DSNFPS-RSDFPF/Contributing Articles

Before You Start

Writing an article requires careful consideration of multiple factors to ensure that your readers will find it interesting enough to read it all the way through.

Before you write anything, ask yourself these questions to help you focus your message:

1. For whom am I writing?
   1. The network is for anyone working as, with or supervising a data scientist. There are executives, HR, training, and other communities who are trying to support the use of data science in the public service without being data scientists themselves.
   2. Write to the target audience. There will often be overlap between multiple groups in the target audience, but there is no need to target all subscribers with every article.
2. What is the message I want to convey?
   1. What is the ‘take home’ message?
   2. Make your point as early as possible, then reinforce it and expand throughout the article.
3. How would I summarise the article?
   1. The newsletter is only going to have a short description to be able to draw people towards your article.
   2. If you cannot summarise the post then it may need indicate a need to reduce the scope or focus the ideas.
4. Do readers need any special knowledge?
   1. Requiring special knowledge is fine, but it needs to be clear to readers if they are going to understand the topic.
   2. Rather than explaining some of the more basic concepts, link to materials that readers can use to get up to speed.
5. What is this adding to the conversation?
   1. The Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector plays a role in the decision to publish an article. If the article is repeating something that exists elsewhere, it is potentially a better use of time and money to highlight the external source rather than recreate an article.

Article Types

Articles fall into different categories depending on their intent. While there is overlap between the different types of articles, it is important to be consistent in your approach and wording to provide a consistent experience.

Articles may be trying to explain a concept or series of steps. Ensure that your approach to the concept falls into a single quadrant from Figure 1 throughout the text, and does not confuse the reader as to your intent. Mixing different types of articles makes it harder for the reader to understand your intent, as it is unclear if you are trying to educate them or asking them to follow along in a series of steps.