-------------------------------------------------------------------- Crossroads[1] The ACM's First Electronic Publication Home[2] Back Issues[3] Index[4] About[5] Participate [6] Feedback[7] Online Bookstore[8] Search Crossroads[9] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ACM Crossroads Writers' Guide ----------------------------- Version 3.0 November 1998 This document contains instructions for preparing all manuscripts that will be submitted for publication in Crossroads. By following these instructions you will ensure that your article gets reviewed and that your article gets formatted properly if it is selected for publication. Articles selected for publication in Crossroads will be returned to the authors for revision. Articles longer than 6000 words will generally not be considered for publication. Feature articles should be between 1500 and 6000 words; reviews should be between 800 and 2000 words; and opinion columns should be between 800 and 3000 words. If you have any questions about the submission procedure, please contact a Crossroads editor or crossroads@acm.org[10]. * Overview[11] * HTML Formatting Guidelines[12] * Citations[13] * Graphics[14] * Biography[15] * Filenames[16] * Submitting your Manuscript[17] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Overview[18] ------------ Crossroads is published in both HTML and printed format. Generally we edit articles in HTML format and then convert them into a format we can use to prepare our printed edition. When you submit an article, please submit in HTML (first choice) or plain text (second choice). Do not encode or ``attach'' your file into the mail message, but simply have the file be the body of the email message. Graphics should be submitted separately as GIF or JPG or TIFF files. Please send one graphic per email. Use uuencode, not mime. Do not send the graphics as attachments. See below for futher instructions about creating your images. -------------------------------------------------------------------- HTML Formatting Guidelines[19] ------------------------------ Documents should be formatted using standard HTML formatting codes. The HTML validation utility at WebTechs[20] might also be helpful. In addition, they should use the following conventions: Title of the article should be the same in the and in the

tag sets at the top of the document. The title in the

set should also be centered (use ). Author's name should be centered on the next line and should reference the bio at the end of the article. Please help us index your article more precisely by adding keywords and a description inside of tags. Keywords are one or two words each that describe the main concepts your article is related to. A description is a sentence (not more than 200 characters) that summarizes your article. Example HTML code: Title of the Article

Title of the Article

by Author Name .....article body and references..... Bio about author... Since the Title of the article is H1, if there are any word titles to sections in the article, they will be at the H2 level. Subsections will be at the H3 level. Do not use numbered sections and subsections...Use descriptive words only (like ``Introduction'' and ``Conclusions''). Use bold ( and ) to highlight words you are defining. Use italic ( and ) to highlight words you are emphasizing. Type all double open quotes using two back quotes (``). Type all double close quotes using two apostrophes (''). Do not use a double quote character. Type all long dashes using two hyphens (--). Use the numbered reference format found in CACM (explained below) for all citations. References cited should be followed by the reference number enclosed in square brackets. Use the word ``References'' as the section title for this part of the article (instead of using Endnotes, Bibliography, or any other word). Avoid using footnotes. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Citations[21] ------------- Crossroads citations should be formatted in the same style as CACM citations are formatted. This format follows the Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition. The following are some illustrative examples of how to format citations for journals, books, and proceedings. These examples are shown formatted with the appropriate HTML tags. Note that the authors are arranged alphabetically by last name!

1: Hoffman, W.M., and Moore, J.M. Ethics and the Management of Computer Technology. Oelgeschlager, Gunn & Hain Cambridge, Mass. 1982.
2: Johnson, D. Computer Ethics. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1985.
3: Khoshfian, S.N., and Copeland, G.P. Object Identity. In Proceedings of OOPSLA'86 Conference (Sept. 29-Oct 2, Portland, Or.) ACM/SIGPLAN, New York. 1986, pp. 406-416.
4: Parker, R. Lotus' copyright protection is turning into a feeding frenzy. Infoworld 12, 28 (Jul. 9, 1990), 42.
5: Rumbaugh, J.E. Controlling propagation of operations using attributes on relations. In Proceedings of OOPSLA'88 Conference (Sept. 25-30, San Diego, Calif.) ACM/SIGPLAN, New York, 1988, pp. 285-296.
6: Samuelson, P. and Glushko, R. Comparing the views of lawyers and user interface designers on the software copyright look & feel lawsuits. Jurimetrics J. 30, 3 (Mar. 1989), 121-126.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Graphics[22] ------------ Generate graphics using the package of your choice and save them as GIF or JPG or TIFF files. Crossroads prints in black and white, so its to your advantage not to use color graphics. Please take care that you use black, white, and shades of gray that do not obscure any text in the graphic. Each graphic MUST be at a resolution of 300dpi minimum. Also, please try to create your graphic in actual size. This means that no graphic can be larger than 7 inches wide by 9 inches tall, actual size. For submission of your rough draft, put the images somewhere on your own home page and use a full URL reference in the article. For example, in your article, use img src=http://www.myschool.edu/ me/pic1.gif If your article is accepted, we will give you exact directions on how to get the images to us, or we will copy them off of your website. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Biography[23] ------------- Include a short biography of yourself and your coauthors (10 to 80 words for each author) at the end of your manuscript. Bios of authors will be will be printed with their articles and online in our index of authors. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Filenames[24] ------------- Select a ``slug'' for your article and use it as part of the file name. A key word from the title of your article would be a good slug. Pick a slug that is likely to be unique. Then name your files according to the following examples (assume the slug is slug in these examples): * HTML formatted article - slug.html -------------------------------------------------------------------- Submitting your Manuscript[25] ------------------------------ Submit your manuscript to crossroads by mailing it to xrds-submit@acm.org. * Please DO NOT mail it as a mime attachment. * Please DO NOT uuencode, compress, binhex, or otherwise compress or encode your article file. * Please include the filename in the subject line of your message. * Include any notes for the editors at the beginning of your message. * Please follow the guidelines above for submitting your images. (Put them on your homepage and include the full URL for them. If you absolutely can not do this, include this fact before your article submission, and we'll arrange something.) You will receive comments on your manuscript and notification as to whether your manuscript has been accepted for publication about two weeks after the submission deadlines. If your manuscript is accepted, you will have about two weeks to revise it and resubmit it. Last Modified: Thursday, 26-Nov-98 00:08:54 Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html -------------------------------------------------------------------- Crossroads Home[26] Back Issues[27] Index[28] About[29] Participate[30] Feedback[31] Online Bookstore[32] Search Crossroads[33] -------------------------------------------------------------------- We're RSAC rated![34] *** References from this document *** [orig] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html [1] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/index.html [2] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/index.html [3] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/issues.html [4] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/indices.html [5] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information.html [6] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/participation.html [7] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/gbook/feedback.html [8] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/bookstore/ [9] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/search.html [10] mailto:crossroads@acm.org [11] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html#\ Overview [12] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html#\ HTML_Formatting_Guidelines [13] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html#\ Citations [14] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html#\ Graphics [15] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html#\ Biography [16] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html#\ Filenames [17] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html#\ Submitting_You_manuscript [18] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html [19] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html [20] http://www.webtechs.com/html-val-svc/ [21] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html [22] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html [23] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html [24] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html [25] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information/writing.html [26] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/index.html [27] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/issues.html [28] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/indices.html [29] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/information.html [30] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/doc/participation.html [31] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/gbook/feedback.html [32] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/bookstore/ [33] http://www.acm.org/crossroads/search.html [34] http://www.rsac.org/