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Add Your Content Articles

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Video: How to Add Articles in MiniPD

Why Articles?

 

All coaches are required to have at least two articles on their profiles. 

 

Articles are an opportunity for coaches to share their insight and highlight their expertise, while also enabling coaches to reveal who they are as a coach as they provide free content to the MiniPD community. Through their Content Articles, coaches support learners by sharing some best practices and sparking ideas in a way that is engaging.  Aligning Articles to the MiniPD Content Calendar and Coaching Topics helps to direct more interest from learners to your coach landing page. 

Read below for guidance on Article Submission, Getting Started, Writing Your Article, Selecting keywords as Tags and references Article Examples for your interest. 

Article Submission

Process:

  1. Make your Article publish-ready by asking two or three colleagues to be critical friends and proofread your article for grammar and content accuracy
  2. Upload into your Google coach folder for a final proofread by the MiniPD team
  3. Let us know that your article is ready for a final proofread by email at coaching@minipd.com  
  4. Wait and act on suggested feedback prior to uploading  your Article on MiniPD - we aim to get back to you within 48 hours of a working week
  5. Once you have the green light to publish your Article on MiniPD, consider carefully the best fit image, and the Topics and Keyword Tags from the drop down menu in MiniPD
  6. Don’t worry! You can edit your Article and republish anytime as needed!

Note:

  • If your Articles have been previously published by Faria (on the FariaPD, Atlas or Managebac blogs), feel free to copy and paste the article and then publish it. 
  • Our article feature does not yet support direct media upload well. We are working on it and will update the guidelines as soon as it becomes possible.
    • A media content workaround:
      • If you have your own Youtube account, you can upload media from your own account using the URL.
      • In certain cases we may be able to support you by using the MiniPD Youtube account.
  • Feel free to direct people to your 1:1 coaching sessions for follow up questions and additional support.
  • You are welcome to add articles that have been published by other bodies, but it is your responsibility to ensure that you have copyright permission to publish the article on MiniPD.

Getting Started

Identify your Article Topic:

  • The topic choice is yours, although we recommend you focus and drill down to key practical information for learners - this might include curriculum experiences, practices at a school, an educational journey, or a particular area of expertise. 
  • Keep an eye on the MiniPD Content Calendar and Content Topics 
  • Select key words carefully (see explanation at the bottom of these guidelines)
  • Write your Article description (5 - 50 words) 

On a cover sheet in your Google doc, include:

  • A brief summary of your article (2-3 sentences) 
  • Keywords for article (see explanation below)
    • Your name, address, phone number, email address and any social media links + 2-3 sentence bio written in 3rd person in the event we ask for your permission to use this article  
    • When applicable, include school or organization logo or photo + 2-4 sentence description.

Writing Your Article

Style Guide:

  • You can use this tool to help you calculate estimated read time
  • Clearly title your Article and indicate approximate number of minutes to read eg. Feedback Strategies for the Primary Classroom (5 mins) 
  • We aim for a tone that is conversational, professional and fun!  
  • We encourage articles to be  written in English (UK or US), however, articles in additional or mother tongue languages are welcomed, preferably accompanied with an English version, to provide the international community access to your content
  • Use Open Sans font
  • We recommend using bullets or numbered lists and headers to support readability
  • Use one space after a period
  • Double-space all copy and leave generous margins
  • Use 700-1000 words 

Including pictures or images:

  • Any associated caption should be general, for example:
    • Grade 10 students at XYZ School shared their….
    • Members of the Green Project demonstrate how to…
    • The winner of XYZ School’s Service Award receives a certificate from the President of the Parent Teacher Association...
  • Images can help highlight key focus in the article, and examples can include icons, photos, illustrations and student work
    • Images, photos and figures should be identified with captions
  • Use a high-resolution JPG image to ensure clarity

Important Note on Safeguarding:

  • Student’s personal information (name, age, grade, other identifying information) must not be included in captions or articles.
  • Be sure to check your school/organization’s child safeguarding and social media policy before submitting images of students.

Referencing and Bibliography

  • Cite references in the text like this (Jones, 2000) and list them in a bibliography at the end of the article
  • Do not use footnotes or endnotes for the references
  • Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy of citations, quotations, figures, and facts as well as copyright of photos, illustrations and images
  • You may find the link here useful to double check for grammar and academic honesty 

Keywords as Topics and Tags

  • When you upload your Article to MiniPD consider carefully the Topics and Tags as this will help learners to find you and your published content 

Choosing & Using Keywords

Once your article and topic has been selected, create an outline of what you hope to cover and then select your keywords. 

Choosing keywords is a unique aspect of writing and done properly. In the future, it can give your article the potential to improve your search ranking with google, allowing a wider audience to see it. Thinking ahead about how your article may be used, this is why you will want to consider terms and phrases that potential readers would search for, so Google identifies your article as a strong fit for the readers search inquiry in Google. Strong keywords build awareness and thought leadership in topics. 

We suggest you pick 3-5 keywords that are key focuses of your article and breakdown your overall topic. For example, if this were an article, the keywords might be:  

  • Article guidelines
  • Submission guidelines
  • Choosing keywords 
  • How to choose a keyword

You’ll see that these are multiple words, which is absolutely okay and more effective than just a single word like ‘keyword’ because it narrows the search parameter for google.  

Once you have the keywords identified for your topic, you can move to the writing phase. We recommend using the identified keyword 2-5 times each in the article, but this can change on a case by case basis.  

Your single focus keyword is the keyword/phrase you feel is most relevant to readers. This is the phrase you will want to include at least one time in the initial paragraph of your article and also in the title of the article, if possible. You can also put your topic into Google’s Keyword Planner to gain other ideas and insights of relevant words that may be appropriate for your article. 

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