STYLE/FORMATTING GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES

 

(6th edition, January 2006)

Please follow these guidelines in preparing final copy for an article in Theological Studies. This will greatly facilitate our editing process. There are separate guidelines for book reviews/notices in TS.

A. General Instructions

  1. Double space all copy without exception: main text, titles, block quotations, endnotes—everything. Avoid headers/footers. Number your pages at top right.
  2. Use one-inch margins all around. Do not justify the right side of your printed manuscript. If possible use a laser printer; if not, make sure the ribbon is not worn.
  3. All notes come after your text as endnotes, starting a new page.
  4. Use Times New Roman 12-point type only. Do not use bold fonts. Use italics where appropriate.
  5. Italicize titles of books and journals. In your text, however, reduce italics to an absolute minimum. Achieve clarity and emphasis by sentence structure and word order, not by using italics or underscoring. Italicize foreign words, but not foreign expressions familiar in theological English (e.g. ibid., de iure, prima facie).
  6. Eliminate from the body of your text unnecessary bibliographical data or parenthetical references to sources; such data belong in the endnotes. An exception would be references to biblical texts identified in parentheses, e.g. (Romans 5:12).
  7. Avoid the “naked this” and “naked these,” particularly at the beginning of sentences and clauses. “This” and “these” without following substantives are usually ambiguous with respect to their referent.
  8. Avoid colloquialisms and especially slang; They both diminish the style and often do not communicate well to our international audience.
  9. Commas in sequence: Always use a comma after the penultimate term of a sequence: e.g. The colors in the U.S. flag are red, white, and blue.
  10. The m-dash (—) is used to set off parenthetical expressions (note: no space on either side of the m-dash). To create the m-dash in MS Word, simultaneously strike Ctrl-Alt-NumLock-hyphen. The n-dash (–) (note: not the hyphen) is used to indicate inclusive page numbers. To create the n-dash in MS Word, simultaneously strike Ctrl-NumLock-hyphen].
  11. In general follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (2003), unless otherwise instructed. A good guide for spelling is Webster's Third New International Dictionary, or its abbreviated edition, Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition (2005).
  12. A recent issue of Theological Studies will give an idea of how to format your manuscript, especially the endnotes.

B. Titles and Headings

  1. Your main title should be printed in all capital letters, bolded, and centered. If more than one line, double space. Do not use italic fonts. E.g., THE ACT OF FAITH.
  2. Your name as author follows after a space, all in capitals, centered. E.g., Christopher Sparrow, O.M.I.
  3. Start your first paragraph immediately after this without any subtitle or block citation at this point). It helps to begin with substantial words and a strong opening two-line drop letter (avoid weak beginnings such as "It is..." or "If a..." or "I am").
  4. Outline your article in a few sentences toward the beginning. This will help the reader understand the overall thrust of your article. Remember, however, that an abstract of your article will appear in italics just under your name. It would be unstylish simply to repeat the abstract.
  5. Major divisions are indicated by a brief caption, all in capitals, bolded, and centered. E.g., THE END OF THE AGE
  6. Minor divisions (subdivisions under the majors) are indicated by large and small letters, bolded and centered. E.g., What's New in Morality?
  7. Sub-sub divisions are indicated by large and small letters, centered, but not bolded. E.g., Nothing New at This Time
  8. As a rule, avoid following a heading directly with a subheading, i.e., two captions in a row.

C. Block citations

  1. For the help of the printer, indent your block citations a one-half inch from the left margin in your text. Always double space your block citations.
  2. Citations set apart in this way should always be long enough to occupy at least four full lines on the printed journal page. Do not set apart brief citations, unless they will be the subject of some discussion and will require extraordinary relief on the page.
  3. Even longer citations need not always be set apart. E.g., if a citation forms the main portion of a paragraph that otherwise consists of a single sentence introduction and/or conclusion, it should often be simply run into the paragraph, not set apart.
  4. If a citation makes a new point and serves attention as marking an advance in the argument, it is natural to set it apart. But a whole string of citations that are mainly confirmatory of points already made can often be advantageously run together in a paragraph or two without typographical separation.
  5. When material is omitted from a citation, if the omitted material falls in the middle of a sentence, the omission should be signaled by three double-spaced periods (. . .). If the omitted material comes toward the end of a sentence, or the end of one sentence and material from one or more subsequent sentences, it should be signaled by four double- spaced periods (....). Ell ipsis points are rarely to be used at the beginning or at the end of quotations. The convention "... [T]he etc." is normally replaced by “. . . The etc.”
  6. Omit quotation marks at the beginning and end of block citations.

D. Endnotes

  1. Double space all endnotes.
  2. Start endnotes on a new page.
  3. The first line of each endnote should be indented like a normal paragraph, and each endnote should begin with a raised number. E.g., 1See Elizabeth Johnson, etc.
  4. Give complete bibliographical information the first time a work is referred to in your text. For information to be included in notes and the proper format, see the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, chaps. 16 and 17.
  5. If your first reference to an article in a journal or a collective volume refers to a specific page, give first the opening and closing pages of the article and then the specific page(s) referred to. E.g. 187–99, at 192. The dash is an “n-dash” (in Word strike simultaneously Ctrl-Num Lock-dash).
  6. Within an endnote, if you are quoting or referring to a source, give your reference or comment first, and then, at the end of the sentence, within parentheses, cite the source of the quote or reference. E.g.: Bultmann believed that such was the case (History of the Synoptic Tradition 79–101).
  7. Give an individual endnote for each detail to be documented. Do not cluster six or seven small citations within a paragraph and then provide one endnote, referring to a whole section or chapter, to indicate the pages (e.g., 190–95) within which all the citations can be found only by diligent inquiry.
  8. Spell out the full names of periodicals and series on their first occurrence. If the same periodicals and series are mentioned often in your article, standard abbreviations should be used after the first occurrence.
  9. If the same article or book is mentioned often in the notes, decide on a brief, clear abbreviation for use after the first occurrence, but avoid ugly acronyms. E.g., Bultmann, Synoptic Tradition is much better than Bultmann, HST.
  10. Follow the conventions of each language cited regarding upper and lower case in titles. For French and Spanish titles note Manual of Style, 15th ed., chap. 10. To divide titles from subtitles (in any language), use a colon (:); always capitalize the first word of the subtitle. E.g., "Fetal Neural Transplantation: The Ethical Debate."
  11. In giving publication data, generally omit the words "Press, Verlag, Editions, Publication, Ltd.," etc. When several places in the same country are given, mention only the first; e.g., New York: Paulist (not Mahwah). When several cities in different countries are listed on a book ’s title page (e.g., New Haven/London: Yale University) give only the place of publication in the USA: e.g., New York: Oxford University.
  12. In giving page numbers, TS streamlines the Chicago Manual of Style by omitting p., pp., or any punctuation such as a colon or comma between the title and the pages. E.g., Theological Studies 56 (1996) 95–111; or Bultmann, Tradition 216–19.
  13. Similar streamlining takes place in reference to numbers within the documents or to notes on pages. E.g., Lumen gentium no. 5; Theological Studies 54 (1993) 100 n. 19.

6th edition (January 2006)