NU History Department Style Guide

 

All papers should be typed, double spaced. Fonts should be 10CPI [characters-per-inch] or 12CPI only, in a standard, easy-to-read script [Times Roman, Helvetica, or Courier are preferable]. Margins should leave sufficient space for a reader’s comments: 1 inch [2.54 cm] on top and bottom, 1.25 inches [3.17 cm] on left and right margins.

 

Please submit all papers with paper title, student’s name, id number, course number, instructor’s name [eg. Prof. Smith] on the first page or cover. All pages should be numbered sequentially.

 

All papers should be proofread for spelling, grammar, and writing style. For style questions, please consult the free on-line guide from Columbia University Press at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html

 

All papers should be bound together (with a staple, paperclip, etc.), not submitted loosely.

 

Acronyms may be used in footnotes and text. Their first mention must be in spelled-out form: eg., Popular Movement for the Revolution (MPR).

 

Date form in footnotes and text is 17 October 1947.

 

Students may use footnotes or end notes. Notes should be numbered consecutively throughout the text. The first time any reference is mentioned, give full bibliographic information. Thereafter, use a short form. See the following examples.

 

For books:

 

1.         Marc Bloch, Feudal Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), pp. 10-15. (Use the edition you are actually citing. It is only necessary to cite original editions in addition to the ones used if that is important for your text.) OR, if more than three editors:

 

Short form: Bloch, Feudal Society, pp. 10-15.

 

2.         Alexander Dallin et al., eds., Diversity in International Communism: A Documentary Record, 1961-63 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), pp. 24-26. (For three or fewer authors, use all names.)

 

Short form: Dallin, Diversity in International Communism, pp. 24-26.

 

3.         John Stuart Mill, Autobiography and Literary Essays, ed. John M. Robson and Jack Stillinger (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980), p. 15.

 

Short form: Mill, Autobiography, p. 15.

 

4.         Boleslaw Szczesniak, ed. and trans., The Russian Revolution and Religion, 1917‑1925 (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1959), pp. 175-79.

 

Short form: Szczesniak, Russian Revolution and Religion, pp. 175-179.

 

For chapters in books:

 

5.         Eric J. Hobsbawm, “The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century,” in Trevor Aston, ed., Crisis in Europe, 1560-1660 (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969), p. 6.

 

Short form: Hobsbawm, “Crisis,” p. 6.

 

6.         G.W.F. Hegel, “The Philosophy of Fine Art,” trans. F.P.B. Osmaston, in Theories in Comedy, ed. Paul Lauter (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964), p. 351.

 

Short form: Hegel, “Philosophy of Fine Art,” p. 351.

 

For reference to a footnote:

 

7.         Robert A. Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), p. 164 n. 1.

 

Short form: Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics, p. 164 n. 1.

 

For articles:

 

8.         Simon Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” American Economic Review Volume 49 (March 1995), pp. 22-24. OR, if there is only a volume and number for the issue:

 

9.         Simon Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” American Economic Review Volume 49, Number 1 (1995), pp. 22-24.

 

Short form: Kuznets, “Economic Growth,” pp. 22-24.

 

For newspaper articles:

 

10.       “Head of Soviet Atom Power Plants and Five Others Penalized by Party,” New York Times, 15 August 1986. OR, if there is a specific author, begin with the name.

 

For unpublished papers:

 

11.       Donna Eberwine, “The Bulgarian Presence in Nicaragua.” (Paper presented at the Conference on Eastern Europe’s Involvement in Central America, Washington, D.C., 11-13 March 1986.)

 

If the book, chapter, or article has more than one author, give the full names of all the authors. Use the original language of the reference. Titles in languages that do not use a Latin alphabet must be transcribed using the Library of Congress system of transcription.

 

If you are using primary archival sources, give the source according to the relevant cataloguing system, and the location of the archive. Newspapers, government documents, and unpublished sources must be identified as completely and precisely as possible.

 

In subsequent citations, last names and brief titles, not op. cit. or loc. cit., should be used. For example:

 

12.       Bloch, Feudal Society, p. 233.

 

13.       Hobsbawm, “Crisis,” p. 7.

 

14.       Kuznets, “Economic Growth,” pp. 23-26, esp. 25.

 

Bibliographical entries

 

Bibliographies should be attached at the end of the paper, under a center heading in bold-face script: Bibliography.

 

Bibliographical entries should be presented alphabetically, last name first, in the following format:

 

Bloch, Marc. Feudal Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961).

 

Dallin, Alexander, et al., eds., Diversity in International Communism: A Documentary Record, 1961-63 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963).

 

WEB References

 

For information found on the WEB, please cite the author, title, date, and URL.

 

Anonymous, “Spy Stories: Of Moles and Mole Hunters,” in Studies in Intelligence (The CIA’s In-House Journal), Volume 36, Number 4 (1995). [http://www.odci.gov/csi/studies/95unclas/cra.html]