Advice to authors on preparing a manuscript for Journal of Postcolonial Writing
Spelling Use ‘ize’, not ‘ise’ spelling where both forms are in use (e.g. criticize, recognize, etc.; but analyse). Otherwise, you may use British-English or American-English spellings, but please be consistent.
Use of italics Use italics for book, newspaper, journal, play and film titles, titles of works of art, and for the title of any text originally published independently: The Awakening (book) Pygmalion (play) Star Trek (film) Time (magazine) The Waste Land (long poem published as a book) Guernica (painting)
Italics should also be used for words and short phrases in languages other than English (unless anglicized), e.g. ad hoc, et al., laissez-faire, sic.
Use of quotation marks Use double quotation marks to indicate the titles of poems, articles or short stories: Thomas Hardy's poem “The Man I Killed” Mary Thomas's article “The Narrative Structure of The Blind Assassin” D.H Lawrence's story “The Blind Man”
Use double quotation marks for quotations from texts, e.g.: Salman Rushdie has been seen as “the pre-eminent novelist of his generation” (Smith 83).
Use single quotation marks only for quotations-within-quotations: Smith points out that N. Scott Momaday’s novel House Made of Dawn “begins with an image that also concludes the novel: ‘Abel was running’” (56).
Use double quotation marks to emphasize or question a term, or to draw attention to it: e.g. Certain texts are promoted on account of their “superiority”.
Quotations Do not change the spelling or punctuation in a quotation. Use double quotation marks throughout, but single for quotations within quotations. The full stop should only be inside the quotation mark if the material quoted is a complete sentence. All other punctuation should fall outside quotation marks. Leader dots should normally be avoided at the beginning and end of a quotation. Leader dots within square brackets should be used as follows to indicate an ellipsis, or if the quotation begins mid-sentence: [ … ]
Indented quotations If a quotation runs to more than 40 words in your paper, set it off from your text by beginning a new line, indenting ten spaces from the left margin, and typing double spaced, with no quotation marks.
The parenthetical reference follows the punctuation at the end of indented quotations:
Burke’s methods have been defended by certain commentators:
In Burke’s criticism we have continual discussion of texts as living objects for both writer and reader, both of whom employ “strategies” to deal with situations. He can also be an excellent close critic. Burke is indispensable because of his recognition that literature actually comes from the texture of life and works within it, like a yeast. This is the start of a new paragraph in a display quote. It should be indented, but there should be no line space between the two paragraphs. If there is a third paragraph, then indent that as well with no line space between the paragraphs. (Seymour-Smith 62)
Abbreviations Abbreviations should be consistent and easily identifiable throughout.
Do not insert an apostrophe in plurals such as MAs, 1970s. Omit the full stop after contractions containing the last letter of a word (Dr, vols, but vol.) and after units of measurement (cm, mm). There should be no full points in fully capitalized abbreviations (USA, NATO, UNESCO). In proper names, initials are followed by a full stop but no space in between, e.g. T.S. Eliot. Note the space between the final initial and the surname.
Capitalization In English-language book and article titles, capitalize the first word, the last word, and all principal words, including those that follow hyphens in compound terms. By principal words, we mean nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, subordinating conjunctions (e.g. after, if, unless, when). Do not capitalize articles, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions (e.g. and, but, yet) or the to in infinitives. e.g., Noises Off, The Saints Go Marching In. The first word of the subtitle should always be capitalized, following a colon e.g. The Night Train: A Study of Graham Greene. For book titles and titles of journal articles in languages other than English please adopt the following conventions:
French: upper case to first noun, then lower case German: lower case after first word, except all nouns Italian: lower case after first word, except proper names Portuguese: lower case after first word, except proper names Spanish: lower case after first word, except proper names
AD and BC should be in caps, e.g. 30BC–AD19. Note: no full stops in between Do not capitalize “the west” or “western”.
Dates and numbers 6 February 1957 (no commas) 1990s (no apostrophe, not ‘90s) 5th century; 19th century (numerals), hyphenated if used adjectivally In spans: 1985–86, 1939–45, 1914–18 In page references, etc., where using numerals: 9–10, 21–22, 101–102 Spell out numbers one to ten in continuous prose except when referring to centuries (5th century), large amounts of money with currency sign ($8 million), or in mathematical work or measurements. Do not start sentences with numerals. Include a space between numbers and units in measurements, e.g. 3 cm, not 3cm. Use a full point on the line for decimal points. In numbers with five or more digits, comma off the digits in threes: 1000, 10,000, 100,000,000 Spell out fractions using a hyphen: one-third; four-fifths. For percentages, use percent, not per cent or %. For ages, use figures unless at the beginning of a sentence: 12-year-old boy.
Punctuation Use a single space after a full stop, and after other quotation marks such as commas and colons. Do not put a space in front of a question mark, or in front of a closing quotation mark.
The full stop should only be inside the quotation mark if the material quoted is a complete sentence. All other punctuation should fall outside quotation marks.
Possessive “’s” should be used except on classical names ending with “s” and “x” (Achilles’, Ajax’)
Ellipsis [ … ]: Treat this like a word, placing a space on either side of the three double-spaced dots. If an ellipsis ends a sentence, add a final point.
Dashes as a form of punctuation should consist of two dashes with space before and after, e.g. “Her mourning process – extended, angry, expressive – does not align well with the national agenda”
Notes Use parenthetical referencing for bibliographical material (Chicago author-date referencing system). Other notes (which should be kept to a minimum) should appear as endnotes, numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals.
Queries should be addressed to: Dr Janet Wilson Editor Journal of Postcolonial Writing The University of Northampton St George’s Avenue Northampton NN2 6JD UK Fax: +44 (0)1604 720636 Tel: +44 (0)1604 735500 Email: [email protected]