FDIM 98 Technical paper Submission Guidelines

Recommended formatting and material organization for authors of papers to be delivered at the FDIM 98 QRP Conference on May 14, 1998 in Dayton, OH

by George Heron, N2APB

Overview

This document is a submissions guideline for all authors of technical material destined to be published as part of the proceedings for the "Four Days in May" 98 QRP Conference being held on May 14th at the 1998 Dayton Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio.

It is not mandatory to strictly adhere to all formatting prescribed in this document -- any aspect may be questioned in order to accommodate particular material or locally available tools.

The goal, however, is to combine a set of QRP-related technical papers from different authors into a uniform and professional-looking publication.

This Guidelines document (MS Word 6/95 format) may be used as a template for all the recommendations contained herein.

Submissions of Work

It is requested that an author submit both an electronic version of the manuscript and a hard copy (printout) of that manuscript. The actual target media is electronic - it is the electronic files that will be merged and coalesced in format into one collection suitable for mass printing. However the printed manuscript also supplied by each author will help guide the overall final editing (e.g., ideal graphics location), and will serve as a backup should electronic catastrophe strike.

Hard Copy Submission

The hard copy submission should be done as photo-ready copy with integrated graphics/drawings already in place. In cases where there is to be a separate graphic (photo, hand-drawn diagram, etc.), please indicate in the document where the graphic will go, and provide the graphic apart from the main document.

Be sure to send a good quality printout, either laser printed or a very dark dot-matrix printout.

Electronic Submission

The preferred program for electronic submission of the manuscript is Microsoft Word (97, 95, or v6).

Other word processing programs and those for other PC-based operating systems are probably workable -- please contact the FDIM Technical Paper Coordinator to arrange trial submissions using these alternate formats.

The electronic document should be photo-ready (when printed out), with integrated graphics (drawings, photos, spreadsheets, et al) already placed in the text.

An ASCII file contained on a PC diskette is yet another format for submission. Please indicate positions in text for associated graphics, photos and other insertions contained external to the file. These external graphics should be supplied on diskette in PC-readable format, with common file encoding schemes (.gif, .tif, .jpg, .bmp, .xls, etc.)

The author should contact the Technical Paper Coordinator if there are separate files being submitted with file types different from those listed.

Structure of the Paper

Organization of the paper should be:

Title

Abstract

By-Line

Body

Reference List

Author Biography(s)

Documents should be formatted to print out properly on 8-1/2 inch by 11 inch paper.

Margins should be set as follows:

left and right = 0.75 inch

center (for 2-columns) = 0.5 inch

top = 0.8 inch

bottom = 1 inch (very important)

Manuscripts can be in one- or two-column format, based on personal preference.

A header (text placed in top margin of each page) should not be used.

A footer may be used, following the format of "simple keyword(s) - page #", in italics and centered within the bottom margin. Example: "CCW - 5" corresponds to page 5 of the CCW paper. Overall page numbers will be added on alternating left/right sides of bottom margin.

Text Preferences: Font, Alignment, Spacing

The preferred font type style and font size are indicated below for the various sections of the manuscript:

Title: Arial, bold, 16-pt

Abstract: Time Roman, italic, 12-pt

By-line: Times Roman, normal, bold, 12-pt

Section Headings: Arial, bold, 14-pt

Normal text (contained in paragraphs): Times Roman, normal, 12-pt

References: Times Roman, normal, 12-pt

Paragraphs should be fully-justified, providing straight and even sides to the written column(s).

Line spacing should be single. Additional spacing after normal text paragraphs and line returns should be 6 pt. Additional spacing before section headings should be 6 pt and after section headings should be 3 pt.

Inter-sentence spacing should be done with a single space character. This provides for a well-balanced fully-justified look when using proportional spacing.

Companion Graphics & Photos

This section considers manuscript material which is separate from physical copy (printouts) or from electronic copy (e.g., ASCII text).

Photos should have good contrast and should not be pasted to the page. Leave a space in the text noting what goes there, and mark the photo appropriately.

Drawings should be dark, either computer generated or hand drawn. Please note that a photocopy gives a good indication of print quality.

Graphics may extend across the whole page or into adjacent columns when desired.

Biographical Section

A biographical section is recommended to be included with the manuscript. It should contain Name, Address, Phone, and e-mail address for each author as well as a short descriptive paragraph about the authors. The descriptive material from the bio page will be appended to the end of the article.

Release Form

A formal release form is not required, but indicate that the paper is being sent for use in FDIM 98. You are only giving permission for your paper to be printed in the FDIM 98 proceedings. Additional clearance would be required before your work could be printed in any other publication.

Submission Deadline

The deadline for submitting final work is April 1, 1998. After this time we will be on a tight schedule of merging all papers, cover artwork, et al to create a master for the printer.

Contacting the FDIM 98 Technical Paper Coordinator

Please feel free to contact me during the timeframes listed at each telephone number, or anytime by e-mail. If there are areas of ambiguity needing clarification, or areas where deviation from these guidelines is required, I would be very happy to work through the issues with you.

George Heron, N2APB
45 Fieldstone Trail
Sparta, NJ 07871
Home: (973) 726-8963 (0100z - 0400z weekdays)
Work: (973) 993-3000 x6172 (1200z - 2300z weekdays)
Fax: (973) 993-5916
e-mail: g.heron@dialogic.com

Click here to download this Word "guidelines" document