Style Guide

  • Submit articles in MS Word (no PDFs).
  • Times New Roman, 12-point type, single space.
  • 1-inch (2.5 cm) margins.
  • Portrait orientation for all pages.
  • Format text for a standard page (“letter” size in U.S.; A4 in Europe).
  • Disable automatic citation or reference functions.
  • Ensure that all tables, figures, text boxes, or appendices are labeled accurately with titles and numbers, and are referenced in the text.
  • Avoid using italics or bold for emphasis; italics may be used for statistical symbols and when original to quotations from published scholarship.
  • All tables, figures, and other illustrations should be inserted into the single file of the submitted text, rather than uploaded as separate files. See examples below.
  • Minimize end notes. See guidelines on appropriate use below.
  • Minimize appendices (unless essential to understanding study).
  • For supplementary files, data, or media-based submissions (e.g., simulations, audio, video, games), please contact the Editorial Office (tli@issotl.com) for preferred formats and file sizes.
  • Confirm that your manuscript is within the recommended word limit. Manuscripts that exceed the maximum word limit will be returned to authors for revision prior to review. For word limits, see Submission Types under About the Journal.

 

FORMATTING: FIRST PAGE

Author Information

  • List all authors on a separate line, including name, institution, and institutional email
  • Right-justified

Author First and Last Name, INSTITUTION, email@institution.edu

Article Title

  • Boldface, left-aligned, headline style (title case, or capitalizing all principles words).

    Example: Phenomenology as a Methodology for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

  • One paragraph of no more than 250 words.
  • Avoid citations in Abstract.

Keywords

  • Three to five keywords or phrases, lower case, separated by commas.
  • Keywords should be one word or unique concept, not compound phrases. Example: “student engagement, learning” NOT “student engagement and learning”
  • List in order of importance, such as the following: phenomenology, higher education, methodology, lived experience.
  • Please do not include SoTL or scholarship of teaching and learning as keywords as these are already part of the journal metadata.

Headings

  • Heading level 1: ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, FLUSH LEFT
  • Heading level 2: Sentence style (only first letter of first word capitalized), bold, indented 0.5 inches/1.25cm
  • Heading level 3: Sentence style, italics, indented 0.5 inches/1.25cm

FORMATTING: ARTICLE BODY

Citations and References

  • Ensure that all in-text citations and entries on the reference list are accurate and complete.
  • Ensure that only works cited in the text are included in the reference list and vice versa.
  • Ensure that citations follow the Chicago Manual of Style 18, author-date reference style (See Quick Reference). Note that page numbers are only necessary when including direct quotes or when summarizing or paraphrasing specific passages from the cited text. 
  • Note that the TLI style guide deviates from CMS 18 style in terms of the number of authors listed in in-text citations and reference entries. 
    • For in-text citations: 
      • List up to seven authors. If more than seven authors, list the first author followed by et al.
      • On subsequent references, list the first author followed by et al.
    • For reference entries: List up to twelve authors (first and last names). If more than twelve authors, list the first twelve followed by et al.

Tables and Figures

  • Tables and figures should be inserted in the text at first mention.
  • Tables and figures should be designed in portrait orientation.
  • References to tables and figures should be capitalized when mentioned in the text (Table 1).
  • For any figures or photos, include an image credit with name and year.
  • Titles are placed above the table or figure and should be succinct (10 words or less). 
    • You may include a “Note” at the bottom of the table or figure with additional context if needed, but notes should be limited to 20 words or less. 
    • Longer notes should be integrated into the main text.
  • Titles for table and figure: Sentence case (only first letter of first word capitalized), bold, flush left

    Table 1. The session topics

    Figure 1. Overall agreement that the learning outcomes were met

  • Please note: Due to restrictions with layout, the placement of tables and figures may be adjusted slightly during the production phase. Tables may break across pages, but the production team will try to prevent cells from breaking across pages wherever possible.

Indentation

  • Indent first line of all paragraphs 0.5 inch/1.25cm.
  • Indent extracts (block quotations) of more than 40 words, with an extra line space before and after the paragraph.
  • Do not use tabs to indent paragraphs, block quotations, or the reference list. Use the MS Word ruler or Paragraph feature instead.

Block Quotations

  • Block quotes of more than 40 words should be indented one-half-inch and single-spaced, with an extra line space before and after the paragraph. 
  • Do not italicize or surround them with quotation marks.

Oxford Comma

  • Please use the Oxford comma by placing a comma after the last item in a series of three or more elements.
  • For example: “the interaction between physical, cognitive, and social development”.

Numbers

  • Spell out numbers from one to nine.
  • Spell out and hyphenate fractions: one-fifth.
  • If the number appears in specific instances as an identifier—examples: week 1, week 2, etc.; group 1, group 2, etc.—we will consider using the numeral representation. Use should be consistent throughout the manuscript.

Page Numbers in In-Text Citations and Reference List

  • In specifying ranges of pages, use an en-dash (–), not a hyphen (-). Use only the last two digits after the en-dash: 317–19.
  • Exceptions: starting on the hundred (200–204), and the first nine digits after one hundred (303–9).

FORMATTING: ARTICLE END

Acknowledgments

  • The acknowledgment section is optional. Use it to thank someone who inspired or assisted your project, colleagues who offered feedback on your manuscript, or others you feel should be shown appreciation.
  • If your work received financial support, identify the source here.

Author Biography

  • To maintain anonymity for double-anonymous peer review, this identifying information should be added only when accepted for publication.
  • Provide author name, title, affiliation, and country. Focus on current biographical information and avoid extending beyond three lines of text.
  • Do not include honorifics (Dr., Professor, PhD) immediately surrounding the name.
  • Include a biography for each author between 20–40 words.
  • Italicize and indent the entire entry 0.5 inch/1.25cm. Include a line for each author. Examples:

    Andrea S. Webb (Canada) is an instructor in the faculty of education at the University of British Columbia. Her work focuses on developing educational leadership in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

    Bryan M. Dewsbury (United States) is an associate professor of biology in the department of biological sciences at Florida International University (FIU). He is the principal investigator of the science education and society (SEAS) program and the associate director of the STEM Transformation Institute at FIU.

Notes

  • Minimize the use of endnotes.
  • If essential to supplement the main text, use endnotes (not footnotes), and please enter them manually (not using the Microsoft Word automatic function). 
  • Any sources cited in the notes should also appear in the reference list.
  • Use endnotes (not footnotes), and please enter them manually (not using the Microsoft Word automatic function). Any sources cited in the notes should also appear in the reference list.
  • Note reference numbers in text are set as superior (superscript) numbers. In the notes themselves, they are normally full size, not raised, and followed by a period.

    Example: “Crushed thirty feet upwards, the waters flashed for an instant like heaps of fountains, then brokenly sank in a shower of flakes, leaving the circling surface creamed like new milk round the marble trunk of the whale.”1

    1. Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (Harper & Brothers, 1851), 627.

Disclosure

  • Disclose any use of Generative AI and/or AI-assisted technologies, at any stage of the writing and preparation of the manuscript (e.g., generating ideas, editing text, producing images and/or graphical elements, collecting and/or analyzing data). 
  • See TLI’s “Generative AI Guidance for Authors and Reviewers” for additional guidance on disclosing GenAI use.

Ethics

  • Include an ethics statement when research involves human subjects.
  • For example: “Research was deemed exempt by the [UNIVERSITY] ethics review board” or “Research was approved through the [UNIVERSITY] ethical review processes"
  • Mask the university name until the manuscript is accepted.

References

  • All entries in the reference list should be cited in text or notes.
  • For basic formats, see guide below.

FORMATTING: CITATIONS AND REFERENCE LIST

  • Teaching & Learning Inquiry uses Chicago Manual of Style, author-date style, to accommodate the interdisciplinary nature of the journal (See Quick Reference).
  • As of September 1, 2025 Teaching & Learning Inquiry has transitioned to Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition.

Parenthetical Citations

All citations in the text and notes should have a corresponding entry in the reference list.

  • Citation of the work in general: (Smith 1994)
  • Quotation or other pinpoint citation: (Smith 1994, 144) (Smith 1994, 194–95)
  • Two to seven authors: 
    • First reference: (Smith and Jones 1994) (Smith and Jones 1994, 144) (Smith, Jones, and Johnson 1994) (Smith, Jones, and Johnson 1994, 144)
    • Second reference: (Smith et al. 1994, 144)
  • Eight or more authors: (Smith et al. 1994, 144)
  • Multiple citations in a single sentence appear alphabetically and are separated by semicolons: (Chen 1983; Johnson 2002; Mårtensson 2010).

Reference List

  • All items on the reference list should be cited in the text or notes.
  • Organize the reference list alphabetically by last names of the authors.
  • For multiple sources by the same author, list the entries in chronological order from earliest to most recent.
  • Use the full name of each author or editor.
  • Use headline style (title case, or capitalizing all principle words) for titles of books, reports, articles, and journals.
  • Include DOIs (or stable URLs, if DOIs are unavailable), hyperlinked, for journal articles, reports, and newspaper articles, even if consulted in print (Note: this is an exception to CMS 18), as well as blog posts and other online sources. A DOI is a permanent URL that begins https://doi.org/.
  • Use hanging indent (0.5 inch/1.25cm) for all lines after first of each entry (use paragraph setting in MS Word; do not use tab settings).

FORMATTING AND SUBMITTING A POSTER

Posters submitted and accepted to the most recent ISSOTL conference can be submitted for publication in TLI. Posters will go through a peer review process focused on design, scholarly content, and connection to SoTL. Please submit the poster as a PDF and follow all TLI style guidelines. For more information, see Poster Evaluation Criteria.

Formatting

  • The title on the poster should be in title case (All Words Capitalized)
  • All poster author names should be listed on poster as: First 1 Last 1, First 2 Last 2, and First 3 Last 3.
  • Ensure style of headings is consistent throughout poster
  • Ensure that formatting throughout the poster follows the Chicago Manual of Style 17, author-date reference style (See Quick Reference).
  • Include Oxford comma
  • Ensure all hyperlinks and QR codes are active and accurate
  • To maximize space, citations can be indicated with a superscript if citations are also included on the poster. A full list of complete references must be provided as a separate word document.

Submission

  • Posters do not need to be anonymized since they’ve already been presented at the conference.
  • Submit posters as a PDF file. Check that your PDF is accessible for online viewing.
  • Submit a word document with the following sections following the guidelines shared above:
    • Title
    • Abstract
    • Author Biography(ies)
    • References