Guidelines for Writing a Basicwork

Whatever the topic you are tackling there are some general guidelines you will want to bear in mind when writing or commissioning other contributors:

• A reference work will be dipped into for answers to specific questions rather than read as a narrative from cover to cover. Each item should therefore be as self-contained as possible with adequate cross-referencing wherever this cannot be achieved. It is essential to break the text up with sub-headings, indicating the key topics in the ensuing paragraphs. Solid pages of text with nothing to help readers find their way about defeats the object of a practical reference work.
   
• Text should be written with the readers' need for rapid access to information firmly in mind. While some topics demand a narrative explanation, many can be dealt with in listed points, tables, flow charts, checklists, worked examples, etc. When there is a choice of treatment use the most practical one and try to organise the text to match the way the reader would encounter the topic in a working context.
   
• Remember that we are publishing updateable information so be specific about dates, figures and other facts that will change. This is quite a different discipline if you have been used to writing bound books, which need to retain a reasonable shelf life. The only exception would be information that changes too rapidly for the supplementation programme – e.g. weekly prices or statistics.
   
• Footnotes are to be avoided in looseleafs, so references and ancillary information should either be incorporated into the text or dealt with in appendices.
   

Index

The best reference work can be rendered almost useless by a poor index. We have spent a good deal of time and money researching into methodology for good technical indexes. While we can undertake the mechanical task of marrying up index entries with text references, we cannot get inside the mind of a typical user to predict the kind of key words they would expect to see in looking up information. Your input here, as an expert in the field, is vital. Your editor will appoint a professional indexer to construct the index but the indexer will need your help in constructing a list of key works and synonyms to ensure that the index is really useful.

'How to use the work' guide

As part of the preliminary pages of the looseleaf we will produce a guide to the subscriber on how to make the best use of the publication. From you we will need two or three examples of the kind of information that can be found in the book and how and where to find it. These should be illustrative of the range and diversity of the contents and the ways in which the text can be used most effectively. Your editor will provide you with models from other publications.

Manuscript presentation

Your manuscript has to be prepared for typesetting by a copyeditor. Manuscript should be typed on A4 paper double-spaced and with not less that 2.5cm margins. Pages should be numbered throughout.

Please follow the simple guidelines found in the House Style document. Queries on style points can be discussed directly with your editor.

Ensure you always retain a copy of any manuscript you send in.

Our typesetters can use most types of disc and word-processing software. However, we do need to run a test with some sample material to ensure that we can read it satisfactorily. Our production department via your editor will arrange this. Consistency of typing style is very important to help automatic processing for typesetting.

It is essential that you provide a hard copy print out to accompany any discs submitted.

Schedules

At the commencement of the project a full publication schedule will be worked out. This will fix certain dates to allow us to reserve time with typesetters and printers and to book space in periodicals for promotion. Crucial to the whole exercise is the prompt delivery of manuscript on the dates we have agreed with you.