If you’re new to writing opinion pieces and comment, it can be a bit daunting. These guidelines are to help give you some guidance and show you what we look for to give your piece a better chance of being published on New England Times Engage.

Where to start?

  • Write what you know. It’s sometimes easy to get outraged by something and want to have your say on it, but if you don’t have any experience, expertise or qualifications in that subject, then your piece is not likely to make much sense, let alone make it past our editors. Stick to writing about what you know, and what you can contribute to the conversation that others cannot.
  • You don’t have to start from scratch. If you’ve written an academic paper it’s totally ok to write a layman’s version for this site. If you’ve written something on your blog that you think is really really good and deserves a wider audience, you can submit that for republication here – but be upfront and let us know that it’s been published elsewhere, because we will check if it’s original. Copying someone else’s work is not ok.
  • Take the time to think about the angle. Why is this interesting to other people? Why would someone else want to read this? Start there.

Writing your article

  • Get to the point. The best articles are around 800 words. Articles over 1200 words long will not be accepted unless they’re dealing with something very complicated that needs a longer piece. Letters to the editor should be less than 400 words, ‘Quick word‘ comments should be less than 100 words.
  • Make it easy to read. Don’t use fancy words when simple ones do the job. Short sentences are better than long ones. Your article should be able to be read by anyone with no prior knowledge of your subject. A good rule of thumb is to think about a high school kid: could say someone in year 9 read your piece and understand what you’re on about? If not, simplify.
  • Use examples when possible. People can relate to things or understand complex ideas when you put it in the context of a specific example. It is not always possible, but it is always helpful.
  • Back up your argument. Link to data, reports, news stories, others who have said similar things all help make for a stronger argument, or to give readers the opportunity to explore the issue further.
  • Don’t use jargon, complex terms or acronyms. If you must, explain the term as simply as you can. If the acronym is more widely known than the full name (ICAC, NFF, and so on), then you should use it but spell out what the acronym stands for in full the first time. For example, National Farmers Federation (NFF).
  • Do use the spell check before you send your article in. Make sure it is set to Australian English.

Pro tip: read your piece out aloud before sending it in. It’s a great way to find things that don’t sound right, don’t make sense, or perhaps could be written a bit more clearly.

Technical stuff

  • Either type (or copy and paste) your submission into the relevant form, or upload a Word document. We will also accept links to Google Docs, but make sure it is set to ‘anyone with the link can read’.
  • Citing is good! Link to any articles or sources in the text – the only time you should footnote is when the reference is critically important to the piece, and the source you are citing is not available online.
  • If you want to put any graphics or charts in your piece then please submit your images in PNG or JPEG format as separate files. You can either email or upload to the submission form. Include in the text of your word document where the images should go, and a full description of the image including source.
  • We will only accept completed pieces as submissions.
  • You must provide a working email address for your piece to be published.

What we won’t publish

Most outlets get considerably more opinion pieces submitted in any day than they could possibly publish, so we may not be able to run your piece. Don’t take it personally. Here’s the most common reasons we won’t run your piece:

  • This might seem a bit obvious, but we do need to make it clear: we won’t publish anything that is sexist, homophobic, transphobic, racist, or otherwise bigoted. If you can’t discuss issues without inciting hatred or demeaning people, then we will not publish your piece.
  • Equally obvious, but needs to be said, we are not going to publish an opinion piece that is clearly defamatory.
  • Not so obvious, we’re not really interested in conspiracy theories, fake news, complaints about the MSM not reporting the thing you read about on MSM, or any other nonsense about the truth not being able to be heard. You can keep that post on your Facebook page. Academic discussions of these phenomena are fine.
  • If we have a lot of very similar articles making very similar arguments, we may not run your piece.
  • If you have already run the identical piece elsewhere (other than your own blog), we may not run your piece.
  • If we do not think our readers would be interested in your subject, we may not run your piece.
  • If we can’t understand your argument and our editors feel it needs a lot more work, we may either refuse to run it, or give you feedback to fix it so you can resubmit.

Note: We reserve the right to not run any piece at any time. We do not undertake to provide you with a reason for why we are not running it.

Bio

  • It’s really important you include a bio with your opinion piece, that has your name, title (if your job is relevant), and a sentence or two about you. Doesn’t need to be too long – think of it like an introduction, just a few thoughtful details so you can be properly introduced to your readers.
  • You can include social media links and a link to your website or blog in your bio.
  • As we’re highlighting local voices, please include in your bio where you live if relevant. If you grew up in the country and now live in the city, it’s ok to say something like ‘grew up on a property near Coonabarabran’.
  • Once we have published a piece from you, you don’t need to provide your bio again for your subsequent pieces.
  • We do not allow anonymous or pseudonymous posts unless there is a credible fear for the safety of the author.
  • Quick Word comments only need your name and town.

To make a submission, use our submission forms or email engage@netimes.com.au