This short guide has been written in order to provide writers with guidance on how to format their work before submission.
Below is a list of things the article should conform to:
- Length: No more than 2000 words, and no less than 700 words.
- Inclusion of citations in the footnotes
- Exploratory of a problem andoffering (however nominally) a solution (if applicable).
- Original work that may be opinion – but should be backed up with relevant sources and thinkers.
1) Guidance for writers
Articles that are stylistically consistent enhance the professional appearance of a website. For this reason the following ought to be applied uniformly with any deviation requiring strong justification.
i. Font: Arial (throughout)
ii. Size: 14 for titles; 12 for main text and bibliographies/readings; 10 for footnotes; 11 for epigraphs.
iii. Italics/Bold: to be used sparingly, with italics being used for purpose of emphasis and bold to be used to highlight something key within a list that is embedded in the main body of the text, for instance:
“Conception is the moment within Khayal when a particular idea or topic is considered worth exploring. This may involve a number of people or just one individual who writes an essay/article on a particular topic and sends it to Khayal where it is hosted. If the arguments have merit they will generate a discourse with more essays/articles being written and perhaps even feed into public lectures and khutbas. This discourse may involve a few people or, depending on non-controllable factors (such as the political atmosphere at the time), many people far and wide. Nonetheless, Khayal will attempt to glean from any such discourse the salient points that help strengthen and cohere the initial arguments making them more formidable. At this point two simultaneous processes will be initiated. Firstly, Khayal will network with organisations and publications so that when arguments emerge as cohered and well-formed, different outlets can be utilised to host them in the form of papers, essays, articles, pod-casts.”
iv. Title: The title should be bold and underlined while sub-headings should be bold and in italics. Sub-sub-headings ought to be only in italics. The font size should not change. You should avoid too many subheadings and always avoid too many sub-subheadings.
v. Lists: Lists should use bullet points. The choice of using numbers, letters, or symbols is flexible, but writers ought to try and unify this practice between their own documents. If there are several lists within a document, then the same format should be used throughout. Where elements of a list contain subsidiary lists, numbers ought to be used for the first set and roman numerals for the subsidiary set.
vi. The title of texts in the main body: When writing the title of a text in the main body of your document, use italics. If it is a title of an article use speech marks.
vii. Footnotes: Footnotes should be used mainly to reference secondary material. This applies to direct quotes, paraphrases, and where you may simply be borrowing an idea or phrase. Footnotes should be in numbers that are superscripted, size 8, and placed at the end of the sentence after a full stop. Where there is a need for more than one footnote in a single sentence, the footnote may be inserted at the appropriate place within the middle of a sentence. Footnotes should follow the following format (the order, the style, and the placing of commas, colons and brackets are all important):
First name followed by surname of author, Title of text, (City of publication: Publisher, date of publication), page number/s.
Title, ed. by first name followed by surname of author, (City of publication: Publisher, date of publication), page number/s.
First name followed by surname of author, “title of chapter”, in, Title, ed. by first name followed by surname of author, (City of publication: Publisher, date of publication), page number/s.
First name followed by surname of author, (date of publication), “title”, name of journal, vol number:issue number, pages.
Author’s name, “title”, full web address, viewed on date.
When referencing the same source more than once but one after the other,
you should write: ibid, page number/s.
viii. Bibliography/Readings: Bibliographies and Readings follow the same format at footnotes but place the surname of the author first followed by a comma and then the author’s first name and are presented in the same font size as the main text. They are also placed immediately after the last paragraph of the main text. The order of the references should be alphabetical using the surnames of the authors or, in the case of edited editions, the title of the book. Even when you have used only a specific chapter in an edited book you should include details of the book and not that of the chapter as in the case of the footnote. Electronic resources should be separated and placed at the end of the list of books/journals.
ix. Quotes: Quotes are normally of two types: integrated and non-integrated. Integrated quotes are short (normally no longer than one line) and are inserted directly into the main body of the text with single quotation marks, as in the following:
Text Text Text Text Text Text ‘Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote’ Text Text Text Text Text Text.
Text Text Text Text Text Text, ‘Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote’ Text Text Text Text Text Text.
A non-integrated quote is one that is placed in between two paragraphs and
indented without using quotation marks, as in the following:
Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text. Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text. Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text. Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text,
Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote Quote
Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text. Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text. Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text. Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text,
Where a quotation contains speech or another quotation, this is indicated via
speech marks (“text”). If this is the case at the beginning of your quote you
will use a singe quotation mark followed by an opening speech mark. If
this is the case at the end of your quote you will use a closing speech mark
followed by a closing quotation mark, as in the following:
Text Text Text Text ‘”Quote” Quote Quote Quote’ Text Text Text Text Text Text Text. Text Text
Text Text Text Text ‘Quote Quote Quote “Quote”’ Text Text Text Text Text. Text Text Text Text
x. Epigraphs: Epigraphs should be in font 11, indented to the right hand side of you document, and at the end on a separate line you should write first name followed by surname of author, Title, (date of publication).
xi. Qur’an/Hadith: When quoting the Qur’an or a particular hadith you should follow the same format as for other quotes (see above). When transliterating an Arabic word, use italics. When referencing quotations from the Qur’an, cite the verse(s) and surah number as a footnote (e.g. al-Quran 7:32), and in the case of hadith, give the shortened and known title of the book (Muslim).
Please note: Since articles are written in English, we strongly emphasise that the article contain as little Arabic transliteration as possible since it disrupts the read and can often leave the reader bewildered in terms of the meaning of the word. Thus, words such as sabr should be written as ‘patience’.
2) System of submission
Articles that have been completed, edited and formatted should be emailed to [email protected] or submitted via the website from the following link. Submit your article