Material Culture
The Journal of the Pioneer America Society
-----Guidelines for Book Reviewers-----
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Thank you! We appreciate your willingness to review a book for Material
Culture. Although we cannot guarantee that it will be published or in what
issue, we will make every effort to publish it and will notify you. We also hope
that you can read the book, write and return the review in approximately 60
days. It is important that we collect reviews quickly so we can plan both
regular and thematic issues and maintain timeliness in reviewing new material
for our readers. If it seems that you cannot meet these criteria, or find that
the book is not to your liking, please return the book to us as soon as
possible. Many times we have several people wanting to review a particular
title; you have been chosen due to your expertise in the area or subject area of
the book. Also, please forward a copy of your review to the publisher, by email
or regular mail, and indicate this is a review for Material Culture.
There is a possibility you may be quoted in some of their promotional materials
for the book. It is not required that you be a member of the Pioneer America
Society, but, if you are not and are interested, please let us know and we would
be happy to send you information to that effect.
Since book reviews are not peer reviewed nor edited, per se, there is room for
creativity. The editors hope that the reviewer will do a general overview of the
book, break down some of the chapters and describe the usefulness to various
audiences. Please state any strengths and weaknesses of the book ascertained
from the reviewer’s expertise and experience. Do not be afraid to be critical,
but be constructive in your criticism.
Guidelines
PAS Membership
A reviewer need not be a member of the Pioneer America Society at the time he
or she submits a book review for consideration, though membership in PAS is
strongly encouraged.
Length of Reviews
Length of reviews should be approximately 800-1400 words.
Deadlines for Review Submissions
It is hoped reviews will be submitted within 60 days of receipt of the
book. Consult the book review editor if you have any questions or if you need
extra time.
Editing of Review
The book review editor and journal editor reserve the right to edit
content for grammar and spelling. Otherwise, reviews will be considered to be
“print ready.”
Submission of Reviewer's Biographical Information
Authors of reviews are asked to provide the book review editor with a two to
three-sentence autobiography stating the author's areas of interest and
expertise, your job title, and affiliation.
Format
All reviews should include the following information in the format below:
* All reviews should be titled:
Jane Doe's Review of title of book
* All reviews must be headed with the full
information concerning the book, followed by an informational brief about the
author of the review:
John Smith. Title of Book. New York: Basic Books, 2000. x + 330pp.
Tables, maps, notes, bibliography, and index. $20.00 (cloth), ISBN
0-01-567890-8; $9.95 (paper), ISBN 01-567890-8
Reviewed for PAS by Jane Doe, doej@somewhere.edu,
Department of Some Subject, Somewhere University, City, State, Zip.
* Paragraphs should not be indented.
* Please remember that books have
“Forewords”—not Forwards.
* Italics can be represented in ASCII like
this: _Title of Book_.
* It is preferred that no italics or
accents be used. An occasional bolding of a word for emphasis is acceptable.
Submissions
Reviews should be submitted as a Word attachment to email, or, a 3½-inch floppy
disk can be sent to the book review editor. All images and illustrations can be
sent via email as well, and is the preferred method. Otherwise, we will have to
scan original documents.
General Information
In listing the publisher and place of publication, there are four rules.
1. If the state is named in the name of the publisher, it is
not included in the place. Examples:
(named) Lexington: University Press of Kentucky or (unnamed) Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press.
2. Use postal code abbreviations for states.
3. Generally, if a publisher has a U.S. and overseas offices,
just use the U.S.
4. If the city of the publisher is well known, such as New
York, it is not necessary to list the state.
* Please include information about
bibliography, notes, tables, etc. All graphics—tables, figures, photos,
etc.—are usually lumped by the cataloguers as
“illustrations.” Notes or bibliography, or both, are usually listed
as “bibliographical references” without elaboration.
* Price is given in U.S. dollars unless
otherwise noted.
* The “N” in ISBN stands for Number, so
don’t say “ISBN #”.
* All reviews should be singled spaced. It
is fine to skip a line between paragraphs.
* One space should appear after all
punctuation.
* The text should be 12 point sans serif
characters, and should start at the flush left margin.
* Do not use tabs for extra spaces. Nearly
anything you do to optimize the look of the review in your own e-mail program
will be lost in ASCII, and sometimes it will cause garbled text or added
characters. Emphasis in a word document is acceptable, but may be modified by
the editors.
* Please do not add hyphens in words to
make the lines look nice on your screen. When an html e-mail re-justifies the
text, extra spaces will appear, since the word will often no longer be at the
end of a line.
* Scientific notation is the preferred
citation style. For a paraphrased statement simply put author and year (Jones
1991). “A direct quote should be set off in quotation marks with page numbers
supplied” (Jones 1991, 56). If needed, reviewers should use endnotes rather
than footnotes.
* Page numbers should be supplied for all
quoted passages. Please use the following standard:
1. “…does not really answer the question” (pp. 235-36);
or “…if he had thought of it” (p.xv). Note that the punctuation goes after
the citation.
2. ….in a recently published article. [2] (please use
subscript)
--is how to designate an endnote. Then, for the note itself:
[2]. James Smith, “Article.” Etc.
Reviewers
should proofread their text carefully. Please consult the following minimal
style guide:
1. Use U.S. as an adjective; United States
as a noun.
2. Spell out names of centuries; and
hyphenate when they are adjectives: “eighteenth-century literature.”
3. Spell out all chapter numbers between one and
nineteen. Capitalize chapters when they are represented as a title
(Chapter One, Chapter Seven, Chapter Fourteen, etc.), but use lower-case letters
in other instances (first chapter, seventh chapter, fourteenth chapter).
3. Use “and” and “percent” unless
in a quotation since & and % can cause problems in attachment conversion.
4. Numbering from one to ten should be
spelled out while anything (including centuries) after 11 should use numerals in
all occurrences. BUT use Arabic numerals in “100 percent.”
5. Use “…” for ellipses, and
“periods….” if a quote ends before the end of a sentence.
6. Finally, if you have any questions
please contact the book review editor who commissioned your review.
Please make sure the book sent to you is the one you have requested to review
and that a set of review guidelines is included or you have received them as an
email attachment.
If you have any specific questions please contact:
Scott Roper, Ph.D.
Book Review Co-Editor, Material Culture
Leavenworth Hall
6 Alumni Drive
Castleton
State College
Castleton, VT 05735
Office: 802/468-1270
scott.roper@castleton.edu
or:
Chris Post, Ph.D.
Book Review Co-Editor,
Material Culture
Department of Geography
University of Georgia
139 Geography-Geology Building
210 Field St.
Athens, GA 30602
706-542-7516
http://www.ggy.uga.edu/directory/details.php?i=222&group=
http://cpost.myweb.uga.edu
You will be notified as to publication. Thanks in advance for your input and
cooperation.
Rev 9/07