Style Guidelines

1. Basic Formatting

Keep all formatting as minimal as possible. Aim for consistency of style within the contribution.

Single space the text, use one column only, and left align.
Do not use the carriage return (enter) at the end of lines within a paragraph; allow the word-processing program to turn the line over.
Use the tab key (once only) to indicate new paragraphs.
Do not include footnotes or endnotes.
Do not use the hanging indent feature.
Do not indent lists (except to indicate the hierarchy of entries).
Do not use the "hidden text" or "annotations/comments" facilities in Word. Provide only the text which you wish to see printed in the final version.
For emphasis, place the text in italics, rather than underline.
If there are any special characters that need to be inserted in the manuscript, please specify what they are in a separate document.

2. Headings

For shorter length entries, avoid the use of headings.
For longer entries, use headings to arrange materials but do not exceed four levels of heading.
Align headings with the left-hand margin (do not center them on the page)
Indicate the hierarchy of headings by use of codes – see "Writing the Entry: Headings" for further instructions.
Use capitals for main words only. Font size should be the same as in the rest of the text.

3. Lists

Try to avoid the extensive use of lists, though if necessary:

Decide whether the list should be bulleted (the items in the list have no particular order) or numbered (e.g. steps in a procedure which must be followed in order, or item 1 is more important than item 2, etc.).
Align lists with the left-hand margin.
Indent the sub-entries only.

4. References

The Harvard, author–date system, is the preferred style at Blackwell.

Style of text citation

For a single author use 'Gaston (1995) suggested that ...' or '... demonstrated in three different species (Gaston 1995)'.
If there are two authors use Gaston and Spicer (2000) or (Gaston & Spicer 2000).
If there are three or more authors use the name of the first author followed by et al., e.g. 'Bell et al. (1989) showed that ...'.
Add a, b, c etc. to distinguish between two or more references with the same author name and year date (e.g. Roitt 1999a,b).
List a string of references in chronological order, e.g. (Black 1985; Black 1991; Smith & Baker 1995, or Smith and Black 1995; Carruthers 1999).
When citing an anonymous editorial in a journal use the name of the journal and the date, e.g. ( Lancet 1998) and list this reference under 'L' in the list of references.

Style of list citation

Reference lists should appear at the end of your entry following your list of cross-references under the heading ‘References and Suggested Readings'.
List references in alphabetical order by author; do not number the list.
For references starting with the same surname and initials, list single-author works first, in chronological order; list two-author works second, in alphabetical order of the second author, then chronologically; list multi-author works third, arranged only chronologically:

Brown, F. (1999)
Brown, F. & Smith, J. (1989)
Brown, F. & Vested, K. (1983a)
Brown, F. & Vested, K. (1983b)
Brown, F., King, L., Evans, R. & Eliot, W. (1987)
Brown, F., Evans, R. & King, L. (1990)

Order the items within each reference (authors' surnames, initials, journal article title, journal title, volume number and page range) in a consistent way. Reordering is a very time-consuming process.

Examples of Harvard references

Adams, A.B. (1983a) Chapter title: subtitle. Journal Title 46 (Suppl. 2), 617–619.

Adams, A.B. (1983b) Book Title. Publisher, New York.

Bennett, W.P., Hoskins, M.A., Brady, F.P. et al. (1993) Chapter title. Journal Title 334, 31–5.

Cummings, M. (1995) Chapter title: subtitle. In: Smith, D., Jones, A.B. & Porter, N. (eds.) Book Title. Blackwell Science, Oxford, pp. 12–28.

Docherty, K.J. (ed.) (1998) Book Title. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.

Halbwachs, M. (1950/1980) Book Title, edited by M. Douglas. Publisher, New York.

Lessells, D.E. (1989) Chapter title. In: Arnold, J.R. & Davies, G.H.B. (eds.) Book Title, 3rd edn. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 32–68.

Smith, A.B. (1993) Book Title, trans. by B. A. Smith. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

5. Points of Particular Relevance to the Encyclopedia Style

Be as representative as possible in your coverage of a topic and avoid special pleading or bias.
Avoid gendered language.
Avoid use of the first person pronoun.
Avoid constructions such as: "In this essay I will a) ... b) ... and c)...
Do not conclude your encyclopedia article with a summary of the material that you have covered in your entry. Encyclopedia entries do not require formal conclusions.
Do not use rhetorical questions.
Try to provide a translation of all non-English books, articles and words used in your piece, or included in your "References and Suggested Readings" section.