Editorial guidelines

TYPES OF ARTICLES

My Country? Europe. supports six main article categories: Culture, Politics, International Relations, Economy, History, and Opinions. Different topics are best suited for different categories – please ensure you familiarise yourself with our category guidelines before submitting an article:

Culture. Any article related to European cultural traditions – food, nature, travel, philosophy, literature, trivia, etc. The suggested length for articles within this category is between 500 and 800 words.
Politics. National news (e.g. elections), intra-European relations, activities of the EU institutions or European States, federalist theory, etc. The suggested length for articles within this category is between 700 and 1000 words.
International Relations. Relations between EU and non-EU countries and larger European geopolitics. Please make sure that the focus of the article is always on the European dimension, not on the non-European country/countries. The suggested length for articles within this category is between 700 and 1200 words.
Economy. Any topic which deals with European economy, trade, and industry. Please remember that we cater to a non-technical audience and ensure that all technical terms are clearly and simply explained. The suggested length for articles within this category is between 700 and 1200 words.
History. Articles presenting historical events from one or more European countries. The suggested length for articles within this category is between 600 and 1000 words.
Opinions. Any topic related to Europe which is not presented objectively or does not report facts which have happened, but instead presents a subjective opinion of the author. This is not to say that other sections cannot contain subjective opinions at all; in this section, however, the core of the article is a strong, personal statement which the author pushes for or against. The suggested length for articles within this category is between 500 and 1200 words.

In line with our overarching aims and objectives, we have no vertically mandated political line which our guest authors must follow. We believe that political plurality is one of the underpinning causes of European prosperity, and this is reflected in the selection criteria for guest submissions. Nevertheless, we do not tolerate articles which infringe upon European law or EU values. Submissions infringing the law or questioning EU values will be automatically rejected and, where appropriate, brought to the attention of the relevant authorities.

STRUCTURE AND GRAMMAR

1 – Language. We are only able to host articles written in English. Please ensure that you follow British English writing conventions.

2 – Sentence structure. For an optimal article, you should attempt to keep sentences short, clear, and simple. Where possible, write sentences which contain no more than 20 words and avoid passive tenses.

3 – Punctuation.

Use exclamation marks and parentheses very sparingly;
semicolons should be used to join related independent clauses in compound sentences. They should also be used to separate items in a series if the items in the series already contain commas (e.g. Members of the band included Tom, singer; Alice, guitarist; and Lee; drummer);
use Oxford commas where required. In a list of three or more elements, the comma should be placed also before the coordinating conjunction, separating each and every other item of a series (e.g. I like apples, pears, and strawberries).

4 – Titles. Article titles should be styled following standard title case conventions. In title case, major words are capitalised, and most minor words are lowercase. Nouns, verbs (including linking verbs), adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and all words of four letters or more are considered major words. For example: Going Cold: Why the Arctic is Europe’s Next Great North Road.

5 – Quoting. Always use “this format” to mark a quote in the text. If the quote already includes a quoted segment, then the latter should use ‘this format’. Unless punctuation signs are part of the quoted material, they should go outside of the quotation marks. Quoting should not be used for indirect reporting of statements.

6 – Italics. Should be used:

for titles of any works cited, be they book, articles, etc;
for non-English words, unless these words have been incorporated in the English vocabulary (e.g. “pasta” doesn’t need italics, whereas Gotterdaemmerung does);
to underline and emphasize a point, but do so sparsely and with caution.

7 – Bold. As part of MCE’s editorial line, you should put approximately 2-3 words (or short fragments of sentences) in bold per every paragraph. These words or short fragments should be the keywords or fundamental concepts of each paragraph.

8 – Numbers and years.

Years should be written in full without exceptions (e.g. 1954);
when citing time periods, both the start date and the end date must be written in full (e.g. 1992-1999);
when talking about a decade, you can use its collective name (provided there is one), which must be capitalised (e.g. the Thirties, the Fifties);
avoid using Latin conventions for centuries (e.g. use the 20th Century rather than the XX Century);
numbers should be spelt out in letters whenever possible: eighteen, ninety-five. This does not apply when talking about sums of money (e.g. 200 million euro) and percentages.

9 – Author names. Whenever an author is cited for the first time, their name must appear in full. Further uses within the article can rely on the sole use of the surname or abbreviations which are not liable to cause confusion.

10 – Hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are a great way to support your assertions with sources. You should aim to include at least one external hyperlink in every article. Only link to reputable sources, preferably institutional sources. Do not link to Wikipedia, dictionaries/encyclopaedias, forums, or blogs.