Please download our style guide here.

• The submission must be 1 ½ spaced, Times New Roman and 12pt.
• Quotation marks – Use single quotes ‘single quotes’, and “double quotes” within single quotes when necessary.
• Spelling – Spelling should conform to the new edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Note the spelling of the following words, which are the preferred forms:
  • picturebook (not picture book or picture-book)
  • focuses, focused, focusing (not focusses, etc.)
  • sociocultural (no hyphen)
  • website (no hyphen)
  • internet (capital letter not necessary)
  • among, while (not amongst, whilst)
  • with regard to (not with regards to)
  • first, secondly, or first, second (but not firstly)
  • Muslim (not Moslem)
  • acknowledgement, judgement, abridgement
  • ‘ize’ rather than ‘ise’. Use ‘ize’ endings, e.g. organize, realize, but advertise, advise, comprise, compromise, despise, disguise, enterprise, exercise, improvise, supervise, surmise, surprise, analyse etc. Please check in the dictionary if necessary.
• Hyphens – In adjectives but not nouns: twentieth-century literature but the twentieth century.
• Italics – Use italic type for titles of books, plays, films, long poems, newspapers, journals (but not for articles in journals). The title of an article or short poem should be in single quotation marks.
• Abbreviations
  • Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently throughout the paper, even those considered common in English language teaching.
  • ‘for example’ should be used in the text and ‘e.g.’ in lists of tables/figures.
  • ‘per cent’ as two words and % in tables/figures.
  • Full stops should be used after abbreviations (p., Ch.) but not after contractions or in acronyms: Dr, St, Mr, BBC, UNESCO, UK, USA.
  • Do not use ‘ibid’.
• Numbers
  • Write in full numbers under 10. Use numerals for measurements, percentages and ages e.g. 24 per cent; 10 years old.
  • Insert a comma for thousands and tens of thousands, e.g. 1,000 and 10,000.
• He / she – Avoid the use of ‘he’ (when he or she is meant) wherever possible, either through the use of ‘they’ or by repeating the noun.
• Notes – Restrict notes to explanatory statements that develop an idea or expand a quotation, where to do so in the text would disturb the balance. Place notes at the end of your chapter. Do not use footnotes. Note numbers should appear as superscript numbers in the text and be numbered sequentially. Notes should always be 1 ½ spaced and the same point size (12pt) as the main text.
• Figures and Photographs
  • All illustrations and images should be submitted correctly PLACED WITHIN THE TEXT. It is not necessary to send pictures separately. Always refer to the image you are using in your text, e.g. (see Figure 3).
  • Please ensure that each image has a caption, and each illustration is clearly marked as Figure 1, Figure 2 etc.
  • Obtaining permission for use of illustrations and photographs is the responsibility of the author.
• Tables – Provide a caption for tables including any sources. Tables should be referred to in the text as ‘in Table 2’ rather than ‘in the following table’.

CITATIONS AND REFERENCING

All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the list of references at the end of the paper. All literary texts referred to must appear in a separate bibliography (see Info for Authors). From 2021, Children’s Literature in English Language Education will use APA 7. Please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7^th edition for full details. A useful guide on short and long in-text citations and the reference list can also be found at https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html 

Please note that the title of this journal must be cited in full in the reference list: Children’s Literature in English Language Education (not CLELEjournal).

Please refer to this recent article as an example of how to cite journal articles, monographs, edited volumes, an unpublished thesis, DOIs and websites etc. Please scroll to the end of the article to see how we differentiate Bibliography and References. Make sure to also check our Info for Authors!

Some examples of in-text citations: