endings])
Font: 12-point; double-spaced; only one space after full-stops.
Indent first sentence of each paragraph, including the first paragraph on a page or after a sub-heading
References: name/short-title + list of works cited
Notes: endnotes, not footnotes. Please do not use an automated word-processing system
Single quotation marks throughout, with double quotes for an inner quote
Permissions: it is your responsibility to gain permission to reproduce copyright text and images, and to pay permission costs; permissions must be cleared before publication Images.
Send low resolution images (small jpegs), in a separate attachment. If the article is accepted, high quality images will be required.
Submit article as email attachment: WORD doc. or (for Macs) RTF; with IRCL in the subject line.
Your article should not have been published elsewhere, or be currently under consideration by another journal.
Please send your submission to the editors at the addresses given here,including some brief information about yourself and your paper in the body of the email.

Congress Editor, Pamela Knights - pam.knights@durham.ac.uk, copied to the Senior Editor, John Stephens - john.stephens@humn.mq.edu.au.

The details which follow are a brief list of the common stylistic points that arise and our preferences.

Abbreviations

Full points should be used in abbreviations. Examples:
i.e.
e.g.
Esq.
etc.
Co.
no.
et al.
Note, however, that it is preferable in text to say:
‘for example’ rather than ‘e.g.’
‘that is’ instead of ‘i.e.’
‘and so on’ instead of ‘etc.’
‘namely’ instead of ‘viz.’
No full points should be used in upper-case abbreviations such as ‘US’ or ‘UK’ but please note that people’s initials are spaced and followed by a full point: J. K. Rowling
Abbreviated units of measurement, and sizes of books, do not have full points and do not take a final ‘s’ in the plural. Examples:
mm, cm, g (=grams), oz, lbs 4to, 8vo
Use two-letter abbreviations for US states in references and bibliography (i.e. Cambridge, MA not Cambridge Mass.).

Capitalisation

Please keep capitals to a minimum.
Use full caps for acronyms, e.g. NATO, USA, TV.
Use a capital for ‘Chapter’ for internal cross references.
Use small caps only for bc, ad, ce (common era) and bce (before the common era).
Use to distinguish specific from general, for example ‘She is a professor at Stockholm University ...’ but ‘She is Professor of literature at ...’.
Always capitalise initials of key words in English-language titles of books (titles are italicised); see References.

Captions

See also Illustrations; and Permissions.

If there are any tables, figures, maps or other illustrations, a list of captions should be supplied. Captions should be consistent and clear. They usually take the form: Figure x.x [space here] The title of the figure, taking initial capital for the first word and any proper nouns. (Source: Details to be given, including any credits and copywright details.)

Examples:

Figure 1. Marcia Lane Foster, ‘The Earth Opened’, from Stella Mead, The Land of Legends and Heroes, London: James Nesbitt, 1929, 36.

Figure 2. Graham [?] L. Pollard, ‘Cock Robin’ (1844), kerchief, 33 x 37 cm. Call Number Uncat MS Vault 764. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Contractions

Those ending with the same letter as the original word do not take a full stop, for example Mr (not Mr.) /Ltd/1st/eds/edn/vols/cwt/Dr/Mrs and so on.

Dates

Please use the following forms:
Monday, 9 November 1996 (that is, date as Arabic numeral, followed by month’s full name, followed by full year in figures – not ’96)
1930s (not 1930’s)
in the twentieth century (but twentieth-century literature)
1899–1901, 1900–1, 1900–10, 1910–18, 1923–4, 1989–91, 2003–4.

Definite article

Normally use lower-case ‘t’ before names of associations, companies and other bodies but, for newspapers and periodicals, follow the use of ‘the’ in the title. Use the following: the Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Scotsman, The Economist, The Times of India, Sydney Morning Herald, International Herald Tribune, Asahi Shimbun,Le Monde.

Drama references

‘Act III, scene ii, line 297’ should be written as ‘III, ii, 297’.

Ellipsis

It is helpful to differentiate your own omissions, and any ellipses in the original texts. Readers will also appreciate being given a sense of the extent of material you have omitted.

Therefore, please indicate any omissions you have made in quotations by three evenly spaced dots within square brackets [. . . ] for part of a sentence; and by four dots [ . . . . ] if you omit a complete sentence, or more. These should be written on the same line as the quoted text, preceded by a character space and followed by a character space.

Ellipses in the original text should be copied exactly as in the text, with no additional brackets.

Emphasis

Emphasis should be achieved by the phrasing and grammar. It should not be necessary to use italics or bold to show emphasis.

En and Em rules

We use en rules ( – ), not em rules.
Unspaced en rules are used between dates (14–17 July) and wherever the dash can be interpreted as ‘to’.
Spaced en rules are used for parenthetical dashes (… asides in the text – authorial remarks and the like – are an example).

Format and length

Your essay should be from 5-7,000 words in length, including all notes and list of works cited.

Please use a 12-point font, and double-spaced lines throughout.
Please do not use a double space after a full stop or colon. (This is an old convention, from the days of typewriters, when the extra space helped the eye to separate sentences from each other. Text produced on a computer is appropriately spaced and the eye does not need this extra aid. In fact, extra spaces create visual problems on the page.) Please do not ‘justify’ your text.

Headings

Sub-headings
The hierarchy used should be as simple as possible and there should not be more than 3 levels of heading.

Hyphenation

Hyphenation should be kept to a minimum. It is normally used adjectivally, e.g. ‘nineteenth-century building’ but ‘a building of the nineteenth century’.

Gender-neutral language

Try to reword some instances to avoid using pronouns rather than overusing ‘he and/or she’.
Consider using the plural ‘they’ if it seems appropriate. If rewording is not possible, it is preferable to use ‘he or she’, not ‘s/he’ or ‘he/she’.
Avoid using the word ‘Man’ to refer to the species and avoid its use in stereotyped clichés, e.g. ‘they decided he was the right man for the job’.

Illustrations

Italics

Italics should be used for non-English words except:

hen part of a non-English-language quotation
when the word has been assimilated into the English language.
Italics should also be used for titles of newspapers, journals, plays, books, films, works of art, names of ships, but not for the names of institutions or associations.
Please italicise only what is necessary – surrounding punctuation should not be italicised.

Legal issues

Err on the side of caution if there is any danger of text being interpreted as libellous. Personal criticism of living individuals should not be made without very careful consideration of the possible legal consequences.

Notes

Numbers

Ranges of numbers: please omit any digits that are not necessary to understanding (but any number in the ’teens should show both digits). Some examples:

3–6, 15–17, 23–4, 37–43, 44–101, 100–9, 105–6, 111–13, 115–17, 123–4, 137–43, 144–244
Spell out numbers up to but not including 10 for technical texts. Spell out words up to but not including 100 for more literary texts.
6,000, 10,000 not 6 000, 10 000.

Page numbers

Omit ‘p.’ and ‘pp.’ before page numbers.

Paragraphs and new sections

Please indent paragraphs.
Leave an extra line before a new section.

Permissions

Authors must ensure that they have obtained any necessary permissions for quotations and illustrations for reproduction in the Journal prior to publication. Payment for any permissions is the responsibility of the author of the article.

Quotation marks

Please use single quotation marks throughout, with double quotes for an inner quote. Note (as in the second example) that final commas and points customarily go outside a single quotation mark, but inside a double quotation mark.

Examples:

As Bradford emphasises, ‘the terms “legendary” and “tales” [. . .] belong to a European taxonomy’.
‘Ged looking about him at the firelit room said, “This is how a man should live,” and sighed’.
Longer, indented quotations (see under Quotations) have no quotation marks: any quotes within a longer, indented quote will have single quotation marks.
Please use curly quotation marks if possible.

Quotations

Quotations of more than 40 words should start on a new line, and set with an additional indention. Please do not use further indentations within an indented extract.
Introductory ellipses should be avoided but concluding ellipses are acceptable.
Original spellings should be used. Add [sic] if necessary.
Capitalising quotations: Please capitalise quotations on an ad hoc basis according to sense. If a quotation starts a new sentence, then use a capital. If it continues as part of a sentence, use lower case.
Sources should be indicated using superscript note indicators after the quotation, outside full stops. The source itself should then be given in a numbered note at the end of the chapter. Please do not use your word-processor’s automated system for notes.
Place any of your own interpolations, alterations or comments within square brackets.

References and List of works cited

In order to avoid unnecessary notes, and duplication, please use references in the main text: short title/author system, keyed to the list of works cited:

The short reference (author, or, to avoid any ambiguity, short title) of a book or article should be given in parentheses in the main text, including any page numbers for direct quotations. Where subsequent references are unambiguous, a page number in parenthesis will suffice.
Use of ‘op. cit.’ ‘ibid.’ and so on should be avoided.
Where you are citing a modern edition of an older text, please give the original date of publication in square brackets.

EXAMPLES

For fuller examples, in context, readers are referred to articles in Expectations and Experiences: Children, Childhood and Children’s Literature. Ed. Clare Bradford and Valerie Coghlan. Assistant Ed. Kerry Mallan and Mary Shine Thompson. Consultant Ed. Kimberley Reynolds. International Research Society for Children’s Literature. Lichfield: Pied Piper, 2007.

1. Examples of references to a book:

Warner, Marina. From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers [1994]. London: Vintage, 1995.

Short citation in text: Either: (Warner 78-9); or if this seems ambiguous: (Beast to the Blonde 78-9). Where there is no possibility of ambiguity, further immediate references may take the form, ‘as Warner suggests (96)’. Other shortened versions are acceptable provided that they are clear and that the reader will understand them.

Reynolds, Kimberley (ed). Modern Children’s Literature: An Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Short citation in text: (Modern Children’s Literature 5) OR (Reynolds 5). Further immediate references may take the form ‘as Reynolds points out (4)’.

2. Example of references to several books by the same author (here, the short title is necessary):

Alcott, Louisa May. An Old-Fashioned Girl [1870]. London: Puffin, 1991.

---. Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo’s Boys [1871]. London: Puffin, 1994.

--- . Rose in Bloom [1876]. London: Virago, 1990.

Short citations in text: (Old-Fashioned Girl 123); (Little Men 102-3); (Rose 313).

3. Reference to a journal article

Skardhamer, Anne-Kari. ‘An Insecure Base? Nerves, Violence and Step-Parents in Norwegian Children’s Literature’. Papers: Explorations into Children’s Literature 17.1 (May 2007): 19-27.

Short citation to specific page, in text: (Skardhamer 21) OR, if the name alone seems ambiguous: (‘Insecure Base?’ 21) [or other clear and understandable abbreviation].

4. Reference to a book article

Slavova, Margarita. ‘The Earliest Printed East Slavonic Primers as a Field of Intercultural Communication’. Children’s Literature Global and Local: Social and Aesthetic Perspectives. Eds. Emer O’Sullivan, Kimberley Reynolds, Rolf Romoren. Oslo: Novus 2005. 59-68.

Short citation to specific page, in text: (Slavova 63) OR (‘Slavonic Primers’ 63).

5. References to a multi-volume book

Zipes, Jack (ed.). The Oxford Encylopedia of Children’s Literature. 4 vols. New York: Oxford, 2006.

Short citation in text: Oxford Encyclopedia i. xxxi [or OECL i. xxxi].

Nikolajeva, Maria. ‘Alexander, Lloyd’. The Oxford Encylopedia of Children’s Literature. Ed. Jack Zipes. 4 vols, New York: Oxford, 2006. i. 42-3.

Short citation in text: (Nikolajeva OECL, 42) OR (‘Alexander, Lloyd’ 42).

6. References to non-print media

Films and CDs should be referenced as follows:

[title in italic], [media], [director/ composer as appropriate]. [Place]: [producer], [date]

e.g. The Wizard of Oz, film, directed by Victor Fleming. USA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939.

7. References to the Bible

Use Arabic numerals, dividing chapter and verse by a colon followed by a space, e.g.: 2 Cor. 12: 4.

Spaces

Figures and abbreviated measurements should be closed up, for example: 20km, not 20 km. Please note that there should be one character space between sentences and not two.

Special characters

Please alert the Journals Production Editor to any special characters so these can be marked for the typesetter’s attention. Identify the character/diacritical mark by name and/or supply a visual example.

Spellings

British with -ise, -our, and related endings (-isation, -ising).

We favour the following:

judgement
focused, focusing, biased (single s)
connection, premise, medieval
picturebook (all one word)
ouble-page spread (hyphen); double spread (two words) fairy-tale world (hyphen); fairy tale (two words); folktale (one word)

Please use: practice/licence [noun]; practise/license [verb].

Tables

Should not contain anything that a typesetter cannot set using a keyboard.
Should be presented on separate sheets of paper, one per page.
Should be numbered decimally by section.
Indicate the ideal location on the page of a table, but please note that the typesetter may not be able to place it exactly where indicated. If this is likely to cause a problem, please indicate what would and would not be acceptable.
If the table has any notes, they should be indicated in the table by superscript a/b/c etc., not by asterisks, daggers or other symbols and notes should be given under the table together with source information.
Please check carefully that the tables tally exactly with the text in the use of abbreviations, units of measurement and content.

Translation

Even though you are writing in English, please give the names of organisations, institutes and published material in the original language, with an English translation in square brackets. Include diacritical marks (accents, umlauts etc) in all titles and names. (If you can’t do this, then please indicate in a note how the words should correctly be written.)

In the case of non-Roman alphabets, please supply a transliteration.

For books published in languages other than English, capitalise the first word only. After that, follow the normal rules of the language: capital letters for proper nouns, and for all nouns in the case of German. Note that in French titles that begin with L’, the L’ is considered a word, and the following word is in lower case (e.g. L’ogresse en pleurs, not L’Ogresse ...). When giving an English translation of the title of a book published in a different language, do not put it in italics (since that would suggest the book has actually been published under that title), and capitalise the first word only. Put the translation in square brackets [like this].

Example:
Jens Peder Larsen was awarded the 1992 Children's Book Prize for his book Bronden [The well].

Web addresses

Please do not underline these, they should appear in the form: www.eup.ed.ac.uk (no terminal punctuation either, as that could confuse someone typing it into their computer).