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The style guide used for MTL publications was created in 2005 by an MTL staffer. It is based on elements of the Chicago Manual of Style.

Helpful Information about Formatting and Styles

The Research Abstracts will be formatted to fit on one page and can have up to two figures. The abstracts are to be published in black and white. Please choose your images accordingly! Student editors will review your submissions and return an edited document for your approval. Following that, the documents will be set in the final ‘camera ready’ format for review and printing.

Using the Template

To learn how to use a Microsoft Word template, visit one of these external links:

The styles included in the Word template should be used as shown. The template can also serve as an example of a document with correct formatting for Title, Authors, abstract text, figure captions, and references.

Image Files

Color

Your figures will be printed in greyscale. Choose figures accordingly, and please DO NOT make references to color (i.e. "the red line represents..").

Embedding your Images

Figures can be embedded into the Word document, but you must insert actual images into the document (i.e. JPEGs, TIFs, BMPs).

Please adhere to the following rules. These are the most common recurring problems with images submitted to MTL publications:

  • DO NOT EMBED .EPS FILES.
  • Do not draw or mark up figures in Word, and
  • Do not draw or mark up figures in Powerpoint Powerpoint and then copy them into the document - the formatting WILL be lost or changed drastically.
  • Do not use over-compressed images (like JPEGs from a web page).

Limit

A maximum of two image files can be submitted with each abstract.  A good program to use for image conversions is Adobe Photoshop (www.adobe.com).

Numbering Figures

Figures should be numbered consecutively in a separate series and in the order of their reference in the text (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2). Hyphenated numbers should not be used. A figure should be referenced in the text by the word Figure and its number only (e.g., see Figure 1). It is permissible to label the first figure in a clause with the letter a, preceded by the clause number (e.g., Figure 1a, Figure 1b, Figure 1c). If referring to two or more figures in the same sentence, each should be named separately. For example, use (Figure 1, Figure 2) instead of see Figures 1 through 2c. Only the initial letter of the first word and proper nouns should be capitalized in figure titles.

Do not label or reference your figures as "Fig."

Please refer to the examples given in the Research Abstract template file (Also see http://standards.ieee.org/guides/style/section6.html#ar281).

Abstract File Naming Convention

Abstract submissions should be named as "lastname_titlekeyword.doc." Lastname should be the last name of the lead author (student, postdoc). If multiple abstracts are submitted with the same last name, choose a unique title keyword for each abstract submitted.

An example filename for an abstract "A MEMS Power Generator" (Authors: O. Nielsen, M. Schmidt), would be nielsen_memspower.doc

No other naming conventions will be allowed. Please keep your filenames restricted to lower-case letters when possible.

Author Checklist

  • The article is written with the reader in mind.
  • Information, conclusions, and recommendations are easy to access.
  • The article is concise and to the point.
  • The article is factual, descriptive, and objective.
  • I covered all the important points.
  • I avoided inappropriate conjecture.
  • I defined all abbreviations and specialized terms.
  • All figures have captions.
  • All figures are mentioned in the article text (don’t use “fig” – spell out “Figure”)
  • All references have citations.
  • Sponsors are noted.

I proofread the document for the following:

  • Technical accuracy
  • Grammar
  • Consistency
  • Spelling
  • Punctuation
  • Word Choice

Avoid common problems to improve your article

Avoid passive voice

ORIGINAL            The modified instrument designs were developed by the Glucose Monitor Group.

EDITED            The Glucose Monitor Group (GMG) developed the modified instrument designs.

Eliminate deadwood and roundabout words and expressions.

ORIGINAL             It is the purpose of this section of the report to discuss the increasing heat output of numeric co-processors.

EDITED            This section discusses the increasing heat output of numeric co-processors.

Avoid Doublings

ORIGINAL            We will discuss and explain any special factors and considerations in a separate report.

EDITED            We will discuss any special considerations in a separate report.

Simplify Complex Sentence Patterns

ORIGINAL            We have developed a testing method which consists of a set of uncomplicated, dependable, and economical bioassays that cover most significant toxic reactions that might be expected by which we can identify the toxicity of a sample without knowing its chemical contents.

EDITED            We developed a testing method to identify the toxicity of a sample, even if the chemical contents are unknown. The test’s bioassays are uncomplicated, dependable, and economical.

Keep Parallel Thought Parallel

ORIGINAL            The T Cell statisticians were given training in organizing technical data and in how to present their conclusions.

EDITED            The T Cell statisticians learned how to organize data and present conclusions.

Avoid roundabout expressions

Wordy
Improved

at the present time

now

by means of

with, by

due to the fact that

because, since

for the purpose of

for

in a number of cases

some

in relation to

toward, to

in the event of

if

in view of

because, since

Acronyms

  • Don’t use an acronym if it only appears once
  • Define the acronym the first time you use it

Reference Guidelines

Book

C. Cohen-Tannoudji, J. Dupont-Roc, G. Grynberg, Atom-photon Intereactions. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992.

Edited Book

J.C. Candy and G.C. Temes, Eds., Oversampling Delta-Sigma Data Converters Theory, Design and Simulation. New York: IEEE Press, 1992.

Chapter or article in edited volume

W.V. Sorin, “Optical reflectometry for component characterization,” in Fiber Optic Test and Measurement, D. Derickson, Ed. Englwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1998.

Journal article

J.L. Dawson and T.H. Lee, “Automatic phase alignment for a fully integrated Cartesian feedback power amplifier system,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 38, no. 12, pp. 2269-2279, Dec. 2003.

S.J. Steinmuller, C.M. Gurtler, G. Wastlbauer, and J.A. Bland, “Separation of electron spin filtering and magnetic circular dichroism effects in photoexcitation studies of hybrid ferromagnet/GaAs Schottky barrier structures,” Physical Review B, vol. 72, pp. 045301:1-5, July 2005.

Journal article to be published

M. Coates, A. Hero, R. Nowak, and B. Yu, “Internet tomography,” IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, May 2002, to be published.

Published in conference proceedings

H.J. In, W. Arora, T. Buchner, S.M. Jurga, H.I. Smith, and G. Barbasathis, “The nanostructured Origamiä 3D fabrication and assembly process for nanomanufacturing,” in Proc. Fourth IEEE Conference on Nanotechnology, Munich, Germany, Aug. 2004, pp. 358-360.

Presented at conference but not published

S.G. Finn, M. Medard, and R.A. Barry, “A novel approach to automatic protection switching using trees,” presented at the Proc. International Conference on Communication, 1997.

To be presented at conference

T. Sepke, J.K. Fiorenza, C.G. Sodini, P. Holloway, and H.-S. Lee, “Comparator-based switched-capacitor circuits for scaled CMOS technologies,” to be presented at Proc. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, San Francisco, CA, Feb. 2006.

Published in symposium digest

D.D. Wentzloff and A.P Chandrakasan, “A 3.1-10.6 GHz ultra-wideband pulse-shaping mixer,” IEEE RFIC Symposium Digest of Papers, June 2005, pp. 83-86.

Thesis

J.C. Lee, “Magnetic flux measurement of superconducting Qubits with Josephson inductors,” Master’s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 2002.

Online resource

Author name. (date of publication if available) Site/document title. [Online]. Available: full web address

D. Arseneau. (1999, Mar.) The url.sty package. [Online]. Available: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/other/misc/

Annual Report

P. Mao, “Fabrication and characterization of nanofluidic channels for studying molecular dynamics in confined environments,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, Mechanical Engineering Annual Report, 2005.

Unpublished lecture, public address, or speech

Begin with the speaker, followed by the title (if any), the meeting (and sponsoring organization), the location, and the date. If it is untitled, use a descriptive label, such as Speech, with no quotation marks.

D. Graves. “When bad things happen to good ideas.” National Council of Teachers of English Convention. St. Louis, 21 Nov. 1989.