by Karon Brandt

Created on: February 20, 2009   Last Updated: February 04, 2010

Helium offers a professional-looking, standardized format. By writing in a clean, magazine-style layout with lots of white space, readers can scan an article and glean good information from it in minutes.

>Formatting. Helium offers a Word transfer program that accepts most writings, but you should always check the final layout and use spell check before publishing. Left-aligned margins, single-spaced sentences, and blank spaces between paragraphs create easy-to-read columns of print. An assortment of sentence lengths with short to medium-length paragraphs, for variety, creates a pattern that holds interest.

Helium doesn't allow bullets, underlines, italics or bold script so you must be creative in your formatting. You may use sub headings, numbers, or asterisks to make your work more readable. Using all caps appears unprofessional and goes against Helium's guidelines.

>Length. Helium's tested guidelines for article lengths range from 400 to 1500 words. Too short is annoyingly unsatisfying; too long is simply boring.

Break information into bite-sized chunks and lay it out in a logical manner. Most people remember phone numbers, credit card numbers and social security numbers in groups of three or four; this technique works just as well for presenting article information.

Be concise; speak with respect; present your information in a context of relevance. Value your readers' time.

>Good writers are wordsmiths. Expanding one's vocabulary is part of the profession. Choosing the "perfect" word, with the correct nuance, for a given sentence makes a writer smile. It gives him control over his topic and his audience as he leads them through murky waters to clarity.

>Punctuation. Inherent in any article, creating the pace for presenting new information, is punctuation.

A sophisticated writer uses, not only words, but the "road signs" of writing: periods for stops, commas for pauses, semicolons and dashes for longer pauses, double quotation marks to enclose a direct quote, ellipses for trailing thoughts, and an occasional question mark or exclamation point for pace, tone, clarity, and interest.

>Proper English. Of course, correct grammar and spelling show a professional who takes time to respect his readers. Any serious writer for Helium must use proper English. (British, Australian, and Canadian variations are acceptable.)

Improper spelling and distracting typos show carelessness, ignorance, and/or a lack of respect for the reader. They will reduce the

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