Style Guide for Contributors to The Journal of Educational Technology & Society

Note to authors

This style guide applies to all full-length papers.

Because the guidelines are regularly updated, please reread the guidelines prior to submitting or editing manuscripts.

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should also read the form that reviewers use to provide feedback on the manuscripts: Sample Review Form.

The template for formatting your papers is available here.

Editors at The Journal of Educational Technology & Society are open to the many regional variants of English spelling and style, and welcome manuscripts from all over the world. We do ask, however, that authors strive for consistency within their own documents. In addition, for the sake of consistency throughout the book, we will rely on a standard form of punctuation and formatting.

General guidelines

Word count:

Full paper: 4,000 to 7,000 words

Each article should contain the following information:

title (maximum 10 words)
complete contact information for all authors (one line for physical/mailing address and one line for telephone, fax, and email contact information)
an informative abstract (75 to 200 words) presenting the main points of the paper and conclusions
descriptive keywords (4 to 5)
main body of paper
conclusion
references

Special style notes

Manuscripts should be single spaced.

Footnotes and endnotes are not accepted. All relevant information should be included in main text.

Do not indent paragraphs; leave a space of one line between consecutive paragraphs.

Use a single space after end punctuation (i.e., periods, question marks, etc.). Do not use a double space.

Separate keywords with a comma.

Capitalize the first letter of each keyword or key phrase (e.g., Internet-based system, Distance learning).

Do not underline book titles or for emphasis. Use italics instead.

Use numbered lists only if the material must be presented in a particular order (e.g., steps in an experiment). If the order is arbitrary, please use bulleted lists.

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure that every in-text citation has a corresponding reference in the reference list. Conversely, ensure that every entry in the reference list has a corresponding in-text citation.

Headings

Subdivide text into unnumbered sections, using short, meaningful sub-headings. Please do not use numbered headings.

As much as possible, limit heading use to two levels.

If using Word, please use the following heading styles: Heading 1 and Heading 2. If that is not possible, use 12-point bold for first-level headings and 10-point bold for second-level headings. If you must use third-level headings, use 10-point italic.

Leave one blank line after each heading and two blank lines before each heading. (Exception: leave one line between consecutive headings.)

Tables

Embed tables and figures in appropriate areas within the document and center them horizontally.

Provide captions (maximum length: 6 to 8 words) for each table or figure. Centre the caption above the text, and reference the table in the text.

Ensure that figures to not exceed 500 pixels in width.

In addition to embedding figures within the text, please provide a separate GIF or JPEG (JPG) file.

References

At the end of the article, please list all references in alphabetical order (based on authors’ last names) at the end of the article. For this section, use the level-one heading, “References.”

Follow the citation procedures of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Some key points about APA style:

Do not number in-text citations. Provide the last name(s) of the author(s) and the date of publication in parentheses. If the author’s name appears within the sentence, then provide only the date of publication in parentheses.

Examples:

Jones (2003) studied the phenomenon

In a recent study of the phenomenon (Jones, 2003)

In the reference list, please follow the patterns below. Please note that an en dash (not a hyphen) is used to indicate a range of numbers. To find the en dash in Word, go to Insert > Symbol > Special Characters > En Dash (shortcut: Ctrl+Num-).

Formatting within the Reference List

Below are some examples of formatting references in APA style. For more detailed information regarding citations, please refer to Concise Rules of APA Style, which can be ordered from http://www.apa.org/books/.

Journal article

Laszlo, A. & Castro, K. (1995). Technology and values: Interactive learning
environments for future generations. Educational Technology, 35(2), 7–13.

Newspaper article

Blunkett, D. (1998, July 24). Cash for competence. Times Educational Supplement, p. 15.

Book, authored

Brown, S. & McIntyre, D. (1993). Making sense of teaching, Buckingham: Open
University

Book, edited

Barnhart, R. K. (Ed.). (1988). Chambers dictionary of etymology. New York, NY: The H.
W. Wilson Company.

Chapter in book/proceedings

Malone, T. W. (1984). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. In Walker,
D. F. & Hess, R. D. (Eds.) Instructional software: Principles and perspectives for
design and use (pp. 68–95). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Internet reference

British Learning Association (2005). Quality mark profiles. Retrieved August 10, 2005,
from http://www.british-learning.org.uk/qualitymark/pages/profiles.htm

Language Style Sheet

Below are problematic words and specific style decisions. Words and phrases are listed alphabetically. Other usage notes follow. Please review this section regularly so that you are aware of the most recent updates.

ABC

among (not amongst)

audiovisual (one word)

cooperative (no hyphen)

DEF

Data — okay to use with singular verb when used as mass noun. (i.e., the data was examined.) Use with plural verb is always acceptable.

et al. (roman, followed by period)

e-learning (and similar words), lowercase “e” unless at start of sentence; in title caps, use e-Learning, unless it appears at the beginning of the sentence, in which case E-learning is acceptable.

e.g., (followed by comma)

email (no hyphen)

follow up (verb); follow-up (noun)

GHI

Internet

i.e., (followed by comma)

JKL

keyword (one word)

lifelong (one word)

MNO

multimedia (one word)

online

PQR

practice (noun); practise (verb)

runtime (one word)

STUV

that/which — see note below

toward (no “s” unless “towards” appears in the title of a previously published study)

travel, traveler, traveling, etc. (single “l”)

trialing

troubleshoot, troubleshooting

undergraduate

WXYZ

web (lowercase)

website (one word)

which/that — see note below

whilst — please use “while”

People’s Names // Place Names

van’t Hooft (Van’t Hooft if at start of sentence)

Numbers

Use numerals for numbers greater than nine, unless they start the sentence.

If numbers represent times, dates, ages, size, score, points on scale, etc., use numerals.

Spell out ordinal numbers, e.g., sixth grade. (exception: works cited).

Punctuation

Use serial commas: ham, eggs, and cheese.

Use en-dash to show range of number: 10–12.

No spaces surrounding en-dashes

One space before and after em-dashes

One space only after periods and colons

Use double quotation marks, except for quotes within quotes, which require single quotation marks.

Format web citations as follows: Retrieved February 16, 2002, from http://www.globaled.com.

Use single space before and after symbols in mathematical equations, e.g., 5 + 7 = 4y.

Miscellaneous

Capitalize first word after semi-colon in titles of works.

Capitalize first letter of main words in ifets article titles.

Capitalize keywords when they are one word; if multiple words, capitalize first word only, e.g., Computer-assisted learning.

Spell out acronyms on first use, and put acronym in brackets, e.g., information technology (IT).

Use a period after each initial of authors’ names and follow with a single space.

Additional:

Use APA style. If this style guide differs from APA, follow the style suggestion of this guide.

That/which — use “that” for restrictive clauses, “which” for nonrestrictive clauses. For example: The boy that ate too much ice cream is sick. Ice cream, which contains sugar, can be bad for your teeth.

For a note to accompany a table, italicize the word “note” and follow with a period: Note.