For past, present and future contributors to Engenderings

You do not have to be a member of the editorial collective or affiliated to the LSE to submit a post. In fact, as a blog committed to multi-sited engagements with gender, we are kind of hoping you’re not!

We are always looking for blog posts. Written articles should be from 500 to 1500 words long, audio-visual contributions should be accompanied by a short introductory paragraph. Blog posts should be thought-provoking, creative, intellectually stimulating but non-polemical and above all, accessible in style. They can take the form of film, art or performance reviews; media analyses; political commentary, cultural critiques or observations; literary criticism; reports on current events; policy reviews and recommendations; or any other form of engagement you find relevant.

For more information, to submit or discuss an article, or to just say “Hi!”, you can always email the Engenderings editorial collective at gender.studies.blog@lse.ac.uk. However, here are some tips if you think you want to send Engenderings a blog post.

About blogging

Blogging is a way to supplement other channels of knowledge. It can further learning, contribute to complex and sometimes controversial topics and has the potential to engage vast new audiences. It is highly dynamic and variable and allows the communication of new and alternative perspectives which are always welcome.  That said, blogging is a relatively new form of media that diverges from more traditional forms of intellectual communication. It does not necessarily follow the same principles of engagement and producing stimulating blog posts can require a different approach.

Content

  • Write about something that is important to you, you are an expert in, or holds a significant interest for you personally. If it inspires, contests, aggravates, sympathises, outrages, humours, or perplexes you, then blog it! Any issue that evokes a strong opinion from you will be reflected through your writing; that energy will attract other readers, like minded or otherwise. However, ranting and/or omniscient-style writing is best avoided – open-minded and non-polemic preferred!
  • Write about research you have published. Blogging about your article or book can boost citations for the original piece, and it can expand its reach to broader audiences. This LSE Impact blog post by Patrick Dunleavy explains how to write a blogpost from your journal article in eleven easy steps.
  • Whilst we prefer original content, we do consider publishing posts from other blogs, with permission. If you would like us to consider a blog you published elsewhere, please let us know when you first contact us where it has been published and make sure you have permission to have it republished.

Language

  • Blog posts are meant to be accessible medium for sharing ideas and one of our principle aims is to extend the content of ‘Engenderings’ to a wider audience. With that in mind, it may not be necessary to draw heavily on an extensive knowledge of Roget’s Thesaurus (or indeed a word processor’s synonym function).
  • It is useful to remain aware that some ideas and experiences may not translate well into academic terminology; some academic disciplinary jargon can be inaccessible. Posts should be written as if you are explaining an idea or a concept to a well-read, informed friend who doesn’t happen to be knowledgeable in the area.

References

We prefer links rather than footnotes or in-text citations. Wherever possible, provide a URL to reference your claims or to provide further information on the topic. Links may include, but are not limited to: other blogs and websites, news stories, and academic articles (open access preferred).

Length

  • We understand that some posts may need a few less lines, some may need a few more lines (paragraphs/pages/books?!) than others, but in the interest of keeping posts accessible and engaging, try to keep your post within the 500 – 1500 word limit.
  • If you feel 1500 words is too limiting for the topic you wish to address, perhaps consider breaking the content down into multiple posts which develop your topic or idea. We would welcome evolutionary blogging and regular contributors!
  • In the same way, do not feel compelled to write an extended essay on your topic (or include the finer points of your recent 250 page doctoral thesis). Shorter posts that illustrate a compelling point in a few sentences can be equally as engaging.

Structure

  • Snappy introductory sentences – always a good place to start. Outline the key points of your article and your argument at the beginning as opposed to the end, engage the reader early on.
  • A clear structure can help create a sense of coherency to more expressive posts that draw on opinions or experiences.
  • Subheadings, images and graphics can break up longer blocks of text (please remain aware of various copyright limitations!).
  • Shorter sentences and clear paragraphs are often encouraged for blogging technique. Bullet points, quotations and Q&A style address are also perfectly legitimate.

Tone

This can be an entirely personal decision. The tone does not have to be formally academic. If you wish to adopt a more informal or conversationalist tone feel free as this is a common characteristic of blogs. However, please note that Engenderings is a post for academic, intellectual, and political engagement. Posts that are entirely personal in nature are probably not suitable if they cannot be tied back to a larger social, political, cultural (artistic, scientific, etc.!) issue.

Picture

All blog posts are posted with a photo or illustration to accompany the text and we ask that authors suggest a picture that they feel suitably illustrates or captures the essence of the topic. We do not have a budget for photos, so we need to have permission to use the photo on the blog for free. If it is a photo that you have taken yourself then you can give us permission to use it but if it is a picture found on the internet we must have the right to use it (e.g. creative commons licence so we can display the picture as long as we attribute it to the creator). Luckily there are plenty of places online where free and legal photos can be found. For example, a number of useful links have been summarised here.

The editorial process

So you’ve got a great blog post. Now what happens? All posts are edited by the editorial collective. This is to ensure that posts on Engenderings are consistently high-quality. This is also to help you create a post that is engaging and intellectually rigorous. The editorial process is as follows:

  • Email your post to us! gender.studies.blog@lse.ac.uk.
  • All posts are reviewed by a first-editor. If there are “glaring errors” or issues, such as the post does not seem to fit with the remit of Engenderings or the content or language is inappropriate, it will be sent back to the author for revisions at this stage.
  • If it is suitable for Engenderings in its current state with only minor changes the first-editor will make comments/suggestions/revisions using Track Changes and either send it to you or pass it to a second-editor. Not all blog posts get reviewed by two editors but when we, for whatever reason, feel the blog could benefit from a second pair of editorial eyes, the second-editor will take a look, make any comments/suggestions/revisions they have, and then the document, with both editors’ comments will be sent back to the author.
  • After the author makes the suggested changes, the post is sent back to Engenderings with:
    a short author biography, a picture of the author, a picture to accompany the blog (free/attribution licence only please), and the author’s Twitter handle if they would like a mention on Twitter when the blog is published.
  • Note: in some cases the author may disagree with one of the suggested changes. That’s fine; they are, as their name may indicate, suggestions! However, a brief line indicating where you have decided keep it as is and explaining your reasoning will really help us out!
  • Voilà! It is posted! All journeys begin with a single step. Remember, the editorial collective is here to support you throughout the process, whether it’s talking you through taking the first step or helping you polish up the fruits of that journey!

To check out the people helping you out visit our about page where you can find a list of the editorial collective.

Once published

Once published, your text remains your intellectual property and the copyright remains with you. You may republish your posts on other sites or agree to have your piece reposted on another blog. You may choose to publish your post under a creative commons licence that permits others able to repost or republish your text, without contacting you first. We suggest the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, meaning that any repost has to attribute the text to you as the author and cannot be for profit (including on paywalled sites), but you can choose a licence that suits you here. Unless you specify a creative commons licence for your post our guidelines state that anyone wishing to republish or repost your text must contact you for permission to do so (and they can do so through us). If you agree to reposts we request that they acknowledge and link back to the original post on Engenderings as the original site of publication, but this is not a formal requirement and remains at your discretion as the author and copyright-holder of the piece.

Hope to hear from you soon!