This brief has been written to ensure the overall coherence of the book. It is meant to guide your thinking and will apply to all articles. If you feel it is necessary to amend the organizational style of your article, please discuss this with the editors to ensure that the changes will be acceptable.

1. STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK. Entries will be arranged alphabetically in three volumes. The third volume will include an extensive chronology and an extensive set of primary documents, a general bibliography, a contributor’s list, and a detailed index.
   
   
2. LENGTH/WORD COUNT. Articles will be assigned by length. These are:

A-length article: 3500 words
B-length article: 2000 words
C-length article: 1400 words
D-length article: 800 words

Each article should conform to the length specified above. When you are assigned your article/s, you will be told its length category. If you absolutely need to depart from the assigned length, please discuss this with the editors ahead of time. You will not be paid extra for writing a longer entry unless this has been pre-approved by the editors and MTM Publishing.

3. READERSHIP. The book is designed for upper-level high school and college students as well as for the general public. You should write for this audience, explaining all specialized terminology. Avoid technical vocabulary and jargon as much as possible.
   
   
4. IDENTIFICATION . Do not assume knowledge of individuals. Identify them with some sort of descriptive phrase (e.g., “Italian political leader”).
   
   
5. INTERPRETATION. Your article should present your interpretation of the topic or issue; however, because the encyclopedia is a reference work, it has an obligation to present all significant interpretations on controversial and unresolved questions. Avoid polemics and partisanship.
   
   
6. GENDER NEUTRAL LANGUAGE. The book seeks to use nonsexist language, although writers should not torture a sentence to achieve it. Please follow these general rules:
   1. Avoid sex-specific terminology, such as mankind, and the use of “man” or “men” as the generic for human being.
   2. Avoid male pronouns to describe people in general. Also, please avoid the awkward “s/he” construction whenever possible.
      
      
7. DATES. Your entry should include references to important dates (and date spans), such as for wars, events, books, films, etc. Please double-check all dates to ensure accuracy.
   
   
8. UNDESIRABLE EXPRESSIONS. Avoid expressions that date an article in relation to the time of writing, such as “recent developments,” “ten years ago,” or “A new dam is being built.” Rather, say “In 2005 construction of a new dam began.” Also avoid first-person writing (e.g., we, our, etc.).
   
   
9. IMAGES. The encyclopedia will include photos as well as a small number of maps and charts. Although we can’t guarantee that your suggestions will make it into the final publication, your ideas will be seriously considered. So feel free to make suggestions for images that might accompany your article, including relevant photos, posters, maps, graphs, cartoons, etc. If you do have a suggestion, please submit a photocopy of the image or data and the title and copyright page (if from a book), and include complete information on its source (make sure to also submit a photocopy of the photo or illustration credit page if applicable). A brief caption that could be included with it would be welcome. MTM Publishing will be responsible for securing permission to use any suggested visual images or statistical data.
   
   
10. DOCUMENT APPENDIX. The encyclopedia will contain a sizeable appendix of primary documents—text of legislation, rulings, treaties, speeches, etc, as well as pertinent private communications such as letters, diary entries, etc—in the last volume. Please suggest any such material you feel would be useful to illustrate, explain, or otherwise augment your article. As with suggestions for visual images above, submit a photocopy of the material, with the title and copyright page and complete information on the source. If the material can be found online, please point us to a full and functional URL.
    
    
11. QUOTING PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED MATERIAL/PERMISSIONS. The use of quotations from copyrighted works, such as from novels or scholarly works, should be kept to a minimum so as to minimize the need to secure written permissions and to ensure the originality of the articles. If your article requires a quotation of more than a few words, please contact your editor to determine your need to secure written permission for use. See additional notes in “Style Sheet” under “Citations."
    
    
12. ATTRIBUTION. It is not necessary to include parenthetical attributions as is the custom in monograph writing, since this is a reference book and should state and explain the standard information and analysis. However, if you need to cite the source of a theory or particular analysis, do that within the text. (i.e., “According to the newly propounded theories of Albert Smith, the development of nuclear arsenals during the Cold War….”)
     
13. STATISTICS. Do include the source of statistics cited in your article. This can be done with an intext attribution, as in the above paragraph, or parenthetically. The full citation should be included in the bibliography, which will follow the text of your article.