(1)
WHEN FARM LAND GETS TIRED
Scientists Find Causes of Exhausted Fields
(2)
FIELDS WON'T WEAR OUT
If the Warnings of Soil Experts Are Heeded
(3)
BALANCED RATIONS FOR THE SOIL
Why the Feeding of Farm Land is Necessary for Good Crops
CHAPTER X
PREPARING AND SELLING THE MANUSCRIPT
Importance of Good Manuscript. After an article has been carefully revised, it is ready to be copied in the form in which it will be submitted to editors. Because hundreds of contributions are examined every day in editorial offices of large publications, manuscripts should be submitted in such form that their merits can be ascertained as easily and as quickly as possible. A neatly and carefully prepared manuscript is likely to receive more favorable consideration than a badly typed one. The impression produced by the external appearance of a manuscript as it comes to an editor's table is comparable to that made by the personal appearance of an applicant for a position as he enters an office seeking employment. In copying his article, therefore, a writer should keep in mind the impression that it will make in the editorial office.
Form for Manuscripts. Editors expect all manuscripts to be submitted in typewritten form. Every person who aspires to write for publication should learn to use a typewriter. Until he has learned to type his work accurately, he must have a good typist copy it for him.
A good typewriter with clean type and a fresh, black, non-copying ribbon produces the best results. The following elementary directions apply to the preparation of all manuscripts: (1) write on only one side of the paper; (2) allow a margin of about three quarters of an inch on all sides of the page; (3) double space the lines in order to leave room for changes, sub-heads, and other editing.
Unruled white bond paper of good quality in standard letter size, 8½ by 11 inches, is the most satisfactory. A high grade of paper not only gives the manuscript a good appearance but stands more handling and saves the recopying of returned manuscripts. A carbon copy should be made of every manuscript so that, if the original copy goes astray in the mail or in an editorial office, the writer's work will not have been in vain. The carbon copy can also be used later for comparison with the printed article. Such a comparison will show the writer the amount and character of the editing that was deemed necessary to adapt the material to the publication in which it appears.
A cover sheet of the same paper is a convenient device. It not only gives the editorial reader some information in regard to the article, but it protects the manuscript itself. Frequently, for purposes of record, manuscripts are stamped or marked in editorial offices, but if a cover page is attached, the manuscript itself is not defaced. When an article is returned, the writer needs to recopy only the cover page before starting the manuscript on its next journey. The form for such a cover page is given below
| To be paid for at usual rates, or to be returned with the ten (10) cents in stamps enclosed, to Arthur W. Milton, | Written for The Outlook |
CONFESSIONS OF A FRESHMAN (Note. This article is based on the writer's ownexperience in a large Middle Western state university,and the statistics have been obtainedfrom the registrars of four state universities.It contains 2,750 words.) Four (4) Photographs are Enclosed, as follows:
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