[Note: I have cleaned up, updated, combined this material with my "General Requirements" handout, and posted the new version on ICON for my courses.  Students should look at the new version for instructions and requirements regarding the paper assignment.]

Style Manual for My Courses

There are three basic aspects to writing a paper.  First, and usually most important, is the substance of the paper.  Second is the style and grammar used in the paper.  Although substance is usually given greater weight than style, for course related papers the two may be equally important.  Third is the format of the paper.   This last category includes some of the more basic aspects of putting together a paper such as margins, form of citations, types of headings, and so on.  A "style manual" is a handbook containing rules that writers should follow when submitting work to a publisher or journal.  Though most style manuals primarily contain information on formatting conventions, some also have material on certain stylistic items (e.g., preferences regarding acronyms and abbreviations).  This style manual will contain information on both style and basic formatting.

The information here should be considered a starting point.  The particular nature of an assignment may require deviations from these guidelines and additional information will be provided with the specific assignment.

I assign Strunk and White's The Elements of Style for my courses.   Unless indicated otherwise, its rules and guidelines should be followed for course papers.  The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is an additional authoritative source of information and is on reserve at the main library.  In addition to those sources, the structure of this Style Manual, as well as some of the information, is based on the Style Manual for Political Science (SMPS).

Although most of the material in this style manual is applicable to other contexts, some will apply only to papers for my courses.  Other contexts, and other instructors, may have different requirements.  As in other matters, one must be able to adapt to the requirements for a particular assignment.

Paper Form

Papers should be submitted on standard 8.5x11 white paper.  Margins should be one inch all around and all text should be double-spaced.  New paragraphs should be indented and there should not be an extra line between paragraphs.  Text should be 12-point (or 10 characters per inch) with a standard font.  (If no specific font is specified, just avoid any that are difficult to read.)  Page numbers should be centered at the bottom of the page.  (The general rule is to begin numbering with the second page, but I do not care if the first page is numbered.)  Page numbers should be of the same font and point size as the text.  Do not right justify your paper (i.e., leave the right side of the text ragged).  Papers should be submitted without folders or covers and should have a single staple in the upper left corner. 

Always make two copies of your paper.  One to turn in and one to keep.  If your second copy is a photocopy, be sure to turn in the original. 

Title and Abstract
In my courses I usually require that the papers follow a simple memo format where the first three lines are of the form:

To: Professor Hagle

From: [student name or number]

Re: [the specified paper topic]

The text then begins immediately.  My preference for this style is to avoid various problems associated with titles and title pages. 

If you use a title, keep it short and make it descriptive.  I strongly suggest avoiding "cute" titles.  Also try to avoid subtitles.  If the title is a good one, a subtitle will rarely be necessary.

If you use a title page, center the title about three inches from the top of the page.   The font should be the same as for the text and the size should be larger than the text, but not too large.  Your name (or student number) should appear a few lines below the title, centered, and in a slightly smaller font size.  Unless specifically required, do not include the date, course number, or instructor's name on the title page. 

Most short papers do not require an abstract.  Should you need to include one, it should appear on the page after the title page.  The abstract should be no more than 150 words and should succinctly describe your paper.

If title and abstract pages are included, do not count them in page numbering.   Numbering should begin with the first page of text.

Length
Page length will normally be specified in the assignment.  Sometimes only a minimum or maximum will be specified.  Other times you will be given a range.   Regardless of the specifics, it is important that you strictly follow the limits.  

A minimum length generally suggests that the instructor does not believe the assignment can be properly completed in less than that number of pages.  A maximum limit may mean the assignment should not take more than that number of pages to complete.   Another reason for having a maximum limit is to force students to focus their writing.  Students could write very lengthy papers for the assignments I give in my courses, but I set a maximum limit to require that they tighten their prose and focus their papers.

Notes, Footnotes, and Endnotes
Footnotes, of course, are additional bits of information that appear in entries at the bottom of a page.  Sometimes this information is placed is a separate section at the end of the text rather than at the bottom of each page.  When this occurs they are referred to as endnotes to distinguish their placement from footnotes.   "Notes" can refer to either footnotes or endnotes.

Although footnotes are often easier to read because they are on the same page as the material to which they refer, endnotes are preferred in academic writing and that is what I require in my courses.  Even so, for short course-related papers notes can usually be avoided by working the material into the text.  If the information does not seem to fit into the text, perhaps it should just be left out.

Marking notes in the text varies somewhat.  When only a few footnotes appear in the material, an asterisk or other symbol may be used each time a footnote occurs.   In works with many notes, they may be numbered.  The mark or number indicating the note in the text is superscripted.  When  number is used it should be in a slightly smaller size than the text.  Footnotes will be in this smaller font size and will be single-spaced.  Endnotes will be double-spaced and in the same font size as the text.

I should mention that some disciplines use notes for more than just additional bits of information.  Law, in particular, uses them to identify referenced works (i.e., citations).  Without going into the pros and cons of this difference, I will note that the tradition in Political Science is to follow the scientific form and place brief citations in the text.   More information on this is contained in the section on citations and the Citation Form section of the course pack..

Order of Contents
The various sections of your paper should be put together in the following order:

• Title Page: Again, this is usually not used for my courses.
• Abstract: Only used following a title page and for longer works.
• Text
• Appendix: Usually contains attached material to which the text refers that might not be readily available (e.g., the text of statutes).
• Notes: This refers to endnotes of course.
• References: Brief citations appear in the text and full identifying information appears in this section.
• Tables: Not likely to be needed for my courses.
• Figures: Ditto

Not all papers will contain all these sections.  Page numbering begins with the text and is continuous through all additional sections.

Headings
I generally recommend against using headings in the text for my course papers.   Because my assignments are relatively short, I prefer that students work on their ability to provide adequate transitions textually.  Use of headings also takes up space that is better used for text. 

If headings are used, they should all be in the same font size as the text.   Primary headings should be centered and bold-faced using both upper- and lower-case letters with a double-space after.  Secondary headings are also in bold-faced and are flush left with a single space after.  Tertiary headings should be underlined (to represent italics, more on this later), use headline-style capitalization, and have a period at the end.  Text follows immediately.  For example:

Primary Heading

Secondary Heading
Tertiary Heading. Text follows immediately

The example above assumes block-style paragraphs.  As I require double-spacing and indenting for new paragraphs, the tertiary heading would be indented.

Text Style

In this section I discuss several stylistic matters.  As I mentioned previously, the guidelines found in Strunk and White's The Elements of Style should be followed as much as possible. The items contained here will tend to be more general or of particular importance.

Acronyms and Abbreviations   
Acronyms should be in parentheses following the first, spelled-out reference in the text.   (For example: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is primarily concerned with domestic law enforcement at the federal level.)  Thereafter the acronym may be used.   If the full name is relatively short and only used a few times it may be better to use the full name each time.  (United Nations rather than UN.)  Case names are often used in the papers for my courses.  As with acronyms, a shortened form is usually used following the first mention of the full case name.  More information on mentioning and citing cases for my courses is contained in the Citation Form section of the course pack.

The general preference is to spell-out the names of states and countries in the text, but to use standard abbreviations in "tight matter" such as tables and notes.   Common abbreviations such as e.g. and i.e.--in roman, not italic, type--may be used in parentheses and tight matter.

Compound Words
A compound word consists of two or more words, which may be nouns or adjectives, that together form a noun or adjective.  CMS notes that most spelling questions involve whether the compound is open (separated by a space, e.g., lowest common denominator), hyphenated (connected by a hyphen, e.g., ill-favored), or closed (written as one word, e.g., notebook).  A good dictionary usually answers the question.  If the word is not in the dictionary, CMS offers the following principles as a guide:

• The trend is to avoid hyphens, spelling compound words as open until they achieve general acceptance and then spelling them as closed.  This is, however, a trend and not a rule.
• A temporary compound used as an adjective before a noun may be hyphenated to avoid confusing the reader.  The phrase fast sailing ship, for example, is ambiguous because it is unclear whether the middle word is more appropriately attached to the first or last.  Writing the phrase as fast-sailing ship makes it clear the writer is referring to a ship that is capable of moving quickly.
• When the compound adjective follows the noun it modifies the hyphen may be safely omitted even if the only dictionary entry contains the hyphen.  For example, less-appreciated art, but an art less appreciated.
• Formerly, adjectival compounds, except those beginning with an adverb ending in ly, were usually hyphenated, but CMS now takes the position that the hyphen can be omitted where there is little risk of ambiguity.

The SMPS lists a few other general rules for when a hyphen should be used:

• where the compound word expresses a ranking or measurement (e.g., nineteenth-century, high-income)
• where the first element stands in object relation to the second, with or without an understood preposition (e.g., role-specific, value-free)
• where the first element is an adjective modifying a noun hidden in the second element (e.g., hard-headed, large-sized)
• where two elements stand in a mutual relationship (e.g., agree-disagree, city-state)
• where it is a complex phrase (e.g., none-too-keen, rank-and-file)

CMS notes that most rules contain many exceptions and provides many examples of usage in its Table 6.1.

Word Division
As with compound words, a dictionary is a good source for determining where to break words that come at the end of a line.  This is much less of a problem than it used to be because of the ability of most word processing programs to handle this automatically.   (Moreover, many programs do not even bother to hyphenate words at the end of a line, moving the entire word to the next line instead.)  CMS may be consulted for additional information on this topic should the need arise.

Gender-Neutral (and Politically-Correct) Language
Who the reader(s) of your paper will be may determine how strictly you will need to adhere to the trend away from gender-specific terms.  More politically-correct audiences may require gender-neutral language even if it results in clumsy or grammatically incorrect prose.  I am less concerned about this matter than others, but I nevertheless suggest that one be aware of the possibility gender-specific terms may give offense.  I suggest the following guidelines:

• Structure sentences to avoid unnecessarily gender specific language, even if it makes the sentence slightly more cumbersome.  (A choice between the lesser of two evils.)
• Use gender-neutral terms when they are available (e.g., police officer rather than policeman).  When such terms are not available or in wide use, use the gender specific term, find a reasonable alternative, or reword the sentence.  The term freshman, for example, is generally accepted, but the more aggressively politically-correct have attempted to substitute phrases such as first year student. 
• Recast the sentence from the singular to the plural when appropriate.  The phrase, "the suspect must be informed of his Constitutional rights" can be rewritten as "suspects must be informed of their Constitutional rights."
• Occasional use of the phrases he or she or him or her may be used when other alternatives do not work well.  More than a few instances of such phrases, however, will make your prose tedious.
• There may be times when it is easiest to pick one set of gender-specific pronouns and stick with them through out the paper.  One factor to consider in deciding which to use may be whether the majority in the group to which they will refer is primarily male or female.  The vast majority of criminals, for example, is male, so using he and him should not be offensive.  (I should note, however, that I was once criticized by a reviewer for using male pronouns in referring to the justices of the Supreme Court at a time when they were, in fact, all men.)  One should never switch back and forth between using male and female pronouns just for the sake of "balance."
• Do not use forms such as s/he.

Other terms may fall out of favor or become fashionable for political reasons.   For example, Native American has replaced American Indian and Asian or Asian-American has replaced Oriental.  In some instances it may be a matter of choosing among several words based on group preferences (e.g., Hispanic, Latino/Latina, Chicano/Chicana).  Some trends may make one wonder: colored people is out--the NAACP not withstanding, but people of color is in.  (As for these two terms, despite the similarity, the latter applies to a much broader group than the former.)  Sometimes the confusion may be over simple things such as whether to capitalize a letter (Blacks and Whites versus blacks and whites) or use a hyphen (African Amreican or African-American).  Unfortunately, when terms are new or just gaining wide usage they may not always be used in a consistent fashion and you may just have to pick one and hope for the best.  Finally, one may need to avoid words that sound like forbidden words.   The prime example here is niggardly.

I or We?
It used to be considered bad form for authors to refer to themselves using I in a paper.  Instead, authors would either use the plural we or would refer to themselves in the third person with phrases such as "this reporter."  In most writing it is now acceptable to use the first person singular, but its use should be limited.

Although the use of I is now considered acceptable,  you should avoid  phrases such as "I feel," "I believe," or "In my opinion."  Unless you attribute statements to another source I assume what is in the paper is your opinion.  In addition, analysis in your papers should be based on logic and reasoning, not feelings and beliefs.  Sometimes writers use such phrases to distinguish their own conclusions from factual statements.  This is understandable, but the distinction can be effectively conveyed without resorting to these phrases.

Numbers
CMS notes that it is difficult to be entirely consistent in the use of numbers in textual matter.  Even so, use the following as a starting point:

• Spell out numbers between one and nine, use digits for numbers between 10 and 99.
• Spell out even hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions.  This may result in some mixed usage (e.g., 10 thousand).
• Spell out ordinal numbers through hundredth (e.g., twentieth-century).
• Spell out any number that begins a sentence.
• Express percentages with digits followed by a percent sign (%) even when the number is less than 10 (e.g., 8%).
• Numbers referring to parts of a book, etc,. are usually set as numerals (e.g., Table 2, pp. 6-9).
• When referring to inclusive numbering, do not drop digits that are expressed as a digit pair (mainly 11-99).  Thus, pp. 426-29, but not pp. 426-9; pp. 11-16, but not pp. 11-6.

Possessives
The general rule is to add an apostrophe and an s to the end of singular nouns to form the possessive.  There are some exceptions to this rule, particularly for polysyllabic common nouns and personal names.  Another set of problems arise in words ending in s or related sounds (e.g., s, sh, z, or zh).   Although CMS provides some guidelines (see 6.19-6.30), the best guide may simply be whether the additional s sound makes the word awkward to pronounce, in which case only the apostrophe is added.

One way to avoid a questionable possessive, or one that may be confusing due to the complexity of the compound noun is to use the construction with of.  Thus, rather than daughters-in-law's you might use of the daughters-in-law.

In making the possessive for a proper name set in italic (or underlined to represent italic), the s should be set in roman type (e.g., Washington Post's).

Contractions
Common contractions should be avoided in more formal writing such as this.  Thus, do not use contractions such as can't, isn't, wouldn't, don't, I've, I'm and so on.

Using Roman, Italics, or Quotation Marks
Each form has a distinctive use and meaning.  Text is normally set in roman where words have their common meaning.  The use of italics and quotations marks should follow these guidelines:

• Never use quotation marks merely for emphasis.
• Use italics for emphasis only rarely.  For the most part, sentences should be structured to give the desired emphasis to selected words or phrases.
• Italics should be used when referring to a word as a word (e.g., it depends on what the meaning of the word is is).
• Italics may be used for isolated foreign words if they are unlikely to be familiar to readers.  Familiar foreign words (e.g., effendi, kibitz, mea culpa) should be set in roman type.  This includes various scholarly abbreviations such as ibid. et al., e.g., and i.e.  Papers for my courses will often use Latin legal terms and phrases.   Although such phrases might not be familiar to the average reader, they will generally be familiar to the intended audience.  Thus, more familiar terms should be in roman (e.g., dicta, pro bono, pro forma, quid pro quo) and less familiar in italics (e.g., res publica, veritas vos liberabit)    Some phrases may seem somewhere in between and one must use one's best judgment (e.g., res ipsa loquitur, respondeat superior).
• One exception to the use of roman for familiar foreign words is in the use of sic to indicate an error in quoted matter.  Thus, "They are furnished seperate [sic] but equal facilities."
• Quotations marks may be used to indicate a special or unusual meaning.  For example, "law school Latin" refers to the fact that many legal terms are Latin in origin, rather than the possibility that Latin is taught in law school.  As with the use of italics, this use of quotation marks should be limited.  Sentence structure may be sufficient to indicate the particular usage.  (In the example, putting law school in front of Latin may be a sufficient indicator.  Once phrases such as this become widely known quotation marks are no longer necessary.)  In addition, quotation marks need only be used once to signal a special meaning, particularly in a short work.
• Quotation marks may sometimes be used around a phrase that identifies something or has a particular meaning (e.g., "clear and present danger" doctrine).  Again, such use should be limited and the structure or intended audience may make such use unnecessary
• Quotation marks must be used around material quoted from another source.  Direct quotations, however, are usually not allowed for papers in my courses.

A final point regarding the use of italics.  In formal papers, underlining is used to represent italics.  Thus, anything that should be in italics (book titles, case names, foreign words) would actually be underlined.  With the advent of sophisticated word processing programs, the primary reason for this may no longer exist.   Nevertheless, because the quality of italics varies among printers, underlining should still be used to represent italics.

Capitalization of Titles and Offices
The general rule is to capitalize the title when it precedes the name of the person or is used in place of the person's name in direct address (e.g., President Washington, "I have a question Professor").  Use lower-case when titles follow a name or are used in place of a name, not in direct address.  For more examples see CMS, sections 7.16-7.24

That or Which?, Because or Since?
As noted on p. 59 by Strunk and White: "That is the defining, or restrictive pronoun, which is the nondefining, or nonrestriceive."  There is a tendency to substitute which when that would be more appropriate.   Use that when the phrase further defines the point and which when it just adds information.  SMPS suggests that your ear will usually confirm the usage of that as there will be no hesitation.  SMPS also suggests that which should be used when a preposition introduces the phrase ("Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass.").  Strunk and White acknowledge that the use of which in sentences such as the one from the Bible seem preferable to that, but prefer that the two words be used with more precision and suggest that writers go on which-hunts to improve their work.

Another misuse that frequently occurs in writing is the use of since when because is what is meant.  Since usually refers to a time period, between then and now.   Because refers to an element of causation, or a reason for something.   Thus, since she is the group leader we must do as she says incorrectly uses since rather than because.  Consider the phrases since he became president his ego has swelled and because he became president his ego has swelled.  The former indicates a time at which the phenomenon was seen to occur.   The latter indicates that the swelled ego was the result of becoming president.   Despite the above, I must concede that one definition of since in my dicitonary is because and vice versa.  There may be times when one would not want to emphasize a causal element by using because (because you are finished, let's go).  In such circumstances, since may sound better, but use of inasmuch as may be a better choice.

Verb Tense
In deciding whether to use past or present tense, the key is usually consistency.  Do not arbitrarily jump back and forth between tenses.  Even so, when describing factual occurrences the past tense is appropriate, but use the present tense to indicate current findings.  For example: The accused had a motive to commit the crime, but the weight of the evidence shows that he did not..

Verb-Subject Agreement
Strunk and White's Rule 9 states it simply: The number of the subject determines the number of the verb.  Confusion may result if words intervene between the subject and verb.  Consider the following examples from Strunk and White (pp. 9-11):

• Use a plural verb following a relative clause of the form "one of . . ." or a similar expression.  (One of the ablest men who have attacked this problem.)
• Use a singular verb form after each, either, everyone, everybody, neither, nobody, and someone.  (Everybody thinks he has a sense of humor.)
• With none, use the singular verb when the work means "no one" or "not one."  (None of use is perfect.)
• A plural verb is commonly used when none suggests more than one thing or person.  (None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.)
• A compound subject formed is two or more nouns joined by and almost always requires a plural verb.  (The walrus and the carpenter were walking close at hand.)
• Certain compounds are so inseparable they are considered a unit and so take a singular verb, as do compound subjects qualified by each or every.  (The long and the short of it is . . . , Every window, picture, and mirror was smashed.)
• A singular subject remains singular even if other nouns are connected to it by with, as well as, in addition to, except, together with, and no less than.   (His speech as well as his manner is objectionable.)
• A linking verb agrees with the number of its subject.  (What is wanted is a few more pairs of hands.)
• Some nouns that appear to be plural are usually construed as singular and given a singular verb.  (Politics is an art, not a science.)
• Collective nouns (committee, jury, herd, group, family, quartet) are single units, so give them singular verbs or plural members.  (The committee is meeting today.  The jury members are deliberating.)  British usage treats such nouns as plural, so there may be some confusion when American editors do not change the verbs to singular.

The last item is of particular relevance to my courses as papers often refer to the Court or the majority who decided a case.  A singular verb should usually be used.   If you mean to refer to the members of the Court or majority, it may be better to use justices instead.

Plurals of Latin words
A matter regarding verb-subject agreement concerns Latin or Latin-based words that end in a, such as data, strata, phenomena, media, memoranda, minima, maxima, and formula.   Except for formula, all of these words are plurals and, therefore, should be used with a plural verb.  (The singular forms are datum, stratum, phenomenum, medium, memorandum minimum, and maximum.)  Strunk and White note that data is slowing gaining acceptance as a singular and the same may be true of media.   This may be because people just do not know the difference or it may be due to the treatment of collective nouns as singular.  Either way, treat them as plurals for my courses.

Formula is the singular form.  There are two alternatives for the plural: formulas and formulae.  A good dictionary will often give alternate spellings (or pronounciations).  My dictionary indicates that the first spelling should not be considered more correct or preferred, but merely in greater use.  In matters of spelling I tend to go with the first alternative.

Alumnus and alumna are the male and female forms of the singular word for someone who attended or graduated from a particular school.  Alumni and Alumnae are the plural forms.  Alumni is often used as a general term referring to both men and women (e.g., University of Iowa Alumni Association).

Other Matters

Other matters usually covered in a style manual pertain to citations, references, notes, appendices, tables, and figures.  Papers for my courses are unlikely to contain appendices, tables, or figures, so I will not mention them here. 

Given that papers for my courses should follow the scientific method of citation and reference (i.e., citations in the text rather than as footnotes), endnotes are not likely to be used either.  To the extent they are used, I have already mentioned the basics.

Citations and references will usually be part of papers for my courses.  Proper citation style can be complex, particularly when dealing with legal materials.  To simplify matters I have written a handout for use in my courses that will be contained in the course pack.

Very briefly, in the scientific form the citation is in parentheses following the relevant material.  The citation contains the author's name and the year of publication.  When appropriate, the page(s) on this the material appears follows the date and preceded by a comma as in (Strunk and White 1979, 9-11).  Notice that the pp. for the pages is omitted.  Also, the citation is considered part of the end of the sentence, so the period comes after.  References follow this form:

____ . 1993. The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lane, Michael K., Linda F Lindenfelser, and G. Bingham Powell, Jr.  1993.  Style Manual for Political Science.  Washington, D.C.: American Political Science Association.

Strunk, William, Jr. and E.B. White.  1979.  The Elements of Style, 3d ed. New York: Macmillan.

There are a few differences between the references above and how they should appear in the References section of a paper.  First, the entries should be double-spaced and not have an extra line between them.  Second, reference entries are usually formatted with a hanging first line (also called an outdent).  This makes it easier to distinguish between the entries.  Also, notice how the lack of an identified author or editor was handled for the CMS.  Finally, notice that I dropped the usual r in indicating the third edition of The Elements of Style.  In legal writing, second and third are indicated as 2d and 3d.