THL Toolbox > Essays > Structure of the Word Document

Structure of the Word Document: Front, Body, and Back Sections

Contributor(s): José Cabezón, Michael Cox, David Germano, Nathaniel Grove, Alison Melnick, Steven Weinberger.

THL/JIATS follows the formatting, punctuation, stylistic, and bibliographic conventions of The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (external link: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/). Aspects of these conventions and the process for preparing a document to accord with them follows. One of the best ways to familiarize yourself with this style is to read work that has already been published in this style. For some examples, see previous issues of JIATS (see http://www.jiats.org/ and then go to “Current Issue”).

Although JIATS is an international journal and the contents of THL are the result of collaborative efforts by scholars around the world, there is no clear standard for international English in terms of spelling. We have thus chosen to use Standard American English, with the main reason being that most staff on JIATS are native American English speakers and that the USA remains the largest native English speaking country in the world. Therefore, when articles come from other parts of the world, the spelling of some words might need to be changed. For example, “centre” should be changed to “center,” “organised” should be changed to “organized,” and so forth. This does not apply, however, to proper nouns or to text that is a direct quotation from another source. Thus, “Samye Ling Centre” will maintain its British spelling.

THL divides the Word document for essays into three general parts: front, body, and back. These sections are briefly described, immediately below, with instructions on how to apply Word styles for the structural elements of each section. Note: the body of the document, which contains the body of your essay, itself is divided into the sections that comprise the essay, as detailed below.

We ask authors to apply Word styles to the structure of their essays to make the publishing process as efficient as possible. When authors prepare their essays in this way, it reduces the amount of time THL staff must spend to ready essays for conversion into XML and then public display on the web. This streamlines the process and allows us to publish your essay in the shortest time possible. However, if you have difficulties applying Word styles, please contact us and we will provide whatever assistance is necessary (and if Word styles are proving especially troublesome we will relieve you of this task).

Front

The front section contains the abstract for your essay.

1. On the first line below the Cataloging Record Table, apply the Word style Heading1_front,fn. Then enter the word “Front” on that line (click here for How to Apply Word Styles if you don't know how to apply a Word style yet).
2. Drop down to the next line by hitting the “enter” key, and on the blank line this creates, apply the Word style Heading 1,h1. Then enter the word “Abstract” on that line.
3. Next, hit the “enter” key, and paste your abstract here.
4. The abstract itself should already be in the Normal,no Word style, since you applied that Word style after you renamed the Word document and pasted in the text of your essay. If it is not, apply the Word style Normal,no to the entire abstract by selecting (that is, highlighting) the entire text of the abstract and then selecting the Word style Normal,no from the styles list.
5. Process the abstract along with the rest of the essay (in other words, create entries in the Glossary Table and so forth).

Body

The Body of the Word doc contains the text of your essay (it does not include the Abstract, which is in the Front section, or the Bibliography, which is in the Back section) and thus is the largest section of the Word document.

All text in the Body (with the exception of notes) should already be in the Normal,no Word style, since you applied that Word style to the entire document after you renamed the Word document and pasted in the text of your essay (remember that the Bibliography is not in the Body section; it is in the Back section of the Word document).

1. From the end of the text in the Abstract, drop down to the next line by hitting the “enter” key, and on the blank line this creates, apply the Word style Heading1_body,bd. Then enter the word “Body” on that line.
2. Drop down to the next line by hitting the “enter” key. If the first section of your essay has a section name (such as “Introduction”), then apply the Word style Heading 1,h1. Then enter the word “Introduction” (or whatever the name of the first section of the essay is); the first sentence of your essay should be on the line below this. Note: if the first section of your essay does not have a section title, then do not create a line with the Heading 1,h1 style applied to it. The first line below the line with Body on it will be the first sentence of your essay.
3. If the first section of your essay has sub-sections, you need to apply Word styles to the names of the sub-sections in this fashion: apply the Word style Heading 2,h2 to the name of all sub-sections; apply the Word style Heading 3,h3 to the name of all sub-sub-sections; and so forth. DO NOT enter section numbers, such as I. or 2a. The stylesheet will automatically display the section numbers online. Example: the first section is the Introduction and it has the following sub-sections:
   1. Interpreting the Myth
   2. The Historical Dynamics of Tibetan Geomancy

In the essay, Interpreting the Myth needs to be on its own line, with the Word style Heading 2,h2 applied to it; The Historical Dynamics of Tibetan Geomancy needs to be on its own line, with the Word style Heading 2,h2 applied to it.

1. Apply the appropriate Word style to the name of every section or sub-section that occurs in your essay, making sure that the name of each section is on its own line.

Example: If your essay had the following structure

Introduction

            Interpreting the Myth

            The Historical Dynamics of Tibetan Geomancy

                        Tibetan Perspective

                        Western Perspective

Architectures of Auspiciousness

            Techniques of Vertical and Horizontal Suppression

            The Concentric Organization of Divination

Re-Assessing the Significance of the Central Temple Founding Myth

            Problems with the Feminist Analysis

            Problems with the Culturalist Analysis

            The Auspicious Symbolism of the Lha sa Heartlands

The Buddhist Project of Geomancy

Conclusion: Variations on a Geomantic Theme

then the name of each section would be on its own line in the Word doc, with the Word style in parentheses applied to it (note: in your essay, do not put the name of the style in parentheses; it is only included here to indicate which style is applied):

• Introduction (Heading 1,h1)
• Interpreting the Myth (Heading 2,h2)
• The Historical Dynamics of Tibetan Geomancy (Heading 2,h2)
• Tibetan Perspective (Heading 3,h3)
• Western Perspective (Heading 3,h3)
• Architectures of Auspiciousness (Heading 1,h1)
• Techniques of Vertical and Horizontal Suppression (Heading 2,h2)
• The Concentric Organization of Divination (Heading 2,h2)
• Re-Assessing the Significance of the Central Temple Founding Myth (Heading 1,h1)
• Problems with the Feminist Analysis (Heading 2,h2)
• Problems with the Culturalist Analysis (Heading 2,h2)
• The Auspicious Symbolism of the Lha sa Heartlands (Heading 2,h2)
• The Buddhist Project of Geomancy (Heading 1,h1)
• Conclusion: Variations on a Geomantic Theme (Heading 1,h1)

Note: Section headings should be capitalized in the same way you capitalize the title of an article. Example:
The Context of the Fifteenth Century

Back

The Back section of the Word document contains the Bibliography.

1. From the end of the text in the body of the article, drop down to the next line by hitting the “enter” key, and on the blank line this creates, apply the Word style Heading1_Back,bk (for help applying Word styles, see How to Apply Word Styles). Then enter the word “Back” on that line.
2. Drop down to the next line by hitting the “enter” key, and on the blank line this creates, apply the Word style Heading 1,h1. Then enter the word “Bibliography” and drop down to the next line by hitting the “enter” key.
3. Apply the Word style Bibliographic Entry,be. This is a paragraph style.
4. Paste in your bibliography. Be sure that each entry is on its own line. Create Glossary Table entries for all items that are not cited in a footnote/endnote (and therefore are not already in the Glossary Table) according to the guidelines found here: Bibliographic Citations.

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