6) Ensuring Best Writing Practices

After understanding the general requirements to keep in mind whilst submitting your content articles for 7 Cups publication, this discussion highlights some general writing tips to keep in mind when writing content that relates to mental health.

Things to Do:

• Make sure the article is empathetic, kind, helpful & informative (it fulfills the reader who found it), empowering. Replace mental “illness” or “disease” with “condition” or “issue” and soften any other mental health stigma language that might pop up. This helps ensure that your tone is supportive.

• Think of story ideas that will be sharable in social media

• Be concise

• Be conversational and accessible in your writing

• Back up statements with research or facts if applicable (cite sources) - try to confirm facts by ensuring at least 2 different sources mentioning them.

• Include expert quotes and insights -- you can reach out to a psychologist or expert about your story and offer a quote and link to their practice for the collaboration. Make sure their title/expertise is attributed in the article

• Be thorough, don’t gloss over specifics

• Give the reader empathy and hope

• Put yourself in the reader’s shoes: ask yourself what they need out of reading your piece and then deliver that

• Try to combine personal experiences with expert insight to strengthen your piece.

• Consider including friends and family members of people impacted by your topic in your audience.

For more tips on reporting mental health conditions and choosing words carefully, read the American Psychiatric Association’s article here

Other Tips:

The following are general guidelines to help find facts, help link things with 7 Cups as well as outreaching tips for personal stories and expert insight:

• Always try to hyperlink some of your main sources.

• Use authentic reporting websites such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization, or American Psychological Association, etc. for facts and up-to-date statistics. (Can be hyperlinked as mentioned above)

• Use Google Scholar to search for relevant research work. Abstracts usually summarize research findings.

• When outlining your article, consider asking yourself which information and what type of information can be added as a priority. For example, an article about mental health during the pandemic would likely report authentic global statistics and could use published research information.

• When reviewing other resources that cover your topic or something close to it, always ask yourself what can help enhance that available content. How can you ensure you are providing a unique take on the topic? Consider thinking about what is missing that could be worth mentioning.

• 7 Cups has lots of free services, including available self-help guides, subcommunities with forums, and other areas - generally, editorial assistants at 7 Cups help backlink to these resources, but you are welcome to directly mention them if it applies, for instance, mentioning how Sharing Circles can help users cope with loneliness or the lack of support in their daily lives.

• Outreaching for both personal or expert quotes can be done via social media, contact forms of blog posts, or even email considering which information is available. You are welcome to PM @SoulfullyAButterfly if you think a 7 Cups Expert can help provide you the quote or required insight.

• When outreaching for personal stories, introduce yourself and 7 Cups and explain your article topic briefly, and why you think their personal experience could help. Share how you can back-link (link back) to the person’s blog or other resources if they would like that in return for sharing their quote. Ensure that you ask them if they would like their name to be disclosed, or if they would like a pseudonym. Finally, let them know you will share the final published version so they can also share it with their acquaintances.

• When requiring an expert quote, use the same procedure discussed, but consider asking for the expert’s availability. Mention how the expert’s work can aid your write-up and any questions you have. Ask for the expert’s professional practice page link and if they are interested, mention how they can have a published expert profile at 7 Cups (you can CC ayesha@7cups.com if needed).

Things To Avoid:

• The overuse of cliches or corny language

• Making it overly formal or using references most wouldn’t understand

• Using extraneous words/phrases. For example, you don’t have to write, “it’s important to…” If you’re writing it, the reader will assume it’s important. Unless, of course, it really is a surprise that this piece of advice is important - in which case say that

• Forgetting to explain the “why”

• Repeating the same word or phrase often (unless intentional, i.e. in an article about a mantra you might repeat the mantra several times)

• Overusing exclamation points

Activity

Using the information you just learned, write a paragraph (minimum of 100 words) for the article topic “Coping with Loneliness During the COVID-19 Pandemic” - as this is only a paragraph and NOT the complete article, state a brief heading which will inform the reader whether your paragraph is about a general introduction or something more specific. Ensure your paragraph contains facts. Please note that you are to mention your sources too, as well as a link to at least one source within the paragraph.

Bonus: Consider using previous discussions to research and use keywords.

Additionally, reply to at least one other student and highlight the strengths of their work as well as areas for improvement.

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