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📰 OICR Engineering Blog Writing Guide


Hello all!

The following guide is for clarity on writing posts for the blog. It is not prescriptive. Here you can find information on:

  1. Determining a topic

  2. Writing to an audience

  3. Structuring your blog post

  4. Citing sources


💭 Determining a Topic

Three simple steps when stuck on ideas:

  1. Start with your reader.

    • What problems does your reader experience?
    • What questions are they asking?

  1. Jot a list of everything that comes to mind.

  1. Pick and Google one of these problems and take note of the top three search results.
    • How have these search results phrased the problem?
    • How are they solving the problem?
    • Does that change your approach to the article?

📝 Writing to our Audience

  • This blog's target audience is you. You are writing for yourself

  • Be yourself, do not say anything in writing that you wouldn't say in conversation

  • Beware of the curse of knowledge:


    A bias that occurs when an individual, who is communicating with other individuals, assumes that the other individuals have the background knowledge to understand.

  • You are the expert in your domain/topic. Wherever possible, simplify your language and provide background for your reader (in-text or hyperlinked).

🎯 Structuring your blog post

General tips:

  • Keywords: It's good practice to incorporate keywords in your <h1> and other headers

  • Headers: Everyone's friend when reading online is the header; they divide the material, structure it, and let readers learn more when skimming

  • Short Paragraphs: When online, large blocks of text create a barrier to engaging readers. You enable readers to skim and gather more information with brief paragraphs, on average 3 sentences, typically no more than five or six

    • Sentences (~ 25 words)
    • Paragraphs (~ 3 sentences no more than 6)

  • Length: Based on SEO metrics articles roughly 1500-2500 words tend to do best however this is a large word count and is not absolutely required. Tailor as needed.

  • Hyperlinks: By doing so, extraneous background information can be reduced while still enabling a wider audience to follow along.


Problem Centered Post

Description Present a problem that your reader is experiencing, empathize with that problem, and then solve the problem.

Approximate word count: 1500-2500 words. Tailor as needed.

📝 Google Docs: Problem Centered Post Template

Titles: Information on creating a title can be found within the google doc.

Wiki Post

Description: Gain readers, establish your expertise on a subject, and help many people along the way. Content from wikis or encyclopedias, particularly material Wikipedia hasn't covered, is also a huge benefit for gaining search traffic. Keep in mind that this is still a blog post, not a Wikipedia article.

Approximate word count: 1500-2500 words. Tailor as needed.

📝 Google Docs: Wiki Post Template Linked Here

Titles: Information on creating a title can be found within the google doc.

Conversational Post

Description: Spark engagement with readers by creating a thought provoking conversational piece.

Approximate word count: 1500 words. Tailor as needed.

📝 Google Docs: Conversational Post Template

Titles: Information on creating a title can be found within the google doc.


📝 Citing Sources

  • Simple hyperlinks for any referenced web content within the article

  • If citing a journal article use APA

    • last name, first name initial., ..., ..., & last name, first name initial. title of article. title of journal, volume(Issue), page(s).DOI

Example

Tolufi, M., Boreman, N., & ,Trotsky D. (2040). The computer goes beep. Advanced computer systems America, 5(2), 161. < insert doi link >

In-text citation: (Tolufi et al., 2040)

If two authors: (Tolufi & Boreman., 2040)