WritersHandbook Volume141 201314

CompiledbyJaninaEnrileandAlisonShouldice, EditorsinChief,Volume141,201314 WithexcerptsfromtheJournalStyleGuide: CompiledbyMatthewTrevisanandBrendanKennedy, EditorsinChief,Volume134,200607 RevisedbyAnnaMehlerPapernyandKatherineLaidlaw EditorsinChief,Volume135,200708 FurtherrevisedbyAndrewStokes CopyEditor,Volume138201011

WelcometotheJournalWritersHandbook.
Whenacontributingwriterisassignedastory,therecanbealotofconfusionabouthowtowrite anarticle,howtoproperlyformatitforprintandsoon.WhiletheWritersHandbookisntmeant toreplacetheJournalStyleGuideasasolidfoundationforJournalwriters,itsmeanttoprovide adistilledversionoftheStyleGuidefornewwriters. Therearentanytipsonhowtowriteanarticlehere.Youcanfindthosewordsofadvicefrom yoursectioneditors,fellowwritersandtheeditorsinchief.Here,however,youllfinda comprehensiveguidetothesimpledosanddontsofwritingfortheJournal. Inthefollowingpages,youwillfindthefollowingthreesections: 1. JournalStyle 2. PunctuationandGrammar 3. Miscellaneous Ifyouhaveanyquestionsorconcerns,contacttheeditorsatthefollowing: Email:journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Phone:6135332800 Twitter:@queensjournal Goodluck!

JournalStyle
Randomtips: AlwaysitalicizetheJournal.Theisnotincludedinthis. Ifyouvedoneanemailinterviewwithsomeone,thisshouldbeindicatedafterthefirst quote(i.e.Queensisthegreatestuniversityoutthere,PrincipalWoolftoldtheJournal viaemail).Onthatnote,avoidemailinterviewsasmuchaspossiblemakesureto checkwiththesectioneditororeditorinchiefbeforehandtomakesureitsokay. Theresnoneedtowriteaheadlinewithyourarticle.Sectioneditorswillwritethe headlinebasedonthelayoutspacethatsavailable. Wealwaysuseconjunctions.Its,notitis,shes,notsheisetc. Alwayskeepyourinterviewnotesandrecordings,justincase. WhensubmittingarticlestotheJournal,prefacethearticleasfollows: By[Firstname][Lastname] [Position(Contributor,StaffWriter,etc.)]

Attribution: Trytoalwaysusethewordsaidafteraquote.Otherwordsmaybemoreexciting,butsaidis themostobjectivewordwecanuse.Alwaysputthenameorpronounbeforethewordsaid. Dothis:Imsoexcitedforfroshweek,hesaid. Notthis:ItstoobadImnotaFRECthisyear,saidhe. Theonlyexceptiontothisruleisifthepersonstitleisextremelylong,andwritingittheabove waylooksawkward. Forexample:TheSidewalkSalealwaysdrawstonsofpeople,saidDanaJones,FroshWeek CoordinatorfortheArtsandScienceUndergraduateSociety. Also,makeyousureputattributionafterthequote,andnotbefore. Yearandfaculty: TheseshouldbeindicatedforeachQueensstudentwhoisinterviewed.Eachtimeyouinterview astudent,askthemtonametheirfaculty(ArtsandScience,Engineering,etc)andgraduating year.Thisinformationisusuallyindicatedinthearticledirectlyafterthesecondmentionoftheir name. Forexample: Ihadalotoffun,Smith,ArtSci14,said.

Asalways,doublecheckspellingofnames.RefertopastJournalarticlestodeterminetheshort formofthefacultyinquestion. Acronyms: Wedontputperiodsbetweenthelettersinacronyms(i.eAMS,ASUS).Thefirsttimeyouuse anacronym,introduceitbyspellingoutthenameinfullandthenputtingtheacronymin brackets.Foreverymentionafterthat,youcanjustusetheacronym. Ifsomethingisonlyreferredtoonce,theresnoneedtoindicateitsacronym. ForplacesliketheARC,PECandJDUCitsunnecessarytoprovidethefullnameforthe acronym,asthesearewellknownamongstudentsandfaculty. Stacking: Dontshiftbackandforthbetweeninterviewsinyourarticle.Somepublicationschoosetodo this,butattheJournal,wedontforsimplicityssake.Chooseonespeakertolead,andhavethe othersfollowintheorderyouthinkisbest. Besuretovaryuseoftheintervieweeslastnameandpronouns(he,she,etc.)throughoutthe intervieweessection.Thefirsttimetheintervieweeismentioned,usetheirfullname.Thereafter, usetheirlastnameaswellaswellastheappropriatepronoun.

PunctuationandGrammar
OutsideofourJournalstylequirks,wetendtofollowCPstyle.CheckaroundtheJournalhouse foroneofourCPStyleGuideorSpellingandCapsbooks.Heresabasicrundownof punctuationandgrammar. Commas: HereattheJournal,wedontusetheOxfordcommainlists. Dothis:Apples,orangesandplumsaremyfavouritefruits. Notthis:Apples,oranges,andplumsaremyfavouritefruits. Quotesareusuallyendedwithacommaorperiod.RefertotheQuotessection.

Colons:

Usecolonssparingly.Colonsareusedtoprefacealist.Forexample,Smithsaidhewasonthe followingteams:rugby,soccerandhockey. Semicolons: Usesemicolonssparingly.Theyreusedtolinkindependentclausesthatareverysimilar.Think ofitasapointbetweenthecommaandtheperiod. Longdashes: Uselongdashessparingly.Theyresimilartocolons.Forexample,Smithsaidhewasonthe followingteams<>rugby,soccerandhockeyorWilliamssaidshedidntlikeplayingthegame <>shelovedit. WhensubmittinganarticletotheJournal,encloseeachdashlikeso,<>,inordertosignalto theeditorthatyoudlikethesedashestobelongdashesinprintandontheweb. ItalicizingandBolding: Weitalicizedalbumtitles,plays,moviesandbooktitles. Whenawordneedstobeitalicizedorbolded,usethefollowingmethodtosignifyitalicizationto theeditorcompletinglayout. Thebandsalbum,<Funeral>,wasagreatsuccesswillappearinprintasThebandsalbum, Funeral,wasagreatsuccess. Whilewedontboldanywordswithinanarticle,certaintitles(suchaswithinafactboxorNews inBrief)shouldbebolded.Usethefollowingmethod. b<Artscentrereceivesgovernmentfunding>willappearinprintasArtscentrereceives governmentfunding ShortQuotes: Whensignifyingaspokenquote,theJournaluses,not.Dontembedquotes.Alwaysend quoteswithacommabeforetheattribution. Dothis:Theplaywasfantastic,Smithsaid. Notthis:Smithsaidtheplaywasfantastic.

LongQuotes: Quotesshouldneverbemorethantwoshorttomidlengthsentences.Withthisinmind,split longerquotesifnecessaryforreadability.Besuretoendthesecondpartwithaperiod,nota comma. Dothis:Theplaywasfantastic.Ireallyenjoyedtheuseofstagingandcolourfulprops,Smith said.ItwasthefirsttimeIdeverseenlivetheatreanditwasgreat. Notthis:Theplaywasfantastic.Ireallyenjoyedtheuseofstagingandcolourfulprops.Itwas thefirsttimeIdeverseenlivetheatreanditwasgreat,Smithsaid. ClarifyingQuotes: Whenyou,asawriter,needtoclarifyaquote,usesquarebrackets[example]todoso. Originalquote:Itwasfantastic,Smithsaid. Dothis:[Theshow]wasfantastic,Smithsaid. Notthis:(Theshow)wasfantastic,Smithsaid. DatesandNumbers: DatesarewrittenasSept.20,2013.Ifamonthhasashortenoughname(likeMayor March),wekeeptheentirenamewritten.Alwaysusetheplainnumberforthedate(20, not20th). IfdenotingatimefromyearAtoyearB,writeitassuch:201213,not20122013,to avoidbeingredundantwithnumbers. Weusewordsfornumbersonetonine,anddigitsfornumbers10andabove.Ifyoure startingasentencewithanumber,alwaysspellitout,nomatterhowbig. Ifanumberexceedsthreedigits,usecommas.Forexample:10,000not10000or 10000.

MiscellaneousPolicies
ThefollowingaresomethingstorememberonceyouhaveastorypublishedbytheJournal. Dontsubmitonlinecommentsforyourownstories.Ifyouhaveanyconcernsabout comments,pleaseemailtheeditors. Dontrevealwhatstoryyoureworkingonbeforeitspublished. Dontsenddraftsofthearticletointervieweesbeforeitspublished.Ifaninterviewee requeststoseetheunpublisheddraft,kindlytellthemthatitsagainstJournalpolicy. Referthemtoaneditoriftheyrepersistent. Refrainfrompostingyourpreeditedstoryonline(onablog,forexample).Youmay, however,postthefinishedstoryonceitispublished/printed,aslongasthearticleis

prefacedwithOriginallyappearedintheQueensJournalon[date].Thisalsoappliesto photoandvideocontributions. Unlessyouhandtheseovertoaneditor,yourerequiredtokeepnotesandtranscriptions (alternatively,recordings)usedforastoryforsevenyears.Thisisforlegalpurposes. Anyrequeststoalteroromitinformationornamesappearinginarticlesmustbebrought totheeditorsinchief.Contributingandstaffwritersarenotresponsibleforhandling theserequests.