Chapter Guidelines

Length

With a few exceptions, your chapter length should be between 2500 and 4500 words, excluding references (FYI, 4500 words is equivalent to 6 pages of single-spaced text, 11 pt font).  FOCUS box text does count toward your word limit.

Software

Microsoft Word is the preferred software. Other formats are acceptable.

          Format
Indent the first line of all paragraphs.  Do not skip a line between paragraphs.

Figures

Your chapter should be well-illustrated with maps, line drawings and high quality imagery. Most chapters should have at least 5, and up to 10-12, figures. We want figures and graphics to be a strength of this book. Your figures will be in black and white, or gray tones. The book will, however, also have about 40 pages of glossy, color images and maps. Thus, please feel free to submit an additional 2-5 color images (as color plates) for these glossy insert pages." Generally, these "glossy inserts" will be images that simply lose too much when converted to B&W. Images should be at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (600 dpi preferred). Mark Finn, cartogarpher and graphic designer, can help you draft figures and maps, if you desire. You will need to work with Mark to have your figures made, or of course you may also wish to create them yourself, in-house. In most cases, Mark will need a hard copy of what you need drafted, and will work with you as versions of the figures are created. In order to keep all figures of the same style and quality, we may need to edit any figures that you supply to us in "final" format.

Figure Size

The book margins will be 6 5/8" wide and 8 5/8" high. The figures can be made to fit that, half-size for half-size figures, or 1/4-size for 1/4-size figures.

Dates and numbers

Refer to dates using this format: 175,000 and 10,000.  Not acceptable formats include: 175 000 and 10 000    OR  7 x 10³ and 10⁴.  For numbers in the single-thousands, e.g., 4000, no comma is necessary.  Do not spell out large numbers, such as "eight thousand".

 

Permissions/copyright

Each author is expected to supply the names and contact information for any imagery that they do not "own," create anew, or otherwise have copyright to. You need only supply the "source information" for each copyrighted figure to us as soon as you have it, and the publisher will track down the permission. They have asked that this be done early on, so they have time to do their legwork.

Chapter style

Chapters are intended to be OVERVIEWS, not detailed REVIEWS.  Excessive depth and detail are not needed. Think breadth more than depth.

References section

Most chapters should have 20-40 references, some of which should be easily accessible books. Reference Guidelines  When referring to another chapter in the book, simply refer to it by writing "(Chapter 5)".  Do not write "see Chapter 5", or "Smith, this volume".

     This section will have TWO parts: (1) a Literature Cited section, in which is listed all the entries that were cited in the text proper, and (2) a Further Readings section, in which is listed some of the other, major works that the reader may want to go to for more information on the topic.  It is assumed that entries under "Further Readings" have not been cited in the text proper (or else they would have been cited under "Literature Cited").  Duplication of entries is, obviously, not allowed.  The 20-40 limit (above) applies to the the sum of the Literature Cited and Further Readings sections.

Deadline

The target deadline for submission of text and graphics is to be Dec 31, 2005. If we can get them before that, we would be appreciative.

Royalties

In order to keep costs down, neither the authors nor the editors (Schaetzl, Brandt, Darden) will receive any royalties from this publication.; Given that, the publisher thinks that this will be about a 450 page, hardcover book, 8x10 inches in size, that sells for about $70. Each author will receive one free copy of the book when it is published.

FOCUS boxes

Most textbooks now use some sort of "out-take boxes". So will we. These sorts of "Focus" boxes are an option for you; utilize one or two per chapter if you wish. They will be titled "FOCUS" followed by a heading, e.g., "FOCUS Michigan's State Soil." FOCUS on some unique aspect of Michigan that would not normally fit into the flow of the text. 
     These boxes will normally be short enough that they can fit on one page of the book. In order to shoot for that, we encourage word length for FOCUS boxes as follows: 300 words if no figure is included in the box, 225 words if a figure is included, and 175 words if two small figures are to be included.  These are just guidelines; we recognize that some FOCUS boxes will be longer, as per the editors' discretion.

Figure numbering and labels

Label your figures (line drawings or images) consecutively, starting with with your chapter number, e.g., 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, etc. Make a new listing for any color images or maps you want to put in as color plates, e.g., 12.1P, 12.2P, etc

Figure warehouse

Any images in any Prentice Hall book are available to you, as an author, for free. Please use this resource. If you find a Prentice-Hall or Pearson image you want to use, contact Randy Schaetzl, and we will obtain permission.

 

          Tables and Table format

All Tables should have a concise title.  Each Table column must be labeled/titled.  Table footnotes should be included within the Table (where appropriate) as superscripts, and then again below the Table, where the additional information is listed.  Table footnotes should be numbers (1, 2, 3, ...etc), not symbols, letters, etc. If the data in a Table come from a known source, include a superscript footnote number (usually number "1") as a superscript at the end of the Table title, and then list the source after the Table, in a footnote, like this:

1. After Robinson (1987).

Index terms

Please provide, with your chapter, a list of terms that can be used in the index. Think "more" rather than "less".

Voice

Please write in the active voice, first person.

Editing

Please note from the outline who the editor is for your chapter. You will be working closely with them, not with all three editors, during the revision and editing phase of this project.

          Reviewing
Each chapter will be reviewed by 1-2 outside reviewers, in addition to the internal reviews by the editor(s).  Names of suggested reviewers are welcomed.