Style Guide
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
We very much appreciate your
willingness to contribute to the African American National Biography (AANB),
which will be the largest repository of black lives ever assembled in our
nation’s history by almost tenfold. There is an
enormous need for an African American national biography. No similar work has
yet been produced that is devoted exclusively to black lives,
or that so fully utilizes the power of so many varied scholarly resources. No
research project, book, or web site has yet sought to be comprehensive in its
quest to document and record black lives, therefore deepening the overall
understanding of the African American contribution to American history and
culture.
African American Lives will fill this cultural void by
providing biographies of African Americans from every discipline and
profession. In the process, it will restore to history the achievements of
thousands of men and women whose stories have been nearly lost to us. African
American studies scholars, along with the talented editors/writers on the
project, are combing through hundreds of years of public records, private
writings, published works, reference resources, and primary scholarship to
discover the names and lives of blacks whose stories have never been told. The
project will, in effect, recover lost dimensions of the black experience. Indeed, the AANB will introduce many people to the likes of
Benjamin F. Roberts, a printer who in 1849 filed a lawsuit to integrate the
Boston public school system so that his daughter could be educated; Henry “Box”
Brown, a Virginia slave who won his freedom by mailing himself to Philadelphia
in a wooden box, then toured the country to promote emancipation; Arizona Dranes, the haunting blues musician whose handful of
recordings from the late 1920s are still sought by collectors today; Mary Ellen
Pleasant, a legendary woman of influence and political power in Gold Rush San
Francisco who used her own money to aid African American railroad strikers and
other black causes—even helping to fund John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry;
Annie Turnbo Malone, who almost single-handedly built
up a large cosmetics company in the early 1900s, became one of the world’s
wealthiest black women, then devoted much of her fortune to philanthropy; Onesimus, a slave who introduced smallpox vaccination to
Cotton Mather; and Benjamin Banneker, America’s first black scientist, a
reclusive mathematician and astronomer who rarely left his mother’s Maryland
farm, but managed to correspond with Thomas Jefferson and publish an almanac
that won him international fame.
A team of editors has been
assembled by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, and we
have reached out to hundreds of academic experts around the country. Your
contribution to this project will help make the African American National Biography a milestone in the field of
African American studies.
Return
to Top
PLANNING YOUR ARTICLE
2.1 Readership
The
encyclopedia will be used by students from the high school to the graduate
school level, librarians, scholars, journalists, writers, and the educated
member of the general public. Write clearly and authoritatively to a general
audience that shares your interest, if not your expertise, in the subject. With
the general reader in mind, avoid technical vocabulary as much as possible.
When technical vocabulary or colloquialisms are necessary, make their meaning
plain within the context of your writing or give equivalents in English.
2.2 Scope description
The
scope description appropriate to your article is part of your contract. It is
meant to guide—not restrict—your thinking. As a specialist, you are encouraged
to shape your article according to your best judgment, although we urge you to
cover the points noted in the scope description. If you wish to expand or
restrict the scope of your article or if you have specific questions about it,
consult directly with your assigning editor. Whether explicitly stated or not,
the scope description’s intention is to relate the topic to African-American
history and culture.
2.3 Word allotment
The
word count for your article is shown in your contract; it applies to your text
only and does not include the bibliography or boxes.
Deviation from your word
allotment—especially if your article is too long—will require editorial
correction. If you find that, despite every effort, you are unable to keep your
article to the number of assigned words, let your assigning editor know. Early
consultation will help avoid cutting or rewriting at a later stage.
A manuscript page, typed or printed out,
double-spaced on 8 ½ by 11-inch paper with generous
margins will contain between 250 and 275 words depending on your font size. The
following scale serves as a rough guide for number of words and pages. At the
end of your manuscript, provide an actual word count if your program can
generate it.
250
words 1 manuscript page
500 2 manuscript pages
750 3
1000 4
2.4 Consensus
of interpretation
Your
interpretation of particular issues is essential to the integrity of your
article; at the same time, as a reference work, the encyclopedia has an
appropriate, your article should alert readers to a debate, its implications,
and where additional information can be found.
Return
to Top
WRITING YOUR ARTICLE
3.1
Opening paragraph
All
AANB entries will follow a standard format for their opening paragraphs,
beginning with the first sentence. Below is an example of the AANB format for
first sentences:
Parks, Gordon,
Jr. (7 Dec.
1934 - 3 Apr. 1979), filmmaker, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the eldest
son of Sally Alvis and Gordon Parks, Sr., the latter
an award-winning photojournalist, author, composer, and filmmaker.
Each
entry should follow this format: entry term, complete dates of birth and death,
occupation(s) or reasons for renown, place of birth, parents’ names and
occupations, if known. The subject of the entry should be identified at outset
by the name that would usually be used in the historical record. For example, the entry on Joe Louis should
begin “Louis, Joe”; his full formal
name should be given later on: “. . . was born Joseph Louis Barrow….” The rest
of the first paragraph should contain a brief account of the subject’s early
life and education, not an overview of his or her accomplishments.
3.2 Body of text
Present
the subject’s life generally in chronological order, focusing on the primary
events that made the subject a notable person; significant events in private
life should be woven into the chronology. Place the
subject’s life and career into the broader context of history, and especially
African American history, with reference to relevant people, events, movements,
organizations, etc.
3.3 Marriages
Refer
to a marriage by giving the spouse’s name before the marriage, the year the
marriage occurred, and the number of children born to the couple. In the case
of divorce, identify the year a marriage was terminated.
3.4 Death and summation
Cite
the place of death near the end of the text. Place of burial should not be
given unless particularly noteworthy. The date of death, which is identified in
the opening sentence, need not be repeated. The concluding paragraph should not
be a condensation of what you have already said, and it may be redundant to add
anything to the chronological account of the subject’s life. More often than
not, however, an assessment of the subject’s place in history ought to round
out an article.
3.5 Living people
AANB
entries should be timeless. If you are writing about a living subject, be sure
not to end the entry with a magazine-like summation (“he lives in Pittsburgh with his wife
and children”); instead, attempt to write in a style that will remain correct
even after the subject passes on. Attempt to use concrete dates and the simple
past tense, rather than open-ended timelines and the present tense. For
instance, instead of writing “she continues to serve on several corporate
boards,” you should write, “in 1995 she joined the board of Acme Corporation,
one of many corporate boards she served on beginning in the 1990s.”
3.6 Identifying
people, places and things
Most
readers of your article will not be specialists. For their benefit, give,
wherever appropriate, brief explanations to identify people, places, concepts,
and objects mentioned in your article. For example:
Fannie Lou Hamer, a leader
of the Southern Freedom Struggle, . . .
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the African
American female swing band of the 1930s and 1940s, . . .
Signs, the early Black Women’s Studies journal,
. . .
3.7 Dates
Make
generous reference wherever appropriate to dates or periods of major events,
etc. For example:
The National Council of Negro Women, founded in
1935, was long active . . .
Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, a fictional retelling of the desperate act of Margaret
Garner in 1835, . . .
3.8 Quotations and
permissions
Whenever
possible, avoid quotation from previously published works protected by
copyright, even if the works are your own. We suggest this for two reasons: (1)
to avoid having to secure written permission to reprint material from
copyrighted sources and (2) to encourage you to write an original article.
Use
quotations only when they are essential to full understanding. If your article
requires extensive quotation from previously published works, contact Anthony
Aiello for guidance.
Indicate
the source, with exact page numbers, for any quoted material as well as for
interpretations and facts taken from secondary sources.
We
will routinely check your article for material that may require permission to
reprint. But the responsibility for determining copyright status of your
sources and for judging the need for permission to reprint it is yours. Submit
letters of permission to us along with your manuscript.
3.9 Citations
The
AANB will not include footnotes. If your article requires an occasional
citation of a specific source, give it in a short form in the text (with the
page number in parentheses) and give the full reference in the bibliography.
For example:
As Anna Julia Cooper suggests in A Voice from the South (p. 39) . . .
Citation
of sources listed in the Further Reading
should give author’s surname and page number:
…where 15,000 people
gathered to hear King declare Meredith’s walk against fear “the greatest
demonstration for freedom ever held in Mississippi”
(Dittmer, p. 402).
If there is more than one
book cited by that author, give a short title reference; e.g. if there were two
books listed by Dittmer, the above reference would be (Dittmer, Local People, p. 405).
For sources not otherwise
listed, give a short parenthetic reference:
…is
in fact an “unrepentant black nationalist” (New York Times, 2 Feb. 2003)
Of this tendency, Lorde
said in an interview, “There’s always someone asking you to underline one piece
of yourself…. But once you do that, then you’ve lost” (Denver Quarterly 16.1 [1981], pp. 10–27).
But
try not to cite sources that are too specialized, academic, or old and
inaccessible.
Biblical quotations: Identify chapter and
verse, and translation, where relevant.
Use AV for the King James version; e.g.: “which
includes the line ‘Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me’ (Psalms 40.13 [AV]).”
Return
to Top
3.10 Plagiarism
The AANB takes very seriously the issue of plagiarism of any print OR online resources. AANB editors will check all entries suspected of plagiarism against original sources. If any author is found to have plagiarized language from other texts or online resources, the author will have ALL their entries cancelled forthwith. For a useful definition of plagiarism and how to avoid it, please see this Indiana University website, http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
SOME NOTES ON STYLE
In
matters of style, Oxford
follows The Chicago Manual of Style
(15th edition) with some variations, Merriam-Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition), Webster’s
Third New International Dictionary, and The
Oxford English Dictionary. In cases where the dictionary presents two
forms, use the first spelling (for example, “catalog,” rather than
“catalogue”).
Avoid
using abbreviations in the text; use abbreviations sparingly in
parenthetical material.
Translate
all material in languages
other than English, except titles of works listed
in the bibliography. The translation, in parentheses and without quotation
marks, should immediately follow the non-English material. Underline single
words or short phrases (so that they will be set in italics); put longer
phrases in roman in quotation marks. Names of institutions, buildings, and
geographical locations should be in roman. Foreign-language words and
expressions listed in Merriam-Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary are considered English words and need not be
italicized.
Make
sure that accent
and diacritical marks are clear and distinct.
If there is any possibility of ambiguity, write the name of the mark above the
mark.
Avoid using italics for emphasis or irony; reserve italics
for non-English expressions and book titles.
4.1 Style, grammar,
spelling, etc.
Style
will be based on the Chicago
Manual of Style, 15th ed. (CM) Open-closed-hyphenated
compounds, accent marks, etc. will be taken from the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dict., 11th ed.
For questions of usage, consult the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage.
4.2
Spelling
In
text, use the first variant given in MW11.
For names, titles, etc., use the form used by the person, book,
institution, etc.
4.3 Punctuation
The
serial comma will be used (peas, beans, and potatoes not peas,
beans and potatoes).
No comma after short adverbial words or phrases
at the beginning of a sentence, as set out in CM 5.38: “During 1982 the
occurrence of sun spots….” “In 1934 Johnson began a series of…” “Between 1921
and 1923 the unpredictable behavior of the...”
4.4 Capitalization
Black Arts
Movement, the Depression
In the North,
the South, etc.:
capitalize specific regions (but he
walked north, he looked to the north etc.).
Capitalize the subjects of degrees: “received
a B.A in Journalism,” “an M.A. in Religion and Contemporary Society,” etc.
4.5 Dates
For birth and death dates use any of the following
styles (mostly taken from ANB), depending on the specificity of information
available:
Sargent, John Singer (12 Jan. 1856 -
15 Apr. 1925)
Rumsey, James (Mar. 1743 - 21 Dec.
1792)
Hughes, Langston (1 Feb. 1902? - 22
May 1967)
Houston, William Churchill (1746 -
12 Aug. 1788)
Salomon, Haym (c.
1740 - 6 Jan. 1785)
Seattle (1786? - 7 June 1866)
Howetson, James (? - 4 July 1777)
Bierce, Ambrose (24 June 1842 -
1914?)
Pocahontas (c. 1596 - c. 21 Mar.
1617)
Onesimus
(fl. 1706 - 1717)
Dunham, Katherine (22 June 1909
- ) [4 spaces after hyphen for living
people]
Use
the following for the months in birth and death dates and in source citations:
Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
In running text, exact dates should be in the form 7 April 1943 without internal punctuation and without
abbreviations: “On 14 April 1912 an iceberg…”
4.6
Racial terminology
The
generally unmarked terms of reference in AANB are black and African American
(always unhyphenated); e.g. “…for the newly freed African American
constituency. On 8 February 1869, in a speech on the suffrage rights of African
Americans….”
Other
terms are discussed below:
Afro-American: use only in titles,
quotations, etc.
black, white: lower case, no caps (e.g.
“…became the first black in the county to vote and serve on a jury.”) However,
keep caps as they occur in quotations.
Negro: Use when quoting only.
Do not use the following words, except in quotations, unless there is a strong,
contextual, and specific reason for doing so: colored, mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, etc. Such terms as person of color, mixed-race, light-skinned,
might be better choices.
4.7 Explicit racial
identification
Within an article, identify a person’s race when it
is germane to the point being made, but not necessarily otherwise. If someone is generally/widely known, no
mention of race should be necessary.
When introducing a name into an article, identify race if it helps the
reader get the point of what you are saying.
4.8
Gendered terms
The matter of adjudicating on gendered terms is a
complex one. Avoid using dated or
clearly problematic terms (sculptress,
aviatrix, poetess). However, it is difficult to be dogmatic about
a number of other terms. While we will
try to be reasonably consistent in first-sentence designations of entries,
trust your sense of the subject and your own or ear for the language,
especially in running text.
Actress:
AANB will use actress. Actress
is in unmarked frequent use throughout the language, though some object on
the principle that to differentiate for gender is demeaning to women,
especially when the “masculine” term is used for the generic sense (“All of the
actors in the film….”).
Comedienne: AANB
will use comedian rather than comedienne. While the latter may be appropriate in some
(esp. historical) contexts, use of the former should not seem out of place.
Waitress: May
be used in AANB.
Return
to Top
COMPILING YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY
5.1 Purpose
The
purpose of the Further Reading section is to cite the principal sources of
information contained in your article, to call attention to some of the most
useful works concerning the subject of your article, and to recommend other
sources for information on the subject. Be selective in suggesting further
reading; it should not be an exhaustive list of all works related to your
topic.
Except
for autobiographical works, the subject’s own works are not listed in the Further Reading section; mention
important works in the body of the text by title (in italics) followed by publication date in parenthesis. We are
interested primarily in the biographical sources, not the literary or scholarly
criticism (which can, of course, be referenced in the text when necessary).
For internet references: cite only trusted academic, government, or subscription websites that have a degree of permanence.
List
only the most important biographical sources, particularly those accessible to
a general audience. The Further Reading
section can have up to four parts. See
the sample entries at the end of the manual for examples:
1.
A statement in sentence form locating any significant collections or archives
of the subject’s papers.
(Skip a line)
2.
Autobiography/-phies
(Skip a line)
3.
The two to four most important biographies or biographical sources (occasionally
more for important figures with lengthier entries. Where possible, list only journals that will
be accessible to a general audience; there may, of course, be instances in
which the primary information has only appeared in academic journals, in which
case it should be listed. (Don’t skip a
line.)
4.
Obituary/-ies: Source and date for
obituaries in well-known, accessible sources. (Most common are the New York Times and the Washington Post, but other obituaries
may also be significant.)
5.2 Number of items
The
Further Reading should not overwhelm the reader or the article.
Emphasize the most important sources of information about your topic and the
most influential critical interpretations. Do not include the Further Reading in calculating the word count of your article.
5.3 Availability of works
The
Further Reading section is intended as a guide, not a list of the
most significant sources. Favor book-length works available in most libraries. Do not include journal articles, out-of-print works, and works only available in research libraries and archives inaccessible to most readers, unless these are the only sources available. You may consult other biographical dictionaries for information, but should not include these in Further Reading. Likewise use online resources sparingly, if at all, in your Further Reading. Cite only trusted academic websites that have a degree of permanence. We will delete extraneous online resources. Because most users of the volumes will be nonspecialists, minimize references to specialized periodical literature whenever possible.
5.4 Format
Type
the word “Further
Reading” at the beginning of the list.
Arrange items alphabetically by surname of author. Multiple works by a single
author should be listed in alphabetical order by title. Use hanging indents and
double spacing.
An
item should include:
1. Names of authors in full, exactly as they appear
in print. If there is more than one item by an author, repeat the author’s
name; do not use a 3-em dash.
2. Titles of works in full, including subtitles.
Italicize all titles, including end punctuation.
3. Edition if it is other than the first. Note
particularly if you are citing a reprint or a revised edition. If more than on
edition is available, cite the most recently published edition.
4. Number of volumes of multivolume works. Give the
volume number, when appropriate, for works in a series.
5. Names of editors and translators in
full.
6. Date of publication in parentheses.
5.5 Verification of sources
Readers
will depend on the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of your Further Reading. Do not cite bibliographic information from memory;
verify each entry in your Further Reading against the original
source.
Return
to Top
KEYBOARDING AND SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT
Send your manuscript
to the editorial offices of Oxford University Press as an attachment to e-mail.
Please indicate in a cover note the software program you used. Send the
manuscript to
Lynley Wheaton
lynley.wheaton@oup.com
Please
format your manuscript as follows:
- Allow generous margins
(1 inch or 2.5 cm at top, bottom, and left and 1 ½ inches or 4 cm at the right).
- Do not use boldface or
special features. Set your program to left justification and ragged right,
without hyphenating words at the ends of lines. Please use Times Roman or
other standard font, in 12-point size.
o
Do not use section or page
breaks in the body of your manuscript. We work almost entirely with electronic
files rather than hardcopies, and remove breaks from every entry without
exception. Including breaks only adds to the time it takes to process your
work.
- Type your name
following the bibliography exactly as you wish it to appear in print.
Below your name, type your current affiliation (department and
institution).
- On a separate sheet,
provide suggestions for illustrations and online sources. Attach
photocopies if at all possible.
Return
to Top
