Ocean 220 Writing Component

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

THE OFFICIAL GUIDELINES FOR WRITING IN THIS CLASS ARE HERE ON THIS PAGE.

The journal style you are to emulate is that of Limnology and Oceanography.

If you have questions about writing, refer here (to the page you are currently reading) - not to the ASLO L&O journal page.

General points

Limnology and Oceanography (L&O) is published eight times per year by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). It is one of the premiere journals in the Aquatic Sciences.

All submissions must be formatted according to the specifications outlined in the manuscript checklist. Improperly prepared manuscripts will be graded down. To prevent this, ensure that your submission complies with the manuscript checklist, which is located further down on this page.

You are responsible for supplying complete bibliographic information--editors do not perform library research. Manuscripts should be written with the goals of brevity and clarity strongly in mind.

L&O Manuscript Checklist

Proper format is critical because it helps the reviewer adequately access your manuscript and it allows the editor to rapidly and inexpensively prepare your manuscript for publication. For example, sections of the manuscript should not be numbered.

  1. The General style
  2. Title page
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Abstract
  5. Tables
  6. Abbreviations and acronyms
  7. References
  8. Figures

·  The general style:

·         The manuscript is typed double-spaced on one side of non-glossy 8-1/2x11 inch (21.6x28 cm) paper, with 1 inch (2.5 cm) margins.

·         All pages are numbered, starting with 1 on the title page.

·         The right-hand margin is not justified, there are no hyphenated words, and the first line of each paragraph is indented.

·         The manuscript contains no appendices and sections are not numbered.

·         The text has been thoroughly proofread and spell-checked with a computer program.

·         A single serifed font is used (Times Roman, or Courier are preferred); if special mathematical or Greek symbols not available in that font are needed, the Symbol font is used. Note: superscripts, subscripts, italic, boldface, underline, and changes of font size are not considered to be different fonts.

·         All figures and tables are cited in the text and numbered in the order that they appear.

·         Literature citations in the text are given in chronological followed by alphabetical order and are formatted like these examples: "Campbell (1983, 1987b )" or "(Smith et al. 1984; Karl and Craven 1988; Korobi 1997, 1998)." The References are listed in alphabetical, then chronological order.

·         The manuscript is written in English and proofread by a person fluent in English.

·         The order of the manuscript parts is: title page, acknowledgments page, abstract page, manuscript body, references, tables, figure legends, and figures.

·         The manuscript contains only metric and Celsius units (SI units preferred). Exponents are used to signify the multiplication or division of units (no slashes).

·         Common Latin terms and abbreviations (i.e., e.g., in situ, in vivo, and et al.) are not italicized.

·  The Title page contains:

·         The title: only proper nouns or acronyms are capitalized.
Example:Density structure during high river flow in the Skagit Estuary, Puget Sound, USA

·         The full names and addresses of all authors, including E-mail addresses; state names are spelled out and include full postal codes.

·         A condensed running head of no more than 40 characters (including spaces).
Example: circulation in a well stratified estuary

·  The Acknowledgments page contains:

·         Information on granting agencies (who gave you the money?), notable aid from individuals and institutions -- typed double spaced on a separate page.
Example:  I would like to thank...

·  The Abstract contains:

·         A concise paragraph (no more than 3% of the length of the text) including brief statements about the paper's intent, methods, results, and the significance of the findings.

·  Tables:

·         Each table is on a separate sheet, typed double-spaced.

·         Tables are laid-out to fit the page: A 1-column table can be up to 60 characters wide, and a 2-column table up to 130.

·         Captions are typed single-spaced as paragraphs at the top of each table.

·  Abbreviations and acronyms:

·         Abbreviations are used sparingly. Periods are used after all abbreviations except for metric measures, compass directions, and time (min, h, d, yr).

·         All acronyms are spelled out upon first use.

·         Dates are formatted like "15 April 2002" throughout the text, figures, and tables.

·         State, province, and city names are spelled out in full.

·  References:

·         All references cited in the text appear in the References, and vice versa.

·         The spelling of author(s) name(s) and the year of publication have been double-checked.

·         Citations to personal communications, manuscripts in preparation or submitted, unpublished thesis, and other inaccessible sources ARE included in the References.

·         All entries have been verified against original sources; check especially journal titles, accents, diacritical marks, and spelling in languages other than English.

·         Each citation is complete, according to the following examples:

Article: Fenchel, T. 1986. Protozoan filter feeding. Prog. Protistol. 1: 65-113.
Book: Stumm, W. and J. Morgan. 1981. Aquatic chemistry, 2nd ed. Wiley.
Chapter: Codispoti, L. A. 1983. Nitrogen in upwelling systems, p. 513-564. In E. J. Carpenter and G. Capone [eds.], Nitrogen in the marine environment. Academic.
Personal Communications: Warner, M. 2000. General current structure during last years (1999) cruise. Personal Communication. (Make sure you have the persons permission to mention them!)
Other Student Manuscript: Whatshername, M. 2000. Phytoplankton dynamics during April 2000 in Admiralty Inlet, Washington. UW OCE201 final report.

WEB Page:  Name of web page author (include company/organization, if no author is identified then site company/organization name only).  2002. Title of web page.  Complete URL of web page, date accessed.

·  Figures:

·         Figures are camera-ready (high quality) and are BLACK and WHITE or GREY-Scale. It costs quite a bit of extra money to publish color images. If you simply must have color, contact your advisor prior to submission of your figures.

·         1 figure per page, 1 page per figure (no exceptions). Note: a figure can have more than 1 panel in it.

·         Limit of 7 figures (or less) per manuscript. No exceptions without permission of your research advisor.

·         White backgrounds only- change the default grey background in Excel!

·         Graph axes on all figures are labeled using a single font (Times Roman preferred) and are sized so that they will be similar after final reduction.

·         Figures are numbered in Arabic numerals in the order of their citation in the text. When panels are labeled A, B, ..., references to these panels in the text use the same case (A, B, ..., not a, b,...). The labels are at least 1/8 inch (0.71 cm) from all lines in the figure. The final height of all type (after reduction) is at least 8 points (0.1 inch, 2.8 mm). Scale bars are on the figure, NOT in the figure legend.

·         Figure legends (one paragraph per figure) explain all panels (A, B, ...). Symbols used in the figure (e.g., circles, squares, ...) are explained in a key on the figure itself rather than in the legend.

·         The author's name and figure number is written on the FRONT of each figure or plate, on both originals and review copies. Labels are at least 0.5 inch (1.27 cm) from the printed area. There is NO writing on the back (such marks often show through when reproduced).

·         Figures are at most twice the size that they will appear when printed and lines are of proper thickness to be successfully reduced. Note: Column width is 3-1/2 inches (89 mm) and full page width is 7-1/4 inches (183 mm). The maximum size for a figure is 7-1/4x9-1/8 inches (18.4x23.2 cm).

·         Maps include reference to latitude and longitude and are bounded by a fine border. Symbols are legible and reduction has been taken into consideration.