The Innovatank Writing Style Guide

Why Should I Care?

Here are a few short notes on what I expect in your papers.

Paragraph Formats:

One argument per paragraph
2-4 paragraphs per page (rule of thumb)
Indent first line
Margins Justified / Times New Roman / Garamond / 12 pt.
Double-spaced throughout, no extra spaces between paragraphs.

References:

Every author and document you cite must be in your reference list.
Every document in your reference list must be cited at least once in your text.
Alphabetical, relative to last name of lead author.
Double-spaced throughout, no extra spaces between entries.

Paraphrase:

A paraphrase is a passage you have reworded, and are not quoting literally.
No quotation marks because you changed the words.
You still need to reference (Author, YYYY).

Short Quotes:

Use quotation marks “ ” when reusing the exact words of someone else.

If you change the words, you CANNOT quote. You must paraphrase.

Try to quote the strongest words, the most telling images.
Keep quotes short (10 words or less).
Use APA style citation technique for attribution of the quote. INCLUDE PAGE NUMBER.

Ex: “It’s the economy, stupid”, said Bill Clinton (Tillsdale, 1996, p. 46).

If there is a quote inside a quote, use the “ ” first, and ‘ ’ inside.

Make sure to clearly state, in the subsequent sentence, who is quoting who.

Long quotes:

If you must quote long, use the bloc citation style for quotes longer than 40 words.

No quotation marks. No indent on first line. No italic. Tab the whole bloc, on the left side. Double-space. Justify margins. Ex:

… Some literature, such as Ramsay’s epic novel Brain Rain (2011), is particularly gripping:

The weather was fine, until it started to rain. Then we were wet, cold, miserable, and thinking too much. We needed to move. But to where? We did not know where we were. So what to do? The loudest of the bunch decided to look for wood, so we could start a fire. But no one had a match, or a clue (p. 35).

Person Names:

When discussing a person, always use the long form at first occasion, including initials.

(Ex: George W. Bush)

You can then use the short form (last name only, no Mr.), in subsequent occasions
When citing an academic source, use last name only, at all times.

(Ex: According to Smith, the more you write, the better you write.)

Organisation Names:

Use the full long legal form at first occurrence.
Organisations: full legal name including acronym in parenthesis

Ex: The Assembly of First Nations of Canada (AFN)

Companies: use long legal form first, including Ltd, LP, Pty, Corp, or Inc.

Ex: Ford Motors, Corp.

You can then use the short form (AFN, Ford), in subsequent sentences.

Numbers:

Ten and under, use the word
11 and over, use numerical digits
Units are expressed in words (14 dollars, three litres, 15 percent)
1,000 and over, use a comma for every three digits
Rule of thumb: Reduce to three digits or less, if appropriate.

Ex: 1,567,764 dollars becomes 1.57 million dollars.
Ex: 0.76254 US-CA exchange rate becomes 76 cents US.

Italics:

Quotes are not in italics
Can be used freely in text to emphasize popular expressions such as hip-hop, bling, etc. It may also be used for words from other languages such as dépanneurs, chaebols, maquiladoras, favelas, etc.
Bibliography: Title of work or Academic Journal

Bold:

Never use bold

One exception: Section (Chapter) titles

Underlined:

Never use underlined

Semi-colon:

Never use the semi-colon
If you have to use it, keep the whole thing short.

There have to be two complete sentences on each side of the semi-colon.
It’s an invitation for long, and/or run-on sentences.

Never use it.

Parenthesis or Round Brackets:

Never use a parenthesis

Unless it’s for an APA citation or an acronym.

Use a footnote for extra information.

Apostrophes:

Never use an apostrophe for contractions

Ex: Isn’t. Please write “is not”.

Be careful using apostrophes with names

Ex: “Ramsay’s Style Guide is really useful”.
Not: Ramsays’

Chapter Formats:

Page Break between Chapters (or Sections)
Short Subtitle for each Chapter (Chapter 1 – History)
Use the automatic formats (HOME – Heading 1)

Pagination:

Don’t do it manually.

Use the pagination tool in MS Word.
(INSERT – Page Number)

Headers:

APA specifies a page header, even on the cover page. But it is not necessary for student papers.
If you must, don’t do it manually.

Use header tool in MS Word. (INSERT > Header)
If you want both headers and pagination, use only the headers tool (it does both).

Latin-Style Citations

The paper is not using MLA, or APA, citation styles. You may be tempted to use the traditional Latin style of citations, which uses footnotes. Always use italic for the Latin words.
- id est (e.) – Used in the text to explain a quote.
  - Replaces the following expressions: This means, In other words, Which means
- Footnotes - The citation is replaced by a superscript number in the text. The first occurrence of a source is fully referenced, in the associated footnote, including the author, date, title, and publisher. The following Latin expressions are used in subsequent citations.
  - ibidem (ibid.) – This is used to repeat a cited document (author-date), when continuing to cite from the same source in the same paragraph.
  - idem – This is used to repeat an exact citation, including the page number.
- Bibliography – Your reference entry may use Latin expressions.
  - Sine anno (s.a.) – no year of publication is mentioned on the document.
  - Et alii (et. al.) – and other authors (when more than 3 authors, depending on style guide).

Ex.

The way Ramsay[1] discusses quotes is impressive. There are never any boring passages, although the material is very dry[2]. Long quotes, short quotes, even Latin style quotes… The Ramsay style guide really helps me write a better paper, and save time. “If you must quote long, use the bloc citation style”[3], i.e. you should not quote long passages, but when you do, you should do it right.

[1] Ramsay, C. A. (2015). RM Course Pack. Dawson College.

[2] Idem.

[3] Ibid.

LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS