1. Write as you would speak to a colleague: in a straightforward, honest, down-to-earth and respectful fashion.

2. Use simple language. Most word processing programs have a readability scoring function. Aim at an 8th grade reading level because our readers, though highly educated, are busy people. They need to be able to digest information quickly and with minimal effort. A Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score should be around 70 (100 is the simplest).

3. Avoid industry jargon or academic language. Define acronyms and abbreviations.

4. Keep it snappy. Our readers are busy people, just like you.

5. Begin with a strong hook. This should be a grabber to catch the reader’s attention and pique her/his curiosity.

6. Focus on leveraging diversity. We all agree that diversity and inclusion are important to business success, and want to hear how you have used the diversity of your employees and customers to meet or exceed business goals.

7. Be succinct, especially on background information.

8. Avoid passive sentences.

9. Use sub-headings, bullet lists, and sidebars to make your article attractive and easy to read.

10. Be honest about your organization’s diversity challenges. Remember that this is colleague to colleague. We all share similar concerns. The issue is not whether you have diversity challenges but how effectively you address them and how others can learn from your experiences.

11. Be respectful. Avoid blame. In the spirit of diversity, use this Journal as an opportunity to share ideas on effectively solving problems and moving forward.

12. Provide useful information. To do this, your article should answer the following questions:

What is the issue / problem you are addressing?
What real life examples illustrate the issue/problem?
How did you address the problem? (Be specific enough that readers could apply your solution to their own challenges.)
What have your results been? How did you measure them? What would you do differently?

13. Examples, examples, examples. These make your article come alive.

14. Provide creative ideas and suggestions. Remember, you get more positive PR through being helpful than by “tooting your own horn.”

15. Provide charts and graphics to clarify numbers or models/concepts.

16. Supply photos to illustrate a point or concept.

17. Interview others involved in the project you are writing about. What did they think? How has it helped them? Include quotes whenever possible.

18. Encourage dialogue. If you have an issue, challenge or idea that you would like to hear other perspectives on, this is the forum. Describe your questions and we will invite reader responses for the next issue.

19. Submit only original materials. Your original article should be approximately a minimum of 1,000 to 1,400 words. Remember that we cannot publish articles that have already appeared in other periodicals or publications.

20. Deadlines for submissions are December 15, February 15, April 15, June 15, August 15 and October 15. Please remember that Profiles in Diversity Journal owns the copyright.