Writing Guidelines cover.png
 

Deliverable: FINAL ATTACHED DOCUMENT

Components of a submitted piece

*Final submitted piece via email to jennifer@carplife.org attached as a .doc, .docx, or a Google doc. Word count for articles is 400, 640, or 800-word pieces, depending on the type of post (announcements are short, reports are of medium length and articles can be up to 800 words)

*Name file with the date, name of event or person giving testimony, and the word DELIVERABLE (to distinguish it from an internal report) - don’t use the word REPORT

  • Title

  • Body text

  • Photos

  • Captions

  • Contributor’s name (writer of the piece)

  • No formatting: left aligned, no indent, one return-space between each paragraph

  • Suggested title (attention-grabbing, enticing)

  • Author’s bio (name, CARP chapter + position, if applicable)

Main style points

  • Voice: Descriptive report with lively narrative. Don’t feel limited to talk about what happened in chronological order (this happened, then this). If it gets your message across better to say things out of order or leave out some elements, do it. The point is what message are you trying to convey? Why should the audience care? How does this further the vision of CARP? The point is not that you ate lunch at 12.

  • When referring to individuals, use first name after initial introduction (John Smith lives in New York…John has three sons.) When referring to more than one member of the same family use first names after initial introduction.

  • When referring to individuals with titles, use title and last name after initial introduction (Dr. John Smith lives in New York…Dr. Smith has three sons.)

  • When abbreviations first appear in an article, spell out the actual title and place abbreviation in brackets  – Generation Peace Academy (GPA) – afterwards, use only abbreviation.

  • Italicize title for books, tv shows, films; CDs, magazines, newspapers, journals, album titles (Do not italicize the Divine Principle, the Bible, the Quran)

  • quotation marks for speech titles

*Knowing when to use quotes, italics, or underlining can be difficult. Writer’s Relief proofreaders can help you proofread your creative writing submissions to be sure your titles are properly formatted.

Photo guidelines

If you are submitting a piece, you must also submit photos. DO NOT EMBED PHOTOS IN A WORD DOCUMENT. Please send them separately.

Photos should be high quality, with good composition, angling and lighting. Submit original photos (highest resolution possible)

    • Size: minimum size 5mb, 10×10

    • Type: jpeg, jpg, png

    • Send: dropbox or Google photos if very large. share link with jennifer@carplife.org

    • Send: email if under 25mb.

    • Captions for all images (from left to right:  names divided by commas. If the people have positions: Name, Position; Name, Position; etc.) place, event, city and state, date; what’s happening in the photo

Opinion Piece

  • Tone: Personal, humility, seeking depth and understanding, as if writing in a journal, backed up by research/experiences

  • Don't be afraid to make controversial statements as long as they are what you believe and you can back them up with solid analysis.

  • Be bold, yet be aware of and acknowledge counter-perspectives to your argument.

  • Keep it concise and focused; don't draw on indirectly related points

  • Develop a solid and valid message