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Style Guidelines
For general Internet writing style and usage, authors are encouraged to consult Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age, edited by Constance Hale (San Francisco: HardWired, 1996).
For World Libraries’ editorial purposes, please adhere to these style guidelines when referencing the following:
- Acronyms
Acronyms and abbreviations should be spelled out the first time they are used. Any that are in languages other than English should be spelled out in the original language and in English.
For example, state World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), allowing the use of WIPO later in the manuscript.
- Dates
- Dates should appear in date-month-year format, 30 Nov 2004.
- Electronic Mail
- Refer to electronic mail as e-mail or E-mail, but not email or Email.
- Internet
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The Internet should be called the Internet, not the internet, the net, the Net,, or the “Net”.
- Languages
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Correct diacritical markings are essential in all languages that have them.
- Numbers
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The numbers zero through nine should be spelled out except when referring to data or measurements. such as “The figure measures 3 pixels by 2 pixels ...”
- All whole numbers above nine should appear as Arabic numerals, such as 10, 11, 1,...
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Ordinal numbers should be spelled out, as in twentieth.
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A number at the start of a sentence should be spelled out, as in “Fourteen search engines were examined ...”
- Percentages
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Write percent, not %.
- Person
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Favor the use of the second-person pronoun, you, over the indefinite third-person singular pronoun, one.
Do not assume that the pronoun for a third-person singular noun is him or he. To avoid awkward constructions like he/she, revise sentences.
- Spelling (American vs. British)
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It is acceptable for writers to use the British spelling or American spelling of words that appear differently in both, such as favour-favor or catalogue-catalog. The author's spelling will be retained in the published version.
- Tables & Figures
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Capitalize all references to your own tables and figures, such as “see Figure 1” or “see Table 2 below”.
Always spell out the words Figure or Table in reference to illustrations in the course of the paper.
Use lower case for references to figures or tables in cited literature, such as (Kokomo, 1999, figure 8) or (Dolton, 1968, table 5).
- Verb Tense
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Choose a verb tense and maintain its use throughout the document. Carefully consider use of the future tense, as often it is unnecessary.
In discussions of the literature, use the past tense, as in “Valauskas (1990) remarked that ...”
- World Wide Web
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Use the Web or the World Wide Web, but not the web.