Submit A Paper

AMH Paper Submission Guidelines:

All papers that are submitted should be composed of the following:

Title Page: Showing the title of the report, student name and date submitted.

Abstract: The abstract, only a few sentences (200-400 words), should clearly summarize the main conclusions of the paper in a concise fashion.

Introduction: Introduces the mineral and its mineral group and discusses its importance (e.g. historical, mineralogical, scientific, economic, etc.) as well as providing background knowledge.

Composition: Makeup of the mineral or mineral group, and how was it determined.

Mineral Structure: Here it will help to use clearly labeled diagrams. This section should clearly show the type of structure, the arrangement of the ions, the types of bonding, anisotropies in the structure, how any solid solution and/or exsolution occurs in the structure, any unique properties of the atomic arrangement, and be a reasonably complete description of the atomic structure of the mineral.

Physical Properties: Characteristic properties of the mineral or mineral group. For each property or group of properties discussed be sure to relate them as much as possible to the mineral structure, as discussed in the prior section.

Geologic Occurrence: What related minerals occur with it, tectonic significance. What geologic processes lead to its formation.

Special Characteristics: This includes any historical importance, or political significance. It should be clear from your paper what these are.

Where/Who in the World: Minerals are named after someplace, usually a locality where the mineral is found or after the person that discovered them. Either provide a description of the area, its geologic setting and how that mineral got to be in that region or a description of the person the mineral was named after.

Literature Survey: The compilation of a key set of references. General references such as textbooks are fine but it is necessary to include reference to work in scientific literature, particularly relatively recent and well-cited studies. Be sure to include the most highly cited references on each mineral.References should be given in full and should be in the format used by the journal American Mineralogist.

Bibliography: References should be the ones actually cited in the text and only those.

Formatting: Will follow the guidelines of the journal American Mineralogist http://www.minsocam.org/msa/ammin/instructions.html with the exception that figures and tables should be integrated into the text with captions.

Notes:

1. Referencing must be in American Mineralogist style. All statements of fact must be traceable to a reference (except in the abstract portion), and all references must include complete information. All references in the bibliography must actually be used in the text, and all citations in the text must appear in the Bibliography.
2. All Figures must be numbered, captioned, with sources, and must be referred to in the text. Figures must be legible and not too large (ie in MB), as this makes for huge files that choke the system. You must have at least one figure.
3. Style must be scientific. This means: no colloquial usage, a formal tone, though mild humor is allowed (encouraged). Most sentences are generally a declarative statement followed by a citation. “Orthopyroxene is an orthorhombic mineral (Hess 1934; Deer, 1966)”, though it is important to vary the sentence structure to follow the logic of the paper and keep it interesting. I recommend the book “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk and E. B. White (4th ed. is available for $6.29 on overstock.com). Except for the ban on the passive voice (ubiquitous in science), this is a very good philosophical guide to good writing. Excess verbiage will be stiffly penalized.
4. The first person (‘I’, ‘we’) is only used to refer to scientific results or interpretations of the authors themselves (i.e. your original contribution). The second person (‘you’), referring to the reader directly, is never ever used, unless you are Charlotte Brontë: “Reader, I married him”.
5. Organization is extremely important. Do not put information from the main body of the paper into the introduction, structure data in the composition section, lattice cell refinements in the abstract (unless the whole paper is about that), and so forth. Subject headings are obligatory.
6. Highly cited papers and recent papers or any papers in Nature or Science should be noted in a final section on your literature search. Is this mineral involved in a scientific controversy? Is or was it a “hot topic”? If anybody wrote a highly cited paper (rule of thumb – any paper with more citations than references), then what was it about and why was it cited so often.
7. Direct quotes are never used in scientific writing.
8. Introduction: This is the section people have the most difficulty with. An introduction does not repeat information that belongs in another section, such as the detailed composition or structure. Start with something general, in many cases a mineral group that is interesting/special/valuable, so for example: “The garnet group is one of the main rock forming mineral groups, occurring in igneous, metamorphic and even sedimentary rocks, and having economic importance as abrasives. Among that group, the Yttrium Aluminum Garnets (YAG) are a man-made mineral used extensively in the production of lasers. These garnet form a composition series limited only by the extent of solid solution, but with a very narrow useful compositional range (Ref). These are called...” So, moving from the general to the specific, you end the Introduction by naming your mineral with its formula and sometimes with related minerals.
9. Most common errors:
   • Introduction is just a list of facts.
   • Intro is a restatement or copy of abstract.
   • Intro (or abstract) contains details that belong in later sections.
   • Structure or composition information out of place.
   • First use of names of other minerals don’t say what they are: always give at least the formula of an unusual mineral the first time it is used.
   • Lack of references. Every paragraph should have multiple references.
   • Over-reliance on a single source. If you find yourself using the same ref over and over, you haven’t done your homework.