WRITING AND PREPARING YOUR ENTRY

Please follow the guidelines below unless you make an alternative arrangement with your editor. Also, please review the sample entries for guidance as to overall tone, structure, and necessary content.

1. HEADER. Include title of entry and total word count (not counting further reading and cross-references) at the beginning of the entry. Please use the header provided, though we will consider suggestions for modification or improvement (headers should be as short as possible).
   
   
2. FIRST PARAGRAPH. At the beginning of your entry, make sure to clearly explain or define your topic and its significance to journalism. The introductory paragraph should place your topic in context for general readers before going into greater detail. Why is this topic important?  Put another way, why should the non-specialist reader care?
   
   
   
3. BODY OF THE ENTRY. Trace the history of your topic as appropriate, address contemporary issues and controversies surrounding the topic; and expand on its impact (see Point 4).  Relate your topic to the current journalism scene, and, if possible, include reference to international journalism.  
   
   Authors of entries surveying journalist types or roles (e.g., “Commentators, Radio”) should begin by discussing the emergence and evolution of that type. How did it begin? How has it changed over time? Why is it important?  This should be followed by a section offering paragraphs on the most important representatives of the type. Begin with the person’s name, followed by their birth and death years in parentheses. The biographical content within these  paragraphs should focus clearly on that person’s career within that particular role. People who straddled several journalistic roles, such as Murrow, will be treated in several such surveys, their roles analyzed as within that type.
   
   
   
4. FINAL PARAGRAPH. Every article must end with a concluding paragraph that assesses the ultimate importance of the topic within the context of journalism. Again, the emphasis is on the current journalism scene, with historical context included as helpful for an understanding of how your topic is practiced or is important today.
   
   Note: All longer (A- and B-length) entries require subheads in the body of the entry. These can be used to indicate thematic or chronological transitions, and should be brief--from one to three words or so.
   
   
5. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING. At the end of your entry’s text, please include a “References and Further Reading” section that lists the major texts you used in writing the article as well as useful sources for the reader. The latter is at least as important as the specific source material you utilized.  The primary purpose of this section is to suggest additional reading and sources of information for the general reader.
   
   Please follow this guideline as to how many sources to list in each article in the “Further Reading” section:
   
   A-length article: 7-9 sources
   B-length article: 6-8 sources
   C-length article: 5-7 sources
   D-length article: 3-5 sources
   
   These sections should consist primarily of accessible books that are appropriate for a general (non-specialist) audience. Scholarly journal articles can also be included, although please note that some of these will be less accessible to readers. Every effort should be made to emphasize studies that are both comprehensive and recent.
   
   Web sources are also acceptable. In choosing sources, please consider whether the sites have some likelihood of still being active when the book is published, as well as their reliability and quality. Include the month and year of your most recent access as part of Web site citations.
   
   
   
   
6. SEE ALSO and RELATED DOCUMENTS. This section will list other encyclopedia entries (alphabetically) that are related to your entry. While the editors will be responsible for finalizing these sections, we would appreciate your input. Include only those that you anticipate will give the reader additional substantive information on the topic. Please refer to the project Web site to view the complete headword list. If you are unable to access the headword list, please contact the editorial coordinator for a copy of the list.
   
   Sample “See also” List: Polls; Public Opinion; Readership Surveys
   
   If you have made suggestions for documents to be included in the documents list, please include them at the end of your article. (For more detail about documents, see “Planning Your Article.)
   
   
   
7. SIGNATURE. Include your name, exactly as you would like it to appear in print, at the end of each article following the Related Entries section. Also include your title and academic or institutional affiliation, again exactly as you’d like it to appear in print. These details will appear in a contributor list in volume 6.