HERBARIUM STYLE GUIDE GENERAL CONTENT INFO FOR ARTICLES Editing: Please spellcheck documents. The Herbal Academy reserves the right to edit all final documents for content, style, spelling, and grammar. Language: Avoid words such as cure, treat, diagnose, medicine, disease, healing and phrasing that suggests you are making medical claims or equating herbs to conventional medicine, etc. Instead, use words like support, balance, nurture, therapeutic, condition, imbalance. When describing the healing properties of plants, focus on the historical/traditional uses and physiological actions/mechanisms/pathways without actually making specific health claims. Use language such as traditionally used, historical use, or modern herbalists employ this herb for said reasons. Back up your work with reputable books and/or clinical studies rather than citing blogs. Safety: Include safety precautions for the herbs discussed in article and reference that information. Use Headings and Subheadings*: Use headings in the document to add visual relief for the reader. Use both headings and subheadings to help organize and break up the text. Use all capital letters for headers and lowercase letters for subheaders. Make headers and subheaders bold with a font size of 14 pt (body text is 12 point font) so we can easily distinguish them. *Monograph writers, do not including headings in your main write up. Please see the Monograph Field Guide for specifics. Incorporating quotes: Feel free to incorporate properly cited and referenced quotes, however, do not copy/paste quotes without some commentary or interpretation. Quotes should not be used to replace your own thoughts.
BASIC FORMATTING/GRAMMAR Paragraphs: Do not indent paragraphs. Paragraphs should not be too long to make reading online text easier. Line spacing: Single space between sentences with double spaces between paragraphs. Paragraph length: Limit paragraphs to 3 5 sentences each when possible. Bullet points: Use bullets when appropriate to increase white space. Commas: Please use the Oxford (serial) comma. This book is dedicated to my roommates, Big Bird, and God. Spaces: Please only use one space after a period or end of sentence. Herb names: Do not capitalize common herb names unless they are in a heading, list, begin a sentence, and/or contain a proper noun. Capitalize herbs whose common name is the same as their Latin genus name (e.g., Gingko, Echinacea, Calendula). For Latin binomials, capitalize the first word only and italicize (Melissa officinalis). GUIDELINES FOR CITING AND REFERENCING In-text Citation Basics For additional information or if your citation does not meet one of the below descriptions, please see: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/ Direct quotes: Include in-text citations for direct quotes. Cite the source with the publication year and page. "Herbs are neat" (Smith, 2014, p. 6). Include publication in your References list below article. If you are including a direct quote from a website, use the paragraph number. Herbs are neat (Smith, 2014, para. 2). If the quote falls on more than one page: (Smith, 2014, pp. 3-4). Do not include page number/s if not a direct quote. Citing facts: Cite the author and date in parentheses after sentence. Herbs are neat (Smith, 2006). If two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2016). If more than two authors: (Smith et al., 2006). Note the use of the ampersand in Smith & Jones. Note the period followed by a comma in Smith et al., 2006.
If adapting someone else's recipe, please cite it beneath title of your recipe. Sore Throat Tea Adapted from Rosemary Gladstar In your list of references, include the information about that specific publication. Always rewrite the recipe directions in your own words. If you are sharing someone else's ideas or concepts, this must also be properly cited within the text and referenced at the end of the article. Paraphrasing must also be cited properly, both after the wording and in the reference list below your article. Reference List Basics For additional information or if your reference does not meet one of the below descriptions, please see https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/ The reference list should appear at the end of the article, alphabetized according to first author s last name. Place the word REFERENCES at the top of your list in bold type, without a colon. Books Cech, R. (2002). Growing at-risk medicinal herbs. Williams, OR: Horizon Herbs. Note that title is in italics and only the first letter of first word is capitalized. No page numbers. Journal Articles Rogers, C. (1998). Herbal medicine in the treatment of endometriosis. The European Journal of Herbal Medicine, 4(1), 34-39. Note that the journal article is spelled out in full. Note the use of commas and where the period is located after the date. Note that the journal name and volume number are italicized. Three to Seven Authors List authors by last name and initial (e.g., Smith, A.B., Jone, T.R., etc) with final author s name preceded by an ampersand (&). Newall, C. A., Anderson, L.A., & Phillipson, J.D. (1996). Herbal medicines: A guide for health-care professionals. London, England: The Pharmaceutical Press. Seven or More Authors List up to seven in the reference list (do not use et al.). If more than seven authors, after the sixth, use an ellipses ( ) then provide the final author s name.
Dong S.H., Cai, G., Napolitano, J.G., Nikolić, D., Lankin, D.C., McAlpine, J.B., Chen, S.N. (2013). Lipidated steroid saponins from Dioscorea villosa (wild yam). Fitoterapia, 91,113-24. Journal Article with a DOI (digital object identifier): Sim, T. F., Sherriff, J., Hattingh, H. L., Parsons, R., & Tee, L. B. (2013). The use of herbal medicines during breastfeeding: a population-based survey in Western Australia. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 13, 317. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-13-317 Citing an Abstract If you do not have access to the full article and are only citing the abstract: Rogers, C. (1998). Herbal medicine in the treatment of endometriosis [Abstract]. The European Journal of Herbal Medicine, 4(1), 34-39. Note the insertion of [Abstract] in brackets following the title, inside the period. Websites Author, A. (Date). Title of document [Format description]. Retrieved on from http://www etc. Examples: Duke, J. (2015). Dr. Duke s phytochemical and ethnobotanical databases [Online Database]. Retrieved from http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/ Note the lack of a period after the URL. Piorier, E. (2013). Plant profile: Wild cherry bark [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://minnesotaherbalist.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/plant-profile-wild-cherry-bark/ When There is No Author for a Web Page: The title moves to the first position of the reference entry. All 33 Chile miners freed in flawless rescue. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39625809/ns/world_news-americas/ Cite in text the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title or abbreviated title.: ("All 33 Chile miners," 2010). Website with No Date: Hoffmann, D. (n.d.). Fennel fruit, estragole, and the breast feeding mother. Retrieved from http://www.herbcraft.org/hoffmannfennel.html Website with No Author and No Date: Fennel. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=23
Additional Notes For books, only include the website from which you retrieved it if it is a book that you were only able to find online (like the old herbal books on Michael Moore s or Henriette s websites) not easily accessible from bookstores or libraries. For journal articles, do not include the website from which you retrieved it unless it is only available online. (We do not need to provide links for every journal article, as the references become cumbersome.) RECIPE FORMATTING Please format recipes in the below manner. Basic format example: Calendula Herbal Oil [Title is in bold] Ingredients (listed with no bullet points or numbers) 1 cup olive oil 1/2 cup dried calendula Directions (with bullet points only, no numbers) Crush herbs with mortar and pestle Etc., etc., etc.