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Preparation of Manuscripts

Authors need only provide electronic submissions via e-mail; no hard copies are necessary. The preferred computer format is WordPerfect for Windows; MSWord is also acceptable. Any other format must first be converted to Rich Text Format. Mac disks should be converted to the Windows platform. Endnotes should be embedded.

Preparation of Text

Comparative Drama generally follows The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. Hard copy must be double spaced, including indented quotations and notes, with all diacritical marks as well as archaic letters (e.g., Þ) clearly indicated. While it is difficult to establish a rule in this regard, quotations of more than three lines poetry or ten lines of prose should be set off and indented without quote marks. Otherwise, quotations should be run into the text and placed within “double quotation marks”; quotes within quotes “should be placed within ‘single quotation marks’.” Ellipses are three spaced dots . . . with a period also required at the end of a sentence. . . . Do not use ellipses at the beginning of a quotation. Interpolations, including [sic], are placed within [brackets]. Do not double space following the period at the end of a sentence.

Spelling should conform to American usage. Do not substitute the letter l for the number 1, or vice versa. Italics should be encoded. All titles should be in italics except for short poems and titles of articles, which should appear within “quotation marks.” Foreign words should also be in italics. Punctuation marks usually belong inside quotation marks except for semi-colons.

Commas are to be used before and and or in a series (three or more items). Dashes—as opposed to hyphens—may be encoded or, in ASCII or hard copy, indicated by a double hyphen--without being set off by spacing before and after. For possessives, use the form James’s for names ending in -s except for Jesus’, Moses’, and hellenized names ending in -es. Apostrophes are not to be used in dates, e.g., 1820s. Write out numbers in the text up to one hundred, and also write out designation of centuries, e.g., seventeenth century (but use a hyphen when it becomes an adjective, e.g., seventeenth-century survivals, late-medieval England).

Dates are to follow modern usage, beginning each year on 1 January, and are to be written in the following form: 2 March 1987. For conversion of English regnal years to modern usage, see C. R. Cheney, Handbook of Dates for Students of English History, Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 4 (London, 1970).

Avoid jargon.

Quotations

Quotations if possible should be from original editions rather than reprints; standard editions of works must be used rather than anthologies (except in those cases in which an anthology presents a very superior text) or less accepted editions. Often it is wise to check sources against the readings in the original manuscripts or printed books. Accuracy is required in quotations as well as in all other aspects of preparation of the manuscript. When quoting from old-spelling editions, however, some flexibility is allowed with respect to early orthography (substitution of u for v, etc.) and punctuation in certain cases; rules for providing diplomatic transcriptions from manuscripts are available from the editors. Quotations from Latin or foreign languages are to be supplied with English translations; the original text should appear first, followed by the translation in parentheses. In those instances in which the author provides only his or her own translation of a quotation from a critical source, the trans¬lation may be identified by the words “translation mine” following the documentation in the endnote or in the text at the end of the passage. NB: quotations requiring special characters (e.g. Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Japanese, Arabic) should be set up using the WordPerfect Extended Character Set (the “Insert Symbols” command).

Documentation

When documentation is placed at the end of a quotation in the text rather than in the notes, the reference to act, scene, and line numbers should be placed in parentheses following the quote but within the end punctuation, as in this example from Hamlet: “Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear,/ Blasting his wholesome brother” (3.4.64–65). If only line numbers are being cited, then use this form (64–65), but if there is a possibility of confusion add ll. (ll. 64–65). (If the reference appears with material already in parentheses, use brackets for documentation: “You cannot call it love” [3.4.68].) For references to mystery plays in cycles, citations should give the number of the play (using the form in the edition utilized) followed by the line number(s) (IV.1). In some instances it will be necessary to include also the name of the play or cycle as well (Chester IV.1). In certain other cases scholars will similarly wish to refer to page numbers, folio numbers, or signatures within their texts in order to reduce the number of notes.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations are to follow standard usage, and include the following:

  • anon
  • b.
  • c.
  • cf.
  • chap(s).
  • d.
  • ed.
  • EETS
  • e.g.
  • et al.
  • fig(s).
  • fol(s).
  • ibid.
  • i.e.
  • l(l).
  • MS(S).
  • n(n).
  • p(p).
  • passim
  • Pl(s).
  • r
  • rev. ed.
  • ser.
  • sic
  • sig(s).
  • s.v.
  • trans.
  • v
  • vol(s).
  • anonymous
  • born (followed by date)
  • circa (do not space between abbrev. and date)
  • compare (not to be used when “see” is meant)
  • chapter(s)
  • died (followed by date)
  • edited by; edition (as in 2nd ed.)
  • Early English Text Society
  • for example
  • and others
  • figure(s)
  • folio(s)
  • in the same title, in the last work cited
  • that is
  • line(s)
  • Manuscript(s)
  • note(s), footnote(s)
  • page(s)
  • here and there throughout
  • plate(s)
  • recto (use superscript)
  • revised edition
  • series (exceptions noted in sample notes, below)
  • thus, so [inserted in quotation in brackets]
  • signature(s)
  • under word or heading
  • translated by
  • verso (use superscript)
  • volume(s)


For additional acceptable abbreviations, see The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., chap. 15.

Endnotes

The following examples should cover the majority of cases; for further examples, see The Chicago Manual of Style, chaps. 16–17. Note that the full first name of the author must be given unless it does not appear on the publication being cited. Cite exact pages to which reference is being made (do not use f or ff following a page number).

     1 Richard Brome, The English Moore; or The Mock-Mariage, ed. Sara Jayne Steen (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983), 10.
     2 Karl Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933), 1: 225.
     3 John J. Allen, The Reconstruction of a Spanish Golden Age Playhouse (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1983), 50, fig. 19.
     4 Henri Pirenne, Medieval Cities, trans. Frank D. Halsey (1925; reprint, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1956), passim. [Note abbreviation for state; no postal abbreviations.]
     5 Ibid., 103.
     6 W. Wager, The Longer Thou Livest and Enough Is as Good as a Feast, ed. R. Mark Benbow, Regents Renaissance Drama Ser. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967), 35.
     7 The Towneley Plays, ed. George England and Alfred W. Pollard, EETS, e.s. 71 (London: Oxford University Press, 1897), 167. [Note the abbreviation for “extra series.” The abbreviation for “original series” is o.s., and for “supplementary series” is s.s. in citations.]
     8 Elinor Fuchs, “Mythic Structure in Hedda Gabler: The Mask Behind the Face,” Comparative Drama 19 (1985): 209–21.
     9 Ibid., 210.
     10 Young, Drama of the Medieval Church, 1:255.
     11 Sharon Kaehele Shaw, “The Burying of the Living in Restoration and Eighteenth Century Comedy,” Ball State University Forum 11, no. 4 (Autumn 1970): 77–78. [Like many general or popular periodicals, this journal is not continuously paginated throughout the volume year.]
     12 Bernard Holland, “Linda Ronstadt Reaches for an Operatic High Note,” New York Times, 25 Nov. 1984, sec. 2, pp. 1, 4, Midwest edition.
     13 Robert C. Evans, “Jonson's Copy of Seneca,” in Drama and the Classical Heritage: Comparative and Critical Essays, ed. Clifford Davidson, Rand Johnson, and John H. Stroupe (New York: AMS Press, 1993), 203.
     14 Denis Arnold, “Claudio Monteverdi,” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 1980), 12:514–30. [This is the form for encyclopedia articles; it is necessary to include the author of the article in each instance.]
     15 Evans, “Jonson's Copy of Seneca,” 205–6.
     16 Bodley MS. Digby 133, fol. 149v. [Identify location of library and its name when necessary.]
     17 Thomas Carew, Foure Godly and Profitable Sermons (London, 1605), sig. G5v.
     18 Theresa Coletti, “Spirituality and Devotional Images: The Staging of the Hegge Cycle,” (Ph.D. diss., University of Rochester, 1975), passim.
     19 Henrik Cornell, The Iconography of the Nativity of Christ, Uppsala Universitets Årsskrift (Uppsala, 1924), 12, as quoted by J. W. Robinson, Studies in Fifteenth-Century Stagecraft, Early Drama, Art, and Music, Monograph Ser., 14 (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1991), 68. [But go to the original item and cite it if at all possible.]
     20 Anita Pacheco, “Rape and the Female Subject in Aphra Behn’s The Rover,” English Literary History (online) 65 (1998; cited 21 September 1999): 323. Available http://firstsearch.oclc.org/fsip. [But cite printed sources first whenever possible.]
     21 Ian Wallace, “Lion Feuchtwanger,” in The Literary Encyclopedia, 2004 (online), .
     22 See Boninus Mombritius, Sanctuarium seu Vitae Sanctorum (1910; repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1978), 597–98. Written around 1480, this was probably Rotrou’s source. For modern accounts, see the Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “Genesius,” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06413c.htm (accessed 1 June 2008), and Robert McNamara, “Genesius,” in Irondequoit Catholic Communities, http://www.irondequoitcatholic.org/index.php/St/Genesius (accessed 1 June 2008).

Graphics

Graphics must be scanned as TIFF files, at a minimum of 300dpi, using the gray-scale setting (even if the original image is in color: this results in a higher-quality final version for printing, and it also reduces the file size). Graphics that are particularly detailed, such as those that include line art or any type of text, should be scanned at a minimum of 1200dpi. If you obtain the image as an electronic file (i.e., you do not have a hard copy that you are scanning yourself), it must be provided as a TIFF or JPEG file (TIFF is preferred, as it produces the best quality for printing) at a minimum of 300dpi: Do not adjust the image resolution from a low setting to a higher setting using any type of photo software (increasing resolution of an image that has been scanned at a lower resolution will not improve image quality). Please provide any special cropping instructions if applicable. Please send all graphic files titled by figure number, followed by your surname (e.g., "Figure1Smith"). Please send captions in a Word file (all graphics must include complete, numbered captions): see CMS for style instructions and specific details to include. (Note: Captions must include reproduction rights and copyright information, as applicable.) Please ensure that each figure is referred to in numerical order in the article's text: e.g., "(see fig. 1)", etc. Images will be placed throughout the article as close as possible to the first textual reference unless otherwise instructed (i.e., if you want all of the images placed together at the end of your article, please note this in the caption file).