by Ruth Belena

Created on: April 15, 2009

Saving your Helium articles in a document makes good sense, and you should think of it as an essential part of the writing process. You can always delete the copy from your files after it has transitioned to your list of Helium articles.

A complete article can so easily be lost if it has not been saved. A sudden glitch can cause the submission process to fail, and there is no way to retrieve an article when it disappears.

Just because it says "write now" and "write your article here" at Helium, this does not mean you should start to write your article directly into the box to publish at Helium.

It is a really bad idea to submit an article you have just typed directly onto the Helium page. That is only a first draft, and there is a big difference between a first draft and a finished article.

A Helium article is not the same as a quick blog post or a discussion post. Helium articles require preparation, editing and word counting, before being published at Helium.

The processes of proofreading and editing should really be carried out before your text is entered on the "write article" page. It is more realistic to compose a complete article as a plain text Word document, or using Notepad and then you can save it in your files.

Each article should be checked, edited, revised and reworked, until it is ready to be pasted into the article box at Helium.

If you read through your article immediately it is finished, you generally see what you think you have typed, and may miss some of the errors in your text. It is a better to have a break between finalizing an article and publishing it at Helium.

If you save your article, and leave it for up to 24 hours, when you come to read it again you will find any minor errors or omissions you previously overlooked.

When you use the spellchecker, remember that it can only highlight typing errors, incorrect spelling, and words that are not recognized. Spellchecking text will not pick up any words that are misused or missed out.

The preview function at Helium allows you to see how your article will look when it is being rated. This gives you the opportunity to see if your paragraphs are too long. If the text appears solid, you should break it up into shorter sections. You may decide that the article needs subheadings or bullet points to make it easier to read.

You can make any final changes to your article on the Helium page before you publish it, but then it is necessary to preview and check it again. Be sure to copy and paste it so you can replace the text in your document with the final version.

When you are satisfied that you have completed the article, and have saved the final draft, then you can hit the publish button.

Helium does give you the opportunity to edit and revise your article later, if it has settled low down in the ratings, by using the "leapfrog" option.

Do not forget to copy and save the new version before you publish. If there is a glitch when you submit a revised article, the original article will remain in your list of Helium articles. The improvements you have made in the leapfrog would be lost.

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