IDARI Working Papers
Style Sheet
Introduction
These notes[1] have been prepared as a style sheet for the IDARI Working Paper Series. The guidelines outlined here have been assembled from a number of sources, including Strunk, William Jr. and E.B. White, 1979. The Elements of Style, 3rd ed. and the APSA Style Manual. In the interests of promoting a consistent IDARI Project ‘image’, all partners are requested to follow the guidance outlined below.
General Submission Requirements
Manuscripts should be submitted to the IDARI Webmaster in MS Word format on a disk, or as an email attachment. The Webmaster will acknowledge receipt of the manuscript and advise on the scheduled date of uploading onto the IDARI website ( The manuscript should have a title page and an abstract page (examples attached) and then the text. Use A4 paper, set the margins as follows: Top 25mm (1 inch), Bottom 20mm (0.75 inch), Left 38mm. (1.5 inches) and Right 25mm. (1 inch) from the edge. The text should be typed in 12 pt. Times Roman and 1.5 line spacing should be used. Authors will be asked to give a final proofreading to their text prior to its publication as a working paper. The IDARI logo should be used (and will be inserted if not originally used) and the acknowledgement of EC funding under FP5 must(according to EC publicity protocols) be included.
Abstract
The abstract contains a succinct description of the research and key findings. The abstract page should include keywords.
Section Headings
Heading should be identified by Arabic numbers (1, 2 etc.). Subheadings should be indicated using decimals (2.1, 2.2, etc.). The first heading should be Introduction. A blank line should separate paragraphs, which are not indented, from each other and from headings and subheadings. Two blank lines should precede headings and subheadings. Page numbers (the first page of text is 1) should be centered at the bottom of the page. Font size = 14 pt.
Figures and Tables
Each figure and table should be mentioned in the text and should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numbers in order of appearance.
Footnotes and References
Footnotes should be kept to an absolute minimum and References should be gathered in a separate Reference section (see Reference section for more information). Footnotes should be indicated by consecutive superscript numbers in the text. In tables, footnotes are preferable to long explanatory material in either the heading or body of the table. Such explanatory footnotes, identified by superscripted letters should be placed immediately below the table.
Technical Appendices
Supplementary technical material (e.g. mathematical proofs, description of data sets) should be collected in an Appendix, which comes after the Reference section.
Italics
Do not use italics or highlight in bold merely for the sake of emphasis. A well-constructed sentence creates natural emphasis syntactically. Common expressions derived from foreign languages are not italicized: Cooper et al., per capita income, vis-à-vis.
Quoting from Other Sources
When you quote from another work, reproduce the original text verbatim, including original italics, spelling, punctuation and other usages – whether there are in accordance with your style sheet or not. Quotations exceeding 150 words should be indented and double-spaced, without quotation marks. Indicate omissions by three dots, by four dots if the omission is at the end of a sentence, or by a blank line if the omission is a paragraph or more. Use brackets, ( ), to enclose words not in the cited material.
Abbreviations, Acronyms and Contractions
Avoid contractions such as “can’t” for ‘cannot”. Standard abbreviations are acceptable, for example, ‘U.S.” for United States” or “Dept.” for “Department.” Acronyms should be in parentheses at the first reference, after the spelled-out full forms. In later references, the letters are sufficient. For example, “Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)” the first time, but then “OECD”.
Numbers
Symbols and Equations: Each equation should be typed on a line separate from the rest of the text. If several equations appear in an article, each should be numbered in sequence flush right using Arabic numbers 1, 2, 3 etc.
Words or Numerals
Cardinal numbers from zero to nine are spelled out in the text:
Seven-point scale
A value approaching zero
Two quantitative variables
Three firms
Those over nine are indicated as numerals:
99 interest groups
10 regions
8,790 files
100 economists
Ordinal numbers are spelled out:
Seventh and eighth deciles
The nineteenth century
Top-tenth of the population
Hundreds of times
Exception: ordinals referring to legislative sessions are numerals:
47th Dáil
Decades are indicated by numerals and an “s” without apostrophe:
In the early 1970s
Persistent inflation of the 1960s and 1970s
During the mid-1990s
Dates always use numbers:
November 22, 1998
Fractions are spelled out and hyphenated:
Three-fourths workings
One-seventh of the survey
Percentages are always expressed as numerals by the “%” symbol, even if the numeral is less than 10
Studies found 70% …
Fewer than 1% responded
Exception: when a percentage begins a sentence the words should be spelled out: Seventy-percent said that …
Citations
Citations are brief notes on sources, appearing parenthetically in the text. They are designed to satisfy the reader’s immediate curiosity without interrupting the flow of the argument.
Samples:
Scott (1987) – This is where the author’s name is used in the text (Scott, 1987, p. 20-22), Rubinstein and Reiner (1993, p. 10) – Note in these examples, the method for citing chapters and pages within a work; these should appear in the citations rather than in the references.
(Hull and White, 1987; Rich, 1993) (Jones 1973, 1975), (Jones, 1985a; 1985b) – If more than one work is cited in a pair of parentheses, separate with semicolons. To cite two works by the same author, separate the years of publication with commas. To distinguish works by the same author published in the same year, assign letters after the dates of publication and use the letters also in the reference section.
References
Citations direct attention to the more detailed references, which provide complete source information to aid further research. The author’s name (use first names rather than initials in references) and the date appear first, followed by the book title, place of publication, and publisher. Book titles and names of journals should appear in italics. Chapter and page numbers should be in the citation, not the reference. The references should be listed in full at the end of the paper in the following standard form:
Books, Monographs
One author:
Varian, Hal R. 1978. Microeconomic Analysis. New York: Norton.
Two authors, new edition:
Armstrong, Harvey, and Jim Taylor. 1993. Regional Economics and Policy, 2nd ed. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Edited Book:
O’Shea, Eamon and Michael Keane, eds., 1999. Core Issues in European Economic Integration. Dublin: Oak Tree Press.
Articles in edited book:
Murphy, Eithne. 1999. Market, State and Community. In Eamon O’Shea and Michael Keane, eds., Core Issues in European Economic Integration. Dublin: Oak Tree Press.
Journal Articles
One author:
Tiebout, Charles. 1956. A Pure Theory of Local Expenditure. Journal of Political Economy, 64: 416-424. The volume number follows the title and is followed by a colon and the appropriate page numbers.
Two or more authors:
Epstein, Larry, Stanley Zin, and Thomas Mann. 1989. Substitution in Consumption. Econometrica, 42: 667-681.
Article in Press.
Niemi, Richard G. Forthcoming. The Problem of Strategic Behaviour under Approval Voting. American Economic Review.
Authors must cross-check their references; there should be a reference for each citation and vice versa.
[1] The following is based on the Style Sheet for the Working Papers, prepared by the Department of Economics, NUI Galway.