JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY (JTMS) SUPPLEMENT
to the Quarry Project Style Guide (QPSG)
JTMS seeks highly informative articles about Masonry, well written, needing only minor revision. This guide will help those criteria.
It is not mandatory to use either this supplement or the QPSG when preparing and submitting papers. You may prefer to use the standard JTMS submissions guidelines. Either is acceptable.
USE
- This guide is a publisher’s supplement to the Quarry Project Style Guide (1st ed.), a guide for for US Masonic publications. QPSG prescribes for writers and editors a consistant style (for citations, punctuations, capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, tables and figures, and format).
- For all questions in these areas, first consult this supplement. If the answer isn’t here, then consult the QPSG. If you still don’t find the answer, then consult Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 8th ed. (See the QPSG for information about this book.)
- You can find the current edition of the QPSG at http://www.thequarryproject.com. Please review it throughly before using this supplement.
- Sample issues of JTMS can be found on The Masonic Society’s website, http://themasonicsociety.com. We strongly urge you to consult previously published articles with an eye toward style and content. Recognize, however, that style in any ongoing publication changes over time and sometimes has errors, so use this guide as your final reference.
SOURCE CITATION
- When citing the Bible, do not use the words chapter and verse. Instead, cite the book’s name, followed by the chapter number, a colon, and the verse number.
- For other questions, see the QPSG.
SPELLING
- See the QPSG.
PUNCTUATION
- See the QPSG.
CAPITALIZATION
- As an exception to the QPSG, capitalize The when spelling out The Masonic Society as a noun: secretary of The Masonic Society, but a Masonic Society event. Capitalize both Ts in The Journal of The Masonic Society. (For abbreviations, see below.)
- As an exception to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.) lower-case web, web page, and website (the latter spelled as one word).
- For other questions, see the QPSG.
NUMBERS (including dates)
- Follow the same rule for ordinal numbers as for cardinal numbers: spell out numbers through one hundred. Use the third time, but the 225th emperor.
- Apply the same rule to centuries and fraternal degrees: the eighteenth century, the third degree.
- Hyphenate compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.
- As an exception to Turabian, write dates as 25 December 2016.
- As an exception to Turabian, when using a range of years, use all the numerals in both years: 1982-1987.
- For other questions, see the QPSG.
ABBREVIATIONS
- The abbreviations for The Masonic Society and The Journal of The Masonic Society are TMS and JTMS.
- For other questions, see the QPSG.
QUOTATIONS, TABLES, AND FIGURES
- See the QPSG.
FORMAT AND SUBMISSION (both articles and reviews)
- Submit your work as a Microsoft Word document file.
- Use only a 12-point Garamond font throughout. If you need a second font for special characters not available in standard fonts, alert your editor.
- Use double spacing (except for endnotes).
- Use two returns between paragraphs.
- Do not indent the first line of paragraphs.
- Do not justify your copy; all text should be flush left only.
- Do not use columns.
- Make sure there are no comments, annotations, or hidden text whatsoever in the final version of your work. In addition, make sure that all “tracked changes” or other revision marks have been accepted as final; your final copy should have no revision marks, hidden or otherwise.
- Note well: the journal’s editing process makes use of the comments and track changes features in Microsoft Word. You must use this feature when reviewing the edited and returned copy of your document. Accept or reject each change and respond to each comment before sending your document back to the editor.
- Do not use the space bar to achieve tabs or indents or to align text.
- Do not use superscripts in ordinal numbers.
- Do not use automatic hyphenation. Your document should have no “optional” hyphens.
- Do not assign “styles” to achieve different formats for subheads, block quotes, and the like. The default or normal style should be the only style in your document.
- Create lists manually; do not use the bullet or list function in your word-processing program.
- Put subheadings in bold and all-caps.
- For notes, use the “endnotes” feature of your word-processing program. Endnotes should single-spaced.
- Do not embed any illustrations in your Word document. Attach them separately in your email message, with captions if applicable. You may indicate in the text, in brackets, that you want an illustration to go in a particular place. Your indication will be removed when laying out the journal.
- When writing your name as author, do not use professional or fraternal titles. The only exception is putting FMS after your name if you are a fellow of TMS, or MMS if you are a member.
ARTICLES
- Put the proposed title of the article and the name of the author at the top left of the first page.
BOOK REVIEWS
- Do not submit unsolicited reviews. If you would like to review either a specific book or any book, contact the review editor. If you have not had a previous review published in JTMS, include a brief statement of your qualifications.
- JTMS publishes reviews that are informative as well as evaluative. If you find little of value in a book, contact the review editor before going ahead.
- JTMS reviews both current books (published for the first time in the current year or the preceding year) and classic books, preferably ones that are available free (usually on the web) or at very low cost. One purpose of our classics review is to help readers build a basic, inexpensive library.
- When you submit a requested review, use all the format rules above.
- Normally, limit your review to five hundred words. If you believe your review needs to be longer, contact the review editor.
- When submitting a review, include a graphic file of the book’s cover or, in the case of classics a public-domain photograph of the book’s author. Choose a professional cover shot from the web, free of such superfluous graphics as Amazon’s “Look Inside.”
- Your review must include the following, in order. (Items on this list are not in Garamond, to distinguish them from explanations. You will use Garamond.)
- Book Title [in bold italics]
- [space]
- by Author’s Name [or Editor’s Name, ed.] [in normal font]
- [space]
- Review [see formatting requirements above]
- [space]
- Reviewed by Your Name [in bold]
- [space]
- Publisher (Year), number of pages [in italics]
- Format [hardcover, softcover, ebook], price(s) [in italics]
- See past reviews, though their formats may differ slightly from this.
CONTACTS
- News, events, Symposia and Conference submissions: calendar-submissions@themasonicsociety.com
- Article queries and submissions: paper-submissions@themasonicsociety.com
- Book review queries and submissions: books@themasonicsociety.com
- Letters to the editor, questions, comments, or concerns: Michael Halleran,
Executive Editor, editor@themasonicsociety.org
RIGHTS
- JTMS assumes that all proposed articles, reviews, and illustrations submitted are original and unpublished, and submitted exclusively to us. If your material is copyrighted, we assume you are authorizing us to publish it. Unless otherwise indicated, we also assume full reprint permission (in all media including various electronic media) of any item we publish. North American serial rights to the article include electronic rights and posting on our web page (http://themasonicsociety.org). We reserve the right to accept or reject any article submitted.