Title: Author Guidelines and Editorial Style Author: National Institute of Justice Published: December 2002 Subject: Author guidelines 20 pages bytes ------------------------------ Figures, charts, forms, and tables are not included in this ASCII plain-text file. To view this document in its entirety, download the Adobe Acrobat graphic file available from this Web site. ------------------------------ U.S. Department Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice Author Guidelines and Editorial Style Format Process Grammar Usage Spelling December 2002 Additional copies: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs.htm ------------------------------ Communications Division National Institute of Justice 810 Seventh Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20531 Questions? Jolene Hernon Publications Manager 202-307-1464 hernonj@ojp.usdoj.gov This and other publications and products of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs and NIJ can be found on the World Wide Web at: National Institute of Justice http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij ------------------------------ Contents I. General Guidelines o Audience o The Inverted Pyramid o The Process o Questions? II. Editorial Style o General Style Rules o Notes and References III. Checklist and General Tips o General Tips o Tips for Graphic Elements o Tips for Software ------------------------------ I. General Guidelines Under the direction of NIJ Director Sarah V. Hart, the Institute is refocusing and reformatting the way we organize and write publications. We are placing greater emphasis on (1) clear, concise writing (called plain language) and (2) the relevancy of findings for practitioners and policymakers. For more details, we will refer readers to professional journal articles based on the research or to the projects' final reports, which NIJ plans to make available on the Internet. These guidelines give background on and outline the main steps in the process of publishing with NIJ. Below are the seven basic types of publications available at NIJ. Each type is directed to a particular audience and color coded. Color and Type--Audience--Length Blue: Research for Practice--Practitioners and their staff--3,000-5,000 words, 20-30 manuscript pages, 8-16 printed pages Yellow: Research for Policy-- Policymakers and their staff--500-1,000 words, 4-8 manuscript pages, 2-4 print pages Purple: Research in Brief--Researchers and scholars; high-level policymakers, practitioners, and their staffs--4,000-6,000 words, 32-40 manuscript pages, 16-20 printed pages Green: NIJ Journal--High-level policymakers, practitioners, and their staffs--500-5,000 words, 3-35 manuscript pages, 1-5 printed pages Red: Science & Technology Report--Practitioners and policymakers-- Varies with content (20 to 500 printed pages) Special Report--Varies with content--Varies with content (20 to 500 printed pages) Web-only document--Varies with content--Varies with content (20 to 500 printed pages) Audience NIJ recognizes the need to translate research for a nontechnical audience of readers at all levels--from the police chief to street officers, from the elected State's attorney to assistant district attorneys, from the governor to members of the governor's task force on public safety. The people who will read your report are like the people who read Newsweek, the Harvard Business Review, and the New York Times. They are smart and busy. Many won't know much about methodology or NIJ. They want accurate information that's timely, quick to read, and helps them do their job better. The Inverted Pyramid NIJ follows the newspaper industry's inverted pyramid rule: Put the most important part of the story at the beginning. The introductory sentences should tell the reader what the article is about, its significance, and its relevance to the field. Newspaper editors cut text from the end of the story because they know few people read all the way to the end. NIJ editors are less ruthless about space, but still follow the rule of putting the most important information at the beginning of the story and cutting text from the end. The entire article should be clear, concise, and well-structured. Headings, subheadings, lists, tables, graphs, and illustrations should be presented in such a way that a busy reader can scan the report and still get the main points. The Process On average, publications take 8 to 10 months to produce. Each document varies depending on length and issues that are unique to the document. Peer Reviews All final reports and summaries submitted to NIJ are sent to an external peer review panel, whose comments are a major factor in NIJ's dissemination decision. The peer review panel concentrates primarily on the substance of the research methodology and findings, but frequently addresses the editorial quality and the contribution likely to be made by dissemination. Peer reviewers forward their comments to program managers, who help authors address concerns raised by both the peer reviewers and NIJ's program staff. After the external and internal review, program managers propose a dissemination plan to the NIJ director. The director authorizes the publications unit to begin editorial and production work. Citation Style NIJ follows the conventions in the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual (2000 ed.) and Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed.). We use endnotes rather than footnotes and we do not use the APA style of embedded text references (e.g., Wilson, 1995) with a list of citations at the end of the document. See Part II, Editorial Style, for more details. Manuscript An author's first draft is reviewed by NIJ's editorial staff and the author's program monitor. Often the editor will rewrite sections of the first draft so it conforms to NIJ's requirement to present research in plain language. The draft is returned to the author for approval and a process of revision and editing begins. Some reports require three or four drafts before the manuscript is ready for review by NIJ's director. We strongly encourage authors to make all revisions at the manuscript stage. Changes during production can be expensive and time consuming. Author Information Bio. All NIJ-published materials carry a one- or two-sentence biography with the author's current affiliation; e.g., "John Mills, Ph.D., is a research associate with the National Research Institute; James White, Ph.D., is with the Department of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. His recent book, Insert the Title, is forthcoming from Sage Press." Contact information. Editors need your complete contact information, including the college/ university department name, street address, room/office number, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address. Laser Once the director approves the manuscript, the report is laid out in pages. The author approves the page proofs (which NIJ calls lasers). Usually two sets of lasers are prepared (the initial laser and the final laser). Changes made at this stage should be minimal. Camera-Ready When all revisions are complete, the document is prepared for the printer. Changes at this stage are very expensive and time consuming. Questions? Contact your editor or Jolene Hernon, Publications Manager, NIJ, Communications Division, 810 Seventh Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20531; hernonj@ojp.usdoj.gov; 202-307-1464; fax 202-307-6256. II. Editorial Style General Style Rules The following guidelines are based on the GPO Style Manual (2000 ed.) and the Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed.). These guidelines are not comprehensive, and they differ from the published guides in certain important particulars. Exceptions are noted, as are points that may be hard to remember or to find. Refer to Chicago for questions regarding references and documentation and for clarification of matters on which GPO is silent or unclear. Abbreviations Abbreviations and initials of personal names that are followed by periods are set without spaces (i.e., U.S., A.B. Carter). Abbreviations of contractions and initials or numbers retain a space (S. 116, op. cit.). Use periods for D.C. (except in addresses and citations in notes, bibliographies, and references), U.S., and U.N., but not with acronyms for Federal and State agencies or departments (e.g., FBI, FTC, DOJ). Acronyms On first use, define an acronym and place it in parentheses after the full term. The full term can be used thereafter as needed as a reminder to the reader. Do not use an article in front of an acronym used as a noun, unless the usage is generally accepted (e.g., the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, but DOJ, NIJ, BJS, ONDCP, EPA, BOP, CDC). Addresses Spell out street, avenue, building, etc., except in notes, exhibits, and lists. Use two periods with N.W. or S.E. (do not abbreviate north, south, east, or west). Do not use periods in DC in addresses. Use the following guidelines for electronic and Internet addresses: o Always include http:// in World Wide Web addresses. If Web or e-mail addresses have to be broken, e.g., at the end of a line, do so only at a natural break (period, slash). Do not add hyphens when breaking addresses. Capitalization Do not capitalize prepositions in titles, including "to" as part of an infinitive, unless they have more than three letters: o Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science o Police Integrity: Public Service With Honor o Policing Neighborhoods: A Report From St. Petersburg o Battered Women and Their Children Capitalize terms such as Agency, Bureau, Center, Department, Institute, or Office as part of a proper name or when referring to a Federal or international entity. Lowercase text references to elements of a document (e.g., chapter 1, note 2, exhibit 5, appendix A). Lowercase the "s" in "see" (i.e., see exhibit x) within a sentence; uppercase it if stands as a separate sentence (See exhibit x.), such as when it is used after a lengthy and/or complex sentence. Note that the final period then goes inside the parentheses. Capitalization Guidelines o Congress, but congressional, congressionally o United States Constitution, but State constitution o e-mail in text; capitalize E-mail in an address/telephone list o Federal, State (when referring to U.S. or Native American tribal States), Territory, but federally, statewide, territorial o Federal Government, U.S. Government, but State and local government o Nation (United States), Cherokee Nation, Navajo Nation, but French nation, national and nationwide o Web site o ZIP Code Compounding and Unit Modifiers (u.m.) Use a hyphen between words or abbreviations of words (high-level decision; NIJ-sponsored study) combined to form a unit modifier immediately preceding the word modified, unless the meaning is clear and readability is not aided by using the hyphen (e.g., high school student). Do not hyphenate predicate adjective or adverb phrases. Example: full-time employee, but employed full time. Do not hyphenate a two-word unit modifier when the first word is an adverb that ends in 'ly' (congressionally chartered group) or when a word is a comparative or superlative (lower income group, highest level decision). But, low-income group, high-level decision. Hyphenate numerical compounds that are unit modifiers, whether or not the first element is a figure. Examples: 5-year program, three-story building, but for 5 years. Hyphenate noun phrases and unit modifiers relating to age, but not predicate adjectives. Examples: 18-year-old offender, an 18-year-old, but 18 years old. Exhibits For ease of reference, use "exhibit" for tables, figures, and charts. Geographic Terms Spell out United States when used as a noun, as an official (United States Code) or legal title (United States Steel Corp.), or as part of a case name (United States v. Smith). Abbreviate when used as an adjective (U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Congress, but Executive Office for United States Attorneys). Spell out State names in text, but use the postal abbreviation in addresses (Charleston, South Carolina; but Charleston, SC 20700). Exception: Washington, District of Columbia, is written Washington, D.C., in text. Well-known cities (e.g., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco) can be written without the State as long as no confusion will result. Italics Do not italicize foreign words (unless they are Latin legal terms-see GPO (2000) 11.2-11.5, p. 177). Italicize case names, but not the v. (United States v. Smith). Numbers Spell out numbers one through nine except for units of measurement, degrees, decimals, money, percentages, or proportions; use figures for 10 and above. The ordinals first through ninth are also spelled out. Examples: first floor, Seventh Street. Chapter and exhibit references in text use numerals (as do, with rare exceptions, the chapters and exhibits themselves). Example: chapter 7. Use figures for units of time (age, clock, dates), except for century/ies and decade/s (1 day, 2 months, 4 fiscal years, but five decades). Write time of day as follows: 8 a.m., 8:30 p.m. Use figures to denote percentages. Write out percent in text; use the % symbol in exhibits. Fractions standing alone or followed by of a or of an are generally spelled out (three-fourths of an inch, a quarter of a mile). Don't mix percentages and fractions (20 percent of the men and three-fourths of the women). Ciphers should always be used with decimals as per GPO 12.9d (e.g., 0.012 rather than .012). Use en dashes between groups of numbers such as a page range (pp. 25- 26), a range of years (1995-99), a telephone number (800-851-3420), or a nine-digit ZIP Code (20849-6000). When referring to a fiscal year or to a continuous period of 2 or more years, use only the last two digits of the second year (1997-98, 1985-94) unless there is a change in century or to avoid three or more zeros together (1999-2001, 2000-2005, but 2000-11). If both years have a zero as the third digit, use only the last digit of the second year (2005-8). Spell out "to" when using "from" (from 1995 to 1996), and spell out "and" when using "between" (between 1963 and 1966). In neither case is the second year shortened. $1 million, but $4,473,000 (not $4.473 million; if rounding, $4.5 million). Photographs If you submit photos, please provide contact information for the photographers. NIJ will arrange to get photo permission and correct crediting information. Pullquotes Pullquotes, which can be paraphrased or a shortened version of body text, are used with some publications to add design interest and to draw readers' attention to text highlights. Pullquotes are usually developed by the editor at the time a document goes to graphics for production; however, the author is encouraged to provide suggested pullquotes (generally one per page). Usage Fewer than/less than. "Fewer than" refers to objects that can be counted (fewer than 25 cities); "less than" is used for qualitative objects (less than 25 percent). Percent/percentage. When a number appears in a sentence, use percent; when no specific number is mentioned, use percentage. Staff. Staff takes a plural verb form (NIJ staff are reviewing. . .). Although. Use instead of "while," unless you are talking about a period of time. Compared to/compared with. Use compared to to point out resemblances, often unexpected, between essentially dissimilar objects; use compared with to point out differences, often unexpected, between essentially similar objects. Country. When referring to the United States, use "Nation." Over. Use "more than" when talking about quantity. Punctuation Apostrophe. Use only to indicate possession, not to form the plural/contraction of a figure, symbol, or combination of letters (1920s, OKs, BTUs, YMCAs). NIJ differs from GPO on using apostrophes in county names (e.g., Prince George's County). Follow the pronunciation when forming a possessive for a word ending in "s." Harris's house, not Harris', but Chalmers' house, not Chalmers's. The "s" is omitted in a possessive if including it would create three "s" sounds in succession; for example, in Jesus' name, for goodness' sake, Texas'. Comma. Use serial commas with three or more items used with and, or, or nor (red, white, and blue). Exception: Leave out the comma if an ampersand is used instead (Barter, Biddles & Brower). Use a comma before and after explanatory phrases, appositives, and identifiers (after a State when using a city and State, such as "In Newark, New Jersey,") and in a complete date within a sentence ("on May 1, 1995,"). Do not use a comma if only writing the month and year (June 1994). A comma after an introductory clause of three words or fewer is optional unless a date ending the clause is followed by a number ("In June 1994, 123 juveniles were arrested . . .") or unless the sentence would be misread without the comma. Quotation marks. Place periods and commas inside quotation marks. Colons, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation points are placed outside quotation marks unless they are part of the material being quoted. Quotation marks are not necessary for nonliteral terms that have a commonly accepted meaning in the criminal justice field (e.g., hot spot, broken windows). When quotation marks are used, they should be used only the first time the term is used. Semicolon. Use a semicolon to separate a complex series of major elements when those elements also contain commas ("the country's resources consist of large ore deposits; lumber, waterpower, and fertile soils; and a strong, rugged people"). Do not use a semicolon when a comma will suffice. Quoted Material Quoted material exceeding 10 lines should be set off in a left-indented paragraph introduced by a colon and followed by the note number or citation. Spacing A space is used between a figure and a unit symbol except in the case of the symbols for degree, minute, and second of plane angle: 3 m, 25 [degrees]C, but 33[degrees] 15'21' (GPO rule 9.56). Symbols Symbol sequence (GPO rule 15.14) is as follows: asterisk (*), dagger, double dagger, and section mark. Notes and References NIJ prefers endnotes to reference lists. On long documents, however, such as Special Reports or Science and Technology Reports, references may be use instead of or along with endnotes. Endnotes and bibliographic entries have basically the same format, with two differences: Notes often include page numbers while bibliographic entries do not. Also, almost all note components are set off by commas and almost all bibliographic components are set off by periods. For a shorter work or for a Special Report by a single author, endnotes should generally be consolidated at the end of the document and listed sequentially (not by chapter or section). Endnotes may appear at the end of each chapter of multiauthor works. Notes to exhibits should be placed at the bottom of the exhibit. If an exhibit has only one note, use an asterisk to designate it; if it has more than one, see "Symbols." Notes to sidebars should be placed at the end of the sidebar. If a sidebar has more than one note, use letters of the alphabet to designate notes. Books Notes. Author (last name, first name), Title in Italics, Place of publication: Publisher, year of publication: page number(s) cited. Note that in all NIJ citation forms, a space appears between a colon and page number(s) following a colon. Example: o Jones, John, History of Criminology, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1992: 10. References. Author (last name, first name). Title in Italics. Place of publication: Publisher, year of publication. Example: o Jones, John. History of Criminology. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1992. Electronic Sources Styles for citing electronic sources are still in flux. These guidelines are based on styles for citing electronic sources used by the American Psychological Association, the Modern Language Association, the Library of Congress, and the International Standard Organization, whose style is supported by Chicago. Follow the style for the type of publication, such as a chapter in a book or an article in a journal. Include the "retrieved" statements below, which are loosely based on APA's August 9, 1999, online revision of the fourth edition of its style guide. APA and MLA do not require a retrieval or access date when the source is a CD-ROM. CD-ROM databases. Retrieved [month, day, year] from [source] database [name of database], CD-ROM, [release date if applicable], [item number if applicable]. Example: o Federal Bureau of Investigation. Encryption: Impact on Law Enforcement. (March 1998). Retrieved from SIRS database SIRS Government Reporter, CD-ROM, fall 1998 release. Online databases. Retrieved [month, day, year] from [source] online database [name of database], [item number if applicable]. Examples: o Bowles, Martin. "The Organization Man Goes to College: AT&T's Experiment in Humanistic Education, 1953-1960." The Historian 61 (1998):15-17. Retrieved January 2, 1999, from DIALOG online database #88, IAC Business A.R.T.S., Item 04993186. o Davis, Thomas. "Examining Educational Malpractice Jurisprudence: Should a Cause of Action be Created for Student-Athletes?" Denver University Law Journal 69 (1992): 57. Retrieved August 31, 1999, from WESTLAW online database, 69 DENULR 57. Web-based databases. Retrieved [month, day, year] from [source] database [name of database], [item number if applicable] on the World Wide Web: [URL]. Example: o Schneiderman, Ronald. "Librarians Can Make Sense of the Net." San Antonio Business Journal 11 (1997) (31): 58. Retrieved January 27, 1999, from EBSCO database, Masterfile, on the World Wide Web: http://www.ebsco.com. Electronic correspondence. Cite electronic correspondence from bulletin boards, e-mail messages, and discussion groups as personal communications in the reference list: Example: o S.T. Smith, personal communication, July 18, 1999. Periodicals Notes. Author (last name, first name), "Title of Article in Quotation Marks (initial cap all words except articles and most prepositions)," Title of Periodical in Italics (no comma) volume number (month and year of publication in parentheses): page number(s) cited. Example: o Jones, John, "Crime in the Community," Journal of Crime 10 (June 1992): 3-4. If no volume number is given, omit this item after the periodical title; e.g., Crime (June 1992): 3-4. If the issue number is given, it is placed in parentheses after the volume number; the month and year of publication is placed in parentheses after the issue number. Example: o Jones, John, "Crime in the Community," Journal of Crime 10 (2) (June 1992): 3-4. Citations to newspaper articles are as follows: Author (last name, first name) (if known), "Title of Article in Quotation Marks (initial cap all words except articles and most prepositions)," Title of Newspaper in Italics, date of newspaper, page (including section). Examples: o Jones, John, "Crime in the Community," Washington Post, June 10, 1992, B1. o Editorial, "Crime in the Community," Washington Post, June 10, 1992, A22. References. Author (last name, first name). "Title of Article in Quotation Marks (initial cap all words except articles and most prepositions)." Title of Periodical in Italics (no comma) volume number (month and year of publication in parentheses): page numbers of article. Example: o Jones, John. "Crime in the Community." Journal of Crime 10 (June 1992): 3-12. Citations to newspaper articles are as follows: Author (last name, first name) (if known). "Title of Article in Quotation Marks (initial cap all words except articles and most prepositions)." Title of Newspaper in Italics, date of newspaper, page (including section). Examples: o Jones, John. "Crime in the Community." Washington Post, June 10, 1992, B1. o Editorial. "Crime in the Community." Washington Post, June 10, 1992, A24. Series Notes. Author (last name, first name), Title of Publication in Italics, Title of Series in Initial Caps (except for articles and most prepositions), volume and number, Place of publication: publisher, year of publication: page number(s) cited. Example: o Chapman, Jefferson, Parental Care, Illinois Biological Monographs, vol. 22, Champaign: University of Illinois, 1975: 13-14. References. Author (last name, first name). Title of Publication in Italics. Title of Series in Initial Caps (except for articles and most prepositions), volume and number. Place of publication: publisher, year of publication. Example: o Chapman, Jefferson. Parental Care. Illinois Biological Monographs, vol. 22. Champaign: University of Illinois, 1975. NIJ and other government series. NIJ and other government series should follow the same format as other series, except the month should be given with the year of publication and the NCJ number should be given at the end of the citation. Note also in the following example how the publisher is cited. The example is a note. Example: o Visher, Christy A., Pretrial Drug Testing, Research in Brief, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, September 1992, NCJ 137057. Please note that Government Printing Office is not to be named as the publisher and that both the Government Office and Department/Agency are to be named. Unpublished Documents See Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed., 15.270 and 15.272. Notes. Use commas: Rose, Dina R., and Todd R. Clear, "A Thug in Jail Can't Shoot Your Sister: Incarceration and Social Capital," paper presented to the American Sociological Association, New York, August 13, 1997, 25. References. Use periods: Rose, Dina R., and Todd R. Clear. "A Thug in Jail Can't Shoot Your Sister: Incarceration and Social Capital." Paper presented to the American Sociological Association, New York, August 13, 1997. Documents Available From NCJRS Documents available from NCJRS through photocopy or interlibrary loan are treated as unpublished documents; NCJRS is considered a distributor, not a publisher. Citations of such documents, however, should include the grant number, if applicable, and should always both reference NCJRS as the information service and provide the NCJ or ACCN number. o Garner, J., T. Schade, J. Hepburn, J. Fagan, and J. Buchanan. "Understanding the Use of Force By and Against the Police." Final report for National Institute of Justice, grant number 92-IJ-CX-K028. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 1995. NCJRS, NCJ 158614. Repeating a Citation In notes, if the source is the same as the previous note, use Ibid. with a comma and a page number; e.g., Ibid., 3. If the source has been given a full citation earlier (two or more notes previously) in the notes, use author's last name, title of book or document or article, and the page number. Here are some examples: o Jones, "Crime in the Community," 5. (an article in a periodical) o Visher, Pretrial Drug Testing, 2. (a document in a series; the same style would apply to a book) Author Issues If there are multiple authors, the first author should be listed last name first, but the other(s) should be listed first name first; e.g., Winterfield, Laura A., and Sally T. Hillsman. If there are no authors, only editors, the editors go in the author slot; e.g., Jamieson, K.M., and T.J. Flannegan, eds. (Editors are often referred to by the first and middle initials only.) If an agency or institution is both the author and publisher, use both; e.g., Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1984. Special Issues Chapters in a book. In a case in which a chapter has an author and the book has editors, use this note format: Author (Last name, first name), "Title of Chapter in Quotation Marks," in Title of Book in Italics, ed. editors' names (first names first), Publication place: publisher, year of publication: page numbers cited (or if in reference list, all page numbers of chapter). Example: o Smith, Robert, "Crime and the Cities," in A Review of Criminal Justice, ed. Ellen Tomes and Edward Bock, New York: Wiley, 1990: 25-26. Note that in this format, the singular "ed." precedes the names of the editors. If the abbreviation for editors follows the names, it is plural; i.e., eds. (See "Author Issues.") Several citations in one endnote. Separate each citation by semicolons. If the items have been previously cited, they can be cited as: See Jones, "Crime," 3; Miller, "Jails," 5; and Thomas, Prisons, 6. III. Checklist and General Tips Checklist Did you include everything? o Contact information for all authors. o Complete author bylines and bio text. o Grant number. o Hard copies of all materials delivered electronically. o Complete citations for all references. General Tips Don't embed--link If you cannot manipulate an image in your word processing file, chances are others will not be able to either. If the image cannot be edited, it will have to be recreated. When importing graphics from other formats, make sure to link the object and provide the source file for the object. (Most software applications have information on the subject. Key words to use when accessing the help function include embedding, linking, source files, graphics, and OLE objects.) Test the file Can others open and manipulate it? When in doubt about compatibility or use of the files you will be providing, run a test. E-mail files to a computer that is not on the same network as yours and open the file and every element in the file (e.g., charts, boxes, etc.). If you hit a firewall, your file is too big; if you cannot open every element and access data points and you get error messages (e.g., "The OLE object could not be created," or "Source file unavailable"), then others will have problems with your files. Tips for Graphic Elements o Simplify Minimize the number of items in your exhibits. Images are meant to enhance the message, and simpler images do this most effectively. o Make sure others can manipulate your files Be sure an artist can open and work with your maps, charts, and illustrations. o Use titles Give your charts, tables, and graphs titles and numbers. o Provide data points Include all data points and a hard copy of your charts, tables, and graphs. o Credit photographs Include copyright and credit information, photo release, and caption. Tips for Software o Postscript Avoid postscript files unless they are already in the highest resolution. If postscript is the only option, call your editor for guidance. o pdf files (Adobe Acrobat) These should be in the highest resolution possible. Editors and artists cannot manipulate pdf files. o PowerPoint This is not a preferred format for printing because it is incompatible with offset printing (printing on press). PowerPoint files are fine if you are submitting material for a Web publication. o TIF This format is fine if it is the native image format. The highest resolution possible for a TIF file should be used. o JPG and PICT Both JPG and PICT are export formats and should be avoided, if possible, since images in the native formats are preferred. o GIF GIF is not an acceptable format for printing. GIFs are strictly for onscreen presentation, primarily on the Web.