Style Sheet for Authors

 

1. The editors prefer to work with manuscripts that are about thirty pages in length, counting notes, tables, and charts.

2. If you are working on computer, please provide us with a disk version of your manuscript.

3. Manuscripts should be typed or printed out DOUBLE-SPACED, on letter-size paper, in pica (10 characters per inch).

4. Please leave wide margins (1 inch) to allow room for copyediting. Please use wordwrap on computer software, and do not justify the right-hand side.

5. Footnotes should be numbered sequentially and typed separately, DOUBLE-SPACED, at the end of the manuscript.

6. Please include the given names of ALL individuals when using their names for the first time in the text or notes.

7. Any photographs should measure at least 4 by 6 inches. The author is responsible for obtaining permission in writing from the owner to reproduce illustrative materials. Please provide captions.

8. Maps, charts, and graphs should be professionally drawn and "camera-ready." Tables may be sent typed, but each should be on a separate sheet of paper, not placed in the running text. Avoid abbreviations in graphic materials; they can be confusing to the reader.

9. In the case of a new submission, the editors require 2 copies of the manuscript. When sending a diskette, please include 2 printouts, which must be identical to the diskette - that is, with no marks or additions that do not appear on the disk.

Footnotes: Guidelines and Examples

The footnote style used by Military History of the West is that recommended by The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. All footnotes should be numbered sequentially and typed double-spaced at the end of the text. Use superscript numbers in the text if possible and indent the first line of each note. Any notes to tables, charts, graphs, maps, or illustrations should not, however, be numbered with the text notes; these special notes should be lettered A, B, C, and so forth, and placed with the graphic matter. You can greatly assist the copyeditors by observing the following guidelines in your citations:

1. Placement of Notes.

A footnote number should come at the end of a sentence. Footnote numbers always follow quoted or cited materials; they should not be placed after authors' names or other references preceding the cited matter.

2. Quantity of Notes.

Forty to sixty notes are considered normal for an article of thirty typed pages. Footnotes can often be combined without loss to their content or usefulness, and the author can do this more easily and accurately than a copyeditor can. Lengthy notes will make page layout difficult for the press. Long prose discussions of matters pertaining to the argument should be avoided.

3. Acknowledgments.

An unnumbered note may be placed at the beginning of the footnotes; it may contain any desired reference to previous forms of the article (an address delivered at a professional meeting, for example) and any acknowledgments of the assistance of colleagues or grants from foundations (including the year of the grant).

4. First Citations.

BOOKS: information appears in the order below:

Full name of author as taken from the title page of the book. Complete title, underlined. Editor, compiler, or translator. Edition, if other than first. Reprint, if applicable. Number of volumes. Place of publication. Publisher. Date of publication. Volume, chapter, or page reference.

Examples:

¹Josiah Gregg, Diary & Letters of Josiah Gregg: Southwestern Enterprises, 1840-1847, ed. and trans. Maurice G. Fulton (2 vols.; Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1941), 2:437.

²Fanny Bandelier (trans. and ed.), The Journey of Cabeza de Vaca and His Companions from Florida to the Pacific, 1528-1535 (reprint of 1904 edition; New York: Allerton Book Co., 1922), 122-45.

³John Smith, Title of Book (Staunton, VA: Wilson Press, 1913), 495-96.

ARTICLES: information appears in the order below:

Full name of author as it appears in the periodical. Complete title, in quotation marks. Name of the periodical, underlined. Volume number in arabic numerals. Month and year of issue. Inclusive page references.

Examples:

¹Ronnie C. Tyler, "The Mexican War: A Lithographic Record," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 77 (July 1973): 24-51.

²Thomas L. Connelly (ed.), "Did David Crockett Surrender at the Alamo? A Contemporary Letter," Journal of Southern History 26 (August 1960): 368-72.

UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS: 

Title of document, if any, and date. Box number, folios, or other specific identifying details. Title of collection. Name of the repository, city.

Example:

¹John C. Underwood to Salmon P. Chase, 23 June 1863, Box 3, John C. Underwood Papers and Scrapbook, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

5. State abbreviations:

In footnote citations states should be expressed by their two-letter postal codes (TX-Texas, CA-California, OK-Oklahoma).

6. Second and Subsequent References.

The last name of the author or editor (without ed,) and a short title should suffice in most instances. If you have more than one author with the same last name, add a first initial to second citation. Use key words in sequence from the main title only, omitting articles "A" or "The". Titles of six words or less need not be shortened.

Example:

⁶Bandelier, Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, 78-9.

The last name of the author or editor (without ed,) and a short title should suffice in most instances. If you have more than one author with the same last name, add a first initial to second citation. Use key words in sequence from the main title only, omitting articles "A" or "The". Titles of six words or less need not be shortened.

Example:

⁶Bandelier, Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, 78-9.

7. "See also" Citations.

When a footnote contains both the source of a quotation in the text and other related references, the citation for the quotation comes first. Following, related citations begin a new sentence and are separated from each other by semi-colons. Please use words such as "see", "see also," "compare, for a contrasting view," etc., to indicate why the related reference is given.

8. Prose Notes.

Use explanatory notes for those items of detail that would otherwise interrupt the flow of your argument. Please be brief.

9. Latinisms.

The editors will accept ibid., passim, and et al. Do NOT underline. Use et al. for more than three authors; drop in second citation.

10. Special Problems.

If you do not find your citation problem discussed here, please consult the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style or provide your best effort at clear, accurate, and consistent citation. The editors will take care of the house style.

11. Special Instructions.

Please render page number in footnotes, numbers in text, and percentages as follows:

Page numbers: 22-99, 100-1, 187-88, 1285-87, etc.

Numbers in text: Write out all numbers from one to one hundred and any number that can be expressed in two words (for example, five thousand). Use arabic numbers for three or more digits. In a series it is acceptable to mix one-, two-, and three-digit numbers. (The farmer owned 45 cattle, 6 horses, and 156 sheep.)

Use of percentages: In the text always write percent instead of using the symbol %. The symbol may be used in tables if necessary.

Please place a comma before "and" in all series. If there are archaic spellings in a quotation that you do not wish to change into modern usage or note with [sic], please inform the editors of your decision.

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