Author Guidelines
For matters not covered by the following guidelines, please consult the Concise Oxford English Dictionary or equivalent (for spelling).
Structure
Your paper should be compiled in the following order: title page; abstract; keywords; acknowledgments (optional); list of contents; introduction; methods and materials; literature review/evidencing, results and discussion of findings/critical reflection; conclusion(s) and recommendations (if appropriate); references; appendices (if appropriate).
Illustrations, diagrams, tables, maps, inserts, etc. may be included if required in the main text of your work to support the discussion of findings. All tables and figures should have captions.
Word Limits
Please include a word count for your work. A typical paper for this journal linked to the MSc Research Project should be approximately no more than 15000 words.
Style Guidelines
- Please use British (-ise) spelling style consistently throughout your manuscript.
- Please use double quotation marks for direct quotations.
- Please note that long quotations (more than 40 words) should be indented without quotation marks.
- Prefer the use of Arabic numerals.
- All text should be justified except for the list of references.
Sexist Usage
Try to reword some instances to avoid using pronouns rather than overusing ‘he and she’. Consider using the plural ‘they’ if it seems grammatically appropriate. If rewording is not possible, it is preferable to use ‘he or she’, not ‘s/he’ or ‘he/she’. Avoid using the word ‘Man’ to refer to the species and avoid its use in stereotyped clichés, e.g. ‘they decided he was the right man for the job’.
Spaces
Figures and abbreviated measurements should be closed up, for example: 20km, not 20 km. Please note that there should be one-character space between sentences and not two.
References
Reflective Professional references are in the Harvard Referencing (RGU) style guide. In rare circumstances an alternative referencing method may be allowed (e.g. historical research).
Copyediting / Grammar Rules
The word following a colon is to begin with a lower-case letter unless it is a proper noun - (example) The history of the library: a place for research.
A colon (:) rather than a semicolon (;) should be used for lists - (example) There are many different ways to conduct research: surveys, interviews, secondary data analysis.
Use UK English spellings
Proper nouns should be capitalised: e.g. personal and place names, company names/brands, days and months, royal titles, words which change their meaning between capitalised and uncapitalised usage, such as "liberal" and "Liberal". Titles of nobility should begin with capitalisation, e.g. the Earl of Leicester and not the earl of Leicester.
Miscellaneous Items
| Item |
Notes |
| Abstract |
Single paragraph, no more than 150-200 words. No references/endnotes in abstract. |
| Dates |
18 July 2015
1987-88
2009-12
1899-1901 |
| Figures (caption/citation) |
Figure 1. Caption goes here.
Captions of figures should be placed below the figure. |
| Table (citations/caption) |
Table 1. Caption goes here.
Captions of tables should be placed above the table. |
| Appendix/Appendices |
Are included after the references. |
Formatting and Templates
Papers should be submitted in Word doc or docx formats.
Please ensure that you have saved a separate file of all the figures and tables you have inserted into your work.
Font: Calibri, 11-point, one-and-a-half line spaced. Diacritics should be included where necessary (e.g. cliché not cliche).
Text size: The main body of the text should be in font size 11. First-level headings should be in font size 16, second-level headings in font size 14 and third-level headings in font size 12. All headings should be in bold style. It is generally advised not to go beyond third level headings.
Title: Use bold style for your title. The title should be in font size 20.
Keywords: Please provide keywords to help readers find your work. Please give up to five or six keywords.
Third party material: All contributors are required to complete and return a Copyright Assignation Form once their article has been accepted for publication. Permission for using any third party copyrighted material (such as images, models, survey instruments etc.) should be obtained from the owners of such material.
