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Collapsing building © Daniel FriedmanArticle Proposal Guidelines
What you need to submit an article to InspectApedia.com

This InspectApedia.com page describes the specifics of our publishing requirements and what that means if you are interested in contributing an article to be included on this website.

We welcome researched, authoritative articles signed by their author, that are new work, not copied from other sources, nor appearing elsewhere. Such articles, if approved by our editors, are run with full and appropriate identification, citation, and contact information for the article author.

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InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Do you want to contribute content to InspectApedia.com?

It would indeed be rewarding if we could work together but please, before wasting your own effort, take a look at our publishing and link-exchange guidelines given here.

With apologies for giving a wordy reply, experience has shown that if we're clear about what we can use and about our link policy, we can avoid irritating one another with wasted effort.

New InspectApedia Article Topic Advice

BEFORE PROPOSING or WRITING an ARTICLE, start by making a SEARCH of InspectApedia.com using the on-page search box near page top and bottom, searching for phrases significant to your topics of interest.

Or if you already have a specific article topic in mind, research that very topic at InspectApedia to see what has already been written, to identify gaps (or errors) in our existing material, and thus to guide your own suggested article.

This step helps avoid wasting your effort by proposing or writing material that we have already covered. (We do welcome content corrections or suggestions if you see an error or omission in any of our published material, and we cite such contributors.)

Making a search of InspectApedia for your topic or keywords associated with the topic of your proposed article gives you or your writers an idea of what we've already published on that topic, where there may be holes to fill, or where you may find an error or disagree with something we've written.

Looking at what we've already published also gives examples of our requirement for technical depth, accuracy, and citation of expert sources.

The bottom line is that we welcome content contributions and cite and link to those contributors.

We do not permit our website material to be copied/published elsewhere online or in electronic form and we do not publish repeat articles or copies of material already published elsewhere on the Internet.

InspectApedia.com is a trusted publisher in our field in large part because we have demanding standards for the content we place online. That makes placement of your contribution at our website valuable to you as well.

Your task includes looking at how we've already treated your proposed topic - or finding that we haven't, and writing material that is researched, has real content, and that is in no way an advertising, promotional, or puff piece.

Type of Articles Wanted

Because InspectApedia provides information intended to help people build, diagnose, or repair buildings, primary light residential properties or small commercial properties (i.e. not high-rise or industrial plants), or to install, diagnose, or repair mechanical systems (heating, air conditioning, water supply, electrical, plumbing, etc), or information used to diagnose and correct indoor environmental or IAQ hazards or problems, those are the topical areas for which we invite contribution by experts.

For a more detailed description of the content at our website

see DESCRIPTION OF MAJOR TOPIC AREAS at InspectApedia.

There you will also find links to examples of more detailed topical areas and articles that we publish.

For a more detailed list see these

EXAMPLES of TOPICS FOUND at InspectApedia.com

Details about Writing an Article for InspectApedia.com

Range of reader expertise at InspectApedia

Our audience includes everyone from technical experts and engineers in a building or indoor environment field to apartment dwellers who, given a screwdriver, are likely to stick it in their eye.

Our best articles combine technical depth with clarity and ease of understanding. But not all articles must be the same. Some may be more technical and are aimed at experts or at service people or contractors while others may be less technical and are aimed at building owners or occupants.

Articles must be original work, not copies of work published elsewhere

We also do not permit copying of content already found at InspectApedia.com, all of which is (C) protected - also the website name itself is a registered and protected US Trademark.

Writer qualifications

By "expert" we don't mean that the writer must have an advanced degree to contribute useful information that can help others; experience working in the field often can provide more practical advice or step-by-step guidelines than might a theoretical discussion.

Watch out: however, in our experience, most often "articles" written by a generic content producer who does not have actual experience and expertise in the topic are not likely to have sufficiently specific, useful, accurate content nor cite authoritative sources so as to be accepted by our editors.

Articles that we accept and publish are new, original work that has not appeared and that will not appear elsewhere. We do not run superficial, low content articles nor opinion pieces. We do not run sales pitch type material touting products or services.

Articles that we accept and publish must be factually accurate

Accurate content should also be supported by independent expert research; typically articles include key research citations citing authoritative sources or published researchers in support of the article's content and conclusions.

Where we are expressing what is really just the writer's opinion, we should make that clear. I usually begin such a sentence by a capitalized word:

OPINION: this is what I think.

Articles that we accept vs. those we cannot

So we need to provide information that is technically accurate and thorough, but at the same time our explanations must be clear to an absolute novice. In fact, the very effort of making that sort of explanation tests our own understanding of the topic.

At InspectApedia.com, we welcome fresh, factual, original content (unique, not copied elsewhere) contributions or even small suggestions, corrections or critique about our website content, though not general, generic, nor copied materials.

If your article has good technical depth, is easy to understand, and includes appropriate supporting research citations, it could be a good fit for us.

The central reason that we reject most articles offered to us is that the content is too thin, superficial, or incomplete to be considered authoritative and it lacks specifics that inform a reader how to diagnose and solve a building or indoor environmental problem.

It's just too easy to dash off a page of "four things to check on your house" that don't actually get into anything clear or specific and worse, that are not aware of things in the suggestions that could kill someone.

With respect for those who offer articles to us, we find that an author who submits material without having first noted the kind of material we can publish is not likely to have success. Below are our article submission and content guidelines.

Technical Accuracy & Depth Required

We caution that a general freelance writer is not likely to have the technical depth or expertise to provide the content that fits InspectApedia.com's reader profile.

In fact, on occasion, even when we've been approached by someone who said they had expertise in one of our fields, we've found that the written article proposed was shallow, technically unsound, or gave dangerous advice that required so much editing that it wasn't the best use of everyone's time.

But that's not at all to say that a smart, interested, articulate person couldn't choose & research a topic of interest to her, after seeing a gap in present InspectApedia content, prepare an article, include authoritative citations, and thus produce content that fits.

Particularly where articles discuss building or environment or mechanical systems components or features that involve life-safety or the possibility of significant cost to a reader or to the public, unbiased, accurate information is of critical importance.

Where a writer who has experience in the particular topic wants to add an opinion, that's welcome, too, but should be clearly marked as OPINION.

Rules on Links In Articles

We do not run in-line text links out of articles

We do cite, link-to and provide contact information for our contributors.

We absolutely do credit and give links & contact information for authors, critics, contributors of content to InspectApedia.com and in those instances, we are glad to include a link to such at the end of articles as well as in the references section and/or author section of articles.

Writing Style & Supporting Citations

By searching our website for a topic on which you might contribute, you can also see the style, technical depth, use of authoritative research citations (sometimes in the REFERENCES section at the bottom of the article) that we use.

If this approach interests you, we'd be glad to see a proposed topic or two and further, to avoid wasting your time, you might make a draft and let me review it to see if we're headed in a good direction.

Illustrations for Articles

Most of our articles include illustrations in the form of drawings, photographs, and tables.

If you do not have suitable images for an article you wish to submit, discuss your needs with us as we have a very large library of building and environmental images that are our property and that may be useful.

Do not use images owned by a third party unless you have explicit, documented permission to do so for an article proposed for use at InspectApedia.com.

Compensation for Articles

InspectApedia.com does not buy content nor pay its contributors.

We do provide complete citation and return-link to contributing authors.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

About InspectApedia.com

InspectApedia.com® is an independent publisher of building, environmental, and forensic inspection, diagnosis, and repair information provided to the public at no cost.

In order to absolutely assure our readers that we write and report without bias, we do not sell any products or services, nor do we have any business or financial relationships with any manufacturer or service provider discussed at our website.

We very much welcome critique, questions, or content suggestions for our web articles. Website content contributors, even if it's just a small correction, are cited, quoted, and linked-to from the appropriate additional web pages and articles - which benefits us both.

Working together and exchanging information makes us better informed than any individual can be working alone.

More about us is at ABOUT InspectApedia.com

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Continue reading at InspectApedia EDITORIAL & PRIVACY POLICIES, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see this

InspectApedia.com General Information

There are more than 20,000 topics found in this building & indoor environment encyclopedia. For more detailed help, use the SEARCH BOX found on any InspectApedia page to ask a question or search this website.

Suggested citation for this web page

ARTICLE PROPOSAL GUIDELINES at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see more at

WEBSITE TOPICS & AUDIENCE - description of InspectApedia.com

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Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.


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