Getting Started in VIBS

Getting Started in VIBS

VIBS exists to help philosophical authors worldwide prepare their work in English according to high professional stylistic and writing standards. For this reason VIBS stresses the need for authors to conform their work to rigorous stylistic and writing requirements.

Getting a typescript camera-ready for publication within VIBS is the total responsibility of the VIBS author, not of VIBS special series editors or the VIBS executive editor. Time permitting, VIBS editors will be available to you at your request to give a general assessment of your work at different times along the way. But they have no responsibility to proofread for you or to check all the details of your work at every stage of processing to determine whether your work is camera-ready. The best way to insure that your work will appear in a timely fashion within VIBS is to have it evaluated and/or prepared by a professional familiar with VIBS stylistic requirements. VIBS will be happy to refer you to such a professional book preparer. In the long run, doing so will likely save you much time, money, and frustration.

If time is not of the essence for you, and you would like to try your hand at initially preparing your book without professional help, VIBS has many tools available to assist you. A good way to start working with the VIBS style requirements is to go to the VIBS webpage "Preparing a VIBS book". There you will find Richard Hull's most recent VIBS Guide and monograph and collective volume templates. You should (1) familiarize yourself with Richard's Guide, because you have to adhere to it, and (2) download the necessary monograph or collective volume templates, because these give you models for formatting the different parts of a VIBS book.

NOTE: VIBS page dimensions call for a width of the full page of 4.4 in. and a height of 6.9 in. (11.2 cm. wide [= line length] and 17.5 cm. high [measured from the bottom of the first line to the bottom of the last line, running head and page numbers NOT included. Adding the running head/page number results in 18-19 cm for the whole print area. Slight deviations from the standard do not matter, as long as all pages are approx. the same length, and the total does not exceed 19 cm. Because paper sizes and other font-related and printer-related factors vary, you will likely have to print a sample page block several times, measure it with a ruler, and adjust the margins until the block is correct. After setting these dimensions, the author should send an e-mail and hard copy of several pages of the typescript to VIBS managing editor Eric van Broekhuizen to verify whether the format is acceptable. The author should also do this before starting to work on the index. Eric’s contact information is:

Eric van Broekhuizen
Managing Editor
Edtions Rodopi, B. V.
Tijnmuiden 7
1046 AK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
www.rodopi.nl
Tel. ++ 31 (0)20 611 48 21
Fax. ++ 31 (0)20 447 29 79
E-mail: E.van.Broekhuizen@rodopi.nl

After you do steps (1) and (2) just mentioned, you should religiously follow steps (3) through (41) below, most taken directly from Hull’s Guide (doing so should make your work close to camera-ready). Also, under no circumstances should you start to work on preparing your index until you receive notification that the rest of your work has been accepted as camera-ready.

(3) Make sure that all the respective parts of your typescript (front matter, chapters, back matter) conform to VIBS style requirements for point size, font, and appearance (this means all the chapter headings, running heads, and headings for different parts of the book). Again, see the VIBS webpage at "Preparing a VIBS book" for templates to assist you to do this and Richard Hull's VIBS Guide. Also use the VIBS computer style guide found on the webpage to check your work.

(4) Eliminate every unnecessary word. Repeat nothing. Exchange academic language for plain English. Eliminate as many notes as possible. Make reading your writing easy so that the reader may give full thought to your thinking.

(5) Make sure you write in short sentences and paragraphs. Generally, overwhelmingly, keep these under 15 lines, and write in the active, not passive, voice.

(6) Avoid, do not use, these academic fillers:

“a number of” [use “several” or “some”]

“aggravated” {“irritated,” “annoyed”]

“as well as” [use “and”]

“at least”

“both and” [use “and”]

“but rather” [use “but”]

“capacity” (when used to refer to power, not volume or office) [“capability,” “ability,” “faculty”]

“certain” [use only for “absolute,” not for “some” or “designated”]

“certain” (used as an adjective) [“some”]

“clear”

“disassociated” [“dissociated”]

“either/or” [delete “either”]

“essentially”

“evidence,” “evidenced” [“evinced,” “evinced”]

“first of all” [“first”]

“from time to time,” “occasionally “ [“repeatedly”]

“goes on to say” [“says”]

“his own,” “her own,” “our own,” “their own,” etc. [“his,” “her,” “our,” “their”]

“however” [use sparingly]

“important” [try replacing with “more important,” “Crucial”]

“in other words” [delete, or try another phrase]

“in fact,” “the fact that,” “in point of fact,” “due to the fact that” [use “because”]

“interpretative” [“interpretive”]

“irregardless” [“regardless”]

“it seems” [delete]

“it is,” “there is” “there are” [try to replace with “exists,” “exist.” For example, replace “There is a time” with “A time exists”]

“it has to be noted that” [delete]

“moreover,” “furthermore,” “hence,” “thus,” “nevertheless” [use rarely, most of the time delete]

“needless to say,” “it goes without saying,” “as I said before,” “that is,” “that is to say,” “it has to be noted that,” “of course,” “somewhat,” “as it were,” “at the very least,” “certainly.” “Surely,” “clearly,” “simply,” “indeed,” “literally,” “to repeat” [just delete, don’t replace with anything]

“neither/nor” [replace with “not/or”]

“not uncommon” [“common”]

“now” [do not use unless you have to]

“Now” (used as a point of emphasis, usually starting a sentence) [delete]

“numerous” [use “many”]

“of course” [delete]

“once again” [“again”]

“one can” [use the more humane: “we can,” “you can,” “people can”]

“orientated” [“oriented”]

“over the course of time,” “through(out) the course of time” [use “over time,” “throughout time”]

“particularly” [try replacing with “especially”]

“practically” (when used as synonym for “almost,” “virtually”0 [try “almost,” “virtually”]

“rather” [use”quite”]

“Rather” to open a clause or sentence [use “Instead”]

“rather than” [use “instead,” “instead of”]

“really,” “specifically,” “essentially,” “actual,” “actually” [delete, unless used in a technical sense, as in thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, etc.]

“seems,” “seeming,” “seemingly” [use “appears,” “appearing,” “apparently”]

“shall” [“will”]

“somewhat” [avoid using]

“specific” [delete]

“specifically” [delete]

“the former”, “the latter” [try “the first”, “the second”]

“therefore [use sparingly]

“throughout the course of history” [use “throughout history”]

“time and time,” “over and over,” “time and again,” “over and again” [“repeatedly”]

“to a great extent” [try “largely”]

“various” [“different”]

“very” [“quite”]

“whether or not” [try deleting “or not”; “whether” usually suffices]

(7) Do not use “there are” and “it is” when “there” and “it” have no referent. (Better still, avoid these phrases entirely.) Such popular academic sentences create hollow subjects. Rework sentences to allow the true grammatical subject to be evident. For example, “There are three reasons for this,” is better rendered: “Three reasons exist for this.”

(8) Instead of “I shall argue,” use the simple futurity, “I will argue,” or better: “I argue.” Best: just get to the argument without trumpeting it.

(9) Guiding words. Often the following powerful pointers may be eliminated because their point is made by the sentence they introduce: “Moreover,” “Furthermore,” “Hence,” “Thus,” “Nevertheless.” Overuse dulls these pointers: the more of them you eliminate the more powerful become the ones that remain.

(10) Always insert a comma before the “and” that introduces the last item in a series. This is the serial comma or series comma.

(11) As scholars we may re-punctuate the titles of books and articles we cite. If you have questions about this, check with the Stylistics editor.

(12) Put the comma and period (full stop) inside closing quotation marks; the question mark and exclamation point go outside quotation marks, unless part of a quotation, in which case they go inside quotation marks; the semicolon and colon go outside the closing quotation marks in a sentence that continues with other matter.

(13) Americanize spellings: For the sake of uniformity in the Series, we require that British and international forms be replaced, except in official titles or official translations or reproductions, by American ones. The most recent word processing program versions have subroutine tools that draw your attention to such forms. Handbooks also list the two forms of spelling.

(14) Avoid abbreviations in the body of the text. Spell out journal titles, as well as N.Y., U.S., E.U. See Richard Hull's Guide for exceptions. For Latin abbreviations, replace e.g., i.e., viz. in main text by plain English, but retain i.e., e.g., cf., and ibid. in the notes.

(15) Do not use contractions in the body of the text, except when absolutely called for, such as in poetic works.

(16) When mentioning a name for the first time (a) in a part, or chapter, of the text or (b) citing it for the first time in the notes, give the full formal name: Karl R. Popper, G. E. Moore (one space between initials), Martin Luther King, Jr.. In subsequent mention in the same chapter use only the last name. Start over for each chapter of the text and notes. Remember that three Dworkins write in philosophy, and seven Hulls (including two Richard Hulls)!

(17) The standard for gender use in scholarly English is now strict: Gendered words (generally male) are understood to exclude the other gender (generally female). Hence, only use a gendered word (“himself,” “man,” “statesman”) when you justifiably exclude one gender. By shifting to the plural “they” and “their” you can avoid gender. (But do not forget that “they” makes plural reference and is incorrect in constructions such as “A person makes their point by . . . .”) Also consider “person,” “people,” “human beings,” “humanity,” and so forth. English does allow for gender-neutral usage without awkwardness, although this takes work. (An excellent resource is the American Philosophical Association’s free publication, “Guidelines for the Use of Non-Sexist Language,” obtainable from The American Philosophical Association offices at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.)

(18) Do not use boldface, CAPS, underlining, or letter spacing for emphasis or enumeration. Some use of quotes or italics is O. K.; but, for the most part, avoid it.

(19) No underlining should appear in your printed book.

(20) Numbers are written as words (one, seven, twenty-nine) through ninety-nine; higher numbers are written as numerals (100, 1,738). But when spelled-out numbers would cluster awkwardly in a sentence or paragraph, use numerals (“The ages of the 5 members of the Publications Committee are 58, 69, 74, 77, and 92”). Use commas, not periods, to break up larger numbers (“$3,567,042 is the amount spent by the Monarch on his favorite castle during his last year”), except, of course, when giving the number of a year. A number at the beginning of a sentence is spelled out, or, if cumbersome, the sentence is rewritten so that it does not begin with a number (“The nation celebrated its bicentennial in 1976” replaces “1976 was the bicentennial year of the nation”).

(21) When you enumerate lists of matter in the text, use this format: (1), (2), (3). Do not use this: 1., 2., 3. or any other format.

(22) Use no double hyphens (- -). Use an em dash (—) to separate words, with no space between the dash and the words, like this: I will—let me see . . . .

(23) Use the one-en dash (–) to indicate a range of page numbers or dates (pp. 107–112; 1984–1989) in body of text, notes, and index.

(24) Write dates like this: 12 August 1977, not like this: August 12, 1977.

(25) Generally, use “which” only for nonrestrictive clauses, as in “The books, which have beautiful covers, will be on sale tomorrow.” Use “that” for restrictive clauses, as in “The books that are on the table will be on sale tomorrow.”

(26) Use curved quotation marks, sometimes called “inverted commas” or “inverted double commas.” Do not use the marks that are found in much typewritten work: ‘’ or ““ or straight strokes. Follow the American convention of double-to-single, not the British convention of single-to-double: use single quotation marks only for material quoted within a quotation, and double quotes for all other cases in which material is quoted.

(27) Use a comma (,) to precede a quote of one sentence. Use a colon (:) to precede a quote of more than one sentence, unless the subsequently quoted matter begins in mid-sentence.

(28) To ensure consistent styling throughout your manuscript, you should keep a running list of special terminology. Refer to the list as you proofread, or submit it to your preparer with your manuscript.

(29) The definitive ruling is this for spacing: one space after a period, question mark, exclamation point, close quotes, parenthesis, bracket, brace that ends a sentence.

(30) When using ellipsis, put space between dots and before and after the first and last dot and the preceding and following word. Do not use ellipsis at start or end of a quote. When contextually appropriate, you may capitalize the first word of a quote by putting the first letter of the first cited word in brackets. For other stylistic questions, please consult the Chicago Manual of Style, or consult the stylistics editor by telephone or e-mail.

(31) Make sure the start of every part of the book occurs on the right-hand (odd-numbered) page.

(32) Make sure you list subsections in your T of C.

(33) On the Possessive Apostrophe: This small mark has been losing its place in written English and leads to confusion. Some of that confusion is due to the use of the same typographical mark (’) to signal contractions. Thus, “it’s” is a contraction for “it is,” while “its” is a possessive personal pronoun that does not require an apostrophe. Both words are pronounced identically. Further confusion is due to popular use of the apostrophe and “s” to signal not possession but plural, especially of numbers, as in: “the 1960’s, the 70’s, three x’s.” We prefer: “the 1960s, the 1970s, three xs (or three xs, the “x” in italics).” The singular possessive for words other than personal pronouns is signaled by adding an apostrophe and “s.” The rule is simple, but the results may look strange and may be awkward to pronounce, especially when the word to which possession is being assigned ends in “s, x,” or “z.”

The following are correct usages according to our house style: “Ms. Jones’s house, Oz’s inhabitants, bliss’s origin, Charles's friend, Descartes’s cogito.” The plural possessive for words other than personal pronouns is signaled by adding an apostrophe and “s,” if the noun does not end in “s.” If the noun ends in “s,” then add the apostrophe without “s.”

The following examples are correct in our house style: “the children’s shoes, the girls’ shoes.” Exception. Classical and biblical singular names ending in “es or us” are given the possessive by adding the apostrophe without “s”: Thus, “Jesus’ teaching, Socrates’ questioning.” Gentle hint. If following any of these rules leads to awkwardness in appearance or pronunciation consider rewording the possessive in this form: “the origin of bliss, the teaching of Jesus, the cogito of Descartes, the house belonging to Ms. Jones.”

(34) VIBS uses endnotes, not footnotes. Put no commentary in the endnotes.

(35) Put superscript for notes at the end, not the middle, of sentence.

(36) Follow this format for endnotes (use 9 point) [use dictionary, not postal, abbreviations for States; to avoid confusion, indicate country or State when confusion might arise (for example, Cambridge, England)]:

1. David Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste,” Great Essays in Aesthetics: Values in the Arts, ed. Anja Spiegelman (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 3rd ed., 1997), Pt. 1, sec. 3, pp. 273–281.

2. Susanne K. Langer, “Against Hume: An Analysis of Taste and Value,” Journal of Value Inquiry, 28:3 (July 2005), pp. 105–109.

3. Ibid., p. 211n.

4. Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste,” pp. 67–68.

5. Langer, “Against Hume,” pp. 108, 113, 156.

6. Dag Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Personal Communication, 1 April 1954.

-----------------

(37) Follow this format for citing webpages (use 9 point): Use the first article citation, use the article title, source title (italicized), followed by a comma (,), followed by URL=, followed by the full URL, even if it becomes very lengthy. Example:

“Carl Gustav Hempel, 1905–1997,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, URL=http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/h/hempel.htm.

For subsequent article citations, use the article title, source title (italicized), followed by a colon (:), followed by single space, followed by the full URL. Example:

“Carl Gustav Hempel, 1905–1997,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/h/hempel.htm.

The major problems come with URLs that are too long to fit on one line; the word processor treats them as though they are single words. So, you need to introduce a break or you will end up with a line or two that are not fully justified. One way is to make the break at a dot or a slash, like the above example:

“Carl Gustav Hempel, 1905–1997,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.utm.
edu/research/iep/h/hempel.htm.

Another is to introduce a hyphen at an appropriate point, like in the following:

“Carl Gustav Hempel, 1905–1997,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.utm.ed-
u/research/iep/h/hempel.htm.

What is important is to indicate that it is a URL by having the entire address underlined (contrary to our existing VIBS policy about not underlining). It will get complicated, however, with addresses like this: http://www.richard-t-hull.com/hull_publications_articles_refereed_journals.shtml. In this case, the hyphens are an integral part of the URL. In the previous case, the hyphen after “ed” is not.

(38) Follow this format for Works Cited (use 9 point): In the main text the work is cited parenthetically by last name of author, date, and page (these three items are separated by commas). For more than one work by the author in a year the items are differentiated by small letters (a, b, c, etc.). This system of reference is simple and non-disruptive (Langer, 1944b, p. 22).

A sample listing follows:

Langer, Susanne K. (1994a) “Against Hume: An Analysis of Taste and Value,” Journal of Value Inquiry, 28:3 (July), pp. 105–109.

——–. (1994b) Collected Essays. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

---------------------

(39) Follow this format for the Bibliography (use 9 point):

Langer, Susanne K. “Against Hume: An Analysis of Taste and Value,” Journal of Value Inquiry, 28:3 (July 2005), pp. 105–109.

Langmiller, Hassan. Truth and Values. Translated by Englebert Humperdinck, Jr. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1776.

(40) List the following authors in the index in the following way:

Abelard, Peter

Anselm, St.

Beauvoir, Simone de

Dante Alighieri

De Morgan, Augustus

Diogenes Laërtius

Duns Scotus, John

Farabi, al-

Galileo Galilei

Ibn-Khaldun, Ab-ar-Rahman

John of Salisbury

John of the Cross, St.

Kierkegaard, Søren

La Mettrie, Julien Offray de

Lao Tzu

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm

Lévi-Strauss, Claude

Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien

Machiavelli, Niccolò

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice

Mill, John Stuart

Ortega y Gasset, José

Peirce, Charles Sanders

Petrarch

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

Sartre, Jean-Paul

Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von

Schiller, Friedrich

Schlegel, Friedrich von

Schleiermacher, Friedrich

Spinoza, Benedict (Baruch)

Teresa, Mother

Teresa of Ávila, St.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre

Thomas Aquinas, St.

Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de

Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de

William of Ockham (Occam)

Zeno of Citium

Zeno of Elea

(41) Ordering the Parts of the Book. A book, even a brief monograph, may have many kinds of parts. Order these as in the following list, with items marked © listed in the Contents:

Half-Title Page

Series Page (prepared by VIBS Executive Editor)

Frontspiece ©

Title Page

Special Series Page (if the Special Series uses one)

Dedication Page

Contents

Preface ©

(Use of abbreviations is desirable where a book deals repeatedly with the same set of publications. The List of Abbreviations in such a work should come just before the first chapter, to make reference confirmation easy for the reader. The List of Abbreviations can go just before Bibliography of Works Cited if it is meant as a shortcut to citations.)

Chapters ©

Notes ©

(In a collective volume, placing notes at the end of each chapter is preferable. Moreover, given that the index will locate each author and each book title in its every occurrence, it is better to let the notes serve as the record of works cited within the chapter. Readers are frustrated by having to turn too far ahead in order to check a work cited or check a note. In these cases, no sections will appear at the end of the book titled “Notes” or “Bibliography.”)

Chronology ©

Glossary ©

Appendix ©

Afterword ©

Index ©

(A separate index of Illustrations is not necessary if you employ the convention noted above of locating the illustration identifier and page number in the Index, with the page number given in boldface italics. [You should indicate that you are so doing just before the first entry to the Index.] The List of Illustrations functions more like a Table of Contents than an Index.)

Pages listing the VIBS Sponsors (inserted by the publisher).

Blank Pages or Advertising Pages (inserted by the publisher).

[return to "Preparing a VIBS book"]