Writers’ Guidelines

Writers’ Guidelines for Submitting Articles for CHAP Websites and Social Media

Content

Article submissions for CHAP websites and social media must have direct relevance to the Pennsylvania home educator. There are many subjects of interest to home educating families; however, due to space limitations, we must concentrate on issues related to home education. Articles must support and promote Christ-centered, parent‐directed, privately funded, home‐based discipleship. In addition, articles must not conflict with a biblical worldview or the CHAP Board of Directors’ Statement of Faith. Submitting an article does not guarantee publication on CHAP websites or social media.

Articles of 500 to 1200 words that closely follow the guidelines below have the best chance of being selected for inclusion on CHAP websites and social media. Articles that offer encouragement to home educating parents as well as practical, subject‐specific “how‐to” type articles are of most interest to us. It is generally best to contact the editor to inquire about a subject and share the idea for your article with us before you invest a lot of time writing. Article submissions cannot promote or sell any product or service. Author biographies, which are placed beneath articles, free of charge, may provide hyperlinks for products, websites, books, or services.

Legalities & Compensation

CHAP does not pay to publish articles, reprints, continuing columns, or reviews in our magazine or on our websites. When you submit an article that is published by CHAP, you grant us permission to publish that article along with a short bio on CHAP websites and social media. You retain all other rights. Anyone contacting us for permission to reprint your article will be given your contact information so that they may contact you directly for permission to reprint.

Please put the copyright notice at the end of your work, including the copyright word or symbol, the year, and your name. (i.e. Copyright 2009, William Jones or © 2009 William Jones, Jones Publishers).

We would prefer that you not allow the article to appear in any other venue for at least one month after our publication date. However, that is only a request.

For articles used on CHAP websites or social media, authors will be emailed a link to their articles as soon after digital publication as possible.

Acceptance for Publication & Deadlines

Publishing works slowly. It could take several months before an article is accepted or rejected. If you are writing something on a timely subject, please understand that we work several months ahead for each issue. You will find the submission deadline schedule below. However please note that there is no guarantee that your article will run in a particular issue. The earlier we receive an article, the better. CHAP reserves the right to decline an article without comment or explanation.

Article Submission Deadline Schedule

Editing

Our philosophy of editing is that the editor should do their work invisibly. Any changes an editor makes should not change the integrity of the author’s style or intent.

We edit for grammar and spelling. If the edits are minor, we do not refer them back to the author for approval to make the edits. If there is a technical question or if we may be altering meaning by making a change, we will check with the author first. If we believe a significant change needs to be made without a major rewrite, we will check with the author first. If we are interested in the article, but feel that it needs a major revision due to length, lack of clarity, poor writing, lack of focus, or inappropriateness, we will send it back to the author to request that it be rewritten.

Style

Please follow these guidelines for style issues:
A. Our organization name is always “Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania (CHAP)” on the first mention and “CHAP” on subsequent mentions. Note no periods in CHAP.
B. We capitalize all proprietary words (i.e. CHAP Convention, CHAP E-News, etc.)
C. Paragraphing for a magazine or newspaper is different than for an essay or book. While you still want to be aware of paragraphing for content, paragraphing is used more for visual clarity. The editor may create more paragraphs than you have in your original article submission for this reason.
D. A more extensive style sheet is included later in this document. Please refer to it for additional style instructions.

Format

Please submit your copy by email either as a file attachment in Microsoft Word or in the body of your email message to magazine@chaponline.com.

Formatting Guidelines

• Include the title of your article and a byline with your first and last name at the top of the article.
• Include your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address following your bio at the end of the article. Your contact information will not be published or distributed but used to contact you, if needed.
• Use one space after end punctuation.
• Please limit formatting such as bold, italics, or all caps. It does not translate and produces extra work for the person doing the layout.
• Please include a brief bio written in third person starting with your first and last name of 50 to 100 words, containing information such as the year you began homeschooling, number of children you have, what leadership positions you hold, books you’ve written, any links to websites you are associated with, etc. Do not use number of years in bio such as “has been married for 20 years” or “has been homeschooling for five years.” Rather, use the year such as “has been homeschooling since 2000.” This will keep your bio updated.
• Please include a professional photograph of yourself (high resolution).

Contact

Thank you for sharing yourself with the home education community! These guidelines can also be found online at http://www.chaponline.com/writers-guidelines/

CHAP Citation Guidelines

As writers seek to explore, investigate, and apply the theories, research findings, and commentaries of others in their submissions to the CHAP Magazine, we encourage each to apply the following rules when referencing and citing other published works.

Short Quotes

When referencing and/or quoting a published work you need to include the author’s name, the year of publication, and the page number (or page numbers) from which the quote was taken. If no page number is available (as in the case of a website) a notation of “n.p.” for “no page” will suffice.

Example:

Dewey (1889) states, “The child’s own instincts and powers furnish the material and the starting point for all education” (pg. 4).

As you can see from the example above, the author’s name was provided in the text of the sentence while the publication year and the page number were provided in what is called a parenthetical citation. Depending on the writer’s needs or preferences, the required citation information can be provided in the text or in a parenthetical citation.

Example:

“The child’s own instincts and powers furnish the material and the starting point for all education” (Dewey, 1889, pg. 4).

Long Quotes

Direct quotes from published works that exceed 40 words should be offset in block quote format. In a block quote, every line of the quotation is indented 1/2 inch from the left margin and quotation marks are omitted. In this case, quotation marks are then not needed.

Example:

I believe that this educational process has two sides -one psychological and one sociological; and that neither can be subordinated to the other or neglected without evil results following. Of these two sides, the psychological is the basis. The child’s own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point for all education. (Dewey, 1889, pg. 4)

Reference List

If a writer references any previously published work, he or she should create a reference list to be included at the end of his or her article. Writers are asked to reference the American Psychological Association (APA) citation formatting guidelines here.

CHAP Style Sheet