I love having guest posts on Antarcticglaciers.org, and already have some really great contributions from many people. These guest writers broaden the scope of the website beyond my own expertise and add a great deal of value. Guest writers can use this platform to promote and talk about their own published work. If you would like to contribute an article to the website, please do get in touch.
I thought that it might be useful to set down some guidelines for future contributors, in the hope that they might find it useful when writing articles.
Firstly, I reserve the right to edit or reject articles if they are unsuitable for AntarcticGlaciers.org. I do not repost articles from other websites; original contributions only please.
Attribution and authorship
I will always give you full credit and give your full name, institution and link back to your own webpages at the start of the article. It would be helpful to send a headshot and a few lines of ‘About the Author’ to include at the end of the article.
You retain copyright to text and images and I will include a statement to this effect at the start of the article. The rest of the website’s content has a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution Licence.
Effective science communication
The audience of AntarcticGlaciers.org includes scientists, students, school children and the general public. Articles should be written so as to be understandable to all these people. Most of what follows is therefore simply good science communication practise.
- Articles should ideally be around 500 words long and should stick closely to the peer reviewed literature. They should include references (using the numbered style) and citations, and a bibliography at the end. You can also include a ‘further reading’ paragraph.
- Articles should start with the ‘So What’, highlighting the broader relevance of the work to the audience.
- Articles should include lots of pictures but you should have copyright or formal permission to use them. You may need to use RightsLink to ensure copyright, even if you’re an author of a published paper. I can help you with this. Wikimedia Commons is a good source for images. Figures should always be appropriately cited or attributed.
- Use common language, avoiding jargon and technical terms. Aim for a reading age of around 14 years at most. Round off numbers.
- The personal touch, personal experiences and fieldwork stories are particularly welcome. Try to frame science articles through a story.
- If you like, you can embed YouTube videos and Googlemaps in your article.
General principles
- Only referring to published peer-reviewed articles
- Always citing sources to leave a clear train of evidence
- Delivering a clear overview of published literature, avoiding bias wherever possible
- Writing clearly and succinctly to explain
- Knowing our audience
- Only using images for which we have the rights (i.e., ones we generate ourselves, have permission to use, or are available on Wikimedia Commons. Can request permissions from many journals)
- Links between pages and to external pages of high quality
- Engage with audience at different levels to ensure website is useful
I hope this helps. Any questions, drop me a line or use the comments box below. I look forward to your contribution!
Best wishes,
Bethan