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So much for formatting. What about quality? If you have paid attention to the technical elements -spelling, grammar, punctuation -you can be the judge of whether you have written a quality article; however, once you post the article, others will take over in a relentlessly democratic, and always impersonal, process of Helium's grading system. As a general rule of thumb, though, you can survive and thrive in the grading process if your article meets the following criteria:

It is interesting and timely. Look for articles on Helium's home page. Maybe you will encounter an article written by someone who expresses a view or opinion that you disagree with. Maybe there is a debate article on a subject you feel strongly about. A passion for writing coupled with strong views and beliefs, within reasonable bounds, can make for very interesting articles.

It is at least 400 and not more than about 1,200 words. (This does not include poetry, of course.) Extremely short articles are not competitive; excessively long ones will most likely languish unread. If you try to post a new title that does not meet these criteria, it will most likely be rejected. Again, I encourage new writers to publish to existing article titles.

It should get to the point quickly so as to attract the reader's interest. Tell Helium's raters what you are going to say; use the middle paragraphs to prove or expand upon your point and do a summary blurb to tell the readers what you told them.

It should avoid excessive use of references. Helium is a site for articles, and as such is less formal when it comes to citing research and references. You can avoid the appearance of plagiarism by using quotes and attributing your sources in a less formal manner, for example: "In a TIME' magazine article last month" If you have a treasure trove of college research papers you'd like share with Helium readers, by all means share them. My advice, however, is before you post them spruce them up a bit, usually by editing with a view towards making them less "academic" and more reader friendly. That usually means making them shorter, editing out the stodgy passive verbs, and deleting lengthy bibliographies.

Helium is a wonderful Web site and has amassed thousands of great articles. The community is growing, and you can be a part of that growth by contributing thoughtful and technically excellent writing that I guarantee will give you that tingly feeling of pride when you see your stuff published.

Learn more about this author, Jerry Curtis.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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