A Different View

General Guidelines for Editors

The International Association for Political Science Students

July 2013

INTRODUCTION
The current Guidelines aim to establish a common standard for the articles published in A
Different View (ADV). This document is divided in two sections Articles and Debates which
represent the two main activities of the blog. In the Articles section the content and formatting
of the ADV posts is discussed. Additionally, information about the scheduling and the uploading
of pictures is provided. In the Debates section the procedures for choosing a topic, selecting
essays and posting them on the blog is explained.

ARTICLES
Content and Formatting
All Editors at ADV are required to submit articles on a regular basis. Although there are no rigid
restrictions when it comes to the topic of the texts, it is important to note that the blogs purpose
is to present analyses from the sphere of international politics. Moreover, since the content is
updated on a daily basis it is recommended that the articles refer to current issues which have
captured the attention of the international community at the moment. Please note that we aim at
presenting our readers with interesting and comprehensive analyses of the events and NOT
mere descriptions. Since ADV is a blog, the articles do not need to include literature review,
overview of academic debates, or references at the end. You are encouraged to insert the
sources you have used directly in the text of your article via hyperlinks. The volume of the
articles should be 600-1000 words so you are highly encouraged to keep track of the word
count and come up with a succinct yet sharp analysis of whichever issue you are working on.
The Editors should carefully review and proofread their articles before they post them on the
blog. If for some reason the content of the article needs revision, the Editor will receive an email from the Editor-in-Chief containing the proposed revisions.
The official IAPSS formatting for articles is Arial 10, justified; as such, all articles are expected to
be formatted in this way. The title of the article should be bold; the same goes with the articles
subsections. The Editors should add a read more separator after the first paragraph of their
article.
The Editors are also encouraged to make their text reader-friendly. As you should know, the
ADV is a perfect venue we can analyze certain issues and at the same time reach a wider
readership. The ADV does not only cater to the scholars of political science but also those who
are not well-versed to our field. Being so, it is our responsibility to keep the readers abreast of
what is happening in the field while providing them a concise and comprehensible analysis
grounded on our perspective and standpoint.
Schedule of Rounds
We want to make sure we have a fresh article on the blog every week. In principle, the Editors
are expected to deliver an article every two weeks. To keep the Editorial Board informed on

what the rest of the team will be working on for the next two weeks, the Editor-in-Chief will post
a spread on the ADV Editorial Board Facebook Group in the beginning of every biweekly round
and Editors are expected to leave a comment stating the topic of their choice. If for some reason
you will not be able to comply with the biweekly schedule, you are requested to inform the rest
of the Editorial Board on time. However, please note that if you are inactive for a month and you
do not provide the Board with a good reason you will automatically be eliminated as an Editor of
ADV.
Pictures
You are encouraged to upload pictures when you publish your articles. The picture needs to be
relevant to the text and of relatively good quality. It should be uploaded before the read more
separator because in this way it will be visible on the main blog page as well as in your article.
When you upload the image make sure you resize it in a way which matches the rest of the
pictures already posted on the website. When you choose a picture you need to make sure that
it is not copyright protected. To avoid legal trouble, you will be asked to find your pictures only
through this link (http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/?q=) and to always check the box at
the bottom which says "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content." Creative
Commons means that we are allowed to use the pictures in our blog as long as we give credit to
the person who took it. Therefore, at the bottom of the article do not forget to mention the image
source (the name of the account of the person).

DEBATES
As this is still work in progress, the ADV envisions organizing biweekly debates on different
topics. The topic will be chosen by the Editors who at first give their proposals. Subsequently,
these proposals will be subjected to a vote in a poll on the ADV Editorial Board Facebook Group
and the Editors determine which topic wins. After this is established, a call for essays will be
initiated and advertised by ADV and IAPSS. The person who initially proposed the topic of the
debate will be responsible for reviewing the submitted essays and for determining whether they
comply with ADV criteria. Depending on the number of submissions this person could request
help from the other Editors. Generally, in the biweekly cycle we will have two (2) days to
determine the topic of the debate, eight (8) days to gather the submissions, three (3) days to
review them, and one (1) day to post them. A separate Debate section will be created on the
website where the essays will be published.

CONCLUSION
The current guidelines are intended to clarify the ADVs minimum requirements for the articles
posted on the blog. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact John Jison
(adifferentview@iapss.org) or Alex Volacu (academic@iapss.org). For technical questions or
problems with the website, please contact Josipa Jaksic (pr@iapss.org).