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Technical Writing Guidelines

CEPT Essay Prize: Technical Writing Guidelines for Essay

1. Type and Layout

The text should be written using Times New Roman, font size 12, with 3 cm margins on the page.
Pages must be numbered sequentially from the first to the last page of the full essay.
The document should be unlocked/editable and should not contain ‘track changes’/revision marks— hidden or otherwise.
The essay should mandatorily have a title and subtitle, which should be mentioned on a separate title page.
Maintain consistency in text style throughout the typescript.

2. Use British English for the essay

British English v/s American English examples ‘–ise’ ‘– isation’ (apologise-apologize, recognise-recognize, organise-organize). The same applies for differences in British and American spellings of words that end in ‘re’ (centre-center, fibre-fiber, litre-liter), ‘our’ (colour-color, flavour-flavor, humour-humor), ‘yse’ (analyse-analyze, paralyse- paralyze), double vowels (leukaemia-leukemia, manoeuvre-maneuver, paediatric-pediatric, diarrhoea-diarrhea). When using the British style, use commas after i.e., e.g., and etc.

3. Abbreviations and Periods

An abbreviation that is a contraction, i.e., one that retains its first and last letters, should appear without a stop, e.g., Mr, Ms, Mrs, Dr, St (for Street). Saint is abbreviated with a stop (St.), as in St. Peter, St. Thomas, St. Teresa, or a place name like St. Tropez.
But an abbreviation that does not retain its original last letter must appear with a stop, e.g., Prof., Maj., Capt., vol.,
For abbreviated names, there are stops and spaces between initials, e.g., A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. • There are no stops in measurements, even though there are spaces, e.g. 7 cm, 11 kg
There are stops and spaces after abbreviated names of parts of a book, e.g. vol. 5 (Or v. 5), no. 3, sec. 11, p. 92.
Do not use ‘&’ in place of ‘and’ except in an abbreviation. Thus, Jammu and Kashmir, not Jammu & Kashmir; but J&K, not J and K.
There are no stops in abbreviated names of states like UP, MP, AP, WB.
It is fine to use commonly understood abbreviations like USA and UK or TV (not tv) and CD (not cd).

4. Quotes and Citations

Please cite all material directly quoted from other sources, of whatever length, with quote marks and proper citation of the source as failing to do so will bring legal problems.
All direct quotes must include the page number of the book in which the quote appears: (Chandra 1999: 27).
Quotes that are longer than 50 words should be set apart from the main text and indented. For all material sourced but not directly quoted from elsewhere, please provide citations.
All tables and figures reproduced from elsewhere must include citations with page numbers. (Details in point 14)

5. Comma

Commas can present significant problems, with many rules and technicalities. It is best to keep New Hart’s Rules handy.
Whether or not to use a comma before ‘and’ or ‘or’ in a list of three or more items is one of the classic debates on punctuation. Such a comma is called a ‘serial comma’ or an ‘Oxford comma’ (from its traditional use in Oxford University Press publications). E.g., a thief, a liar, and a murderer (as opposed to ‘a thief, a liar and a murderer’), or a government of, by, and for the people (as opposed to ‘a government of, by and for the people).
You are free to choose your style, as long as you are consistent. However, remember that using the last comma can help in resolving ambiguity in some cases. (An example is the title of Lynne Truss’s famous book ‘Eats, Shoots & Leaves’, which has spawned jokes involving pandas and cowboys.)

6. e.g., i.e., etc., et al.

Be aware that e.g. (for example) is not the same as, or interchangeable with, i.e. (that is), or viz. (namely).
Both e.g. and i.e. should be written in lower-case roman, with two points and no spaces.
In Oxford’s style, they are not followed by a comma, but a comma is often used in the American practice.
A comma, colon or dash should precede ‘e.g.’ and ‘i.e.’. For example, A variety of fruit, e.g. apples, oranges, bananas, and cherries. (In American style, with the comma after ‘e.g.’, but without the Oxford comma, this would be written as: A variety of fruit, e.g., apples, oranges, bananas and cherries.)
Et al. is Latin shorthand for ‘and others’. Use lower-case roman, with a full point, even though et al. is sometimes italicised in bibliographic use.

7. Dates

In running text, spell out nineteenth century rather than 19th century (but ‘19th cent.’ or ‘19th c.’ are acceptable in notes).
1820s (no apostrophe), not 1820’s
6 August 1949. If the day of a week is given, then comma after: ‘Sunday, 25 October 1953.’
1992–93 not 1992–3
‘AD’ and ‘BC’ should be marked for small capitals; ‘AD’ comes before the year, ‘BC’ comes after it. (e.g., AD 1556, but 326 BC)

8. En and em dash?

Use en dash for inclusive numbers e.g., pp 66–70 or centuries e.g., 1898–1921.
Use en dash for compound words not ordinarily hyphenated (the London–New York flight, the Harris–Todaro model)
Use em dash to separate clauses. For example: (1) A possible scenario is where women negotiate—or should we say appropriate—more autonomy. (2) If discretionary elements dominate—which is unlikely—policy coordination becomes more complex.

9. Numbers and percentages

It is all right to use either one to nine in words and then on in numbers (10, 11, etc.), or one to ninety-nine in words and then on in numbers (100, 101, 102, etc.). Please follow one style consistently.
In numbers (excluding page numbers, addresses, years), commas should be used between groups of three digits, starting from the right. For example: 52,071; 7,251; 2,000,834.
For inclusive numbers (page numbers and years), two digits (or more if necessary) are used for the second number. For example: 321–28; 426–683; 1893–96; 1588–91; 1684– 1723.
All exact numbers that appear before measurements, weights and percentages are in figures, not words: Percentage (3 per cent), distance (4 km), measurement (2.5 inches), weight (3 kg) and age (3-year-old child). Sentences should never begin with a number, regardless of which style is being followed. In such cases either rewrite the sentence so that the figure appears as the third or fourth word, or express the figure in words.

10. Diacritics

If diacritical marks are used for words in Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit, or any other language, they should be consistent and correct. Please clearly insert diacritics on the soft copy of the essay. For example: S?iva? or Shiva, not Siva.

11. Capitalisation

Most publishers discourage the use of excessive capitalisation. No set of rules for capitalisation can be universally applied. Some authors may have particular and valid reasons for capitalising certain terms normally lowercased in other works. When authors depart from the usual patterns, they should inform their publisher by providing a list of terms involved. The Chicago Manual of Style provides categories and lists (pp. 235–292) that desk editors should refer to whenever required.

12. Hyphenation

Again, there are no universal rules. Hyphens should in general be used sparingly and with consistency, and their primary purpose should be to avoid ambiguity or confusion.

Some rules to remember:

Do not hyphenate adjectival compounds when the first element of the compound is an adverb ending in –ly. For example: A happily married (not happily-married) couple, a newly discovered (not newly-discovered) planet.
Do not hyphenate italic foreign phrases, unless they are hyphenated in the original language. For example: an ex post facto decision, an ad hominem argument, suo motu action.
Once foreign phrases have become a part of the language and are no longer italicised, they are treated like any other English word and hyphenated (or not) accordingly: For example: A laissez- faire policy; He handled the problem with his usual savoir faire.
Words with prefixes are often written as one word but use a hyphen to avoid confusion particularly where there is a collision of vowels and consonants. For example: anti-intellectual, non-negotiable, pre-eminent, re-entry. (It may be confusing to see a word like anti-intellectual or nonnegotiable in print.)
Please note that hyphens are not used in ‘cooperate’ and ‘coordinate’ despite the collision of Os.
Hyphenate prefixes before a capitalised name, number or a date. For example: Anti- Darwinism, Sino-Soviet, Pre-1990s.
Suffixes are always hyphenated or closed, never with a space. Use a hyphen for newly coined combinations with –like. For example: Tortoise-like, Paris-like but the more common combinations need not be hyphenated—ladylike, catlike, childlike. The suffixes –proof, –scape, and –wide usually need no hyphen. For example: childproof, nationwide, landscape.
Use hyphens in spelled-out numbers from 21-99.
Compass points are hyphenated. For example: south-east, south-south-east but in American usage it is southeast, south-southeast.
Capitalised compounds are usually not hyphenated. For example: South Asia, South East Asia (British), Southeast Asia (American).
Use hyphens when an element is omitted in a series. For example: two-, three-, or fourfold; upper-, middle-, and lower-class accents. These are only broad guidelines. Desk editors are advised to refer to the section on hyphenation in New Hart’s Rules.

13. Word breaks

Words should be broken/divided at the end of lines where necessary according to pronunciation or syllable—for example, demo-cracy, de-sign, develop-ment, etc.
Hyphenated compounds should only be broken at the hyphen—for example: intercultural and not intercul-tural.
Again, refer to the section on Word Division in New Hart’s Rules.

14. Tables, Figures, Charts, and Maps

All tables and illustrations (figures, maps and photographs) must be numbered sequentially within each chapter (e.g. Table 2.1/ figure 2.1), and must carry titles and indicate the source(s) of the data, when it has been taken or adapted from secondary sources.
The sources of all tables and other illustrative material can be provided below the tables or illustrations, or can be carried on the copyright page.
The placement of each of these in the text should be clearly indicated and the reference to them should be by number (see figure 3.1) and not location (see figure below)
The data provided in tables, figures and maps should be accurate. All totals must be checked, X and Y axes must be consistent, and all units of measurement stated.
If the text carries a map of India, it has to be vetted by the Survey of India. Foreign publications carry a map of Jammu and Kashmir, which India does not accept. Getting the map wrong can attract legal action.

15. Non- English Words

All non-English should be italicised on first appearance. A glossary of all non-English words used in the text must be placed after the Appendix/ces, if any, and before the Bibliography.

16. Referencing Style

Endnotes

Endnotes: Explanations or amplifications are provided in the endnotes.
Endnotes are placed at the end of the essay. Note that reference numbers in the text should come at the end of a sentence, or at least at the end of a clause. When material is quoted, the note number should follow the quotation.
Endnotes should be consecutively numbered with superscripted serial numbers, beginning with 1, throughout each chapter in the typescript, i.e., the first endnote in each chapter/article will begin with the number 1.
A note should consist of more than a mere reference and should not include the details of the reference. For example: The building of Constantia had started by June 1796. See Llewellyn-
Jones 2003b, p. 287. The details of Llewellyn-Jones should appear in the Bibliography at the end of the essay.

Bibliography

The bibliography should match every cited reference in the text. Carefully check the name/s of the authors and the spellings of their names.
There is no one preferred style for referencing. Whatever style is used should be used consistently, right down to the last details of whether a comma or a full stop separates the author’s name from the date.

Books

Cole, Juan R.I. Roots of North Indian Shi’ism in Iran and Iraq: Religion and State in Awadh 1722–1859. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Zimmer, H., The Art of Indian Asia, Oxford University Press, London, 1968.

Srinivas, M. N. 1968. Social Change in Modern India. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Articles in books

Sen, Amiya Kumar. 1990. ‘Gender and Cooperative Conflicts’, in H. Tinker (ed.), Persistent Inequalities, pp. 123–49. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Blunt, Alison. ‘Home and Empire: Photographs of British Families in the Lucknow Album, 1856–57’. In Picturing Place: Photography and the Geographical Imagination, ed. J. Ryan and J. Schwartz. London: I. B. Taurus, 2003, pp. 243–60.

Articles in journals

Heyzer, N. 1989. ‘Asian Women Wage Earners’, World Development, 17 (7): 110–2

Dewan, Janet. ‘The Private Life of an Eastern Photographer—Charles William Derusett of Simla’. In History of Photography, vol. 21, no. 3, Autumn 1997, pp. 230–35.

17. Images and Illustrations

All images/maps/illustrations (if used) should be in black and white as the book is published in black and white.