Theoretical Inquiries in Law Forum

Author Instructions

A PDF version of this instruction sheet is available here.

Contents

• Important Notice
• Basic Requirements
• Notes on References
• Style and Formatting
• Notes on the Editing Process

Important Notice

While Theoretical Inquiries in Law does not currently publish unsolicited Articles, short Comments on TIL Articles will be considered for publication online in the Theoretical Inquiries in Law Forum.

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Basic Requirements

Please send your text, in Microsoft Word, by email to .

Comments should be no more than 3,000 words long (including footnotes) and should be lightly footnoted. Comments must read coherently as independent texts and should offer interesting and original insights into the topics discussed by the Articles they address; however, they shouldn’t attempt to canvass an entire topic or to present thorough research.

Please note your full name, your academic affiliation and any acknowledgements you wish to make.

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Notes on References

All references should be given in footnotes, following the rules set by The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (18th edition). A basic example sheet may be found here.
Please note especially the following points:

• Please give authors' names in full (not in initials).
• If a book has appeared in editions by multiple publishers, please note the publisher and year of publication of the edition cited, as well as the original year of publication.
• When citing a journal article or an article published in a collection, always note the first page of the article (in addition to any specific pages).
• Two quick examples:

Deborah L. Rhode, Justice and Gender 56 (1989).

Charles A. Reich, The New Property, 73 Yale L.J. 733, 737-38 (1964).

Please see the Bluebook for further details.
Note that authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of references; the TIL student editorial board will check only that proper Bluebook formatting has been followed and will not work on partially completed footnotes.

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Style and Formatting

Sections and Headings

• Indicate clearly all section headings. Organize sections in a clear hierarchical structure and label them I., II., A., B., et cetera.
• In headings, capitalize all words except for articles, conjunctions and prepositions of four or fewer letters.

Quotations

• Use double quotations marks (") for quotations, single quotation marks (') for quotations within quotations.
• Set quotations of fifty words or more off from the text, without quotation marks. Use double quotation marks for quotations within such block quotations.
• Use double quotation marks for new coinages, unusual uses of a term, et cetera.

Punctuation

• Place all periods and commas inside quotation marks. Place other punctuation marks inside quotation marks only if they are part of the original text.
• Place footnote call numbers after all punctuation marks other than dashes or colons.

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Notes on the Editing Process

We will begin the editing process as soon as your text is accepted for publication. The process will include substantive comments from our student editorial board (and possibly from a Guest Editor); suggestions and comments from a professional style editor; and corrections to citation format. When we provide you with all of the above, we will ask you to revise your piece accordingly and to send us a revised version within three weeks. Once you do, assuming we have no further queries, we will have your new version typeset and will send you PDF galleys for your approval.
Note that we can allow no changes at the galleys stage (other than the correction of typesetting errors). Before you send us your revised version, please make sure that you are satisfied with it in every way.

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