All articles submitted to Shield must be formatted in house style.

Note for new authors: A house style is the formatting that a publication adheres to. Its purpose is to ensure the publication reads consistently.

Acronyms. Spell them out in full on first use. Where you will use the acronym again, also give the acronym in brackets immediately following the first use. For example: ‘the African Union (AU)’.

British English. Use British English spellings. For example, use ‘ise’ not ‘ize’ (e.g. organise, not organize).

Capitalisation. Keep it to a minimum. ‘Prime Minister Theresa May’, but ‘prime ministers’.

Currency. Write in numerals with the appropriate currency symbol (£800, £8,000 or £8 million). Use commas to separate thousands.

Dates. 1 June 2018. The late 1940s. The 20th century.

First World War. First World War, not World War I.

Foreign words. Al-Qa’ida. Daesh (not Islamic State). Italicise foreign words, but not common French or Latin words.

Full stops. ‘The US’, not ‘the U.S.’

(Use of) I. “I argue that…” rather than “This article argues that…”

Names. Ensure you have the correct spelling. Use the full name the first time. Thereafter, surname only is fine.

Numbers. Write out numbers one to nine in full (as text). Write 10 or above as numerals. If you are using both number types in one sentence, use either text or numerals consistently (use text if both numbers are twenty or less, and numerals if one or both numbers are 21 or greater).

Paragraphs. Use relatively short paragraphs. Some people will read your article on their mobile phone screen, and big blocks of text can be off-putting. Insert one blank line between paragraphs (as is done on this page).

Percentages. Write as ‘per cent’. Five per cent, 80 per cent.

Quotes. Use single quotation marks ‘like this’. Use double quotation marks for a quotation within single marks: ‘Trump called Kim Jong-un a “Rocket Man” last year’.

Units of measurement. Either metric or imperial is acceptable, provided your article is consistent.