Style Guide

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Guidelines for Writing Articles

This document is written to facilitate any author who wishes to collaborate with a dissemination article in the ArqueoTimes magazine. It will expose both the basic structure of articles and the style aspects that must be fulfilled as well as the procedure for submitting documents for subsequent review: 

The Structure of Articles:

1. Title.

It will be limited to a maximum of 10 words. 

Parentheses will not be written in the title, except when wanting to specify a date or indicate the location of an unfamiliar city. Example: «The Evacuation of Gibraltar (1940)» or «New Remains Associated with the Battles of Mohács (Hungary) Found».

It should aim to attract the reader without falling into sensationalism.

2. Author

  • Name of the author
  • Brief biographical description that does not exceed five lines of text.

3. Keywords

List of no more than ten keywords that summarize the essence of the article. These words will be used as hashtags for indexing the article in search engines later on. One of them must refer to a historical period chosen from: Prehistory, Ancient History, Medieval History, Modern History, Contemporary History or Current World History.

4. Body of the Article

Divided into paragraphs that aid in its readability. Regarding this, we could refer to Michael Alley: «How long can a sentence be? In principle, as long as you want, as long as you maintain clarity.» As a recommendation:

A printed page double-spaced should have two or three paragraphs. Paragraphs should average 7 to 14 lines, although it is better to alternate shorter (3-6 lines) and longer (15-20 lines) paragraphs. A sequence of several short paragraphs, as well as a sequence of short sentences, contains too many high signals and produces an unpleasant reading experience. At the other extreme, a paragraph that spans a full page looks overwhelming and does not invite reading.

There will be no imposed internal structure for the author, but it must be well defined, i.e., the author can guide themselves by an article scientific structure with introduction, methodology, discussion, and conclusions or opt for a more journalistic or even interview-style narrative. Regardless of which is chosen, it should be easily deducible for the reviewer and reader to avoid going off on tangents or losing the reader. It is usually recommended to indicate at the time of writing the sections decided upon and even include questions that will be addressed throughout the text. When reviewing the article, headings such as Introduction, Methodology, etc., should be removed but other headings referring to questions or internal sections can remain, for example: «But how is it possible then that the clergy accepted this situation?»

5. Conclusions

It will be the only mandatory heading in the article and will succinctly summarize what was explained in the body. It is here where a possible call to action should appear.

6. Bibliography

The format of texts included within it must be in Harvard-APA style. You can consult this link for more information: https://up-pe.libguides.com/c.php?g=1043492&p=7613363#s-lg-box-24179829

Format

Texts must be formatted in Arial font at 12 points. The text should have a line spacing of 1.5 points and be justified. There are no format requirements regarding margins.

Length

They will not exceed 1200 words.  

Double and Single Quotes

Quotes should be used to reproduce textual words. Angular or Spanish quotes « » must be used. Common text processors (Microsoft Office, LibreOffice and OpenOffice) allow rules to be set for choosing the type of quote, as well as keyboard shortcuts for inserting them. Regarding this topic, it is recommended to review this article by Fundéu Rae: https://www.fundeu.es/recomendacion/comillas-uso-de-este-signo-ortografico/

Citations of more than 40 words

Citations that have more than 40 words are written separately from the text, with indentation, without quotes and without italics. At the end of the citation, a period is placed before the data (remember that for citations under 40 words, the period goes after). https://www.usanmarcos.ac.cr/sites/default/files/i_taller_apa_7_ed.pdf

Images

Articles will be illustrated with a featured image, which will be used as a social media promotion image and on the magazine's digital cover. At least one other image within the body of the text should also be included, linked to it. These can include: maps, works of art, photographs, scanned documents, screenshots from audiovisual tapes, etc. If at the time of writing an assigned illustrator or the author decides to photographically illustrate or use their own illustration, this is possible. They must always be free for use.

Images should come with a caption that indicates their content and the original source of the image. In the case where the image was made by the author, it will indicate: «Source: the author/author».

Bibliographic Citations

Throughout the text, references to bibliographic citations should be included, serving as a bridge between academic and popular texts. The Harvard-APA style presents citations within the body of the work and not at the bottom of the page. Use the format author (last name), year of publication, and page cited, all in parentheses:

(author, year, p./pp. number of pages) 

Textual citations should be enclosed in quotes:

«The Egyptians believed that water was the primordial matter from which all things had emerged» (Wilkinson, 2000, p. 139).

In case of doubt

As a reference for any stylistic aspect not covered in this brief style guide, the guidelines indicated by Fundeu (www.fundeu.es) should be followed.

Submission of Articles

To proceed with submitting articles, they can be sent in word format to the following email address: arqueotimes@gmail.com 

Guidelines for Writing Reviews

For the ArqueoTimes magazine, the preparation of reviews must follow a clear and methodical structure that allows readers to obtain a deep and critical understanding of the reviewed works. These works should be considered for dissemination or high-level dissemination and always include bibliographic references within them, excluding historical novels or non-referenced popularizations. Below is a detailed guide for writing reviews in the context of archaeology and related sciences:

1. Preparation

Before starting to write, it is crucial to become thoroughly familiar with the work. This involves:

  • Careful Reading: Read the material attentively, taking notes on key aspects, main theses, and the author's arguments.
  • Contextualization: Understand the context in which the work is situated, considering the time period, geographical area, and relevance within the field of archaeology.

2. Structure of the Review

The review should be structured as follows:

  • Introduction
    • Bibliographic Data: Full title of the work, author's name, place and date of publication, number of pages, and publisher.
    • Context of the Work: Brief description of the author and their relevance in the field they belong to.
    • Main Thesis: Concise presentation of the central idea of the book or article.
  • Development
    • Content: Summary of the content, highlighting main chapters or sections.
    • Critical Analysis: Evaluation of the work, discussing methodology, sources used, argumentation, and contribution to the field in which it is situated.
  • Conclusion
    • Synthesis: Recapitulation of the main points of the review.
    • Final Evaluation: Critical judgment on the work, mentioning its potential usefulness for the scientific community or an interested public in the topic.

3. Style and Writing

  • Clarity and Precision: Use clear language, avoiding unnecessary technical jargon.
  • Objectivity: Maintain a critical and objective stance, supporting opinions with solid arguments.
  • Brevity: Be concise, ensuring that the review does not exceed 1000 words.

4. Citation and References

For the preparation of this guide, the following sources were consulted:

Universidad de los Andes (2023). Guide for writing a review. Retrieved from https://leo.uniandes.edu.co/guia-para-la-elaboracion-de-una-resena/