Advice to authors on preparing a manuscript
for Journal of Postcolonial Writing
Spelling
Use ‘ize’, not ‘ise’ spelling where both forms are in use (e.g. criticize, recognize, etc.; but
analyse). Otherwise, you may use British-English or American-English spellings, but please
be consistent.
Use of italics
Use italics for book, newspaper, journal, play and film titles, titles of works of art, and for
the title of any text originally published independently:
The Awakening (book)
Pygmalion (play)
Star Trek (film)
Time (magazine)
The Waste Land (long poem published as a book)
Guernica (painting)
Italics should also be used for words and short phrases in languages other than English
(unless anglicized), e.g. ad hoc, et al., laissez-faire, sic.
Use of quotation marks
Use double quotation marks to indicate the titles of poems, articles or short stories:
Thomas Hardy's poem “The Man I Killed”
Mary Thomas's article “The Narrative Structure of The Blind Assassin” D.H Lawrence's story
“The Blind Man”
Use double quotation marks for quotations from texts, e.g.:
Salman Rushdie has been seen as “the pre-eminent novelist of his generation” (Smith 83).
Use single quotation marks only for quotations-within-quotations:
Smith points out that N. Scott Momaday’s novel House Made of Dawn “begins with an
image that also concludes the novel: ‘Abel was running’” (56).
Use double quotation marks to emphasize or question a term, or to draw attention to it:
e.g. Certain texts are promoted on account of their “superiority”.
Quotations
Do not change the spelling or punctuation in a quotation.
Use double quotation marks throughout, but single for quotations within quotations.
The full stop should only be inside the quotation mark if the material quoted is a complete
sentence. All other punctuation should fall outside quotation marks.
Leader dots should normally be avoided at the beginning and end of a quotation.
Leader dots within square brackets should be used as follows to indicate an ellipsis, or if the
quotation begins mid-sentence: [ … ]
<Note: the ellipses style is to have a space after the opening square bracket and before the
closing square bracket>
Indented quotations
If a quotation runs to more than 40 words in your paper, set it off from your text by
beginning a new line, indenting ten spaces from the left margin, and typing double spaced,
with no quotation marks.
The parenthetical reference follows the punctuation at the end of indented quotations:
Burke’s methods have been defended by certain commentators:
In Burke’s criticism we have continual discussion of texts as living objects for both
writer and reader, both of whom employ “strategies” to deal with situations. He can
also be an excellent close critic. Burke is indispensable because of his recognition
that literature actually comes from the texture of life and works within it, like a
yeast.
This is the start of a new paragraph in a display quote. It should be indented,
but there should be no line space between the two paragraphs.
If there is a third paragraph, then indent that as well with no line space
between the paragraphs. (Seymour-Smith 62)
Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be consistent and easily identifiable throughout.
Do not insert an apostrophe in plurals such as MAs, 1970s.
Omit the full stop after contractions containing the last letter of a word (Dr, vols, but vol.)
and after units of measurement (cm, mm). There should be no full points in fully capitalized
abbreviations (USA, NATO, UNESCO). In proper names, initials are followed by a full stop but
no space in between, e.g. T.S. Eliot. Note the space between the final initial and the
surname.
Capitalization
In English-language book and article titles, capitalize the first word, the last word, and all
principal words, including those that follow hyphens in compound terms. By principal
words, we mean nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, subordinating conjunctions
(e.g. after, if, unless, when). Do not capitalize articles, prepositions, coordinating
conjunctions (e.g. and, but, yet) or the to in infinitives. e.g., Noises Off, The Saints Go
Marching In.
The first word of the subtitle should always be capitalized, following a colon e.g. The Night
Train: A Study of Graham Greene.
For book titles and titles of journal articles in languages other than English please adopt the
following conventions:
French: upper case to first noun, then lower case
German: lower case after first word, except all nouns
Italian: lower case after first word, except proper names
Portuguese: lower case after first word, except proper names
Spanish: lower case after first word, except proper names
AD and BC should be in caps, e.g. 30BC–AD19.
Note: no full stops in between
Do not capitalize “the west” or “western”.
Dates and numbers
6 February 1957 (no commas)
1990s (no apostrophe, not ‘90s)
5th century; 19th century (numerals), hyphenated if used adjectivally
In spans: 1985–86, 1939–45, 1914–18
In page references, etc., where using numerals: 9–10, 21–22, 101–102
Spell out numbers one to ten in continuous prose except when referring to centuries
(5th century), large amounts of money with currency sign ($8 million), or in mathematical
work or measurements. Do not start sentences with numerals.
Include a space between numbers and units in measurements, e.g. 3 cm, not 3cm.
Use a full point on the line for decimal points.
In numbers with five or more digits, comma off the digits in threes: 1000, 10,000,
100,000,000
Spell out fractions using a hyphen: one-third; four-fifths.
For percentages, use percent, not per cent or %.
For ages, use figures unless at the beginning of a sentence: 12-year-old boy.
Punctuation
Use a single space after a full stop, and after other quotation marks such as commas and
colons. Do not put a space in front of a question mark, or in front of a closing quotation
mark.
The full stop should only be inside the quotation mark if the material quoted is a complete
sentence. All other punctuation should fall outside quotation marks.
Possessive “’s” should be used except on classical names ending with “s” and “x” (Achilles’,
Ajax’)
Ellipsis [ … ]: Treat this like a word, placing a space on either side of the three double-spaced
dots. If an ellipsis ends a sentence, add a final point.
Dashes as a form of punctuation should consist of two dashes with space before and after,
e.g. “Her mourning process – extended, angry, expressive – does not align well with the
national agenda”
Notes
Use parenthetical referencing for bibliographical material (Chicago author-date referencing
system). Other notes (which should be kept to a minimum) should appear as endnotes,
numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals.
Queries should be addressed to:
Dr Janet Wilson Editor
Journal of Postcolonial Writing
The University of Northampton
St George’s Avenue
Northampton NN2 6JD
UK
Fax: +44 (0)1604 720636
Tel: +44 (0)1604 735500
Email: [email protected]