Preparation/Submission of Papers

This guide is to help you prepare your paper. Following the instructions will help us to attain consistency, and reduce the volume of correspondence.

This guide is to help you prepare your paper. Following the instructions will help us to attain consistency, and reduce the volume of correspondence.

Please submit your paper via email to africaconference2009@gmail.com. All notes, citations, etc., must be complete and in proper form. Incomplete notes and citations will delay editorial decisions.

Use The Chicago Manual of Style, latest edition (referred to hereafter as CMS) and Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the latest edition for matters of style, capitalization, spelling, and hyphenation.

The CMS manual can be found at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org

Please name your files so that the contents can be determined easily. If tables, etc., are in separate files, please merge them into the paper, if possible.

Style Sheet

(1) Spelling – Please use U.S. spellings, rather than British. (See CMS 6.5–6.)

(2) Punctuation – Please use U.S. style punctuation. The main differences between British and U.S. punctuation that you will need to know are the following:

a. Commas in Series – In a series of three or more elements, commas are placed after each element (except the last), including before the conjunction joining the last element. Example: a, b, and c— not a, b and c.
b. Quotation Marks, Single and Double – American usage calls for double quotation marks, with single quotation marks for quotes within quotes (CMS 10.26–27). Certain other instances also call for single quotation marks (CMS 6.67, 6.74). CMS 10.28 gives examples of the difference in usage of quotation marks in a quote within the body of the text and a quote set off from the text (indented quote).
c. Punctuation with Quotation Marks – Punctuation that is part of the material quoted
is placed inside the quotation marks (inside both single and double, if they are used together). If the punctuation is not part of the quote, periods and commas are generally placed inside the quotation marks; question marks, exclamation points, colons, and semi-colons outside (CMS 5.11–13, 5.20, 5.28, 5.86–87).
d. Periods with Abbreviations – Abbreviations are treated in CMS, chapter 14.

Special note should be made of the following:

* Titles such as Mr., Mrs., Paper., Dr., Prof., etc., are followed by a period.
* For abbreviations of Saint and Saints, see CMS 14.17. 6
* For abbreviations of U.S. states, see CMS 10.48–63. (CMS requests [as do we] the old abbreviations, with periods, not the new postal two-letter abbreviations with no periods.)

e. Ellipses and Ellipsis Points – There are two methods of inserting ellipsis points.
The first is explained in CMS 10.50; the second (more complicated, and preferred
by CMS and by us) is explained in CMS 10.51–59. For other fine points, see CMS
10.48–63.

(3) Notes and Bibliography – Please refer to CMS, chapter 15. Consistency is very
important, especially in subsequent references to a work and in dealing with page numbers.

a. For notes, the following items are generally necessary in a full reference, in this
order:

Book – Author's full name, first name first; Complete title of the book (italics); Editor, translator, or compiler, if any; Series name, if any, and volume number in the series; Edition, if not the original; Number of volumes; Facts of publication—city (and sometimes U.S. state) where published, publisher (sometimes omitted, especially in very old books), date of publication; Volume no. of citation, if any (in Arabic numerals); Page number(s) of the particular citation.

Article in a Periodical – Author's full name; Title of the article (in double quotation marks); Name of the periodical (italics); Volume (and number, if there is one) of the periodical (Arabic numerals); Date of the volume or of the issue (in parentheses); Page number(s) of the particular citation.

Unpublished Material – Author's name, if there is one; Title of the document, if any, and date; Folio or other identifying number; Name of collection; Depository, and city where it is located.

b. Subsequent references to a work may be given in shortened form:
Author, shortened title, and page number;
Please avoid Idem, Op. cit., and Loc. cit.;
For Ibid., use roman type, not underlining (or italics).

c. For listing inclusive numbers, please see CMS 8.68–73. The Press prefers the system outlined in CMS 8.69. It is given here for quick reference: 7 First Number, Second Number Examples
*Less than 100 All digits 3–10, 71–72;
*100 or multiple All digits 100–104, 600–613, 1100–1123;
*101 through 109, Changed part only, 107–8, 1002–6; 201 through 209 omitting
unneeded zeros;
*110 through 199, Two digits unless second 321–25, 415–532 210 through 299
number is in another hundred;
*Use complete Roman numerals to avoid confusion.