Academic Bulletins
Guidelines for Preparing Copy for Bulletins
(Revised October 2008)
Please follow these guidelines for preparing content for the next edition of your printed or online bulletin. Note that we have streamlined and standardized our process, so please read and follow these new guidelines carefully.
The Process
After an edition of a bulletin is printed, the typesetter prints out a laser copy of the bulletin on 8 ½" x 11" paper, and the Office of Creative Services gives it to you. It’s a good idea to photocopy this printout and file one copy. On the other copy, you will revise your bulletin by writing directly on it and attaching new printouts of long inserts.
If your bulletin appears as an online version only, you can print out the pages and mark them as described here. We can also provide you with a printout of your Web bulletin, or with pdf files (if your bulletin was posted online in this format), so you can print out a working copy of your manuscript.
After you have marked your changes on the manuscript, you should return it to Mary Spohn, senior editor, Office of Creative Services, Von Lee 319, IUB.
An editor in the Office of Creative Services will read this manuscript from beginning to end and mark factual errors, inconsistencies, typographical and grammatical errors, mathematical errors, unclear statements, outdated information, problems with organization of information, and stylistic concerns.
The editor will return the manuscript to you as scheduled. At that point, you should respond to all of the editor’s queries and comments, mark any needed additional changes, and return the marked manuscript to Mary Spohn. We will then submit the manuscript to a printer (or post the updated online version on our test site, for review by you). Several proof stages will follow, and you will have a chance to review each proof. During those reviews, you will be able to check and make sure that marked changes have been made correctly, and make small adjustments or additions to the text.
After two proof stages (sometimes three, when necessary), you will receive the printer’s dylux. This is the final proof and it will show you exactly what the printed book will look like. At this point, the printer will charge for each change, so it’s a good idea to have the copy finalized as early in the process as possible. For online versions, after you give us final approval, we will post your bulletin on the official IU bulletin Web site.
How to Mark Changes and Add Text to the Manuscript
To insert fewer than 10 words, put a caret (^) in the text where the insertion is to begin and print or type the words to be inserted in the closest margin. Remember to:
Use colored (not black) ink or pencil and print legibly.
Use all-capital letters only when you want something to appear in all capitals.
Write insertions in the margin horizontal with the line in which they are to appear. If there are several insertions in a confined space, use a ruler to help you keep marginal inserts even with the line, so the typesetter can follow them easily.
Keep all changes and additions in the margins, not within the lines of text.
Be realistic about how many small inserts you are making within a confined space; if you think the inserts might be hard for the typesetter to follow, you should retype the section with the revisions and submit it as a separate insert.
Each insert of more than 10 words should be prepared in Microsoft Word and saved with a separate filename that reflects its location in the bulletin, as well as printed out on 8 ½" x 11" paper (a separate sheet for each insert). Please do the following:
Leave 1" margins on each side.
Double-space your printouts.
Use left justification only.
Type only one space between sentences, not two.
Use all-capital letters only when you want something to appear in all capitals.
Use the appropriate features in Microsoft Word to create boldface, italics, superscripts, and diacritics.
Label any new headlines that you’re inserting as [A], [B], [C], [D], or [E] to indicate the level of heading: [A] is the largest boldface heading, [B] the second-largest boldface heading, [C] the third-largest boldface heading, and so on.
Place each 8 ½" x 11" sheet behind the bulletin page on which the insertis to appear. Please do not staple or clip the sheets together.
Label inserts with the page number on which they are to appear and indicate sequence by letters of the alphabet. For example, the first insert on page 6 is 6a. Subsequent insertions for that page would be 6b, 6c, etc. It is best to label inserts in order, but if at the last minute you need to add another insert at the top of a page where you have already labeled the inserts a, b, and c, add the later insert and label it 6d even though it appears on the page before a, b, and c.
Put a caret (^) at the point in the standing text where the insertion begins and draw a line from the caret to the nearest margin. Write “Insert 6a,” “Insert 6b,” etc., in the margins.
You will provide a double-spaced hard-copy printout of inserts for the editor to review. You also need to save the inserts and provide electronic versions to Mary on disk or as e-mail attachments. The typesetter will format these files and insert them in the places that you have indicated.
To delete material, mark through it with a line and put the delete symbol in the appropriate margin. See our editing and proofreading symbols for more information.
When marking through text to be deleted, please do not mark it so heavily that it is unreadable.
If you change your mind about deleting material, please put a series of dots under the lined-out words and write “stet” in the margin. (“Stet” means “let it stand.”)
To delete long passages (more than three lines), draw a box around the material and put a large X through the copy. Draw a line from the box to the margin and put a delete symbol in the margin.
To move a passage from one page to another, draw a box around the type and give instructions in the margin about where the material should be moved.
Write “Move to p. —.”
On the new page, put a caret (^) where the insert begins and write “Insert from p. —.” Insert a photocopy of the passage to be moved.
If more than one passage is to be moved from the same page, label the inserts a, b, c, etc. (Example: Two different passages from page 14 are to be moved to page 6. On page 14 you would write next to the first passage, “Insert a—move to p. 6.” On page 6 you would write, “Insert a—from p. 14.” Follow the same procedure with insert b.) Assemble all pages in order and check to see that inserts are in alphabetical order behind the pages on which they will appear.
Please do not put post-it notes or flags on pages. We will review every page of your bulletin several times, so you do not need to be concerned about a change being overlooked.
Some Notes on Updating a Bulletin
If you wish to have photographs in your bulletin, it is best to provide them to the Office of Creative Services as digital files of at least 300 pixels per inch. (Prints can also be scanned, but this costs a little more and takes a little longer.) Because bulletins are produced as inexpensively as possible, we do not add pages to bulletins just to accommodate photos. Photos will be placed where spaces occur “naturally” during typesetting.
Anytime you send something (manuscript, electronic files, proofs, etc.) to the Office of Creative Services, please make and keep a copy for yourself first.
