by Colin Morley

Created on: August 01, 2007   Last Updated: October 11, 2009

I am pretty new to Helium, but I'm not so new to sub-editing and reviewing the work of others. It's not always easy - and although it should never be subjective I guess there are times when it is, whether we care to admit it or not.

For me, an article has to be well written in the following respects:

It should basically have a beginning, a middle and an end - preferably in the correct order. A partially-assembled mish-mash of ideas in no particular order will not normally impress the reader.

It should be relevant to the heading - and not deviate into a rant about something else. Above all it should not preach. Helium is about informed debate rather than the imposition of morality, religion, etc. I don't have to agree with you to think your article is well-written. But on the other hand if you start telling me what I should believe, I will trash you without second thought.

When it is finished, it is finished. Embellishment of a story with unnecessary padding does not help. Some of the very best articles comprise no more that a couple of pithy paragraphs. Some of the worst are also the longest. When your heart tells you the article is finished, it usually is (though always read through it a couple of times and edit where necessary)

Finally, if you haven't written the article in a word processing application such as Word - make use of the spell check facility provided. There is absolutely no excuse for poor spelling (although the difference between US English and British English is accepted)

For me one of the biggest pitfalls I have to avoid is skipping over (say) religious articles because I personally have no religion. I will make a conscious effort to put my own beliefs and prejudices to one side and rate each story on its merit. I believe, however, that it is perfectly fair to skip over technical articles when one does not understand the content and the two appear similar in essence. There should be no room for guessing.

One thing about Helium does disappoint me just a little, and that is the desire to force one into picking a particular point of view and only judging articles on one side of the fence. I'm sure some of the counter arguments are just as well, if not better written.

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