Journal of the Australian War Memorial

Guidelines for the presentation of text

Footnotes

Because the process of coding text for posting on the internet removes prior formatting such as footnotes, it would be convenient for us if, instead of using the footnote feature of your word processing program, you were to type each footnote number in square brackets at the appropriate point and type the footnote text at the end of the article. If this is awkward, inconvenient, or likely to cause numbering problems if an article is revised, please use the footnote feature as normal.

Copy editing

As a general guide to writing style you should consult the AGPS Style Manual.

The following style points are in no particular order.

• Insert at least a one line break between paragraphs.
• Ensure that the text does not contain hidden returns, tabs or spaces.
• Use double quotation marks (single only if they occur within a quote). (This is different from normal practice but preferred by the Memorial.)
• Percentages to be typed out as "per cent" (except in tables, etc.).
• Stops should not be used with contractions (e.g. Dept) or abbreviations in capitals (e.g. USA), but they should be used for abbreviations (e.g. Mon., i.e.)
• Do not use apostrophes when making plurals in contractions (eg 1990s).
• Capitals should be used only at the start of sentences and for proper nouns (not scattered around with eighteenth century abandon).
• Acronyms should be typed out in full at first occurrence with abbreviations in brackets, and the abbreviations used thereafter. Do not use stops.
• Initials should have a full stop but no space after each letter and a space before the name, e.g. "C.E.W. Bean".
• Numbers from one to ten should nearly always be written out, and figures usually used thereafter. If you open a sentence with a number it must be spelled out, no matter how great (so it is best to avoid the practice). Percentages should always be expressed in figures ( e.g., 7 per cent), except in tables and figures.
• Four and five-plus figure numbers should be typed according to the following format: 4,500; 45,000; 450,000, etc. (This is different from normal practice but preferred by the Memorial.)
• Spans of figures should be presented according to the following formats: 1991-92, pp 403-4, between 16 and 24, or from 16 to 24. Never use expressions like "between ages 16-24" or "between ages 16 to 24".
• Dates should be according to the style: 25 September 1993; 1990s; the year 2000; twenty-first century (or 21st century).
• Quotes of 30 words or more should be in a separate paragraph and indented without quotation marks.
• Spelling: either the Macquarie or the Oxford Australian Dictionary is acceptable.
• References and bibliography should follow normal academic conventions. Titles of publications, journals and newspapers should be in italics; and titles of articles in journals, newspapers or chapters in books in quotation marks. Neither italics nor quotation marks should be used for titles of unpublished material or conference papers.

Tables and diagrams

Because tables must be rekeyed with html coding, they should be kept as simple as possible. They may be produced either by using the table feature or tabs, so long as they are clear, and placed either in the appropriate position in the text or at the end. If the latter, you should indicate the position at which they should appear in the text. tables should be clearly identified according to the following format: "Table 1: Title", "Table 2: Title".

Tables, graphs and figures generated by other software packages

Figures generated using other software packages should not be imported into the word processing document. They must be kept as separate files, and a hard copy supplied with the file name clearly marked. You should also note the position of each figure in the article text, e.g. "Table 1 here"; "Figure 2 here"; "Graph 3 here". Files created in Excel may be supplied electronically. Figures produced in other programs must be supplied as camera ready copy so that we can scan them into the computer.