American Quilt Study Group

 Manuscript Guidelines 

AQSG Manuscript Preparation Guidelines
Manuscript Guidelines for Uncoverings
American Quilt Study Group
(Revised Fall 2000)
PDF version of this document

• General Info
• Submission Guide
• Reviewer Guide

General Guidelines

Authors are required to prepare manuscripts (of 4,500 to 9,000, words including notes) in accordance with AQSG guidelines. The style authority used for Uncoverings manuscript preparation is The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. For a less- expensive distillation of the style, you can use Kate Turabian A Manual for Writers, 6th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996). If your paper is accepted for presentation and publication, please realize that you may be asked to make several revisions of your manuscript. After final editing, you will be asked to submit the final version on disk as well as in paper copy.

Abstract

• Each manuscript must begin with a one-page, double-spaced abstract, maximum length of 150 words.
• The abstract should be a brief and accurate summary of the research purpose or question, the research content or subject, the research methods or sources, and the main conclusions or findings of the research.
• The abstract is the only part of the manuscript used in indexes. It helps readers decide whether to find and read the entire article.
• Uncoverings is included in the following indexes:
  • America: History and Life
  • ARTbibliographies
  • BHA (Bibliography of the History of Art)
  • Clothing and Textile Arts Index
  • Feminist Periodicals
  • Historical Abstracts
  • MLA International Bibliography
  • Sociological Abstracts

General Format

• Use standard letter-sized (8.58 X 11" or A4) white paper to print out your manuscript.
• Double-spaced throughout, including quotations and notes. Do not single-space anything and do not add an extra space between paragraphs. Use the double-space option in your word processor's format/paragraph menu to automatically double-space.
• Use 12-point Times Roman or Times New Roman for all text.
• Do not justify the right margins.
• Indent the first lines of each paragraph with one tab character. Set the paragraph indent at 1/2 inch from left margin. Do not use the word processor's automatic paragraph indent function.
• Book titles and periodical titles may be underlined or typed in italic, they will be printed as italic in the finished book. Enclose the titles of articles in double quotation marks.
• Number pages in upper-right-hand corner with Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) to end of manuscript.
• Center title on first page of text. For submission, author's name should appear only on cover sheet.

General Style

• Capitalize the names of specific quilts and patterns (e.g., The Temperance quilt or Nine Patch), but present types of quilts or techniques in lower case (e.g., chintz, appliqué, or mourning quilts). Quilts which are considered by their makers to be works of art (e.g., Study in Scarlet) may be underlined (which will be italicized in print).
• In most instances, quiltmaking is one work, as is quiltmaker.
• Use catalog instead of catalogue.
• Whenever possible, write in active voice. For example, Use: Anne Orr designed the quilt (active voice). Instead of: The quilt was designed by Anne Orr (passive voice).
• Avoid use of contractions, except for quoted passages. Use did not instead of didn't.
• Abbreviations: (Refer to The Chicago Manual of Style.) Except for very commonly accepted abbreviations (e.g., etc., Dr.), spell out words in the text. State names may be abbreviated in notes and captions only, using the two-letter postal codes.
• Dates and numbers: (Refer to Chicago.)
  • Use nineteenth century, not 19th or Nineteenth.
  • Use 1890s, not 1890's.
  • Use 1856-1882, not 1856-82.
  • Generally spell out numbers less than 100, use numerals for higher numbers.
  • Use commas in numbers of 1,000 or more.
  • Use 3 percent,, not 3% or three percent.
  • Turn off the "Auto Format" function in word processors that replaces ordinals with superscript numbers.
• Short quotations may be incorporated in the text and enclosed with double quotation marks. In general, longer quotations of two or more sentences which run four or more lines in length should be set apart in a block, indented from the left margin. Use your word processor's indent function, usually on the ruler or in the format paragraph menu, to indent the paragraph. If indented, do not use quotation marks. Remember to double-space block quotations.
• Remember to use an ellipses (. . . ) to indicate omissions from quotations. If you delete a full sentence or more, use an extra period before (. . . ) the ellipses. Do not use an ellipsis at the beginning of a quotation. Type an ellipsis as three periods separated by spaces; please to not use the special three-dot character available on some computers.
• Supplementary material may be placed in one or more appendices, but must be part of word-length limits.

Preparation of Disks

• AQSG prefers manuscripts to be submitted in electronic form. The advantage of electronic manuscripts is that they can be edited and made into a book without having to retype everything. Please keep in mind, that AQSG ultimately must convert all authors' files to the same software program to make final book pages. So, please keep your formatting as simple as possible. If you spend a lot of time using your software to format text and customize the way it looks, then we must spend time removing your formatting to ensure that the whole process goes smoothly.
• Either Macintosh or PC disks and word processing software are acceptable. But please prepare your manuscript on the same system--both hardware and software--from beginning to end. One the disks themselves, note the type of computer and the word-processing program you have used. It is also helpful to note your e-mail address, if you have one.
• Use a word-processing application such as Word or Word Perfect. Please do not use page-layout program such as PageMaker or Quark. Remember to keep all typographic formatting simple. In general, the plainer the print out, the easier it will be to edit and design your book.
• The manuscript and the disk that you submit must be identical. Once you have printed out the final manuscript, you should not make any further corrections to the disk. If you find you do have to make additional changes, make them on your hard copy, use a bright-colored pencil, and be sure to let your editor know there are changes.
• Do not hyphenate words at the ends of lines. It is best to turn off the automatic hyphenation feature on your word-processing software. The only hyphens that should appear in your manuscript are those in hyphenated compound words.
• Hard returns (starting a new line by using the Enter or Return key) should be used only where you want a new line to appear in the printed book. Thus, they should never occur within a paragraph but only at the ends of paragraphs and at the ends of items in lists and lines of poetry.
• Use the tab key once, not the space bar, to indent paragraphs. Set the tab for your document at about 1/2 inch from the left margin.
• Use two hyphens (--) for a dash.
• Capital and lowercase letters--not all caps--should be used for all chapter titles, subheads, and other elements of your manuscript that will eventually be display type.
• Be careful not to type the lowercase "ell" for the number one or the letter "oh" for zero.
• If there are tables in your manuscript put them in separate files and provide an accurate print out so that the typesetter can easily follow the format. Do not use your word processor's "table" or "column" feature to prepare table. Use tabs, not the space bar to define columns. Set up tabs on your ruler to set columns -- do not use the space key to line up columns.
• If your manuscript has accented letters or special characters that you have either entered on your computer or written in by hand, provide a list of them and indicate how you have marked them on the hard copy or created them on disk. Bring these special characters to the editor's attention as early as possible.
• Always keep a backup copy of all your work and of the final disks that you submit.

Photographs and Illustrations

This section describes quality considerations as well as how artwork should be labeled for editing and production. Taking proper care of illustrations will make a tremendous difference in the quality of the final reproductions. If your artwork is not considered acceptable for reproduction, it will not be used.

• If appropriate, send six to twelve illustrations that you will have permission to use. While final selection will be at the editor's discretion, we want to use as many high-quality illustrations as we can.
• Illustrations will be returned after the book is completed. If you send original, irreplaceable material, please note it and request special handling.
• Authors are responsible for the costs of photographs or other graphic illustrations for their articles. Some institutions will provide reproduction quality material at cost for scholarly, unreimbursed articles if you inquire.

Quality Considerations in Selecting Artwork

• Photographs should be of high quality and should have clear detail in the entire subject area. They should not have large solid black or solid white areas. They should be chosen to visually enhance and illustrate the concepts or points made in the manuscripts.
• In general, the best photographs for reproduction are original photographs taken of the object using a good quality camera. Digital photographs intended for Internet use do not have a high enough resolution to be used in print media. High quality digital files may be submitted on CD or zip disks and must have a minimum resolution of three hundred dots per inch at a 6-inch width.
• The best printed results come from original first generation photographs. Copying a photograph will always result in a loss of quality. Although photocopies (Xeroxes) of photographs or previously printed images might be acceptable for a photocopies report, they very rarely contain enough depth or tonal range to be used as artwork in a printed book. If you are concerned about sending irreplaceable originals, please let us know and we will make arrangements for special handling.
• Black and white photos should be at least 5 X 7 inches, and submitted on glossy paper. When photographing subjects that will be printed in black and white, it is best to begin with black and white film. Conversions from color photographs to black and white will always result in some loss of quality.
• Color: Beginning with Uncoverings 2001, AQSG will consider including a limited number of fine color photographs. The designer and book printed can work from a high quality transparency (a slide, not a negative) or a glossy print. The print should measure at least 5 x 7 and be a good color match to your original subject. Amateur looking color snapshots or color photocopies are not acceptable for color reproduction.
• Other illustrations (such as drawings, maps, and graphs) must be prepared in black on white background. For artwork that is prepared with a computer drawing program, it is ideal to have the original artwork file and all fonts as well as a printout of each illustration.
• Please be sure to consider the page size of the book when preparing maps and other drawings. The maximum finished size of any art, including the caption, will be 4.75 X 7 inches. The type on the artwork needs to be legible at this scale.
• Brief textual material within the illustration can be typeset, but if extensive work is required, additional costs for preparing the artwork will be the author's responsibility.

Organizing and Labeling Illustrations

• Each illustration should be on a separate sheet. Any photographs or drawings that are submitted in digital form or as transparencies must also be accompanied by a printed copy.
• Please leave white margins around your photographs: do not crop them with scissors. If you wish to have a portion of the photograph highlighted or a portion cropped, please provide a photocopy of the illustration showing the desired cropping.
• Number each photograph or illustration with the figure number (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). Write the figure number in pencil on the margin of the illustration or on a sticker or post-it note which should be then placed on the side of the illustration. It is helpful to have the illustration number appear beside the illustration so that they will be copied together if duplicates of the manuscript need to be made.
• Do not write directly on the back of a photo because even a slight impression into the paper can damage the surface of the photo. Avoid using ink because the marks might smear or damage the surface of an illustration.
• It is always a good idea to stick an adhesive label containing your name and mailing address on the back of each piece of artwork.
• Captions for illustrations should be descriptive and informative and should include the source of the illustration. The captions should be placed in a separate disk file and printed as a separate page at the end of the manuscript, double-spaced, and numbered to correspond with the illustrations.
• In the manuscript itself, decide where you think it would be best for a reader to look at an illustration. Then insert instructions into the text, as shown in the following example: In the early 1840s, Jane Doe designed an important album quilt (see figure 1).
• The designer will place Figure 1 in the next convenient location following your text reference.
• If both color and black and white photographs are being considered for your paper, some renumbering might be necessary in the final manuscript revision. Color plates will be separate from the body of your paper and label Plate 1, Plate 2, etc.
• We use a color photograph submitted in the form of a professional quality 4 X 5 transparency (no slides) for the cover illustration. Please let the editor know if you have suggestions for the color cover.

Notes and References

• Notes will be printed at the end of the paper, not at the foot of the page. Remember to double-space notes. Do not use the automatic embedded footnote function of your word processor for your final printout and disk. If you prepared your original document using embedded footnotes, we ask that you copy and paste the footnotes to a separate file before submitting your final disk. Please be sure to double-check the footnote numbers to be sure that they match the text references.
• In the printout, begin notes on a separate page title "Notes and References."
• Notes should include all references to the following:
  • Published works
  • Unpublished works
  • Oral communications
  • Quilt or textile collections
  • Other sources of your data.
• All your sources and references should be included in your notes. We do not use a separate bibliography.
• Please avoid the use of Internet URLs in references whenever possible. Internet locations are unstable and are likely to change before the book reaches your readers. In many cases a printed reference for the same information is available and will be more helpful to readers and researchers. If you must use an Internet address, please drop the "http://" prefix.
• Notes and references should be numbered in the order they appear in your text.
• In the manuscript, the number referring to the note number should be typed at the end of the pertinent sentence or paragraph, after the punctuation. Use a superscript number (set above the line) without parentheses.
• Please double-check all your notes for accuracy and correct form.
• For specific examples of the note forms, please refer to the Chicago Manual of Style.

Manuscript Preparation Guidelines

• Permissions
• You may refer to any published work without special permission.
• If you use a substantial quotation (usually defined as more than a couple continuous paragraphs) from a book, periodical, pamphlet or any work published and copyrighted after 1928 you must have the permission of the copyright owner. The concept of “fair use” is not clearly defined, so if you are in doubt as to whether you need to obtain permission, read the appropriate section in the Chicago Manual of Style.
• If you use graphic material or a substantial quotation from an unpublished source or a taped interview you must also have permission from the owner of the work. This may be the library or historical society where the work is housed; or it may be an heir of the originator. The owner may wish to specify the form of acknowledgment that should appear in your note. The author of any letter or taped interview owns the reproduction rights.
• If you use material from an oral interview (not recorded) it is customary to give the person an opportunity to check the quoted material for accuracy. You need to show them only the pages in which their quotations appear. They do no need to approve your paper or your opinions; they need only to check that their words and thoughts are represented accurately.
• It is the author’s responsibility to obtain any necessary permissions in writing . Permission will nearly always be granted but it may take some time.
• Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to print or reprint illustrations from the owner of the copyright. If you borrow or purchase a print from an institution, be sure to ask how the credit should be worded.
• If your paper is accepted please submit copies of the permissions with the final edited copy of your manuscript.

Final Words of Wisdom

Looking through recent volumes of Uncoverings can usually help you understand how these guidelines work out in practice.

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Phone: 402 477-1181 • Fax: 402 477-1183 • AQSG2@windstream.net