Style Sheet for Editors

Specifications for Written Submissions

Basic Style

  • Use the serial comma (representation, engagement, and community).
  • Use one space rather than two after all punctuation.
  • Use em dashes to set off text (while these leaders—most of whom were from Europe—wasted no time) and en dashes in number and date ranges (33-87).
  • Use double quotation marks for quotes and single marks for quotes within quotes.
  • When making two names possessive, use an apostrophe with only the second.
  • Names ending in -s should use a single apostrophe to be made possessive (James’ paper).
  • Ellipses should appear with no spaces and in brackets […].
  • If there are certain key concepts important to a contributor’s work that do not have a direct English equivalent, keep the term in its original language where possible. A word or phrase in a language other than English does not need to be italicized in a written piece. If a translation is included, put it in brackets immediately following the original term.

Numbers

  • Spell out whole numbers zero through one hundred, and round multiples of those numbers, such as “three thousand.”
  • If multiple numbers appear close together in the same sentence or paragraph, maintain consistency, using either numerals or words for all numbers.
  • Decades or centuries do not take an apostrophe before the -s (the 1990s).

Abbreviations and Acronyms

  • For unfamiliar acronyms, spell out on first use, then place the acronym in parentheses following the noun: Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).
  • Initialisms for countries do not take periods (United States/US, United Kingdom/UK).

Citations

  • Any citation style followed consistently and correctly is allowed, but EHN follows the footnote citation guidelines of The Chicago Manual of Style by default.
  • Footnotes should appear at the end of sentences, never in the middle.
  • Footnotes should be consolidated in order to reduce their total number throughout the piece.
  • See WordPress Guidelines below for formatting of footnotes.

Hyperlinks

  • All embedded links should open in a new window.
  • Text associated with the link should be as concise as possible, with single words or phrases rather than entire sentences.

Images

  • Contributors should provide a cover image. Additional in-text images are not required, but can be included. 
  • The cover image should have a size of at least 1200 by 675 pixels.
  • For each image, provide a source and an alt-text/image description. This is different from a caption. It’s a detailed explanation that describes the essential information in an image. In other words, you literally write out what you see. See e.g. here and here.

General Guidelines for WordPress

1. Put a draft up on WordPress

(if necessary, check in with Elizabeth about WordPress access for contributor)

2. Select post format + list contributor as the author

Select “Standard” as the post format for general submissions.
If a submission is part of a series (e.g. “Problems of Place” or “Politics of Nature”), select “Image” as the post format.

3. Add category + tags

Select “EHN Blog” as a category for general submissions.
If a submission is part of a series, select the appropriate category (e.g. “Problems of Place” or “Politics of Nature”).
Include the tags appropriate to the piece.

4. Add a featured image + optional excerpt

*Click on “Set featured image”

*Add new image by selecting one from your computer

*After adding the image, select the image you want as the featured image + then click on “Edit”

*Add alt text + click on insert

5. Add excerpt

Include a one-sentence excerpt for general submissions.
If a submission is part of a series (e.g. #problemsofplace or #politicsofnature), an excerpt is not necessary.

6. If a submission is part of a series (e.g. #problemsofplace or #politicsofnature), put the title in bold.

Add <strong> in front of title, </strong> at end

7. Add separator between the main text and the footnotes

8. Edit footnotes in code editor

*Click on the 3 dots in the top right corner to switch to code editor

*Find the first parenthetical reference

*Create the first parenthetical reference
Replace [1] with <a href=”#_ftn1″ name=”_ftnref1″>[1]</a> 

*And then just only change the number in each subsequent parenthetical reference
Replace [2] with <a href=”#_ftn2″ name=”_ftnref2″>[2]</a> 
Replace [3] with <a href=”#_ftn3″ name=”_ftnref3″>[3]</a> 
Etc.

*Find the first footnote towards bottom of the page

*Create the first footnote
Replace [1] with <a href=”#_ftnref1″ name=”_ftn1″>[1]</a>


*And then just only change the number in each subsequent footnote
Replace [2] with <a href=”#_ftnref2″ name=”_ftn2″>[2]</a>
Replace [3] with <a href=”#_ftnref3″ name=”_ftn3″>[3]</a> 
Etc.

9. Add alt text + image description for each image

10. Add a source + image description for the featured image below the footnotes