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:
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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.
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Think of story ideas that will be sharable in social media
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Be concise
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Be conversational and accessible in your writing
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Back up statements with research or facts if applicable (cite sources) - try to confirm facts by ensuring at least 2 different sources mentioning them.
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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
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Be thorough, don’t gloss over specifics
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Give the reader empathy and hope
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Put yourself in the reader’s shoes: ask yourself what they need out of reading your piece and then deliver that
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Try to combine personal experiences with expert insight to strengthen your piece.
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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:
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Always try to hyperlink some of your main sources.
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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)
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Use Google Scholar to search for relevant research work. Abstracts usually summarize research findings.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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The overuse of cliches or corny language
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Making it overly formal or using references most wouldn’t understand
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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
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Forgetting to explain the “why”
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Repeating the same word or phrase often (unless intentional, i.e. in an article about a mantra you might repeat the mantra several times)
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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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This post is brought to you by the Content Development and Marketing Program, find out more information about the program here
“Coping with Loneliness During the COVID-19 Pandemic”
Unexpected benefits of solitude
Social distancing during COVID-19 Pandemic is an essential safety measure to contain the virus and to keep us away from danger. However, it can inevitably lead to an increase in feelings of loneliness which is a critical public health concern. One way to cope with such a challenge is to look at it from an optimistic angle and to consider being alone as an opportunity for growth rather than a setback.
Painful feelings of loneliness might actually be a result of not having attachment securities (believing one can trust others and expecting that they will be available and responsive when needed). Thus, although time alone due to covid can be anxiety provoking, it still is able to force us to confront our fears which allows meaningful internal dialogues, self-discovery and healing.
In the past, countless social movements and practices were instigated by solitary experiences. We can refer to famous tales of spiritual leaders like Buddha, Mohammed or Jesus who reached enlightenment after periods of solitude. Therefore, it is fair to say that being alone might provide freedom from status quo or social constraints and remove distractions in order for us to truly connect with who we are and what our core values are.
To begin our journey with solitary reflection, we can start with simple activities like journaling, walking & pondering, practice mindfulness or meditation. To keep ourselves accountable and motivated, we can reach out to a listener to share what we learnt or could also join sub-communities on 7cups to find like-minded people who are on the self-exploration path like us: https://www.7cups.com/15624242.If what written above is not for you, there are more ways to cope with loneliness in this free 7cups self-help: https://www.7cups.com/how-to-deal-with-loneliness/
@kindLemonade
Lem, the way you have added links to the basic as well as the important things are actually something which is really good. I also enjoyed reading it! Great job yet again! Yayayayyyyyyy! 
@kindLemonade
Looks like my notifications aren't working properly 😓
Glad I am here for you! 
@sophiasanae
Well written! I love how you included facts while focusing on the individuals side-effects at the same time.
When it comes to highlighting areas of improvement, I noticed that your paragraph mostly highlighted the physical effects. Since the title is "mental and physical effects of social isolation", the paragraph could be better adapted to suit the title by emphasising on mental health effects as well.
Good luck on the rest of the course!
As we go through an unprecedented Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, loneliness becomes a global issue, which increases the risk of physical and mental well-being problems. Consequently, self-care and finding ways to maintain the social connection to cope with loneliness during Covid-19 social isolation grows in necessity. Study shows that those who consistently take care of themselves have a better well-being than those who take themselves for granted. In that light, the 7 Cups- Community relentlessly advocating self-care through many channels on the site, including The Self-Care Lounge forum. E-intervention is another way to cope, such as online exergaming to maintain physical activities while connecting with other people, Netflix parties with friends or family, participating in online Group Support, or volunteering at online communities. For instance, my daughter and her peers use Zoom and Google Hangout for school and socializing among friends during the pandemic. For online Group Support, many group chat rooms can be found on 7 Cups for Members to feel supported, whether it is the Sharing Circle or on discussions provided by sub-community leaders. Furthermore, for online volunteering, people can switch to their Listener account to provide support to others.
🖊201 words
@ouiCherie
Hello again.
Over-all, I love your text!
The photo there is awesome, it is relatable, based on research and the concrete examples at the end of it is great!
People who feel lonely should be understood and heard.
Firstly, we need to distinguish between the terms "loneliness" and "solitude". Loneliness is defined as a "state of distress or discomfort that results when one perceives a gap between one’s desires for social connection and actual experiences of it" -- that means: a state when one feels sadness or other negative emotions, because he feels alone - state which occurs even when a person is surrounded by a large group of people. Solitude, on the other hand, is a state of actually being alone, which can be pleasant and even preferred over social gatherings.
There are many expert advices which can significantly help, such as Pracitising self-kindness. But to really understand all these tips and use them as a helping hand or a life vest and not just read them as words, a state of deep self-awareness needs to be achieved. One of the ways to do that and benefit from being alone, one must replace his loneliness with solitude.
Solitude offers many great benefits. Apart from relaxation, when we rest from social pressure, stress or tension, only in solitude can we truly begin to know and love ourselves. At this place, it's important to mention that solitude can't be ever compared to time spent on social media and other technology - when we do that, we're not really alone, and more likely it leads to loneliness. We are truly alone only when we're just with ourselves, in our mind, with our thoughts. Isolation can lead to wondeful insights. To keep a healthy relationship with ourselves, we need to spend more times in our heads - after all, our mind is the only thing that we can say we truly have for our whole life in this world, that's why it should be preserved. How could we really know ourselves without solitude, without truly spending time with ourselves?
Trying to love myself while constantly distracting myself with other people and technology would be the same as being a doctor, who tries to save his patient from a deadly disease, but operates on the area of the body that is not at all associated with the source of it, meanwhile he often stops the important operation to play with scalpels and scissors.
Creativity, calmness, self-knowledge and self-awereness are some of the irreplaceable benefits of enjoying our own company. Spending a lot of time in our heads makes us value things more, see beautiful aspects of ourselves and, therefore, of others. In solitude, there's beauty. In solitude, we can truly find us - nowhere else.
"A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free."
- Arthur Schopenhauer
@Matej45678
Very very well done... you have shown kindness, empathy, a lot of great informations and tips. 
@KACOSMIC
Thank you kindly for your feedback. I appreciate it.
Coping with Loneliness During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Staying Positive Through a pandemic: things shall get better
After a year into a worldwide pandemic, it's easy to feel discouraged or feel as it won't ever end. Having to be in lockdown or social distancing for such a long period of time has surely had an impact in everybody's mental health. It's hard to remind positive, so let's look at some stats together that could help out see the light out of this dark tunnel. What is the way out of pandemic? The Vaccines. But it's not just them alone, it's vaccination. It's social responsability that will save us. There's 22 vaccine studies going on right now all over the world. As per WHO, there have been 196,553,009 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 4,200,412 deaths and as of 29 July 2021, a total of 3,839,816,037 vaccine doses have been administered.
According to Out World in Data, 28.2% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 14.5% is fully vaccinated. 4.11 billion doses have been administered globally, and 37.58 million are now administered each day. While those numbers may not seem a lot compared to the world population let's take a moment to see how big that 28.2% actually is. The world has at this moment almost 7.9 billion people (and counting!) so while 3,839,816,037 still means we have a long way to go, those numbers are actually people who took the step to make sure we can end this pandemic more quickly. So while this may easily be one of the hardest sanitary moments in our recent history - we're getting out of it and you've literally lived through a pandemic, which sadly not all can say. Coping with loneliness includes remembering: we're in a global pandemic, and you've still managed to do a lot of things during the last year and a half. That should be rewarded 
and in the end the love you take, is equal to the love you make. - Mel, 7Cups Ambassador
