We are constantly stunned at how knowledgeable and helpful our community members are! Over the years our amazing article collection in the Learning Center has grown tremendously. In order to help you write perfect, high ranking articles on BYC, we've put together a few tips:
While we mostly write the way we speak, the way we speak (for the most part) isn't grammatically correct. There is a multitude of free tools available online which one can use for correcting errors just before publishing on BYC. One such highly-ranked tool is Grammarly. This tool's free account picks up on most errors and will help you publish error-free articles.
Including pictures helps the reader visualize what you are writing about. These do not have to be from your own flock (if the subject matter doesn't apply to you), but you will probably find pictures from other BYC members who have experienced it. Just be sure to attribute that picture to the member. Copyrighted images or those pulled off Google are a huge NO-NO!
The BYC team will mostly pick up on plagiarized content - which will put you in serious trouble, and even being banned from BYC. We are interested in your own thoughts & experiences and not someone else's. All articles are run through various tools to check for plagiarism! If your copied article manages to slip through it will definitely go through another check before being featured. This is another absolute NO-NO!
Being a member of BYC means you are part of the biggest BackYard Chicken resources ever! It is perfectly acceptable to write first, second, third, and more drafts of your article before publishing it. Simply slapping something together with 1 or 2 paragraphs and expect it to rank highly in our Learning Centre is another mistake most people make. Think your article through, write, save a draft, come back a few days later, add to it then publish when you feel it's worth ranking up there with our best. We only feature the best, so if you want your name up there in lights put in the effort.
Linking to other BYC articles shows that you have thoroughly researched your topic matter. PLUS this will encourage others to link to YOUR related brilliantly-written article as well in the future.
The purpose of a good article is to get information to everyone who reads it, so it's important that the information you are writing about is correct. Take the time to check that what you are including in your article is true - you wouldn't want to write that a silkie lays 300 eggs a year and then find out that it's actually closer to 100, for example.
If you'd like some tips on how to take better photos, take a look at this thread: Photography Tips from BYC's jolenesdad
While we mostly write the way we speak, the way we speak (for the most part) isn't grammatically correct. There is a multitude of free tools available online which one can use for correcting errors just before publishing on BYC. One such highly-ranked tool is Grammarly. This tool's free account picks up on most errors and will help you publish error-free articles.
Including pictures helps the reader visualize what you are writing about. These do not have to be from your own flock (if the subject matter doesn't apply to you), but you will probably find pictures from other BYC members who have experienced it. Just be sure to attribute that picture to the member. Copyrighted images or those pulled off Google are a huge NO-NO!
The BYC team will mostly pick up on plagiarized content - which will put you in serious trouble, and even being banned from BYC. We are interested in your own thoughts & experiences and not someone else's. All articles are run through various tools to check for plagiarism! If your copied article manages to slip through it will definitely go through another check before being featured. This is another absolute NO-NO!
Being a member of BYC means you are part of the biggest BackYard Chicken resources ever! It is perfectly acceptable to write first, second, third, and more drafts of your article before publishing it. Simply slapping something together with 1 or 2 paragraphs and expect it to rank highly in our Learning Centre is another mistake most people make. Think your article through, write, save a draft, come back a few days later, add to it then publish when you feel it's worth ranking up there with our best. We only feature the best, so if you want your name up there in lights put in the effort.
Linking to other BYC articles shows that you have thoroughly researched your topic matter. PLUS this will encourage others to link to YOUR related brilliantly-written article as well in the future.
The purpose of a good article is to get information to everyone who reads it, so it's important that the information you are writing about is correct. Take the time to check that what you are including in your article is true - you wouldn't want to write that a silkie lays 300 eggs a year and then find out that it's actually closer to 100, for example.
If you'd like some tips on how to take better photos, take a look at this thread: Photography Tips from BYC's jolenesdad
