Write for Open Students

Have something to share with the Open Students community? Write for us! We welcome guest bloggers as well as regular contributors.

Guest bloggers

Open Students accepts guests posts on any aspect of Open Access. We welcome guest posts by students, faculty, librarians, administrators, publishers, and others.

To contribute a guest post:

1. Contact Gavin at gavin@openstudents.org with a description of your topic and a little information about yourself.
2. After Gavin gives you the go-ahead, create an account on the Open Students site: register an account, or log in with your OpenID.
3. Email Gavin with your account name. He’ll configure your account and contact you when you can begin writing.
4. Log in to Open Students, click on “Write”, and compose your post. (If you’ve never used WordPress before, it’s easy. If you have any problems, see WordPress for Beginners or ask Gavin.)
5. When you’re done writing, click on “Save.” It won’t be visible on the site yet. (You can also save a draft and return to the site later, if you’re still working on it.)
6. When you’ve finished the final draft, email Gavin. He’ll review the post and publish it to the site.
7. Check the site over the next few days to respond to comments on the post, if there are any.

Guidelines for authors:

• Posts must be about any aspect of Open Access and must include a discussion of the topic’s relevance to students. The topic may reflect your work, research, or personal experience.
• Posts should be about 300-500 words. (They can be longer if necessary.)
• Posts must be written in English. Either American or British spellings are acceptable. Please spell-check your post before submitting a draft.
• Posts should be written for a generalist audience of university students. Avoid or explain specialist terms. Don’t use acronyms for first reference.
• An informal, inviting style is best. (Remember, we want to be interesting to 20-year-olds.) Please keep a respectful tone toward those who may disagree with you.
• We use links rather than footnotes. In addition, you may embed relevant multimedia (e.g. pictures and video) in your post.
• Don’t use copyrighted images without permission. If you have the rights to use an image (e.g. under a Creative Commons license), attribute the author and/or copyright holder. If you want to use an image without permission and think you have a strong case to fair use, contact Gavin.
• Include a 1-2 sentence biography and a headshot photograph (no less than 100×100 px).
• We publish on a rolling schedule. There are no deadlines; simply hand in your draft at your earliest convenience.
• After your post is published, be sure to send a link to your students and colleagues, post it on your blog, share it on Facebook and del.icio.us, etc.
• Please remember to check for comments after your post is published, and participate in the conversation.

Contributors

Students: Interested in writing regularly for Open Students? Share your views and experiences with Open Access while gaining valuable experience!

For more information, contact Gavin at gavin@openstudents.org.