The Macalester Street Journal
Saint Paul, MN
macstreetjournal@macalester.edu
Publication Style Guide
29th October 2023
General Submission Requirements:
- Submissions must be original research or opinion. Papers written for a class-wide prompt (as in the whole class writes the same paper) are not accepted.
- Word documents or PDF’s for final submissions submitted here on the MSJ website.
- If the submission is written in Google Docs, please share a copy of the document with macstreetjournal@macalester.edu.
- Submissions must be a minimum of 7 pages in length, not including sources or images/graphs.
- Final submissions must include a brief Abstract (150-250 words) to be displayed on the website. There is a section to submit these on the website, though they should also be included as the start of one’s paper.
General Formatting:
The Macalester Street Journal uses the APA 7th Edition Manual for styling and formatting purposes. Authors do not need to read the actual APA manual, instead easy-to-read APA resources can be viewed here:
- Style Overview, Owl Purdue: APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition) - Purdue OWL
- General Format, Owl Purdue: General Format - Purdue OWL
- APA Sample Papers, Owl Purdue: APA Sample Paper - Purdue OWL
- Common APA Mistakes, Cornerstone University: Five Common Mistakes in APA Style—and How You Can Fix Them | Cornerstone University
If a student submits a paper written for a class however, they must include the class name, course level, and professor’s name in the title page. An example of this can be viewed here. For the following checklist, please refer to the APA 7th Edition Manual link above for examples and explanations. Any questions about these requirements can be directed to an editor, who will be happy to help you navigate through these guidelines. These guidelines include:
- Font: Times New Roman (TNR) Size 12
- Spacing: Double-spaced (including reference page)
- Page numbers: Located in the upper-right-hand corner in TNR Size 12
- Credit: All author’s full names, college affiliation, class and professor name and date (if submission from class)
- Abstract: A properly formatted Abstract located on the second page
- Repeated Title: A repeated title of the paper located at the top of the third page before the start of the body as well as on the title page
- Titles: Bolded titles and section headers
- Citations: Proper in-text citations in APA format. More on this below.
- Author’s Note: An author’s note at the footer of the title page. Please copy and paste the example below, or view this example here:
Author Note
Sean A. Maxfield |
Luke M. Evans, Macalester College
- If you have your own Orchid ID please replace this link with a link to your own profile. Otherwise, just write: Name, Macalester College
Table of Contents:
- Tables of Contents are not required for publication, however if you have produced one for your paper and would like it to be included in the published issue, please follow this format. If a submitted table of contents is proving too difficult to integrate into the final manuscript, it may have to be omitted.
Citations:
- APA in-text citations only. Footnote citations are NOT ACCEPTED and will have to be converted. Reference sheets must also be edited to fit APA style if written with footnotes. Za
- Paraphrased in-text APA citations are written as:
- (Author last name, date of publication)
- Ex: (McEachin, 2004)
- Direct quotes from sources need to include a page number and are written as:
- (Author last name, date of publication, page number or location)
- Ex: (McEachin, 2004, pg. 24)
- Multi-author parentheticals are written as:
- (Author last name, date of publication; author last name, date of publication)
- Ex: (McEachin, 2004; McGlover 1998)
Images:
- All images included in a submission must follow this APA format:
- Make sure that all images included in the submission are high resolution images. Blurry or distorted images should be cleaned for inclusion.
- More information on how to cite images can be found here.
- Photo & Image Credits can be tricky. Ask an editor if you have any questions or are dealing with any difficulties citing such media.
Graphs and Figures:
- According to Scribber, “A table concisely presents information (often numbers) in rows and columns. A figure is any other image or illustration you include in your text—anything from a bar chart to a photograph.”
- Depending on the type of graph, certain information may be required. Self produced graphs and figures should follow these guidelines.
References:
- In APA, a bibliography or works cited page is called a Reference page. Reference pages should follow the APA guidelines outlined in the sample paper. When producing citations, make sure to include as much information as possible on the source. DOIs are preferred when available for a reference.
Appendix:
- Submissions that include estimation or scientific research must also submit their data and their estimation files (with the programs that they run), so that they may be posted for replication purposes. This information can be included in the submission under an appendix. Appendix rules can be found here.
What NOT To Include:
- Acknowledgements
- Any and all footnotes, especially those serving as the method of citation
- School logos
- Purpose explanations
- Running Headers
- These common APA mistakes
- Blurry Images
How to Deal with Questions:
- If you have any questions, please reach out to the production editor or your section chief.
Special thanks to Chief Politics Editor Luke Evans, Class of 2026, and Production Editor Cathy Zhang, Class of 2027, for initially preparing this living document.