Conversations Magazine Writer's Guide
Thank you for your interest in contributing to Conversations.
The purpose of the magazine is, literally, to stimulate conversations at the Jesuit colleges and universities on the issues which most deeply affect the quality of Jesuit education. In many institutions the mission and identity officer or president’s office will sponsor a lunch or discussion group to respond to what you and others have written.
In general, the purpose of the magazine, unlike that of the various alumni publications, is not to promote an individual school. So an article whose main idea is to say, “Look at the great thing happening at my college,” would not fit.
Preparing the Manuscript
Please follow the guidelines for length, deadline, and subject area given to you by the person making the request. Send completed manuscripts to the person who asked you to write the article, who will forward it to the Chair, James McCartin - jmccartin1@fordham.edu
The preferred length of a keynote article is 1800 to 2000 words, a feature article is 1000 to 1200 words, unless otherwise noted by the person making the request to you. Student essays and brief commentaries, to be printed on one page, are 600 words.
Type the ms double spaced in Microsoft WORD format. Begin with the title and the author’s name. End with the author’s identification line.
Do not use footnotes. If you need to give a reference, work it into the text. If you wish to give a short list of three or four recommended readings, send that to be printed in a sidebar box. Include author, title, publisher, and date.
Do not over-capitalize. NO: Student Senate. NO: CAPS on departments (theology, history). NO: Chairman of the Committee to Inspect the Grounds. Capitalize titles only when part of the name: e.g. President Sherman Sturdley addressed the faculty.
Periods and commas ALWAYS inside quotation marks. “Stop,” he yelled. [Unless you’re writing for the Times of London.]
Spell out percent. NOT %.
For emphasis and book titles, use italics, don’t underline. Use quotation marks for essay titles.
We welcome pictures. In fact, we urge you to send a photo or two related to your story, especially photos that tell the story, fully identified and captioned. Format: CD images scanned at not less than 300 dpi.
Any questions, please email our editor, Ron Bernas - conversamag@gmail.com
