IEEE-SSIT Editorial Domain

Content Writing Notes & Guidelines

Basic Guidelines:

● Run your content through Grammarly(use Grammarly plugins for word or google docs). Then
proofread it at least 2 times to check for errors in speaker names, event names, etc.
● Ensure correct capitalisation (Event Names, People Names, Places, Universities/Companies, Job
Roles etc).
● Follow the deadlines (if you cannot complete on time, inform a minimum of 8 hours in advance).
● Refer to all guests with Mr or Ms and CONFIRM their name spellings.
● Fact check all claims that you are making. There should be no technical mistakes (eg: “AI is a
subset of Machine Learning” is wrong as in fact ML is a subset of AI).
● Guest/Speaker social media handles/contacts are for YOUR reference only. Do not insert them
in your captions. The event host will do it at end of the live event.
● Plagiarism will not be tolerated. It reflects badly on your, and consequently, our chapter’s
integrity.
● Make sure to refer to cour chapter as a chapter NOT a club. This conveys professionalism and
attention to detail.

Workflow:

You will work in teams of two for the below content. Each team has to submit 1 Article and 4 posts during
their turn. See the spreadsheet for your team & task’s due dates. The article topic is up to you, the posts
should be related to the Article topic too (It helps create a more cohesive content catalogue). Out of 4, 2 will
be teaser/trailer oriented and 2 will be throwback style.

The posts will be divided over our main platforms (LinkedIn and Instagram). Every week, we will upload one
post on each platform. These two will be sort of a teaser/trailer for our upcoming article(so you can include
some lines like “stay tuned for our next article to learn more” etc). Then 2-3 days later, we post the Article.

And 2 days after that we upload “throwback” style posts on each platform(these can summarise what the
article was about or remind the readers that they missed out or even just give a random fact related to the
article topic too. Insert a line basically asking the reader to check it out if they missed the article).

Contact Rehan (+91 9566037253) at any point and time regarding any issues and doubts.

Post Guidelines:
● Can be a little informal in your language.
● 50-100 words preferably, but exceptions can be made.
 ● Should follow an immersive writing thought process with a couple of lines to hook the reader, a
couple of lines explaining the event and speaker, and lastly, a few lines to invite participation. A
tip is to tell the reader how they can benefit from attending the event.
● Must contain Time, Date, and Venue/Link at the end of the caption
● Also, insert your Instagram and LinkedIn handles in order to get caption credits

Article Guidelines:
● Creative freedom to choose your topic, but must be tech-related.
● 500 words minimum, no upper limit. Can even write as a series of articles one after the other in a
“part 1 & part 2” fashion.
● You do not need to give headings for different sections, but creative headings are appreciated
from a reader’s POV.
● Writing Style:

○ Your Article will be considered a success if a person who is GENERALLY not interested in
techy topics, decides to read yours. A good writer makes people read things they didn’t
know they wanted to read.
○ People do not care for logic and facts, an article about ML will only attract those readers
who are already interested in ML if it is not written in an attractive way. True growth and
exposure as a writer happens when even people from outside our echo chambers read our
work.
○ To attract these readers, your article should begin with a strong sense of “WHY” for the
readers. Humanise the topic and make it more relatable on a human level. Talk about the
experiences, changes in our lifestyles, benefits for their families etc rather than beginning
with cold hard facts.
○ To garner immediate interest, aim for a meta description at the start of the article that
hooks the reader in. This section is usually 7-15%(this is not a permanent number, you are
the best judge for this) of your Article’s word count. Do not make it too long, it will seem
overdone. Do not make it too short, it will seem like a lazy effort.
○ The meta is NOT your introduction paragraph. They are different.
○ Think of it like a pre-introduction. This is where you give readers a reason to continue
reading. In the world of tech, this is done usually two ways (you can surprise me by
inventing your own third way too!)
■ Story Approach
■ Utopian Approach
○ The Story approach humanises the topic we are going to talk about. For technologies, this
can mean giving more than just facts. You can write about the inventor maybe, or
someone’s life experience where a problem could have been solved and changed their life,
or anything else.
■ This approach requires you to step back and look at the bigger picture and think
about the technology as a character in a story.
 ■ And then you write the article as if you are giving someone a character description
of a novel’s protagonist.
Then you continue writing about the more technical aspects.
○ Refer to Article 2 to see an example of a story-style meta description.

○ The Utopian approach is slightly different. Here we humanise the experience of using a
technology instead of the technology itself. You usually start off by thinking of a problem
that this technology solves, then you think about how normal people suffer BECAUSE of
that problem.
■ Once you have this, you begin writing, Start off with talking to the reader about
their current suffering, and tell them how their suffering is because of xyz problem.
■ Now shift the narrative and talk to them about an ideal world, a utopia where this
problem doesn't exist.
■ By now they will be invested into the article, here you introduce the technology to
them. You then continue your article as normal.
○ Refer to Article 1’s red ink corrections for an implemented utopian approach

● Refer to Article 1’s black ink text to see how a normal article can be vastly improved by changing
the tone and style of writing.
● Refer to Post Content as a sample for making an effective yet tech-related post.
● Ensure that you sufficiently explain the technical terms or aspects that the reader might not
know. A good rule of thumb is to think about including the kind of information that YOU did not
know about while researching (eg: while writing about ML, if you did not know what neural
networks were while researching and you have decided to use that concept somewhere in your
article, then it is good to include a brief description of a neural network).
● Lastly, if you enjoy reading the article, other people will too. So if you are ever stuck on what to
include, how to write a particular part, or what topic to even write about, just go with your gut.
Write something you’d like to read.

NOTE:
● None of the pointers given in the writing style section are hard-fast rules. Due to our education
system, we consider notes as a rule of law. I don't expect you to follow anything to the dot.
● The writing guide is just to help you. You do not have to overdo anything that you are
uncomfortable with, but you should try to incorporate some of these skills to become a better
writer.
● During your first draft, it is better to include extra information as opposed to too little
information. During editing, a lot of unnecessary information can be left out if need be.
● Ask for help at any point, from anyone be it seniors or juniors. It’s better to find out about a
mistake during editing rather than after publishing.
● Proofread, proofread and proofread again.