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AFRICA ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK 3 • Authors’ Guide
PART 4 STYLE GUIDE
The following general guidelines were prepared to assist in the preparation of GEO-4 and the AEO-2, and have been adopted for AEO-3. The idea behind them is to ensure that there is consistency throughout the whole report.
Please follow these rules from writing of the first draft, it will save you time.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Presentation of Messages: Key messages are expected to emerge from Parts I and II of the AEO-3 report. The messages should follow from the assessments, analyses and discussions of initiatives, emerging issues and policies, and the conclusions and recommendations for future actions. The message for each section should be stated immediately after the introduction. This will prepare the reader for the final outcome of the argument about the issues presented in the section. For example, the importance of monitoring environmental performance at the local as well as the national or sub-regional level could be summarized in a message saying that: ‘At the local level, communities may be able to reduce their impacts on the environment, improve their health and sustain their livelihoods, even where nationally aggregated data indicate a decline in environmental conditions. These local experiences can be used to provide lessons for up- scaling techniques of good environmental management’.
Referencing: Data, information, quotes, extracts, and substantive statements must all be referenced. If anything is taken verbatim from another text, publication or even an unpublished manuscript, it must appear in quotation marks (with the source). The citation for any statement made must appear in the text with the information, and the reference in the reference section. See the ‘Format for referencing’ section p. 21 for details. Illustrations must be credited, and if they come from a published source, referenced as well. You might find material, or part of a chapter that has a statement without a reference, or where the references cannot be traced. If you cannot find a similar statement
or material to use as a reference, you could locate something similar on the Web, by changing the wording a bit, and looking it up. It is possible to get sources for material in this way. Both printed publications and the websites where they are found can be added as sources. Websites, although increasingly used, are not ideal, because they are not permanent, and so cannot be traced after a few years unless they are archived. The material may not have undergone a thorough review. Try to back up web references with published material. The websites that are referenced in the AEO-3 are, however, placed in a repository. All websites that are listed in the document will be visited and verified. The page is downloaded, tagged and then archived. The reference for the web page is then the repository, which can be accessed through a hyperlink on the CD version of the report. Web pages must be cited under their authorship, and then listed in the References section. The style for citation and reference of websites is covered in the ‘Format for Referencing’ section p. 21.
Twitters and newspaper sources are not recognized as authentic for this report and should therefore not be cited or used.
Research, compilation of material and definitions: CCs are to compile datasets, collected from national and sub- regional partner institutions and the national focal points. This will follow the structure set up in the Analytical Framework. Experts may have their own original data or data from published sources. The CCs are to collect, analyse, and compile the data and information into a sub-regional draft report. Experts/authors will add additional reference material.
The AEO Data Working Group will meet on a regular basis to formulate and recommend actions for the AEO-3 process that are concerned with data and indicators. If there are problems with certain aspects of the data or information aspect of the assessment, CCs and authors (through their CCs or
editorial coordinators), can request the Data Working Group to make recommendations on these issues.
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