>> I *greatly* appreciate experienced Methods posters who submit their articles in the standard format. ] Mod: I would like very much to have a description of the "standard format" that experienced methods posters do use. If you provide the standard format, or tell me where one may be viewed, I will certainly adhere to the guidelines with future postings. Many thanks. [ Since you asked ... (: Some basic information: The whole point of the format is to make Methods posts easy to read. There is no religion here, and the standard Methods format may not be "best" in any meaningful sense. It's just the format that's been used for the last decade or so. And don't worry about this. You aren't being graded. (: But, if you want to make life better for the poor suffering moderator, here are some guidelines: (1) First and foremost, use your best standard grammar, spelling, and formatting of your article. Use capitals to start sentences, don't shout entirely in caps, use two spaces between sentences but not between random words, etc. (I know some people have been taught to use one space between sentences. Two spaces is neither better or worse -- it's just what we use here so everything reads the same ... ) (2) When posting a new article, try to make your Subject: line as meaningful as possible. Make sure the same information appears in the article as in the Subject: line, because some readers cannot see the Subject: and the message body at the same time. (3) When replying to an article, use the same Subject: line (possibly adding Re: in front). (4) When you quote material from an earlier post, in general trim away as much text as you can retaining only the text to which you are responding. Place that quoted text before your response. You can always write "<snipped some-short-summary>" to summarize a long textual passage you're removing. (5) When quoting material, try to keep the poster's name and email address associated with the material. Don't include the date/time of the quoted message, the Message-ID:, or extraneous material of that ilk. So a well-formatted message might appear: ### From: foo@bar.com Subject: Re: Unusual Information Sources > > I'm familiar with the standard vital records, but I'm > > curious what other records experienced researchers might > > have used. > > > > "Sally Wright" <wright123@aol.com> > > I've sometimes found old teachers' grade books to be a > useful source of information. > > <snipped interesting personal anecdote> > > "Jon Prince" <jprince@earthlink.net> That's completely true, but the trick is *finding* the grade books. Sometimes they've been destroyed, sometimes the local school district has them, and other times they may be in the local library or historical society. Good luck with your search! -Paul -- Paul Foo foo@bar.com ### Anyway, the easiest way to do Methods formatting is just to mimic what everyone else does. And don't worry about getting it exactly right -- close is more than good enough. Thanks all! -Mod ] Fran powell@closecall.com