Writing for MAM

Writing for MAM

Who can write for MarineAquarium Monthly? Anyone! Content is what matters. Some of the best in the industry have written total junk, I can show you! We have a few guidelines and suggestions to make the best outcome for your article.

The following was written by Russ Schultz on how to get going:

Hi guys,

I’ve only begun to write articles and threads recently, so I’m no expert on writing professional articles. I have been a professional training instructor, and find that if I write in a manner similar to an informal lecture the product can be very readable and useful. Knowing that several of you have excellent knowledge and experience in this field, I thought I would put together some helpful hints about writing articles and lengthy threads.

Define your communication goal. Figure out what you want to say, and do it. Keep your goal realistic; don’t jump in completely over your head.

Organize your thoughts. Remember when Miss Crabtree forced you into writing outlines? They come in really handy for writing articles and threads. Put together an outline and review it. Does it flow from simple points to more complicated ones, or general to specific ones? You can easily determine the readability at this stage. If you use MS word, you can use the Outline function under “format” and “Bullets and Numbering”. After your outline skeleton is in place, you can fill in the skeleton.

Consider your audience. You are communicating to someone who has a lot in common with you. Consider using a conversational tone when you write, formality is usually unimportant. Are you writing for the benefit of new aquarists, of your peers? This should determine the level of technical complexity or vocabulary. Remember, writing is not communication unless the target audience understands the message. When you write an article, you have to make up for the lack of Q&A.

Know the dope. Research is important, I learn from writing articles and threads just by researching the subject. Bits of information are available all over the place; keep researching until you think you have the whole picture. Not one of the threads and articles I have written came from my knowledge alone.

Give credit where credit is due. List your references, so that the originator of the information gets some credit too. I would like to think that the references I use may prove useful to others. Indicate when something is derived from personal experience or observation as well.

Be prepared to collaborate. More than one point of view can be extraordinarily effective when writing. Do you lack the confidence to stick your nether parts on the chopping block by yourself? Find a friend to help you and collaborate on an article. Unless you are twins, you will have different knowledge and experience to use. Ask a family member to review for readability, that may not get the technical stuff, but they know when a sentence makes sense. Ask staff or a moderator to edit for you if need be.

Last but not least, just do it. You know you have something to share or say. It’s eating at you to get out. Just write it. You came here to share with fellow hobbyists, just do it.

Good luck, Russ

Now for a few notes on submission and requirements.

First, it must be your own work. The writing must be from you, not cut and pasted together from other recourses. This does not mean you can't say the same thing that you have read somewhere else, just put it in your own words and cite the source of the knowledge (more on that in a bit). This also includes pictures. They must be your own pics, or the use of somebody else's pics with permission. Pics are encouraged and add a lot to an article.

Second, as Russ mentioned, give credit to your sources. This means a bibliography. See here for format. Just click on the type of reference you are using and follow the format. The MLA format is preferred.

Third, do please run your article through a basic spell checker/grammar checker. Most word processing programs do this for you, if not there are some online.

Last, do title your article. It too must be original, a quick Google search will let you know if a particular title is in use.

How to submit: You can send your article, or ideas for an article to Info@MarineAquariumMonthly.com. RTF, Word, or Pages formats are best, but any readable way to get the text across will work. Pictures are best sent across as attachments, not in the body of the article. MRK can not be responsible for any lost material, do back it up yourself. You will receive an email letting you know if your article can be of use, or the changes that need to be made. If accepted, you will be notified of when the article will be published. MRK will retain the right to the material for the duration of the month of publication along with the right to maintain the content in archived back issues. All rights beyond these revert back to the author.

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