THE STYLE GUIDE

When You Begin Writing

Double-space the text of your

paper.
Use the Times New Roman font.
The font size should be 12 pt.
Indent the first line of paragraph
a half-inch from the left margin.

Centre the title and capitalize all the main words.

Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in

quotation marks.
Do not use a period after your title or after any
heading.
Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring
to other works in your title, just as you would in
your text:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as a Morality Play

Number all pages

consecutively with Arabic

numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.),
one-half inch from the top.
Double space between the
title and the first line of the
text.

Refer to the author by his or her

full name the first time it is

mentioned in the text,
Later in the text use only the last
name of the author.
If you have two authors with the
same last name use both the first
and last names consistently.

Italicize titles of books, plays, magazines,

journals, newspapers, movies, television

shows, compact discs and Web sites.
Titles of articles, chapters in a book,
short stories, essays, poems, and songs
are in quotation marks.
Pages in a web site, individual episodes
of TV and radio broadcasts are put within
quotation marks.

Enclose in single quotation

marks a title normally indicated

when it appears within another
title requiring quotation marks.
Lines after Reading Sailing to
Byzantium

Italicize a title normally indicated by italics

when it appears within a title enclosed in

quotation marks
Romeo and Juliet and Renaissance Politics
If a period is required after an italicized title
that ends with a quotation mark, place the
period before the quotation mark.
The study appears in New Perspectives on
The Eve of St.Agnes.

Exceptions to the
Rule
The holy books:

Bible, Quran,Upanishads.
Laws ,acts and similar political documents.

Declaration of Independence
Series
University of North Carolina Studies in
Comparative Literature.

Spell out numbers that can be written in

one or two words (four, thirty-five); use

numerals to represent longer numbers
(110, 5 ).
Do not begin a sentence with a numeral
spell it out.
Fifty people were killed in an accident.
Express related numbers in the same
format
5 out of 50 states

In-text citation
Follow the author-page method. The author's

last name and the page number(s) from which

the quotation is taken must appear in the text,
and a complete reference should appear on
your Works Cited page.
The author's name may appear either in the
sentence itself or in parentheses following the
quotation. The page number(s) should always
appear in the parentheses.

Wordsworth stated that Romantic

poetry was marked by a
"spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings" (263).
Romantic poetry is characterized
by the "spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings" (Wordsworth
263).

When a source has no known author,

use a shortened title of the work.

Place the title in quotation marks if
it's an article
Italicize it if it's a play, book,
television show or an entire website
and provide a page number if
applicable.

Citing a Work by Multiple Authors

For a source with three or less

than three authors, list the

authors' last names in the text or
in the parenthetical citation:
Smith, Yang, and Moore argue that
tougher gun control is not
needed in the United States (76).

For a source with more than three authors, provide the

first author's last name followed by et al. or list all the

last names.
Jones et al. counter Moore's argument by noting that
the current spike in gun violence in America compels
law makers to adjust gun laws (4).
OR
Legal experts counter Moore's argument by noting
that the current spike in gun violence in America
compels law makers to adjust gun laws (Jones et al. 4).

OR
Jones, Driscoll, Ackerson, and Bell counter
Moore's argument by noting that the current
spike in gun violence in America compels law
makers to adjust gun laws (4).

Citing Authors with Same Last Names

If two or more authors have the same last
name, provide both authors' first initials (or
even the authors' full name if different authors
share initials) in your citation. For example:
Although some medical ethicists claim that
cloning will lead to designer children (R. Miller
12), others note that the advantages for
medical research outweigh this consideration
(A. Miller 46).

Citing two articles by the same

author:
Mayore has argued that computers are not useful
tools for small children ("Too Soon" 38), though
he has acknowledged elsewhere that early
exposure to computer games does lead to better
small motor skill development in a child's second
and third year ("Hand-Eye Development" 17).

Citing two books by the same

author
Murray states that writing is "a process" that
"varies with our thinking style" (Write to Learn
6). Additionally, Murray argues that the
purpose of writing is to "carry ideas and
information from the mind of one person into
the mind of another" (A Writer Teaches
Writing 3).

Citing Multivolume
Works
If you cite from different volumes of a
multivolume work, always include the volume
number followed by a colon. Put a space after
the colon, then provide the page number(s).
(If you only cite from one volume, provide only
the page number in parentheses.)
(1: 14-17)

Non Print Sources

Include in the text the item that appears in the

Bibliography page . (e.g. name of the author,

article, website or film name).
You do not need to give paragraph numbers or
page numbers based on your Web browsers
print preview function.
Only provide partial URLs such as when the
name of the site includes, for example, a domain
name, like CNN.com or Forbes.com as opposed
to writing out http://www.cnn.com or
http://www.forbes.com.

Short Quotations
To indicate short quotations

(fewer than four typed lines of

prose or three lines of verse) in
your text, enclose the quotation
within double quotation marks.
Provide the author and specific
page citation and in the case of
verse, provide line numbers.

Punctuation marks such as periods,

commas, and semicolons should

appear after the parenthetical citation.
Question marks and exclamation
points should appear within the
quotation marks if they are a part of
the quoted passage but after the
parenthetical citation if they are a part
of your text.

When quoting short passages of prose, use the

following examples:
According to some, dreams express "profound
aspects of personality" (Foulke 184), though
others disagree.
According to Foulkes study, dreams may
express "profound aspects of personality" (184).
Is it possible that dreams may express
"profound aspects of personality" (Foulke 184)?

When short (fewer than three lines of verse)

quotations from poetry, mark breaks in short
quotations of verse with a slash, /, at the end
of each line of verse (a space should precede
and follow the slash).
Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that
happened there / That's all I remember" (1112).

Long Quotations
For quotations that extend to more than four

lines of verse or prose, start the quotation on

a new line, with the entire quote indented one
inch from the left margin; maintain doublespacing.
Your parenthetical citation should come after
the closing punctuation mark. When quoting
verse, maintain original line breaks.

Nelly Dean dehumanizes Heathcliff throughout her

narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or
even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I
put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be
gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by
hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door,
and there he found it on quitting his chamber.
Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was
obliged to confess, and in recompense for my
cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the
house. (Bronte 78)

Adding or Omitting Words in Quotations

If you add a word or words in a

quotation, you should put brackets

around the words to indicate that they
are not part of the original text.
Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on
urban legends, states, "some individuals
[who retell urban legends] make a point
of learning every rumour or tale" (78).

If you omit a word or words from a quotation,

you should indicate the deleted words by

using ellipsis marks, which are three periods
preceded and followed by a space.
In an essay on urban legends, Brunvand notes
that "some individuals make a point of
learning every rumour or tale . . . and in a
short time a lively exchange of details occurs"
(78).

Quotation with Ellipsis at the

End
In surveying various responses to plagues in the Middle Ages,
Barbara W. Touchman writes, medical thinking trapped in
the theory of astral influences ,stressed air as the
communicator of disease. . . .
If there is a parenthetical reference follows the ellipses
place the sentence period after the final parenthesis.

In surveying various responses to plagues in the Middle Ages,

Barbara W. Touchman writes, medical thinking trapped in
the theory of astral influences ,stressed air as the
communicator of disease. . . (101-102).

When omitting words from poetry quotations, use a

three-period ellipses; however, when omitting one

or more full lines of poetry, space several periods
to about the length of a complete line in the poem:
These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
....................
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration . (22-24, 28-30)

Bibliography
One Author

Write the author's name as Last

Name, First Name.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs,
and Steel: The Fates of Human
Societies. New York: Norton,
1999. Print.

Two or More Authors

List the names in the order they

appear on the title page, with

commas between authors, and a
period after the last author's name.
Only the name of the first author
should be reversed the other
name(s) should be written in
regular order.

Hutcheon, Linda,and Michael Hutcheon.Bodily

Charm: Living Opera. Lincoln:U of Nebraska
P,2000.Print.
King, Samuel P., and Randall W. Roth. Broken
Trust: Greed, Mismanagement, and Political
Manipulation at America's Largest Charitable
Trust. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 2006. Print.

For more than three authors,

either give only the first author

and add et al., or give all the
names in the order in which they
appear on the title page.

Plag, Ingo, et al. Introduction to

English Linguistics.Berlin:Mouton,
2007. Print
Plag, Ingo, Maria Braun and
Mareile Schramm. Introduction to
English Linguistics.Berlin:Mouton,
2007. Print

Work in an Anthology
Author, title and if relevant

translator, editor or the complier of

the book should be mentioned.The
page numbers too should be
mentioned.
Bordo ,Susan. The Moral Content of
Nabokovs Lolita. Aesthetic Subjects.
Ed.Pamela R.Mathews and David
McWhirter. Minneapolis:U of
Minnesota P,2003.125-52.Print.

Editors, Compilers, Translators

If the persons named on the

title page are editors,

compilers, or translators, add
a comma and a descriptive
label, e.g., eds., comps.,
trans.

Lucas, John S., and Paul C. Southgate, eds.

Aquaculture: Farming Aquatic Animals and
Plants. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. Print.
Allende Isabel. Toads Mouth. Trans. Margaret
Sayers Peden. A Hammock beneath the
Mangoes. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. Print.

Edition
If a book is identified as being other than the

first edition (e.g., 2nd edition, Revised

edition), give the edition just before the
publication information.
Newcomb, Horace, ed. Television: The Critical
View. 7th ed. New York : Oxford UP,2007.Print.

Work in an Anthology
When citing an essay, short story, or other

work that is contained in an anthology or

other book collection, provide information
about both the piece and the complete book

Humphries, LaJean. "How to Evaluate a Web

Site." Web of Deception: Misinformation on
the Internet. Ed. Anne P. Mintz. Medford: U of
Minnesota ,2002. 165-73. Print.

Book in a Series
If the title page or other introductory pages

indicate that the book is part of a series, give

the series name and the series number, if any,
at the end of the entry. Abbreviations may be
used, including Ser. for series.
Neruda, Pablo.Canto General. Trans.Jack

Schmitt. Berkely: U of California

P,1991.Print.Latin American Literature and
Culture 7.

Encyclopaedias and Reference Books

When citing familiar reference books,

especially those that appear often in new

editions, full publication information is not
necessary.
Pelley, Patricia M. "Vietnam." The World Book
Encyclopedia. 2008 ed. 2008. Print.

Two or More Works by the Same Author(s)

When citing two or more sources by the same

author, give the name in the first entry only.

For the next entries, type three hyphens, add
a period, and skip a space (---. ) then give the
title.
Scott, Susan. Exploring Hanauma Bay.
Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 1993. Print.

---. Plants and Animals of Hawaii. Honolulu:

Bess Press, 1991. Print.

PERIODICALS

Magazine Articles
Author. "Title of Article." Title of Magazine

Date: Page(s). Type of Material.

If no author's name is given for an article,

begin with the title of the article.

"Sachin The Star." Sports Illustrated 30 Mar.
(2009): 18. Print.

Scholarly Journal
Articles
Baskin, Yvonne. "Sea Sickness: The Upsurge in
Marine Diseases." Bioscience 56.6 (2006):
464-69. Print.
Davis, William D., Thomas Cleary, Michelle
Donnelly, and Samuel Hellerman. "Using
Sensor Signals to Analyze Fires." Fire
Technology 39.4 (2003): 295-308. Print.

Newspaper Articles
Dior,Jim. Yeats Meets the Digital Age. New

York Times 20 July 2012 New England

ed.:Print.

Web Sites
When citing web sites, include the author,

title, and publication information and add the

date of access, because web pages are often
updated or moved. All components in the
format below may not be identifiable for a
web site; include as much as is available.

Altonn, Helen. "Marine Team Sounds Alarm for

Reefs. The Devils Dictionary 2008. Web. 17
June 2009.

A Film
Its a Wonderful Life. Dir.Frank Capra. Perf.

James Stewart and Donna Reed.Cinecom

Intl.,2000.Film.

E-mail (including e-mail

Interviews)
Give the author of the message, followed by

the subject line in quotation marks. State to

whom to message was sent, the date the
message was sent, and the medium of
publication.
Kunka, Andrew. "Re: Modernist Literature."
Message to the author. 15 Nov. 2000. E-mail.

Interview
Gordimer,Nadine. Interview.New York Times 10
Oct 2010,Print.
Lansbury,Angela.Interview by Ted
Koppel.Nightline. ABC,New York.18
Apr.2002.Television.