How To Write An Article For The Web Site

1. Contact Rae Davis to find out what months we need articles for. 625-0168 or margaretraedavis@msn.com

2. Choose a topic related to gardening during the season when the article will appear.It should relate to practical gardening in western Massachusetts.

3. Write your article for the general reader.Avoid jargon and specialized terms where possible. If a specialized term must be used, define it in simple words.

4. Articles should be between 300 and 1000 words long. If an article is longer than 1000 words, consider splitting it into two separate articles.

5. Do not mention commercial products by their trade name or manufacturer. Do not mention commercial vendors of garden products by name. For example, say “available at local perennial nurseries” NOT “available at Baystate Perennials”.  Say “small garden tillers” NOT “Mantis”.

6.  Spell check your article.  Double check the spelling of all plant names, especially scientific ones, and all chemical names.  Use proper punctuation and capitalization.  Triple check the spelling of web site links or e-mail addresses.  Make sure they work. When referring to plants, use both the common and scientific names.

7.  If at all possible, include at least one pertinent photograph.  If you can, submit the image as a .jpg file no larger than 50 kb. We can also scan from prints, slides or negatives.  We will not use more than four (4) photographs in any one article.  The ideal number is two (2). Be sure to identify all plants in the photos by name, scientific name, and variety, if possible.  Identify the photographer.

8. Submit your article to Rae by e-mail as a plain text file. If you must submit the article in hard copy, it MUST be typed and submitted at least one week earlier than normal so that it can be scanned. We will do our best to preserve your formatting, but we cannot guarantee an exact match when we translate it into HTML. If the article requires special formatting, it MUST be submitted in .html format.

9.  Articles must be submitted to Rae Davis by the 15th of the month before the one in which they are scheduled to run.  (E.g. submit a March article by Feb 15).

10. Sit back and enjoy the praise of your colleagues.