Style Sheet

Style Sheet for Authors

General Principles

1. Articles should be current, comprehensive (within the word limits), balanced, free from personal bias, factual and readable. Please remember you are writing an encyclopedia article, not an academic journal article. Editorial changes will be made to submissions to insure they conform to GAMEO standards.
2. The encyclopedia will generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2003) or the current edition of Turabian. Some departures from the Manual will be necessary to meet the requirements of an electronic encyclopedia. 
3. Our aim is to present material in a manner that is readily comprehended by all readers, including young people and people whose native language is not English. For these reasons authors should write in a simple, generally understandable style.
4. Before writing ask yourself, "If I knew nothing about this subject, what would I be pleased to discover about it in a Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online article?" In a shorter (up to 500 words) article, the content will be factual in nature -- who, what, when, where and why. Check the examples.
5. Be aware of your point of reference both in geography and time. Do not write. "She came here" or "They arrived in this country." Instead, write "She came to Paraguay" or "They arrived in Canada." Do not use the present tense. In referring to an activity taking place at the time the article is prepared, write "In 2005 the congregation anticipated a move to a new location," not "The congregation is moving to a new location."
   

Spelling and Distinctive Treatment of words

1. For the sake of uniformity, American rather than British spelling will be followed, except in proper names or names of institutions. The dictionary that will serve as the authority will be the electronic dictionary issued with the Microsoft Office group of programs.
2. Use underlining (italics) or quotation marks for emphasis only very sparingly, only when absolutely necessary.
   

Names and Terms, Capitalization

1. Provide the full names of people at first mention (if possible, add dates of birth and death in parenthesis). Give the personal name of married women: in no case should a woman be referred to as "Mrs. John Doe." Instead, refer to her as "Jane Wilson Doe," "Mrs. Jane Wilson Doe," "Catherine Elizabeth Doe" or "Catherine E. Doe."
2. Do not refer to people by nicknames, except where the person is better known by a nickname than by his or her full name. In such instances, give the full name with the nickname in quotation marks: Jacob Johann "J. J." Thiessen.
3. When persons are commonly known by their initials (J. J. Thiessen), leave a space between the letters. 
4. For personal names from cultures where it is customary to give the family name first, please underline the family name: Chiang Kai-Shek. 
5. For capitalization follow the principles of the Chicago Manual, ch. 7. For a few well-accepted words we will attempt a "lowercase" style by distinguishing between adjectives and nouns:
   
   biblical record
   donatist teachings
   
   But "Pietist orphanages" would need to be capitalized when it refers to the specific Pietist movement rather than to the generic use of "pietist." (usually as a term of derision). Because "Anabaptist" (Anabaptist spirit, Anabaptist theology) is rarely used generically as an adjective -- it nearly always refers to the 16th century Anabaptists, we could get by with lowercasing it as an adjective. We will, however, make an exception for Anabaptist and will always capitalize it, even as an adjective.
   
   In some cases. a distinction between lowercase and uppercase treatment is based on specific and generic usage: Pietism should be capitalized when it refers to the specific movements of the 17th-19th centuries but lowercased when it refers to a general frame of mind or religiosity. The same distinction would apply to Fundamentalism when, referring to the American movement of this but not when referring to Islamic fundamentalism As an adjective, fundamentalist would always be lowercased except in the term [American] Fundamentalist movement.
6. For capitalization related to foreign languages, see section 4 below.
7. We will use the terms "African-American"; "Hispanic"; and "Aboriginal people" or "First Nations peoples."
   

Numbers

1. In running text spell out numbers from one to nine, except where a number begins a sentence. Write numbers larger than nine in numerals. Fractions are governed by the same rules: three-fourths, one and one-half but 15/16ths. Decimals should be written in numerals separated by a period, not a comma: 1.5; 6.5.
2. If one category of items requires, according to rules outlined in 6.1, the use of figures, use figures for all items in that category, even if some total fewer than 101: "The three students combined to purchase 115 books on mathematics, 25 books on theology, and 110 books on philosophy." Note that "three" is spelled out in this example because it is in a different category (students) than the other items (books).
3. For dates, use a combination of letters and figures: 5 July 1883; 14 June 1934. Where only a month and year is known or is preferred, do not separate the month and year by commas: July 1914, not July, 1914. Spell out the months in full; do not abbreviate.
4. For centuries use numeric forms, i.e. 20th century, not twentieth century. 
5. For enumerations use either (1) or italic letters within parentheses (a), (b) etc.
6. When referencing a decade or century numerically write 1930s or 1900s. There is no apostrophe between the number and the "s."
7. Use Arabic numbers in books of the Bible, not Roman numerals, e.g. 1 Thessalonians, not I Thessalonians.
   

Non-English Terminology and Non-Roman Alphabets

1. Because of the multi-cultural nature of Mennonitism, the use of non-English terms is unavoidable. Insert an English translation or equivalent in parenthesis following any non-English term that is not in common usage. This applies to the names of periodicals. Book titles in bibliographical references need not be accompanied by translations if they are in German, French, Spanish or Dutch. If, however, an English translation has been published, that should be noted. Personal names need not be translated unless a translation helps to understand the subject at hand.
2. We will capitalize non-English words in encyclopedia article headings according to American-usage for titles (heavy use of initial capitals). 
3. All diacritics used by the language of the non-English terms should be retained.
   

Quotations

1. Use quotations sparingly. Because the encyclopedia emphasizes succinct description, rarely can something be said better in a quotation than in a short summary by the author. When a quotation is used, the source of the quotation should be identified briefly but clearly (including page number for the quotation) in parenthesis at the end of the quotation and the full citation for the source (with page numbers of all material referring to the subject) must be included in the bibliography at the end of the article.
2. Quoted material should be presented in the same form in which it was published. Words or phrases omitted must be indicated by ellipsis points (. . .) . Please double-check each quotation against the original.
3. Avoid long quotations from copyrighted material. Where this is unavoidable, please draw this to the editors' attention.
4. Identify which translation or version of Scripture has been used in quoting from the Bible.
   

Inclusive Language

1. In general inclusive language will be used.

Abbreviations

1. Abbreviations should generally not be used by authors; they may be used by editorial staff in the editorial process. Acronyms must be defined in full and sparingly used.
2. For U.S. states and Canadian provinces do not use the postal two-letter conventions except when providing the exact postal address. Generally the state or province should be spelled in full, especially in the title. [This is a change in policy; many entries include both abbreviated and postal forms, but the guideline should be followed in new articles.]
   
   Canada
   
   AB = Alberta
   BC = British Columbia
   MB = Manitoba
   ON = Ontario
   NB = New Brunswick
   NL = Newfoundland and Labrador
   NS = Nova Scotia
   NT = Northwest Territories
   NU = Nunavut
   PE = Prince Edward Island
   QC = Province Quebec
   SK = Saskatchewan
   YT = Yukon
   
   United States
   
   AL = Alabama
   AK = Alaska
   AZ = Arizona
   AR = Arkansas
   CA = California
   CO = Colorado
   CT = Connecticut
   DC = District of Columbia
   DE = Delaware
   FL = Florida
   GA= Georgia
   GU = Guam
   HI = Hawaii
   ID = Idaho
   IL = Illinois
   IN = Indiana
   IA = Iowa
   KS = Kansas
   KY = Kentucky
   LA = Louisiana
   MA = Massachusetts
   MD = Maryland
   ME = Maine
   MI = Michigan
   MN = Minnesota
   MO = Missouri
   MS = Mississippi
   MT = Montana
   NC = North Carolina
   ND = North Dakota
   NE = Nebraska
   NH = New Hampshire
   NJ = New Jersey
   NM = New Mexico
   NV = Nevada
   NY = New York
   OH = Ohio
   OK = Oklahoma
   OR = Oregon
   PA = Pennsylvania
   PR = Puerto Rico
   RI = Rhode Island
   SC = South Carolina
   SD = South Dakota
   TN = Tennessee
   TX = Texas
   UT = Utah
   VA = Virginia
   VT = Vermont
   VI = Virgin Islands
   WA = Washington
   WI = Wisconsin
   WV = West Virginia
   WY = Wyoming
   
3. Key to abbreviations (for the front matter) actually used in GAMEO
   
   b. = born
   BA = Bachelor of Arts
   BSL = Bachelor of Sacred Literature
   ca. = circa, approximately, thereabouts
   cf. = compare, consult
   Co. = County or Company
   d. = died
   desiatin (Dessiatine) - 2.7 acres / 1.09 hectares
   e.g. = exempli gratia, for example
   esp. = especially
   et al. = et alia (and others)
   ff. = and following (more than one page following the page number given)
   fl. = floruit or flourished
   ft. = foot
   i.e. = id est, that is
   km = kilometers ( = .62 miles)
   m. = married
   MS = manuscript (plural: MSS; always capitalized)
   n.d. = no date of publication indicated
   n.F. = neue Folge (new series German)
   n.p. = no place of publication indicated, no publisher indicated
   n.R. = nieuwe Reeks (new-series -- Dutch)
   n.s. = new series (periodicals)
   PhD = Doctor of Philosophy
   repr. = reprinted or reprint edition
   RN = Registered Nurse
   sect. = section
   sp.. = special
   Twp. = Township
4. Denominational abbreviations. Generally we should restrict the use of MC, MB, GCM etc. to use in parenthesis following words or agencies. Even denominational abbreviations should be sparingly used. There will be many cases where it will be tempting to use these as part of the syntax of a sentence, e.g.,"In 1977 the MC General Assembly adopted a statement on biblical interpretation." Instead of the above, we should rewrite the sentence to read "In 1977, the General Assembly (Mennonite Church) adopted a statement. . ." This applies primarily to the North American Mennonite denominations. For non-North American Mennonite groups, always write out the name of the group in full enough form to eliminate ambiguity. 
5. Names of agencies can be abbreviated to acronyms after an initial mention in an article, but even then only occasionally. This applies even to common Mennonite agencies like MCC. We should bear in mind that many readers will be complete outsiders who will chance upon an article that mentions "MCC" and will have no way of finding out what the acronym stands for unless we insert (Mennonite Central Committee), in which case it makes more sense to use Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) at first mention and MCC at each repetition in the paragraph. If the article is lengthy, use the full spelling at least once in each paragraph. 
6. Books of the Bible will not be abbreviated.
   

Bibliographical Abbreviations

1. As a general principle bibliographical entries should not be abbreviated.
2. Citations within the text of articles to less commonly used materials will need to have a short title form in parentheses with the text and then a full title at the end of the article. This kind of citation within the text should be kept to a minimum.
   

Cross References/Hyperlinks

1. When topics that are included as separate articles elsewhere in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online are mentioned in the text of an article boldface the exact word(s) to which the reader would need to link. This will ease the task of the editorial staff in making hypertext links between related articles. In the published article the words will not be boldfaced, but will be a hyperlink.
2. Words may be boldfaced that are not completely identical with the form under which they appear in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. For instance, legalists might link to the article on Legalism in GAMEO.
   
3. If creating the article within GAMEO, create the hyperlink following the Editorial Guidelines.
   

Bibliographies

1. Writers may wish to consult the Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2003) because of its good section on bibliography. Bibliographies should be appended at the end of the article. The purpose of the bibliography is twofold: (1) to document the sources used to write the article, (2) to give suggestions for additional reading. The second purpose is the most important. Primacy should be given to the most comprehensive and accessible sources. The bibliography was not included in computing word count assigned for the article.Please arrange titles in alphabetical order. Brief annotations about the relative value for the general reader of the various titles cited will be welcomed by the editors.A bibliographic style of citation will be followed: give the author's surname, followed by her first name.

2. For books with one author, use the following format: Epp, Frank H. Mennonites in Canada, 1786-1920: The History of a Separate People. Toronto: Macmillan, 1974.  If possible, list the pages that refer to the subject of your encyclopedia article using the following format: Epp, Frank H. Mennonites in Canada, 1786-1920: The History of a Separate People. Toronto: Macmillan, 1974: 34-38.
   
3. For books with two or more authors, use the following format: Kreider, H. K.; Engle, Eli M.; Smith, S.R. Minutes of General Conferences of Brethren in Christ (River Breth­ren) from 1871-1904 in Condensed Form. Harrisburg, PA, 1904.
4. For a multivolume work, use the following format: Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe; Schneider, 1913-1967.
5. For a book in a series, use the following format: Harder, Leland, ed. The Sources of Swiss Anabaptism: The Grebel Letters and Related Documents. Classics of the Radical Reforma­tion 4. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1985.
6. For journal articles, use the following style: Schneider, William F. "The Migration of Mennonites to California." Bulletin of California History 41 (1974): 22-56.  If the entire year of the journal is not paginated consecutively, give the month of the journal issue, not merely the issue number: MacArthur, Catherine C. "Aboriginal Marriage Practices." Journal of Aboriginal Anthropology 23 (June 1923): 14-25; (September 1924): 12-30
7. It is very important that citations of the main Mennonite denominational periodicals, especially weekly periodicals, carry the month and year (and day or week if given) of issue: Gospel Herald (14 February 1909): 74-76. The volume and issue year numbers are useful but not as essential for weekly church periodicals: Gospel Herald 2, no. 9 (14 February 1909): 74-76. (For scholarly journals, especially quarterlies, and for the lesser known Mennonite periodicals, the volume number is essential.)
8. For citations from the Internet, use the following style (create hyperlinks if appropriate):
   
   Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees. “Evanston Public Library Strategic Plan, 2000–2010: A Decade of Outreach.” Evanston Public Library. http://www.epl.org/library/strategic-plan-00.html (accessed June 1, 2005).
   
   Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Ed. Henry Churchyard. 1996. http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pridprej.html (accessed 10 Sept. 1998).
   
   Calabrese, Michael. "Between Despair and Ecstasy: Marco Polo's Life of the Buddha." Exemplaria 9.1 (1997). http://web.english.ufl.edu/english/exemplaria/calax.htm (accessed 22 June 1998).
   
   Mennonite World Conference. “MWC - 2006 Caribbean, Central & South America Mennonite & Brethren in Christ Churches.”  http://www.mwc-cmm.org/Directory/2006carcsam.pdf (accessed 9 February 2007).
9. For a thesis or dissertation, use the following style: Harder, M. S. "The Origin, Philosophy, and Development of Education Among the Mennonites." Ph. D. dissertation, University of Southern California, 1949.
   
10. When citing unpublished materials, take special care to indicate where the material is currently located, especially if it is not in a public archive.
11. In citing place of publication and publisher in bibliographies at the end of articles, follow these principles:
    Give the city and abbreviation for the province/state.
    
12. For unusual materials, or if you are uncertain about the proper form, add as much information about the item as possible and the GAMEO editors will correct the entry.
    

Footnotes

1. Footnotes are not to be used for encyclopedia articles. They may be included in "Full-text" articles that are part of the Anabaptist Mennonite Ethereal Library.
   

Design

1. Articles should have a title that stands alone. The first sentence of the article should be a complete sentence. There is one space after the period and the beginning of a new sentence. Paragraphs are not indented. There is one space between paragraphs. For biographical articles, see the article on "How to Write a Biography."

Format and Submission of Copy (Used only if the author is not creating the article online)

1. Articles should be submitted by regular email attachment in rich text format (rtf)(preferred), Microsoft Word or WordPerfect formats. If computer access is not available, articles may be typewritten.
2. Please proofread your articles carefully.
3. Retain a copy of each article submitted.
4. DO NOT type book titles in ALL CAPITALS because this complicates editing enormously.
5. Do not use special italic or script typefaces; avoid use of any special formatting techniques in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect; they likely need to change in the editing process.
   

Illustrations

1. Up to two good illustrations are welcome for most articles. They should be of good quality, either color or black-and-white. Institutional articles should include at least one "people" picture. Biographies of prominent male leaders might include a photo of leader's family or the leader and spouse. Formal pictures usually show better than informal pictures. Pictures should come with source or permission statements, e.g. Family photograph; Wikipedia photograph; Mennonite Heritage Centre photograph. In the event the photograph is available online, and appropriate link should be made. See for example, Luiken, Jan (1649-1712). If the image is reproduced from a book, page numbers should be provided.
2. Be sure the image is in the public domain, e.g. Wikipedia Commons, or secure the express permission of the copyright owner to use the photograph.
   

Examples

1. Institution: Mennonite Brethren Bible College
2. Biography: John R. Dyck
   

Last updated 8 May 2008