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How to write for The Conversation

About The Conversation

The Conversation (theconversation.com) is a daily independent news and analysis

online publication, delivering expertise from the academic and research community

directly to the public. In a not-for-profit collaboration, our small team of professional

editors works directly with academics and researchers to publish articles for a wide

audience.

The Conversation Canada (theconversation.com/ca) is the sixth national edition of the

global Conversation network. Since its launch in Australia in 2011, The Conversation has

expanded to the UK, the US, France and Africa, as well as a global site.

The network has more than 85 commissioning editors and nearly 50,000-plus academics

registered as contributors, of whom more than 400 are based in Canada. Each article is

written by scholars in their area of expertise, published under Creative Commons and

freely available to be republished.

Currently, The Conversation site attracts 4.8 million users per month, and reaches 35

million through Creative Commons republication. Over 22,000 media outlets around the

world use content from The Conversation, including The Washington Post, Maclean’s,

Le Monde, The Guardian, Time Magazine and The Hindu. These numbers continue to

grow, and we are excited to work with you.

Can you write for us?

To be a lead author on an article, you must be a current researcher or academic.

Associate, adjunct or honorary roles with universities are usually fine. We do not publish

articles written by employees of independent research companies or think tanks. Some

people without a current academic/research affiliation can be contributors (not

coauthors), but an academic or researcher must be the lead author. We do not publish

paid or unpaid PR.

We aim to provide a fact-based, editorially independent forum. That’s why our

disclosure process (covered in more detail later) is so important, so readers can know

who has funded your work, whether you have any relevant political affiliations, or

whether there may be any other possible conflicts of interest.

Undergraduate students or masters candidates are published if they are writing as a

co-author with a current researcher or academic.

Quick checklist:

● Are you an academic or researcher?

● If not, do you have a current academic/researcher as your lead author?

● Can you answer a simple, three-step disclosure statement?

We are not a traditional op-ed publication. We want our articles to feature the author’s

own scholarship, research and publications – the material should be referenced and

How to write for The Conversation

linked as much as possible. What we do is explanatory journalism – illuminating events

in the news with academics’ expertise and introducing new ideas.

We have a rigorous editing process – with at least two editors reading every piece – who

ensure that pieces are both authoritative and accessible to the average reader. We also

strive to turn around pieces quickly, particularly if the topic is time-sensitive, so we ask

authors to be prepared for queries. We offer a collaborative editorial process and authors

have final approval over the finished product, including headlines and photos.

After publication, we promote our articles extensively through various forms of social

media as well as through republication under our Creative Commons license. Our

articles are regularly republished widely. Over 22,000 media outlets around the world

use content from The Conversation, including The Washington Post, Maclean’s, Le

Monde, The Guardian, Time Magazine and The Hindu. Every author has their own

“dashboard” where you can track how many people are reading your piece, in what

publications and in what countries.

How do articles end up on The Conversation?

We publish articles that are pitched to us and accepted. Or we send queries to individual

academics, either directly via an email query or through the “call out,” a request for

experts sent out to university communications teams every day. The call out details what

sort of expert we’re looking for and the story or topic we’re pursuing (for instance, an

expert on Syrian refugees.)

Save yourself time before pitching a story

● Read before you write. What kind of stories do we cover? Do you think yours

would work for a broad Canadian and international audience, written and edited

in plain English? Have a quick look through our sections.

● Have you done a quick keyword search?

● Is this your area of expertise?

● Pay attention to the news. What are people talking about?

● Do you know something no one else knows? Is it the kind of thing the general

public – not just other specialists – might be interested in?

How to write for The Conversation

● Have you discovered something new that significantly changes the way we

think about or understand a wider issue?

● Can you translate tricky issues for others? Have you read an important

document no one else understands? (For example, a recent report that could be

explained in more colloquial language to non-experts?)

An easy way to know what we publish is to subscribe to our email newsletter. You can

quickly scan its headlines, read about new research, and know what others in your field

are writing about.

Our audience: broad-based and growing

Our audience is broad. A survey of The Conversation US audience shows that the

majority of our readers are not academics. Readers include policymakers, journalists,

businesspeople, students and people who are simply curious and in search of informed

analysis.

A broad readership means that we don’t assume expert knowledge. Our job is to ask:

“What does that mean? Why does that matter? And why is this particular person writing

this story?” because these are the questions readers will ask.

Republishing model

Unlike most media sites, all of our content is published under Creative Commons. That

means that anyone – from bloggers to major media outlets – is welcome to republish our

stories for free, and of course so are you and the institution to which you belong.

Through republication, The Conversation and reaches a monthly audience of 35 million.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/ca/republishing-guidelines

How to write for The Conversation

How to register as an author

How to pitch like a pro

Do not write your article before you pitch. Go to theconversation.com/pitches/new Or

scroll down on the front page of the site until you see this on the righthand side of the

page, and click on Tell us.

Then tell us briefly about what you want to write. What will your article be about and what

are the main points you would like to make? Ideally include details to show why this

story matters – and why now?

How to write for The Conversation

It’s a good idea to work with your university or institute’s communications staff to get

your pitch right. You can also hone your pitch by talking to someone else outside your

field of expertise. What questions do they ask? If they were to ask you bluntly, “Why

should people care?” – what would you say? That’s the first question readers will ask

in deciding whether to spend the time reading your article.

If you can answer that “why should we care?” question well, it will greatly improve your

chances of your pitch being accepted, and then seeing more people read and share your

article, helping your work reach a bigger national and global audience.

Once you’re happy with your pitch, fill in your details on the online pitch page, pick the

section you think it might be best directed to (don’t worry if you guess wrong, the editors

will pass it onto colleagues if need be), write in your pitch, then hit “Pitch idea.”

You’ll get an automated reply saying when to expect a reply, and what to do if you don’t

hear back from an editor quickly. Editors at The Conversation can see many pitches a

day and are juggling a number of different articles at the same time. So we can’t say yes

to every pitch. However, we still aim to reply within a few days, at least to say it’s been

received and if there are other stories already under way on that topic. Even if we can’t

say yes to your article, once we know about you and your expertise, there’s a far greater

chance of publishing your work in the future.

Most Conversation articles are only 800-1,000 words, so starting with a clear idea of the

most important point(s) you want to cover will save you time, and help us give you a

quick, clear response to your pitch.

Agreeing on a brief & deadline

If your pitch is accepted, the editor will discuss with you by email or by phone the

structure and approach the article should take. Once these are agreed upon, the editor

will send you a brief. This will include a link to your author dashboard, where you can

write your story directly into our system.

It’s important to get this brief right before you start writing, to save everyone time. If the

article that is submitted is different from what was agreed upon, it may mean your editor

will ask you to revise the piece substantially. You’ll also agree on a first draft deadline; if

you’re not sure you can meet it, please say so.

Writing tips

Work hard on the first paragraph to grab the reader’s interest. Start with a short, sharp

statement of the article’s essential facts, in no more than two sentences. Start with

what’s new, relevant, or surprising. Readers want to know Five Ws: who, what, where,

when, why, and sometimes how. The first few paragraphs of the article should make

your main point and/or address what questions you’re exploring in the piece and why it’s

important.

How to write for The Conversation

Make a brief sketch of your main points and stick to them. Put the most important

information first. That allows readers to explore a topic to the depth that their curiosity

takes them (not everyone reads to the end).

Tone

Write how people talk. A man should never “disembark from a vehicle” when he can “get

out of a car.” Explain complex ideas. Don’t get too technical. Avoid jargon. If you write in

our system, you can take advantage of our “Readability index.”

Our readability rating is based on Flesch-Kincaid readability tests, set at the level of an

educated 16-year-old. That’s still higher than many news media outlets (many

newspapers still aim for a 12-year-old level of literacy). We do that because we want to

share your expert knowledge with everyone – including young people and people whose

first language is not English.

Referencing

If you make contentious statements, please back them up with research. The same goes

for facts and figures. We provide references with online links that readers can click on,

preferably to full research papers, but to abstracts or news stories if the full paper isn’t

How to write for The Conversation

available. We’ll help you add those in. But we can’t use footnotes or endnotes. Ideally,

please put your reference/web link in brackets beside each statement to be referenced.

How to end

The last sentence should aim to summarize or reiterate the point made in your opening

paragraph. Or you can just raise the question of what should happen next. Check to be

sure you’ve stayed within the word count that was agreed upon.

Headline tips

You can leave it to your editor to write a headline, but if you want to do a first draft, the

following tips can help:

● Keep your headline simple and direct – it should be seven to 10 words at most,

with the most relevant and important words at the start.

● Avoid puns and “smart” headlines, unless it suits the story. Instead, aim for an

accurate and engaging label that neatly summarizes the content.

● Names of people, things and places are good. Don’t abbreviate these.

● Aim to employ active verbs, which lend muscle and emphasize the “actor” in the

story, e.g., “Aspirin cuts cancer risk” or “WikiLeaks reveals flaws in government

legislation.”

● Think of ways to distinguish your article from others. Is this a breakthrough?

Does it answer an important question or solve a puzzle?

● Would you read it? Remember, you are writing for an online readership. Ask

yourself what keywords you would use in a search to find your story. Assuming

you find it, would you then feel compelled to read beyond the headline? If not, try

again.

Multimedia: Photos, graphs, videos & more

Photos, videos, tables and graphs can bring a story to life – so if you have any of

those, it’s worth mentioning that in your pitch and in discussions with your editor if the

pitch is accepted. If you have data that can be presented in an Excel spreadsheet, we

can make an interactive and embeddable chart or graphic.

What’s next after you submit for editing?

When you’re done, hit the “Submit” button to send an email alert to your editor.

Disclosure

As soon as possible, fill in your disclosure on the righthand side of your article page. We

can’t publish your article without it. If you have any questions about it, ask your editor.

How to write for The Conversation

Your author profile

Make sure you have a complete author profile: it’s a free, high-profile place to be found

by media and academic colleagues looking for experts in your field.

Most Conversation author profiles show up first in Google searches, typically above

your official university/research organization profile, LinkedIn or other profiles. What do

you want the rest of the world to know about you?

How to write for The Conversation

Don’t be shy; it’s in your interests to have a good, current profile. Current contact

information including a mobile phone (shown only to editors; you can tick a box if you

want your email and work phone number to be public) is a huge help. Outdated contact

details, or providing only your email address, could delay publication.

Final approval – from us and from you

Once your editor is finished revising the article, he or she will send it back to you for

approval. Respond to any questions or suggestions the editor has. Review the text,

photos, captions and headline to make sure they’re all accurate. To see how the article

will look when published, click “Preview” at the top of the page.

If you make further changes, let your editor know you’ve done so. We’re happy to keep

reviewing the article until you and the editor are both happy with the content. When you

are ready, hit “Approve” in the top right corner of the editing page. We can’t publish

until you have approved the story and completed your disclosure.

How to write for The Conversation

Publishing

Talk to your editor about when your article will be published. Some articles go online

quickly; others may not be published for a while.

We always respect embargoes.

When your article is published, please share it with your contacts. If you keep your

university/research organization’s communications team informed ahead of publication,

they’ll also be able to share your work through social media and other channels.

Comments

Please keep an eye on comments to see if there are any important questions you want

to answer, or discussions you’d like to be involved in. We actively moderate our

comments, in accordance with our Community Standards, which we take seriously,

including enforcing a real name policy for readers. But if you see any comments that

concern you, you can hit the “Report” button at the end of the comment, which will alert

our site moderator and your editor.

We’ve shared some tips on engaging with comments on every author’s dashboard,

which include:

How to engage with comments

Participating in the comment section of your article allows you to further share your

expertise and deepen conversation with readers. We are “The Conversation” and

the comments section part of that discussion.

We’ve noticed that the quality of comments dramatically improves when the author

participates in comments. Where possible, we encourage all authors to engage in

comments on their own articles, as well as others.

Some authors will naturally be comfortable with debate and dissent; others will find

it daunting. Here’s an overview of what to expect and some tips to help you decide

how and when to comment.

How to write for The Conversation

Community standards

All comments must follow our community standards. We reserve the right to

remove any comments that violate these standards. This includes any abuse

towards authors, which will not be tolerated.

Familiarize yourself with these standards and ensure your own comments adhere

to them. And if you read comments that breach these standards, please click the

“report” button next to the comment.

We operate a post-moderation policy, which means comments are moderated after

they’re posted. We also don’t moderate the site 24/7. That means there may be

delays between a post being made, reported and removed and so you may come

across comments that breach our standards – please “report” such posts.

The community

Overall our community is well behaved and the majority of conversations are

intelligent and respectful.

However, like other online communities, we do have problems with individual

troublemakers and topics (e.g. climate, vaccination, religion, asylum seekers) that

are notorious for “trolls” (people who deliberately provoke others for the reaction).

Tips to participate in your comment stream

● Get in early. Commenting early can set the tone and help keep the

discussion constructive and on-topic.

● Reply to reader questions: brief answers, making reference to the

arguments made in the article, or providing links to further research are

all helpful contributions.

● Posing questions for our community can be a way to direct discussion,

be it just after the article has been posted or in replies to comments.

● Individual troublemakers: report and ignore. “Don’t feed the trolls” in

combination with answering valid reader questions and comments is an

effective way to keep the discussion on track and useful to all.

● Difficult areas or off-topic posts. You can try to get involved and steer

things back on track – explain the facts, or just gently tell people they’re

getting off topic. Your judgement will tell you when it stops being useful

to engage with someone.

● If you feel the off-topic posts aren’t anywhere near the article topic,

report them.

● Abusive comments: report so we can delete.

How to write for The Conversation

Measuring your readership

On your author dashboard, you can see how many people are reading your article,

where in the world it has been read, the latest tweets and comments on it, and where

your article has been republished. Our metrics are used at a number of universities in

their Key Performance Indicators, measuring public engagement. Ask if your institution is

using them too, so that you can get more credit for your contribution.

How to write for The Conversation

Public and academic impact

You may get calls from other media to do follow-up articles or interviews, which can

greatly help increase the reach and public impact of your work. Talking to your

university/research institute’s communications staff will help you get good advice on that,

especially if you haven’t been interviewed much before.

Whether it’s talking to journalists or to the general public, you can apply many of the tips

in this guide. Don’t forget to clearly answer “So what? Why should people care about

this?” even before you’re asked. That way, there’s a good chance you’ll win people’s

attention and keep them listening.

Many of our authors have been approached not only by news media, but also by

respected journals, prospective students, book publishers, new academic collaborators,

governments for policy advice and even new research funders.

We hope to see you join The Conversation.