Publishing Guidelines for Authors

The following are only suggestions for those writing articles, but may provide some guidance for new authors and can make the editors' jobs more straightforward.

• Article Length: Articles for the Journal and Newsletter typically run between one and four pages, although size can vary widely and there have been some quite long articles that were published in installments. A typical page is about 700 words without images. The number of words will be somewhat less when images are incorporated, and CMA encourages incorporating images where appropriate as they can significantly enhance the text. (Articles for the Website are typically 500-1,000 words unless the article is a reference work.)


• Page Formatting: There is no need to format the article in any particular way as the editor will have his/her own style.


• File Formatting: When possible, please submit only digital files by email. These files should be either (a) plain or enriched text or (b) Microsoft Word documents.


• Images: The preferred image format is jpeg (.jpg), although pretty much any format will be accepted. You can simply include images as attachments accompanying your text document, along with instructions on where each image should be inserted. Images can be either color, black-&-white, or sepia, with a preferred resolution of 300 dots-per-inch or less (unless the originals are extremely small, in which case 400-600 dpi may be more appropriate). Size and placement of an image are the most likely aspects to be modified by the editors, but your preferences will be considered. If you are not proficient in image management, don't worry; the editor will likely be able to make it work.


• Title & By-Line: The article title should capture the substance of the article. Length of the title is less important than content, but too long a title can confuse and annoy the reader. The author's by-line (how the author wants his/her name to be listed under the title) should also be included.


• Article Text: In the body of the article, it is helpful and common to insert a blank line between paragraphs and to not indent the first line of each paragraph. All-caps, bolding, and italics should be used only sparsely but consistently; too much can become annoying.


• Permissions: Material (text, photos, etc.) that you create are free for you to use as you wish. Material that others have created (e.g., contents from books, newspaper articles, photos taken by others, songs, poems, etc.) are likely covered by copyright law. Some of these latter may or may not fall under the "Fair Use" doctrine, but it is better to be safe. If you are going to include another's work in your publication, unless it is explicitly labeled in some form of "In the Public Domain," contact the originating individual/organization and obtain written permission first. Then include a citation with the inclusion something to the effect of "Published with the permission of ...."
  
  Alternatively, Wikimedia Commons and the Library of Congress maintain collections of photographic and written materials that are in the public domain and, therefore, free for anyone to use.


• Quoted Passages: All short passages of text taken essentially word-for-word from another source should be treated as a quote. (To not do so is considered plagiarism -- bad and wrong!!!) To indicate a quoted section, if it is two lines or less in your article, simply enclose it in double-quotes (i.e., " "). If the quoted phrase is longer than two lines, consider making it a "block quote." A block quote is treated as a paragraph that is separated from the preceding and following text by blank lines, indented about one-half inch on the left and right, is not enclosed in quotes, contains a reference to the source in a parenthetical at its end, and is preceded by a lead-in to transition to the quote, such as:
  
  As Jane declared of her need for self-respect and independance in the book Jane Eyre:



Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal — as we are! (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847)



• Footnotes: Footnotes are handy ways of providing unobtrusive full citations for quotes or for providing an expanded explanation that might be distracting in the article itself but that provides "context." Whenever a piece of text in an article is footnoted, a super-scripted number should be appended to the article text indicating the corresponding footnote. If the blockquote above had been footnoted rather than including the reference in the parenthetical, this is how the attribution would appear.¹ All footnotes should be placed at the end of the article in sequential order, with a centered heading of "Footnotes" (see below).


• References: Sometimes, an author wants to list all of the sources that influenced an article (even though there might not be direct quotes) or as futher resources for the reader. The appropriate place is at the end of the article, after any footnotes, with blank lines between the references, and suitably labeled with a centered heading of "References" (see below).

Footnotes

¹ Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847.

References

The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition, 2017, The University of Chicago.

Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printers, Snooks & Co. for the Department of Finance and Administration. 6th ed. ISBN 0-7016-3648-3.