Suite101 submission guidelines

You joined Suite101 to share your knowledge with others, and we take pride in each of our articles being thorough and engaging. With that in mind, take care to ensure your articles are insightful, substantial, and teach your readers something. Your writing must also conform to the following guidelines:

General

  1. Original articles only. All writing must be previously unpublished anywhere on the web (including your own blog or other writing sites), and must be written by you. Rewording or rephrasing other published texts (articles, website content or books) is not considered original writing.
  2. Articles must be well written in standard English. Writers must demonstrate a strong command of written English to retain publishing privileges.
  3. Error free. All articles must be factually accurate.
  4. Substantial. All articles must be reasoned, researched, substantial. In other words, each article must have a clear purpose and must contain enough depth for a potential reader to find it rewarding.
  5. Standalone. All articles must be self-contained and not begin or conclude with another piece. In other words, all articles must be in themselves valuable and complete.
  6. First-person writing and opinion are allowed. We encourage you to incorporate your own learning experiences into your writing.
  7. Articles must not contain any of the errors listed under the heading “Why we take articles offline”. Think of it as What Not To Write.

Linking in your articles

  1. Links must be relevant. All links must be relevant to your article. As a rule, links should enhance your article, not detract from it. When you're including a link, ask yourself if it provides the best resource for a reader reading your article.
  2. No self promotion. Avoid self-promotional links. We do encourage linking that adds value to a reader's experience, but we do not allow unrelated (or too tenuously related) links to a writer's own work. As elsewhere, avoid overdoing it.
  3. Embed your links. Do not leave exposed links (e.g., http://www.somewebsite.com/) in the body of your article. Use the "Insert/Edit Link" button to ensure every link has appropriate anchor text.

Citing sources

  1. Acceptable sources. Please only use authoritative sources to inform your articles - including books, magazines, industry journals, news websites.
  2. Attribute information. Attribute all information gleaned from external sources. Whenever you quote, paraphrase or otherwise reference outside material that is not common knowledge, you must cite it. We recommend using simple inline citations in Associated Press style – or alternatively providing a source list at the end of your article.

Using images

  1. Include at least one quality image. All articles must have at least one clear and high quality image, relevant and appropriate to the subject, image attached. A good picture does wonders when it comes to illustrating your point.
  2. Don’t use images of yourself. Please do not use images of yourself with your articles.
  3. Use a descriptive caption. Every image must have a comprehensible, descriptive caption. Do not merely use a list of keywords. Captions may be written in either sentence case or title case.
  4. Free to use. You must ensure that your images do not have any copyright or licensing restrictions. There are many free-to-use, royalty-free images out there. If you're unsure, don't assume that any image (from any old internet search) is available to use.
  5. Please use the image uploader. Do not embed images in the main article submission window. Rather, use the separate Images portion of the article creation form.

Creating your writer profile

  1. Profiles are required. In order to publish articles on Suite101, all writers must have a completed profile.
  2. Include an image. Profiles must include an image. We strongly recommend using a headshot to improve your authority with readers.
  3. Explain yourself! Outline your experience, qualifications, memberships - anything that tells your readers why you're an expert, how you're great.
  4. Don't be dirty. Profiles must be free of obscenity, abusive or hateful language, and advocacy of illegal, dangerous or discriminatory behavior.

When do we take articles offline?

We will take down any article which, following an editorial review, does not fully satisfy our submission guidelines.

If you article has any of the following characteristics, we'll probably take it offline:

  1. Many minor errors. We'll correct odd typos, but we'll yank an article if there are too many mistakes -- spelling, grammatical, or factual.
  2. No picture. Articles must have an appropriate image which the author has rights to publish.
  3. Duplication. We do not publish previously published work (even if it’s your own) or articles that use a fill-in-the-blank template, and we don't allow plagiarism.
  4. Thinness. If your article is not substantial enough to add value to the world, or to meet a reader's expectation, it will be taken offline.
  5. Promotional writing. Articles written for the primary purpose of selling a product, articles that are written for the primary purpose of linking to a site that sells a product, or articles that contain “calls to action” (i.e., “Buy my product!” “Donate to my charity!”)
  6. Keyword stuffing. Articles that exhibit obvious, unnatural repetition of keyword phrases will be taken offline.
  7. Poor writing. Articles with structural problems, redundancies, or which are difficult to read for any other reason will be taken offline.
  8. Offensive subject matter or tone. We won’t accept obscene or pornographic material, hateful or discriminatory language, ranting, or articles that advocate things that are illegal or dangerous.
  9. Religious proselytizing. Writers may assume of their audience a particular faith, but articles must not be written for the purpose of winning converts.
  10. Articles that are fiction, poetry, or “creative writing”. Only non-fiction, please.