Innovation: Journal of Creative and Scholarly Works Guidelines

The mission of the High Point University (HPU) journal Innovation: Journal of Creative and Scholarly Works is to publish a journal composed of scholarly and creative works from High Point University undergraduate students. To fulfill this mission, the editors of the journal solicit works that represent a full range of disciplines.

Deadline for submissions is January 31

Eligibility:

• Must be a High Point University undergraduate student or recent graduate (within 12 months) to submit. Recent graduates may only submit manuscripts completed while an undergraduate at High Point University.
• Must have conducted scholarly work under the mentorship of a High Point University faculty member

Submission Requirements:

• Submit the following information to Scholastica via the Scholastic button on the website:
  • Text manuscript as a Microsoft Word document.
  • Separate abstract of manuscript, 150-250 words.
  • Sponsoring statement from HPU faculty member that specifically affirms the mentor has read and critiqued the manuscript content, grammar, and overall presentation and that the planning, execution, and writing of the manuscript represent the work of the undergraduate student.
  • Author Agreement Form (as .docx or pdf)

Authorship Policy

Our journal follows the ICMJE authorship criteria: authors must (1) make a substantial scholarly contribution; (2) draft the article or revise it critically for important intellectual content; (3) approve the final version; and (4) accept accountability for the integrity of the work. Contributors who do not meet all four criteria are listed in an Acknowledgments section.  Mentorship and general supervision are recognized via CRediT and/or acknowledgments and do not, on their own, justify authorship. Disputes are handled by the editorial team per COPE guidance; decisions prioritize student welfare and disciplinary fairness.

Guidelines:

• Writing should be clear, logical, and free from typographical or grammatical errors.
• Manuscripts must be Times New Roman 12 point font, 1 inch margins, double spaced.
• Manuscripts should be formatted in the most recent editions of the citation style appropriate to one’s academic discipline ie: MLA, Chicago, APA.
• Submit graphs, pictures, images, as separate attachments. Attach as jpg, Word document, or Excel file.
• If work involves animal or human subjects include your Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) number in author cover letter.
• The work may not be under consideration by other publications. If the work was previously published in a limited access source, disclose the source to the editor.
• Student authors retain copyright ownership of their work. Articles and other materials in the journal may be freely downloaded, reproduced, and redistributed without permission as long as the author and source are properly cited.

Innovation Journal House Style Guide 

(or, things that make your editors cry) 

Golden Rule: Your editor should spend time improving your article, not repairing your formatting. 

General Formatting Tips 

Check your work against the sample student paper of your citation style. 

• MLA Sample Student Paper 
• APA Sample Student Paper 
• Chicago (Author-Date) Sample Student Paper 
• Chicago (Notes & Bibliography) Sample Student Paper 

If your citation style is not represented above, reach out to your mentoring professor, the HPU Libraries, or the Writing Center for help. 

Don’t use the “return” or “enter” button to create extra spaces between lines. 

• Use the Line Spacing feature to create distance between lines. 
• Make use of the Page Break feature under the Insert tab to push text to a new page. 

Don’t use spaces to create tabs or indentations.  

• We have to delete these one by one. Use the Tab feature or the Hanging Indent feature under Paragraph options. 

Remove comments and tracked changes before submitting. 

• We have to catch and remove these. We are not always successful. 

Don’t use bold for emphasis.  

• Use italics for emphasis only if your citation style allows. 

Don’t manually number pages.  

• Use the Page Numbers feature under the Insert tab. 

Don’t mix fonts or sizes. 

• Use CMD+A or CTRL+A to select all text, then change the font to a single, readable font and size.  
• Exception: Headers and title.  

Make use of the styles tab when organizing your work. 

• Every word processing software has a Styles feature that you should use to organize your essay.  
• This is an accessibility feature.  
• Turn on Navigation (under the View tab) and check that your headers are in the correct order. 

Label figures and images clearly and completely. 

• Every citation style has requirements for labeling figures and images. Please follow these requirements closely.  
• MLA Tables, Figures, and Examples 
• APA Tables and Figures 

General Writing Tips 

Golden Rule: Your editor should spend time improving your article, not checking your grammar. 

Get a second pair of eyes (like the Writing Center) on your work. 

• You can always use another set of eyes. This does not mean you will produce perfect writing, but it does mean you will have made use of the best resource on campus for improving your writing. 
• You can also bring us feedback from your mentor, and we can help you work through it to make your project better. 
• You should also have others read your work. Consider your mentoring professor and even your peers. 

Contextualize/explain every quotation, especially block quotations.  

• This is especially obvious if your paragraph ends on a quotation or your block quotation is not embedded in a paragraph. 
• Every source should serve a purpose in your writing. 

Contextualize/explain every table, chart, or diagram. 

• Just like quotations, tables, charts, and diagrams all carry information and that information needs to be worked into your essay purposefully. 
• It is not enough to include them and hope they convey the intended information.  

Introduce your source authors by name and title when appropriate.  

• This is a way to signal the reason why you are including this source in your project. You rarely need to include the title of the source unless the source itself is your object of analysis. 
• Example: Smith, an assistant professor of culinary science at High Point University, argues that “pineapples do, in fact, belong on pizza” (2026). 
• Not-so-Great Example: Smith, who wrote an article titled “The Science Behind Pizza Toppings,” argues that “pineapples do, in fact, belong on pizza.” 
• Notice how the article title doesn’t convey any additional information that the reader couldn’t get from the quotation. 

Don’t refer to sources as “the source above” or “the previous source”. 

• This is a quick way to commit a consistency error if you move that paragraph or if the form of your essay changes during publication. Remember, just because your pages are one after another, following from the bottom, does not mean that is how your reader will read them. 

Cross-Reference Your Works Cited/References Pages 

• Every source you cite should end up on your citations page. 

• Every source on the citations page should be discussed at length in the body of the project.  

• The only exception here is if you are providing a Bibliography of further reading. This should be included as a separate page. 

Structure paragraphs clearly 

• Strong paragraphs include  

• • topic sentences (which make a point) 
  • evidence (which proves a point) 
  • analysis (which explains how your evidence proves your point) 
  • transition (which forecasts what is coming next) 

• Clear paragraphs help readers understand your points and relate them across your project.