writing guidelines

Section 6: Guidelines for Written Work

6.1 Length.

Written submissions should not be excessively long. The key requirement is that you write clearly in response to the topic or subject that you are addressing.

A written essay submitted as part of your work in stages 1, 2 and 3 will typically be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. The required length will be specified as part of the brief given to you during a module. In the final phase of your BA studies you will take a module in critical studies - usually called “the thesis” - which will entail you writing a longer work of 8,000-10,000 words. The programme is set up in such a way that you progress towards being able to construct such a major piece of written research work by developing skills through the written work set during stages 1, 2 and 3.

6.2 Methods of Citation

DIT employs the Harvard Referencing Style.

6. 2.1 Bibliography.
A bibliography is a list of books. All sources of information that have been used in producing an essay or thesis should be listed in alphabetical order. This may also include internet sites, interviews and unpublished materials. Works should be cited as follows:

Books
AUTHOR (date) Title, Place, Publisher.
For example:
SAID, Edward (1978) Orientalism, Harmondsworth, Penguin.

Or:
AUTHOR (date) ‘Title’, in AUTHOR (ed.), Title, Place, Publisher, page numbers.
For example:
KANDINSKY, W. (1968) ‘Concrete Art’, in CHIPP, H. B. (ed.), Theories of Modern Art, Berkeley, University of California Press, pp. XXX-XXXX.

Or:
CERA, D. (ed.), (1992) Jewels of Fantasy: Costume Jewellery of the 20th Century, New York, Abrams.

Periodical literature.
Periodical literature refers to magazines and journals which appear on a regular basis e.g. monthly or weekly i.e. periodically, hence the name periodical.

AUTHOR (date) ‘Title’, Journal, Volume, Number, page numbers.
For example:
HUTCHINSON, J. (1987) ‘Interview with Patrick Graham’, Irish Arts Review, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 16-20.
For exhibition catalogues with no author the organiser should be cited as author, e.g:
ARTS COUNCIL (1971) Art in Revolution: Soviet Style and Design Since 1917, London.

Films.
Director. (Date) Title. [Material designation]. Place, Organisation.
Example:
LORD, P. and PARK, N.(2000) Chicken Run. [Animated film]. Bristol, Aardman.

Published Interviews.
For interviews, the interviewer should be cited as author, followed by date (in parentheses), details of the interview (interviewee), location, etc.

O’CONNOR, J. (2006) Interview with Damien Harrington. Kilkenny, June 18th.

Internet Sources.
For web files, cite (as much of the following as available): author’s name beginning with surname, date (in parentheses), full title of the specific item (in inverted quotes), the title of the complete work (in italics), any version or file numbers, protocol and full URL, date of access (in parentheses):
BURKA, Lauren P. (1993) ‘A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions’, MUD History. [http://www.utopia.com/talent/lpb/muccex/essay] (2/8/1996).

References in the text to material on the World Wide Web should be made in the same way as for other material, e.g. (Burka, 1993).

6.2.2 References / Footnotes.

All sources, whether quoted directly or paraphrased, shall be carefully referenced. Items in the bibliography should be listed in alphabetical order. The author's surname, the date of publication and the relevant page, pages or chapter are then used within the text to refer to an item in the bibliography.
For example:
‘Things begin to change with the Renaissance because a new consciousness forms in the European mind’ (Amin, 1989: 75).
Or:
According to Amin, a new European mind-set resulted in changes around the time of the Renaissance (1989: 75).

In paraphrases where the origin of the material cited is not immediately obvious from the text, the author’s name should be included in the reference. For example:
“One author notes changes developing around the time of the Renaissance, due to the emergence of a new European mind-set (Amin, 1989: 75).”

In the case where the bibliography includes more than one work by an author in a particular year, the items should be numbered a, b, c (etc.) in the bibliography and references made accordingly in the text.

With this system of references, footnotes are used only to give additional information or comment, to direct attention to supporting, divergent or conflicting opinions, or to refer to other pages or passages in the thesis. A footnote reference is indicated by placing a number--a raised or superscript numeral--immediately after the end of the statement for which reference is given, e.g.: “....this argument.4”

If footnotes contain a quotation, it should be in the same format as those in the text. Footnotes may be placed at the bottom of the page, at the end of the essay/ thesis chapter, or at the end of the thesis. They may be numbered by chapter, or consecutively throughout the thesis.
6.2.3 Quotations.
These should be typed within single quotation marks, and quotations within quotations should use double quotation marks. Quotations of more than three lines should be set in block form, indented from the margins and typed single space, without quotation marks.

6.2.4. Titles used in the text.
Italics should follow normal publication usage, i.e. titles of books, periodicals and artworks should be italicised.

6.3 Presentation of Written Work.

6.3.1 Number of Copies.
Only one copy of an essay needs to be submitted.
However, for the final year thesis you must prepare a minimum of two copies of the written submission in an appropriate binding.
An electronic copy in Word.doc format of all written work should also be submitted for archival and administrative purposes. You will be given a specific e-mail address to send a copy of your essay.

6.3.2 Print and Pagination.
Written work shall be in print on one side only of A4-size paper with pages numbered consecutively (including appendices). Page numbers should be located centrally at the bottom of the page and about 20mm above the edge of the page.

The print should be easily legible, a good guideline is Times New Roman. The margin at binding edge should be not less than 40mm and other margins not less than 20mm, both for type and diagrams/images.

One-and-a-half spacing is recommended, except for indented long quotations, where single spacing should be used.

Photographs or diagrams should be related clearly to the text.

Illustrations should be computer-scanned and of good quality (typically 300d dpi or higher in resolution).

The pages on which illustrations appear should be numbered in sequence with the rest of the pages of the text.

6.4 More Information.

There are a great many resources available to research writers. These are some that may be of value:
About the Harvard Referencing Style:
[http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/training/referencing/harvard.htm] (9/1/07)