THE ENCYCLOPEDIA or A-Z PROJECT

The entry or headword list is the most important component to a successful A-Z reference project. Check your contract rider to see how many entries the project is to have (a number that has usually been worked out during your proposal stage with your acquisitions editor). Consider how many should be long entries, short entries, or a mixture. Some topics demand many brief entries (definitions or identifications) while others are better suited to fewer, but longer, entries that go beyond "ready reference."

Projects with fewer (and longer) entries are generally completed more quickly and easily than those with more (and shorter) entries (everything else being equal). This is because the work of assigning, tracking, extracting, and reviewing an entry is relatively constant, whether the entry is long or short. That said, most encyclopedias should include a mixture of entry lengths. To state the obvious, more important topics should have longer entries. When planning an encyclopedia, entries are easiest thought of (and assigned to contributors) in terms of three (or four) length categories, such as

A-length entries.............................2,500 words each
B-length entries.............................1,500 words each
C-length entries.............................500 words each

Assign entry lengths on the basis of relative importance, as well (in some cases) on the basis of entry type. Examples of entry types (not all will apply to every project): conceptual and theoretical topics; key events and personalities; economic topics and terms; political, legal, and security topics; regional topics (states, countries, regions); culture and media topics; treaties and legislation; influential groups; etc.

Tips on Building Your Entry List for an A-Z Book

1. To get ideas for entries, review (but don't copy) the indexes or headings of well-regarded books, articles, and online resources on your topic
2. Once you've made a start, you may want to pass your draft entry list along to colleagues for a quick critique.
3. After you've put together most of your entry or headword list), start to examine it for coverage and size gaps or imbalances by rearranging your list under broad topics or categories. Depending on your general topic, they might include such groupings as
   • basic concepts that explain your subject
   • historical and political topics, and within them, eras and regions
   • people (and for these, you might need to arrange them by era or region)
   • key recent events
   • legal and security topics
   • regional topics (states, countries, regions)
   • culture and media topics
   • influential groups; etc
   By doing this, you might find, for example, that you have many entries for nineteenth century Europe, but none for the eighteenth century; or many Asian topics but no Latin American ones.
4. You can also arrange your list by potential length. You can then spot if you have too many items of a short size, for example, or not enough longer entries in an important topic category.

See also Sample Guide to Related Topics.

An example of how you might plan entry sizes for a two-volume (400,000 word) encyclopedia project with approximately 250 entries:

5	5,000-word "anchor" essays	25,000 words
50	"long" entries of 2,500 words	125,000 words
140	"medium" entries of 1,500 words	210,000 words
50	"short" entries of 500 words	25,000 words

Note: Remember that all front and back matter—which is usually specified in your contract—must be included as part of your contracted word count; the example above assumes 10,000-15,000 words of front matter/back matter/index.

The total number of entries can easily be cut to 200 or so with a little rejiggering (more anchor essays and long entries); reducing the number of contributors you must recruit and manage by 20%.

Once you've made up your entry list with word assignments, you may discover that you've run over the total. If so, prune by deleting or combining minor entries. Remember that you can use cross-references ("see" or "blind" entries) to refer users to a related entry and to prevent duplicating your work. Remember, however, that each entry's "Further Readings" section should be included in the word count.

Creating Good Headwords and Entry Titles: Do's and Don'ts

Significant words first or by themselves: Do put the most significant word first, since the entry will be alphabetized by the first word.

Dyslexia and Students
not
Students with Dyslexia

If the entire encyclopedia is about students, you need only

Dyslexia

Likewise, assume that all entries in an encyclopedia on a person or topic are related to that person or topic. In general, you do not need to add qualifications. For example, in an encyclopedia solely about William Faulkner:

Japan
not
Reception of William Faulkner's Work in Japan

Don'tDon't start each entry in a subject encyclopedia with the main topic of the encyclopedia. For example, in an encyclopedia about teaching:

Teaching children with disabilities
Teaching foreign-language speakers
Teaching young adults

Do always provide birth and death dates (if appropriate) after the names, in parentheses, for biographical entries.

Carson, Rachel (1907-1964)
Goodall, Jane (1934- )

How to Write and Encyclopedia Entry

To the extent possible, entries should follow a consistent format and style throughout the book, including the following:

• Structure: Most non-biographical entries will consist of a definition, explanation, development and details, and examples. This is the common "pyramid structure" used in many reference books. Biographical entries should begin with the significance of the person to the topic; a brief life history, especially as related to the topic; and details about the person's contribution to the topic of the work.
• Beginning: Your entries should provide summaries of the importance of the topic of the entry in the first few sentences, in addition to a brief definition.
• Objectivity: Encyclopedia and dictionary entries must be objective.
• Relevance to Topic: Entries should focus on the person or topic as it relates to the subject of the encyclopedia. For instance, an entry on Woodrow Wilson in an education-related encyclopedia should briefly acknowledge his political career but then focus on his tenure at Princeton.
• Overlap: Since an encyclopedia is not meant to be read from cover to cover, it is not only permissible that there be overlap from one entry to another, it is essential that there be overlap. For example, an encyclopedia on the Civil War will include an entry on the battle of Gettysburg as well as information on that battle in other entries focusing on the relevant generals, strategy, campaigns, and so on. Each of these entries will also contain cross-references to related entries. Although cross-references will guide the curious reader to related entries, each entry should be able to stand alone and not have to depend on another entry.

See sample encyclopedia entries.

Cross-References

At their first occurrence in the text of each entry, ONLY, please boldface cross-referenced entries—those entries discussed elsewhere in the book whose exact titles or names appear in the text. If the cross-reference is a name, it should be highlighted according to how it will be alphabetized in the main entry listing. Although this usually means by last name—Abraham Lincoln, not Abraham Lincoln—some foreign and assumed names must be handled differently depending on how they will be alphabetized, e.g., Malcolm X, not Malcolm X, or Mao Ze-dong, not Mao Ze-dong. Be sure to bold these terms only at their first occurrence, not throughout the entry, which would be highly annoying to the reader.

Cross-references that are not in the text of the entry can be broken out separately at the bottom of the entry, in alphabetic order, separated by semicolons. Below is an excerpt from a subject encyclopedia entry that shows terms within the text that have been placed in bold to indicate entry names as well as some terms introduced by "See also"

Sexual Abuse Act of 1986: In 1986 Congress passed the Sexual Abuse Act of 1986 in an attempt to deal with the problem of proliferating sexual assaults. The bill, applied to all federal jurisdictions, provided for fines, imprisonment, or both for individuals who forced other persons to engage in sexual acts against their will or with those who were unable to give consent. It also expanded the definition of sexual assault....

According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports for 1986, 90,434 forcible rapes were reported to authorities, and some estimates suggest that only one in five sexual assaults are reported. Since the new law applied only to federal jurisdictions: prisons, post offices, military bases and American Indian reservations, the majority of sexual assault cases were unaffected. Congress passed a more inclusive bill with the Violence against Women Act in 1994. See also Sexual Harassment; Statutory Rape.

You may also wish to create "See" or "blind" references when you think that readers may expect to find a particular term that has not been used for an entry name. Use these sparingly. Remember that the index will also point the way to readers looking for certain subjects. Here's an example of how to create such a term within the main body of the manuscript (place on a separate line with space above and beneath):

Legislation (Federal). See Sexual Abuse Act of 1986

Further Reading

Below the cross-references comes a brief list of further readings and references.

It is important that material, particularly bibliographic data, in your encyclopedia be consistently styled. Any style recommended in The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, or generally accepted within your subject or discipline should be acceptable if consistently followed. Remember that librarians want full bibliographical information, including the publisher's name and place.

Your references should generally be authoritative books and articles in easy-to-locate publications or on the Internet. Your lists should contain, when possible, at least one relevant and reputable website. Avoid the use of foreign language items, unless essential.

Sample Further Reading

• Barker, Simon, and Hinds, Hilary (eds), The Routledge Anthology of Renaissance Drama, London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
• Greenblatt, Stephen, Cohen, Walter, Howard, Jean E. and Maus, Katherine (eds), The Norton Shakespeare, New York: Norton, 1997.
• Kinney, Arthur (ed). Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
• Muir, Lynette R. The Biblical Drama of Medieval Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
• University of California at Santa Barbara English Department. Voice of the Shuttle; Web Site for Humanities Research. http://vos.ucsb.edu/index.asp

Contributor's Name

Below each entry, on a separate line, is the contributor's name. Although no affiliation will follow the contributor's name, an "About the Editors and Contributors" section with full affiliations will go in the back matter. See Sample Encyclopedia Entries.

About the Editors and Contributors

To help you create this section, you will want to ask your contributors to include or attach a brief bio with their entries. They should include a brief description, maximum 50 words, of their relevant research and/or publications with their entry. This will save you from having to go back to your contributors for this information at a later point when there is little time to obtain and edit their responses. See Sample Author/Editor and Contributor Biographies.