Style Guide
This document describes the preferred format of paper submissions. A style sample is also provided.
Language
For all content, except artworks, the language of publication is English. There are no language restrictions on artworks featured in the gallery section. Crossings do not generally provide for translation of papers in other languages but exceptions are made from time to time. We are always happy to accept papers from non-native speakers and can sometimes assist in establishing contact to suitable translators.
Style
For style issues not covered below, please consult Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th ed. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 1996 or The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed. Chicago; University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Header
The paper title and author's name should appear at the top of the first page.
Quotations
- Quotations of fewer than three lines of text should be offset by single inverted commas (quotation marks).
- Quotations that extend over more than three lines of text should be indented.
- Do not enclose indented quotations in inverted commas (quotation marks).
- Quotations within quoted text should be placed within double inverted commas (quotation marks) if quoted text is already within single inverted commas.
- Commas and full stops (periods) at the end of quotations should be placed inside the end inverted comma (quotation mark).
Numbers
In general, follow guidelines for numbers in the Chicago Manual of Style. Specific decades or centuries should be spelled out and lowercase, unless both century and decade is given. A century used as an adjective to modify a noun should be hyphenated.
| the sixties | the 1960s |
| the seventeenth century | seventeenth-century architecture |
| the twenty-first century | twenty-first-century media |
Content notes
Content notes (as opposed to source references) qualify or enhance the textual discussion or make acknowledgements. They should be used sparingly. Content notes should be referenced clearly using asterisks (*) or daggers (†).
| Note 1: * | Note 4: † |
| Note 2: ** | Note 5: †† |
| Note 3: *** | Note 6: ††† |
Notes should appear at the end of the paper, before the references. See the style sample for examples of notes.
References
Sources consulted should appear at the end of the paper in an alphabetised, numbered reference list. Source references for quotations and paraphrases should be documented at relevant points in the text, preferably at the end of a sentence unless clarity requires that they be placed directly after a specific reference in the middle of a sentence. Place reference information within square brackets, citing the number of the source as it appears in the reference list and the relevant page numbers. Use abbreviations p. (sing.) or pp. (pl.) when citing page numbers. See the style sample for more examples.
- Parenthetical Reference:
- 'The significance of virtual reality . . . is that it directly confronts the question: what is reality?' [9, p.37].
- Reference list:
-
- [9]
- Woolley, Benjamin. Virtual Worlds: A Journey in Hype and Hyperreality. London: Penguin, 1992.
Data Formats
| Type | Preferred formats |
|---|---|
| Text | RTF (Rich Text Format) or plain text |
| Figures | PostScript (As soon as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) software becomes widely available, SVG will become the preferred format.) |
| Imagery | GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PSD or XCF |
| Audio | MP3 |
| Video | Quicktime or MPEG |
For artworks, submissions in other formats, such as Shockwave or Flash, are also accepted.
Supplementary Information
When submitting a paper, please provide an abstract of no more than 100 words and a brief biography of approximately fifty words. Include URLs for any relevant web sites and an email address if you wish readers to be able to contact you directly.
If a work referred to in the paper is available online, please supply the relevant URL. Likewise, please supply URLs for any useful web sites of persons or organisations discussed.
Markup
Before publication, papers will be marked up in XML by Crossings staff and then translated to XHTML 1.0 for online publication. As web standards evolve, XHTML 1.0 will be replaced with other markups, but the original XML markup will remain the same.
At the moment, authors are requested to submit papers without HTML or XML markup. In the future, the Crossings Paper DTD will be made available to authors who wish to mark up their own papers in XML.