Submission methods

There are two different kinds of articles you can write: blog articles, and journal articles.

Journal articles

Journal articles can only be submitted in plain text. This is to make the editors’ lives easier in formatting them for display on the web. Please do not submit articles in Microsoft Word format. You are welcome to write your article in Word, but please then save it as a .txt file before you send it to us.

Because plain text doesn’t include any formatting, you should either use standard XHTML markup to format your article, or the following conventions:

1. Italicized text _goes inside underscores_.
2. Bold text *goes inside asterisks*.
3. >Block quotes are simply formatted as new paragraphs beginning with a greater-than sign.
4. Hyperlinks should be included as-is; they will be formatted appropriately.
5. Headings =go inside equals signs=. The default heading level is 2, but if you have multiple levels, use additional equals signs to indicate them, like this: ==heading 3==

Blog articles

You can submit blog articles using plain text, as above, or you can apply to be provided with a login to the Thinking Matters web interface. If you are given access to this, you can write posts directly on the site using the standard Wordpress system.

Referencing

This section details how and when to reference sources when writing articles for Thinking Matters. The following sorts of citations must be referenced:

1. Direct quotations

Any direct quotation of another writer must be properly marked and referenced.

1.1: Short quotes

Any quote fewer than four lines is generally considered short.

• The quoted text is placed within “quote marks”,1 inline with the rest of the paragraph.
• The quoted text is not indented or formatted as a separate paragraph.
• The footnote reference comes after any punctuation and is not encased in any parentheses.

1.2: Long quotes

Any quote of four lines or more is generally considered long.

• The quoted text is

  Formatted as a new, indented paragraph.2

• The quoted text is not placed within quote marks.
• If you are writing an article using the Thinking Matters web interface, select the quoted text and click the Blockquote button under the Visual editor, or encase the paragraph within <blockquote>blockquote tags</blockquote> under the HTML editor.
• The footnote reference comes after any punctuation and is not encased in parentheses.
• It is not necessary to make the footnote number a clickable link to the footnote itself, but you are welcome to do so if you know how.

1.3: Bible passages

For Bible passages, the same rules apply as those listed above for normal quotes, except:

• A footnote reference is not used. Instead, the passage reference is given in brackets after the quote but before any puncutation. For short quotes, for example, “we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). For long quotes, the reference follows immediately after the last word of the passage, and is followed by a full-stop after the closing bracket
• Book names should be written in full (ie, Corinthians, not Cor).
• Always use Arabic numbers (ie, do not cite 2 Peter as II Peter).
• The preferred Bible translation for referencing on Thinking Matters is the English Standard Version. You only need to specify what translation you are referencing if it is not the ESV. To do this, place a comma after the passage reference, followed by the abbreviation used for the translation. For example: (2 Corinthians 10:5, NASB).
• If you have used a translation other than the ESV throughout an article, state this at your first passage reference as follows: (2 Corinthians 10:5; all citations are from the NASB).
• You may include verse numbers if appropriate. Always append these directly to the first word of the verse (ie, do not leave a space). If you are writing an article using the Thinking Matters web interface, you can create a verse reference from within the HTML editor. Encase the verse number within a span element, like this:

  <span class="verse">56</span>

1.4: General rules for direct quoting

• Everything inside the quote marks is assumed to exist in the original source. Therefore, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and emphases should be retained verbatim unless otherwise stated in the citation.
• The only exception to this rule is initial capitals. To retain readability, it is better to change the initial letter of a quote to “lowercase when it is in the middle of a sentence”, even if it is uppercase in the original source. “Uppercase should be used for the initial letter” if the quote is at the beginning of a new sentence, even if it is lowercase in the original source.
• If a “quote finishes with a comma,” you may choose to use it in place of your own comma if appropriate. If a comma is not needed after the quote, finish the quote before the comma (ie, omit it). Similarly for other punctuation like full-stops.
• Do not place your own punctuation inside the quote marks. If a comma, full-stop, or other punctuation mark is required following a quote, and the quote itself does not have one, place it outside the quote marks.
• In the case of obvious errors in the original source, “you should plaec [sic] after the error”. To retain readability, a space is inserted between the error and [sic].

2. Indirect quotations, paraphrases, ideas, and information

If you cite another writer without quoting directly, no quote marks or indentation are required, but you must still reference your source with a footnote.

3. Other uses of footnotes

You may also use footnotes to make suggestions regarding further information. If it is very important to do so, you may also use them to expand on a topic when doing so in the main body of the article will interrupt its flow. These sorts of footnotes should be no more than six lines.

4. Using footnotes

4.1: Creating footnote references

• If you are submitting an article in plain text, simply place the footnote reference where appropriate, like this.12 Do not encase it in parentheses.
• If you are writing an article using the Thinking Matters web interface, you can create a footnote reference from within the HTML editor. Encase the footnote number within a span element, like this:

  <span class="footnote">12</span>

• It is not necessary to make the footnote number a clickable link to the footnote itself, but you may do so if you know how to.

4.2: Creating footnotes

Footnotes are arranged in a list at the end of an article. If you are submitting your article in plain text, simply list them using the number, followed by a full-stop, a space, and then the footnote text, followed by another full-stop. Hyperlinks may be written in plain text. For example:

1. Wikipedia, 'epistemology' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology; retrieved July 2, 2008).
2. Victor Reppert, _C S Lewis's Dangerous Idea_ (USA: InterVarsity Press, 2003); p 14.

If you are writing an article using the Thinking Matters web interface, create the list using appropriate buttons in the Visual editor, or using the Ordered List <ol> and List Item <li> XHTML tags in the HTML editor. Hyperlinks should be clickable. Remember to close all your tags. For example:

<ol>
<li>Wikipedia, 'epistemology' (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology</a>; retrieved July 2, 2008).</li>
<li>Victor Reppert, _C S Lewis's Dangerous Idea_ (USA: InterVarsity Press, 2003); p 14.</li>
</ol>

5. Citation conventions

5.1: Books

Books are cited as follows:

Footnote number. Author’s full name, Title (Place of publication: Publisher, Date of publication); Page number.

For example:

3. Victor Reppert, C S Lewis’s Dangerous Idea (USA: InterVarsity Press, 2003); p 14.
4. Donald A Lloyd and others, American English and Its Cultural Setting (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1956); p 12.

5.2: Journal articles

Hardcopy journals are cited as follows:

Footnote number. Author’s full name, ‘Title’ (Journal title, Volume number, Issue number, Date of publication); Page number.

For example:

5. Louse M Hulme, ‘The Transactional Theory: Against Dualisms’ (College English, Volume 54, Issue 1, 1993); p 380.

Online journals are cited very similarly, but with the addition of the URI:

Footnote Number. Author’s full name, ‘Title’ (Journal title, Volume number, Issue number, Date of publication (URI; date retrieved)); page number if relevant.

For example:

6. A P Martinich, ‘Identity and Trinity’ (The Journal of Religion, Vol 58, No 2, April 1978 (http://www.jstor.org/pss/1201874; retrieved June 25, 2008)); p 180.
7. Elisabeth Marshall, ‘Closet Closet Christians’ (Thinking Matters, Volume 1, Issue 1, July 2008 (http://thinkingmatters.org.nz/2008/07/closet-closet-christians/; retrieved August 2008)).

5.3: Webpages

Webpages are cited as follows:

Footnote Number. Author’s full name, ‘Title’ (URI; Date retrieved).

For example:

8. Dominic Bnonn Tennant, ‘Apologetics and evangelism’ (http://bnonn.thinkingmatters.org.nz/?p=51; retrieved June 25, 2008).

5.4: Dictionary or encyclopedia citations

When citing a hardcopy dictionary, encyclopedia, or some other reference work, the syntax is as follows:

Footnote number. Reference work name, ‘reference’ (Place of publication: Publisher, Date of publication).

For example:

9. The Oxford Concise English Dictionary, 12th Edition, ‘boolean’ (Oxford: Oxford Press, 2001).

For online reference sites, the syntax is very similar:

Footnote number. Reference site name, ‘reference’ (URI; Date retrieved).

For example:

10. Wikipedia, ‘epistemology’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/Epistemology; retrieved July 2, 2008).

5.5: Syntax for subsequent citations

After a detailed footnote for a souce has been provided, subsequent footnotes need only include the author’s name, title of the work, and the page number (if relevant). When a note refers to the source in the immediately preceding note, the term “Ibid” can be used. For example:

11. Elisabeth Marshall, ‘Closet Closet Christians’ (Thinking Matters, Volume 1, Issue 1, July 2008 (http://thinkingmatters.org.nz/2008/07/closet-closet-christians/; retrieved August 16, 2008)).
12. Ibid.

If the title of a work is quite long, you may specify an abbreviation, as follows:

13. Victor Reppert, C S Lewis’s Dangerous Idea (USA: InterVarsity Press, 2003); p 14. Hereafter Dangerous Idea.
14. Elisabeth Marshall, ‘Closet Closet Christians’ (Thinking Matters, Volume 1, Issue 1, July 2008 (http://thinkingmatters.org.nz/2008/07/closet-closet-christians/; retrieved August 2008)). Hereafter CCC.
15. Reppert, Dangerous Idea; p 18.
16. Marshall, CCC.