Writing Guidelines for Science for Hippies

You want to write for us? Great!

So this is what we’re looking for:

The first thing to do (if you haven’t already) is to read through some of the work on the site and get a feeling for the tone and style.

Articles should have an agreed title/theme with an editor

700-1200 words is good. Better short than long unless it’s full of colouful anecdotes.

Short paragraphs so that the articles don’t feel too dense. If someone starts getting lost they probably stop reading

Keep the vocabulary simple. Avoid using terminology as much as possible. e.g. instead of saying ‘correlation doesn’t imply correlation’ go for something like ‘just because 2 things happen at the same time doesn’t mean they’re connected’. It’s less precise, of course, but reaches more people.

Stay on subject. Know what it is you want to communicate in the piece and stick to that one message. Stories are fine, even welcome but only if they illustrate the main idea.

Avoid saying anything that could make someone feel stupid, discriminated against or otherwise excluded by their beliefs or identity. Except Flat Earthers. They’re fair game.

Use subheadings to break up the text

If you’re adding the piece via wordpress then look for some visuals that get the point across.

Add a couple of links at the end for ‘further reading’