These guidelines are modified from review of author instructions of several journals and recommendations of the CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers.

Paper: Type the paper on one side only of standard sized white paper.

Font face and size: Type in regular, 12 point Arial font. Scientific names (genera and species) are typed in italics. Use bold face only for headings.

Headings: Primary headings should be typed in all bold capital letters, centered and always begin a separate page. Second level headings are typed in bold on a separate line beginning at the left hand margin. The initial letter of the first word is the only capital letter except capitals needed for proper nouns. Primary and secondary headings are unnumbered and end without punctuation. Third level headings are typed as second level headings except they are paragraph indented, end with a colon and italicized. Text is run in immediately following this heading. Further subdivision should not be needed.

Spacing: All parts of the paper are to be typed double spaced. Single spacing is used in long tables, footnotes, multi line captions and bibliographic entries. A quotation that is four lines long or longer must be set off from the text, indented in its entirety, single spaced and quotation marks omitted. Do not use proportional spacing; left align text. Do not use hyphenation. Do not leave extra space between paragraphs in the text. Leave two spaces after each period at end of a sentence.

Margins: Left margin is 1.5 inches and the margin for the other 3 sides is 1 inch. Leave a 2 inch top margin on all headed pages. All tables, figures and appendices must fit these margins.

Pagination: Number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals placed in upper right hand corner below the top edge of the sheet and within the 1" right margin. Numbers with letter designations are unacceptable (e.g., 114a). Do not use a running head.

Paper is to be organized in the following format and sequence.

Title page: The first page of the paper is typed as shown below:

Title of Paper
Student Name
BY 598 Herpetology
___ Semester 200_

Do not number this page. Title should be short and descriptive. Avoid "empty words" such as preliminary studies on... and biology or ecology of .... Do not use author and date citations with scientific names in the title. In the title only, numbers less than 11 are spelled out.

Introduction and body of paper: Start the introduction on a separate, page. The introduction should establish the context of the paper by stating the general field of interest to be developed and specific questions to be addressed. Accounts of previous work should be limited to the minimum information necessary to give an appropriate perspective. The introduction may not be subdivided. Follow the introduction with the body of the paper. The body may be subdivided to promote clarity.

Literature Cited: This section starts on a separate page headed with "Literature Cited." Citations are arranged alphabetically. All references cited in the text must appear in the literature cited section and all items in this section must be cited in the text. Citation of unpublished studies or reports and abstracts not subjected to peer review is not permitted. A statement may be documented in the text of the thesis by "pers. comm.", providing the person being cited agrees to the use. In those cases, the citation is indicated in the style: (X. Y. Smith, pers. comm.). Personal communications do not appear in the literature cited section. Abbreviations are not used for titles or serial publications and spaces appear between initials. The literature cited section has a primary heading.

References to the periodical literature should contain the following in order and with the punctuation shown and spaces indicated by "-": Author’s last name, -initial(s). - - Year. - - Title. - - Name of journal (do not abbreviate), - volume number: -inclusive pagination. For example:

McCall, J. 1992. Source of harpacticoid copepods in the diet of juvenile starry flounder. 
          Marine Ecology Progress Series 86:41-50.

Salter, D., Balander, R. and Crittenden, L. 1999. Evaluation of Japanese quail as a
          model stem for transgenesis using avian leukosis viruses.  Poultry Science 78:
          230-234.

Book citations should include:  Author’s last name, - initial(s).--Year.  Complete title, - Edition (if applicable). - - Name of publisher, - location of publisher. - - Number of pages. For example:

Holland, R. 1989. Vascular plants of the Smoky Mountains National Park, 2nd ed.
          Cades Cove Publishing Company, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, 750 p.

A chapter in an edited book is cited as:

Thurn, R. 1989. Cretacious microfossils in Sumter County, Alabama. In Cretacious
          fossils of Alabama, J. Beaird and M. Smith. (eds.). UWA Press,
          Livingston, Alabama, p. 87-100.

Cite a thesis or dissertation as:

Hooper, A. D., IV. 1987. Effect of glucose analogues and glycation reversal agents on
          glucose toxicity in an halophilic bacterium isolated from an inland salt spring.
           M.S. Thesis. University of West Alabama, Livingston, Alabama, 54 p

Acronyms At first use, acronyms are placed in parentheses following the name written out in full. At subsequent use, the acronym alone is used. An acronym may begin a sentence.

Abbreviations: Avoid repeated use of abbreviations. Sentences may not begin with an abbreviation and abbreviations are as recommended in the Council of Biology Editors (CBE) style manual and the International System of Measurement (SI) metric unit abbreviations. Unpunctuated abbreviations are preferred where possible, punctuated only to avoid confusion (for example, c.o.d. not cod). For more than one of a unit of measure or time, do not add "s" (e.g., 10 hr) but in text use plural verb (e.g., I hr is, 10 hr are…). Spell out in text if in reverse, e.g., hour 10 of an experiment. Use % instead of "percent" if following a number, e.g., 10%. Use periods for abbreviated months. Adding only "s" forms plurals for abbreviations that do not contain a period. If the abbreviation itself is plural, do not add an "s", e.g., NIH for National Institutes of Health.

Figures: Figures include charts, graphs, line drawings and photographs. Each figure must have a caption. The caption is written in paragraph style, beginning with the word "Figure." Figures with more than one item have a summary statement preceding the specific explanation of each item, for example "Figure 1 Photomicrographs of diatom genera showing markings on the cell wall. (a) Synedra. (b) Pleurostigma. (c) Licmorphora." Avoid repeating information for each figure that can be placed in the summary statement. Species names are spelled out in full the first time used in each caption. The caption must contain an explanation of all abbreviations used on the figures and indicate the value of lines or bars used to show size (unless the value is shown directly on the figure).  
Figures are numbered with Arabic numerals consecutively in the sequence mentioned in the text. Nonparenthetical references to figures in the text are not abbreviated, i.e., Figure 1; Figures 1, 2; Figures 1- 3; references to figures in parentheses in the text are abbreviated, i.e., Fig. 1; Figs. 1, 2; Figs. 1-3. All symbols used in a figure must be defined when possible by a key within the body of the figure. Freehand labeling of figures is not acceptable.

Footnotes: Footnotes are not used in the body of the paper. Those for tables are typed directly under the table to which they pertain.

Italics: Italicize genera and species; a letter or number in text or legend referring to the corresponding character in an illustration; a word or phrase when introduced in text for definition, explanation or discussion; t test and third level headings.

Mathematical and chemical notations: Attempt to write mathematical equations in the form recommended in the CBE manual.

Numbers: Use Arabic numerals, even for those under 10. When describing a measure, leave a space between number and unit of measure. Avoid beginning a sentence with a measure. Naked decimals are not permitted in the text, tables, legends, or on figures, i.e., 0.1, not .1. Numbers greater than 999 must have commas. Omit the degree sign in temperature measurements (e.g., 37 C) and the apostrophe in dates (e.g.,1980s). Metric units are to be used for all measurements. The 24-hour system is used to indicate time, e.g., 1500 hr. Use scientific notation for very large or very small numbers.

Punctuation: Do not use a comma before the last item in a series if "and" is used before the last item, "and" and a comma are to a great extent interchangeable. Do not use a comma before or after a species name (e.g., The species Rana pipiens). Do not use a comma if only two adjectives are in sequence e.g., (long cold night). Use a comma after abbreviations, cf., e.g., et al., i.e., per se and a priori. Do not hyphenate an adverbial phrase, even when used as an adjective (e.g., "rapidly disappearing canines"). Use a colon before a numbered series of items or a series without numbers. If numbered, enclose numbers in parentheses, e.g., (1). At the end of the Table and Figure legends there is no punctuation, nor are periods used at the end of tabular footnotes.

Reference citation in text: Cite references in text by author and date, e.g., Graham (1999), (Graham, 1999) or (McCall and Miller, 1989). More than one paper by the same author in the same year should be designated 1980a, 1980b, etc. Multiple citations are listed chronologically and alphabetically, e.g., (Reekie, 1986; Beaird, 1987; Gonzales, 1987; and Massey, 1989). Citation of references having three or more names should be as Smith et al. (1992) at the first and subsequent times of quoting the reference. If the first author names and years are identical in several references, enough author names are added to eliminate ambiguity, e.g., Smith, Monk and Tartt (1992) and Smith, Tartt and Gonzales (1992) would have to be quoted in full.

Scientific names: The full binomen is written out at the first use of a species name. At subsequent use, the generic component is abbreviated by use of the first letter, except at the beginning of a sentence where it is written out. Genera and species should be italicized, not underlined, throughout the manuscript. Author and date citations for scientific names need not be used in non systematic papers. In systematic papers, author and date citations are used the first time a taxon is mentioned in the abstract and the text, but not subsequently except as described for tables and figures. Author and date citations are used only as authorities for scientific names and do not appear in the literature cited section.

Statistics: In statistical descriptions P is Roman capital and "t" is italicized. Do not capitalize or hyphenate chi square unless used as an adjective, e.g., Chi-square test. Two decimals should be sufficient for descriptive statistics. A statistic is either significant or not significant; do not use "highly" or "strongly."

Tables: Tables are used only to present data that cannot be incorporated conveniently into the text. Ordinarily values from statistical tests are not published as tables; tests employed and probability accepted for significance can be stated in the materials and methods section with significant differences indicated in tables by footnotes or in the text by a statement.

Tables must be designed to fit within page margins and may be continued on following pages to accommodate length. Tables should not be photo reduced, single spaced, oversized, folded, or otherwise modified to contain more material.

Horizontal lines should be avoided in the body of the table. Vertical lines or vertical symbols spanning more than 1 line of type are not permitted. If such symbols are necessary, the table must be prepared as a line drawing and treated as a figure. Use of letters and numbers as superscripts or subscripts is not permitted.

Word use: American spelling supersedes English spelling. Avoid unneeded words and phrases; the fewer the words used, the better. Omit words that are assumed or redundant. Avoid nouns formed from verbs and ending in "ion," they produce long dull sentences. Always give the nonproprietary (generic) name for drugs or reagents; the proprietary name may follow within parentheses. Unless otherwise stated, U.S.A. is understood for locations, including addresses of authors and is not stated. When referring to author, use first or second not senior or junior. Use cover for coverage and before instead of prior to. Avoid "play a role in," be specific. Century is in lower case if alone. Fewer refers to number whereas less refers to quantity. Avoid indefinite descriptors (e.g., strong). Use whereas rather than while, unless referring to a common time. Avoid using nouns as adjectives. Words and abbreviations in Latin and other non English languages, except for genus and species names, are not italicized. No and none are treated as singular, e.g., no plant was found. If this form is not satisfactory, avoid use of the words. Use and instead of &. Do not hyphenate words with the standard prefixes non, semi, re, pre, post, unless there are two vowels in sequence (e.g., pre- empt), leave a space following the hyphen. The suffix -like is hyphenated only in combination with a name in italic type or to avoid a triple l. Studies involving sacrifice of animals are outside the scope of the science; however, many appropriate studies involve killing of animals.