IELTS - Home > Researchers > Grants and awards > Formatting guidelines
 
IELTS | Researchers - Formatting guidelines
 

 

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General points:

  • Use Word for Windows
  • Use black and white for graphs, tables, etc; no colours
  • Take care with pie charts; the different shades of grey may not reproduce so well in the final product.
  • Include abstract, authors’ biodata and contents page in your report. The abstract should not be longer than one A4 size sheet of paper and each author’s biodata should be within 150 words.

Page set-up in Microsoft Word 

Margins

Inside: 3cm (to allow for gutter and binding)

Outside: 2cm

Top: 3cm

Bottom: 3.5cm

In Page Layout menu on the document, set to Mirror Margins so that gutter space is in the middle of each spread.

Header

Header 2cm from top

First page of each report – IELTS logo and circles – to be provided by IELTS Australia or British Council as appropriate - in header (First page to start on RHP)

Alternating: Left hand page – authors’ names, left aligned.

Right hand page – Title of report, right aligned

Arial 8pt bold, initial capitalisations, but lowercase thereafter

Footer

Set up as alternating so page number always on outside edge

Footer 2 cm from bottom

Title of publication and page number + IELTS web address; Arial 8 pt bold, different alignment on left and right pages,

Single paragraph space after footer text.

 

Styles

Headings (Arial)

 

HEADING 1

Arial 12 point, bold, capitals, 10 pt space after heading, 20 pt space before heading when in body of text. Use numbering system 1, 2, 3, 4 etc and indent Heading by 1.5cm

Heading 2

Arial 11 point, bold, lower case, no initial capitalisation

4 point space before heading when in body of text; 4 point space after heading. Use numbering system 1.1, 1.2 etc

Heading 3

Arial 10, bold, lower case, no initial capitalisation

4 point space before heading when in body of text; 4 point space after heading. Use numbering system 1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc

Heading 4

Arial 10 pt, not bold, lower case, no initial capitalisation

4 point space before heading when in body of text; 4 point space after heading,

Use numbering system 1.1.1.1, 1.1.1.2 etc

 

 

Body Text (Times New Roman)

 

BODY & LISTS

Times New Roman, 11 point, left aligned.

Single space between sentences. Single spacing throughout body of text.

 

Bullet points: squares indented in text (1.5cm), text beginning at 2cm,

No semi-colons at end of lines and no initial capitalisation unless bullet point is a full sentence.

Next level of bullet point is a dash, 2 pt between bullets after text.
Numbering within body text: use 1, 2, 3 (indented at 1.5cm, text at 2cm) – not i), ii) iii) or a), b), c).

Where necessary to indent text (eg sample quote from student exam), indent to 1.5cm, left aligned

 

Tables (Arial)

 

TABLE

Text of tables in Arial, 9pt (where feasible – may need to be 8pt sometimes);

Table title in Arial 10 pt, bold, italics;

Title below table. 20 pt space between table and body text paragraphs.

Tables left aligned and all in black and white (no colour).

 

Referencing

Harvard referencing system – no footnotes, author and year in round brackets within text.

References list – open punctuation (see sample below)

Harvard system – Title of book, journal, conference in italics / Title of article in a journal or chapter in a book in plain text (not italics) in single inverted commas / Title of conference paper in plain text in single inverted commas / Title of unpublished reports or thesis in plain text in single inverted commas

Same style as body of text (Times New Roman, 11 pt, single spaced, 8 pt space after each reference

 

Skehan, P, 1998, A cognitive approach to language learning, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Lewkowicz, J, 1997, ‘The integrated testing of a second language’ in Encyclopaedia of Language and Education, Vol 7: Language Testing and Assessment, eds C Clapham and D Corson, Kluwer, Dortrecht, The Netherlands, pp 121-130

Mangan, SS, 1988, ‘Grammar and the ACTFL oral proficiency interview: discussion and data’, Modern Language Journal vol 72, pp 266-76

Pagination

Tables – where possible, ensure text and tables take up a full page (keep short pages to a minimum by moving text or tables if appropriate).

Appendices – where possible, make appendices fit neatly onto pages, and use smaller type if necessary to reduce page numbers.

House Style

Do not use footnotes or endnotes – either include information in the body of the text or omit it.

Numbers within the text to be written in words up to nine, then numerically from 10 onwards.

Numerical – single figure thousands no comma 2000 not 2,000. Then 10,000 onwards

Percentage symbol to be used %, rather than spelling out per cent. Except where the figure starts the sentence (e.g. Twenty-five percent of students….but in total 43% of…..)

Open punctuation: eg, Dr, Not e.g., Dr., (no full stops)

British and Australian-style spelling (eg finalise, not finalize)

  • minimal capitalisation (use capitals only when referring to a proper name,
    e.g. the Faculty of Science, elsewhere use ‘the faculty’ in lower case)
  • dates: 18 June 2004 (not June 18, 2004 or 18th June, 2004)
  • IELTS Test is capitalised, as are the sub-tests Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking
  • acronyms – spell out in the first instance with the acronyms in brackets after the name
  • all tables to have a full border around the edge

Presentation of the final report

First page:

  • Report title in 18 point bold and 10 pt space afterwards
  • Author in 12 point bold and 10 pt space afterwards
  • Grant awarded info and two sentence overview in 12 point Arial (not bold), 10 pt space.
  • The purpose of the 2-sentence overview is to provide a punchy, succinct, non-academic summary of the topic. It must be reader-friendly.
  • Abstract title in Heading 1
  • Abstract text in body text
  • The abstract is no longer than 300 words.

Second page: Authors’ biodata:

 

Each author’s biodata should be within 150 words.

 

Third page: Table of Contents

  • Contents title in Heading 1
  • Text in 10 point Arial, with 4 point space after each line
  • A dotted line appears between the section heading and the page reference
  • Text bold for top level headings (eg 1, 2, 3) then normal text for others (1.1, 2.2)

The body of the text follows. Acknowledgements, if given, appear immediately after the body of the text, and then the list of references. Appendices appear after the reference.