Central States Report Guidelines for Authors

Review and acceptance procedures 

Authors are invited to submit a manuscript for inclusion in the annual volume of the Central States Report, a refereed volume of selected papers. The volume is an electronic publication available on the Central States website (www.centralstatesconference.org). 

All submissions are read and evaluated by at least three persons: the editor and at least two members of the Editorial Board of reviewers. The reviewers represent as many areas of the world language education profession as possible. Every attempt is made to send the manuscript to reviewers who have a degree of expertise in the subject addressed in it. 

Submission of a manuscript for publication does not guarantee that it will be a part of the volume. Each of the reviewers will be asked to make one of three recommendations regarding each manuscript: (1) publish as is; (2) publish after revision/rewriting; (3) do not publish. When all of the reviewers’ ratings have been received, the editor will make the final decision regarding which manuscripts will be published. The decision may be based on considerations such as balance among manuscripts of various types and their estimation of the manuscript’s interest to both Central States conference attendees and the larger audience that the Report reaches. 

The decision to accept a manuscript will be based primarily on the ideas presented in the manuscript. However, papers that follow the policies and guidelines listed below will receive preference. The fact that a presenter’s manuscript is not accepted for inclusion in the Central States Report will in no way affect the author’s participation in the conference or listing in the conference program. 

Manuscript submission 

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically to the editor at report@csctfl.org on or before October 15. Include a separate cover letter with the manuscript including: 

• the names of all authors and their professional affiliation as you wish them to be published 

• an e-mail address for each author, including co-authors 

• a phone number for each author, including co-authors 

The manuscript should be prepared for a "blind" review, i.e., the names of the authors and any references to their academic affiliation should be omitted from the paper that will be copied and sent to reviewers. Use XXX for authors’ names and XX College/School, High School, or XX University/University of XX.

General policies 

In order to be considered for publication, manuscripts must adhere to the following policies: 

Original work: The manuscript must present original work that has not previously been published in its entirety or in part and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere. The editor will make decisions regarding the manuscripts in a timely fashion so that the authors of manuscripts not chosen for inclusion in the Report will be able to submit their manuscripts elsewhere. 

Language: The manuscript must be written in English. Examples within the manuscript may be written in other languages, but English translations of examples or quotations in languages other than English are required. 

Style and formatting: The manuscript must conform to guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition), as well as the style and formatting guidelines outlined below. See the resources on APA style listed at the end of this document.

Revision: All manuscripts accepted for publication pending revision will have to be revised with a relatively fast turnaround time between when the author receives the manuscript with revisions, suggestions, and recommendations and when it is to be returned to the editor. The editor will make the final decision on whether the revised manuscript will be published. Time constraints make it impossible to furnish galley proofs to authors. 

Specific instructions for preparing manuscripts 

Font, length, format: Use Microsoft Word and 12-point Times New Roman or Minion Pro font. The manuscript should be at least 15 pages long, double-spaced. Manuscripts can be submitted as either .doc or .docx texts. 

Title: Titles may not exceed 10 words and should tell readers what the manuscript is about. 

Challenge statement: Include a brief (50-word) global introduction designed to capture the readers’ interest and attention; cause readers to reconsider what they already know or believe about the topic; and help readers to connect the paper to their own professional practice. It should help readers to understand why your paper matters. This challenge statement idea is modeled on Foreign Language Annals; ample examples in that publication since 2018 are available.

Abstract: An abstract not to exceed 250 words must be included. See section 2.9 of the APA guidelines for information on writing an abstract. 

Headings: See section 2.27 of the APA guidelines for information on heading formatting.  

Indents: Paragraph indents should be 0.25” throughout the manuscript. Do not use the space bar to indent a paragraph; set the tab stops appropriately. 

Spacing after periods: There should be only one space after each period or other punctuation that ends a sentence. 

Numbers: All numbers above "nine" must appear as Arabic numerals (e.g., "nine school districts" vs. "10 textbooks"). See the APA guidelines for more information on formatting numbers. 

Non-English words: Italicize all words, phrases, and quotations that are in languages other than English, and provide an English translation. 

Footnotes and endnotes: Do not use the footnotes or endnotes features of Microsoft Word. If you include notes, put the number immediately after the point in the text where you want the note and add the appropriate number; then use the superscript feature in the fonts menu. At the end of the manuscript, simply use an Arabic numeral and a period. 

Hyperlinks: As the final volume will be published online, hyperlinks to relevant websites or online resources within the text are encouraged. Please use stable URLs that are not likely to become dead links in the near future.

Citations and references: In-text citations and the References page must follow APA style. The References page should consist only of sources you cite in your manuscript. If your manuscript requires a longer list of reference works that you do not cite in the body of the manuscript, please provide an appendix of "Suggested Readings" separate from your references. 

Tables and figures: Use the APA guidelines for formatting tables and figures. They should be numbered and should include a descriptive title (tables) or caption (figures). They can be included in the text of the manuscript or marked with something like “<Insert Table 1 here>” and then appended to the end of the manuscript.

Images: All pictures and graphics may be submitted in TIF/TIFF, PNG, or PDF format, in color. All illustrations should have a resolution of at least 150 ppi, preferably higher. Downloads from the internet are usually JPG/JPEG or GIF at 72 ppi, a very low resolution that will not reproduce well. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission to reprint any copyrighted images. A statement that they are being reprinted with permission of the copyright holder and image author must be included in a caption. 

Appendices: Appendices should be lettered (e.g., Appendix A) and include a descriptive title. 

Proofreading: Manuscripts must have minimal formatting, spelling, or grammar errors in order to qualify for review. Use the spellcheck and grammar check features in Microsoft Word in order to ensure that your manuscript is as error-free as possible, but do not rely solely on the proofreading tools.

APA Style Resources 

[Click on underlined words to access]

APA Style Center 

Purdue Online Writing Lab - APA

APA Documentation Guide  (University of Wisconsin)

APA Reference Style Guide (Northern Michigan University)

APA Style Blog, Navigating Copyright for Reproduced Images 

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