The Edited Guide is a collection of some of the best factual entries on h2g2 chosen by you via Peer Review. But what makes a good Edited Entry, and what can you do to increase your chances of us finding your prose irresistible enough to put on the Front Page of h2g2?
For more detail, carry on reading through this Entry - but for the moment, here's a quick list:
- Write about reality
- Be original
- Fill in the gaps
- Plan your entry
- Write about what you're interested in
- Research your entry thoroughly
- Be instructive, informative and factual
- Write in your own style rather than that of Douglas Adams
- Try to make your entry balanced
- Don't try too hard to be funny
- Write Entries of appropriate length
- Write about subjects that can be verified
- Avoid writing in the first person
- Try to use good spelling and grammar
- Do not copy wholesale from other sources
Write About Reality
The Edited Guide is a real-life guide to life, the universe and everything, it is not a work of fiction. If you would like to write fiction feel free to do so, but please don't ask us to edit it, especially if it makes gratuitous reference to Douglas Adams and his books. If you would like help with writing fiction, you'll find like-minded people at Another Galaxy Guide.
This also includes the way your Entry is presented. Writing about a past event is usually factual, but don't attempt to dramatise it or write it in the form of a novel. What might be great writing for novels 'based on a true story' can often be confusing and counterproductive in straightforward factual writing.
Be Original
One hurdle that you need to overcome is to find something that isn't already included in the Edited Guide or is in the process of becoming Edited. You can check whether or not this is the case via our search engine. Edited Entries will be marked as 'Edited' and entries on their way to becoming Edited are marked as 'Recommended'. If there's already an Edited Entry that covers the subject, approach the topic from a different angle, rather than writing a new entry on exactly the same thing. In addition, try to avoid putting an entry into Peer Review that's similar to one that's in there already, as it upsets fellow Researchers.
If you find out that, entirely coincidentally, you've been researching a topic that someone else is working on, why not collaborate on the entry together?
Fill in the Gaps
Often we come across helpful comments on site suggesting that we should have an entry on say, The Rolling Stones, because currently there isn't one. If you do discover any gaps like this in the Guide, help us to fill them. Get researching and write some entries on subjects that aren't in the Guide yet.
You can browse through suggestions made by the h2g2 Community at the Challenge h2g2 forum. Another good source of inspiration is the Flea Market where you'll find entries that need finishing off. Then there's the Categorisation system. If you work your way through a few branches of the system, you'll soon find an obvious gap to fill.
Plan Your Entry
Plan your entry, and think carefully about its structure. If your entry is planned with care, you'll probably find that it will flow well and will fall naturally into sections, as with the following entries...
Write About What You're Interested in
It's also important to write about what you're interested in. If you like films, write about films. If you like cooking, write about food or recipes. If you're interested in a subject, but don't know much about it, get researching: that's why h2g2 Community members are called 'Researchers' after all! You'll see canny observation and personal perspective among the following entries, each written by people like you, so tell us about your pet topics:
Research Your Entry Thoroughly
The starting point for many entries is often passion or curiosity for a subject. Entries should not be short on facts or detail and you should do your research. It's often clear when Researchers' entries are true labours of love:
Be Instructive, Informative and Factual
A potential Edited Entry will essentially be instructive, informative and factual in varying proportions. This is important. If these three factors form the base of your entry then you are heading in the right direction. It would be fair to say we are often astounded by the quality and detail of some of the entries. Hats off to the Researchers of these great entries:
Write in Your Own Style
Write in your own words, in a style that you're comfortable with. Each of the following entries has a completely different style, making the Guide a varied and fascinating place to be.
Try to Make your Entry Balanced
h2g2 is a great place to get things off your chest, but for the Edited Guide we're looking for balanced entries rather than subjective rants. We're looking for entries that show both sides of the argument, especially on potentially contentious topics. (However, if you do have an entry of strongly expressed opinion, please submit it to the Speaker's Corner.) Here are some examples of balanced Entries:
Don't Try Too Hard to be Funny
Lots of our early Researchers thought that because the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books were funny, they should make sure all their Guide Entries were packed with side-splitting jokes. If you happen to be funny, that's great. Just don't try to force it.
Write Entries of Appropriate Length
We are not necessarily looking for long entries, just well-researched, well-balanced, well-written ones. We've found that Researchers are much more likely to read entries and comment on them if it's possible to read them in one sitting. As a general guide, it's usually difficult to adequately cover a topic in less than 250 words, but if your entry is getting a bit lengthy (1000 words or more), you might consider splitting it into smaller sub-topics or indicate whereabouts the entry should be divided up into separate entries. Entries can be both factual and succinct, like these:
Write About Subjects that Can Be Verified
You and your friends might all know a particular phrase that only exists within a very small group of people. You might consider yourself the greatest living poet. Your pet dog might be able to do amazing tricks. In short, there might be subjects that are of immense interest to you that aren't necessarily unique or relevant to a wider audience. There are plenty of places within the wider h2g2 universe that would love to hear about them - The Post, for example - but that's not really what we're looking for in the Edited Guide. In short, the historical, scientific or cultural relevance of the entry should already be fairly established even if it's not that well known.
Avoid Writing in the First Person
Because h2g2 is a collaborative guide, we may add in comments, updates and other material from other Researchers and we'll credit them. Having an entry in the first person wouldn't make sense with a number of authors credited, so third-person approaches are preferred.
There are exceptions to this: there are certain topics that do benefit from being told in the first person, and it might well be that your entry is one of them. Just don't use phrases like 'I think...' or 'in my opinion...' because they're signs that your entry is almost certainly going in the wrong direction.
Spelling and Grammar
Please always try to use correct spelling and grammar, and make sure your GuideML works if you're using it. You can find a bunch of useful tips in our entry on English Usage in the Edited Guide. If you're not sure about a spelling, it's worth checking on our Spell Checker, it's not automated, it's staffed by real people!
Linking to h2g2 Entries
When linking from an entry you are approving to other h2g2 entries, there are a couple of points to bear in mind:
The entries linked to should also be in the Edited Guide.
They should be direct and relevant. For example, the word 'poetry' should link to Poetry, rather than Poetry Events and Gigs in Glasgow, which, though a laudable entry, does not define the word 'poetry'.
Do Not Copy Wholesale From Other Sources
When you sign up to h2g2 you agree to the BBC Terms and Conditions, which include a whole section on not infringing other people's copyright. In other words, please do not copy chunks of text from other Internet sites or from anywhere else. Not only does plagiarising other people's work break our terms and conditions, it is also illegal in most countries. Plus it goes against the ethos of h2g2 where originality and personal research are respected and admired. While it's fine to quote from or reference other sources you should do so only with an accompanying credit; stealing wholesale from someone else's work is not appreciated. So, if it is discovered that you have been copying, the entry will be removed from the site and you could find your account at risk, so please don't do it.
You can find more information about what this means in the entry on Intellectual Property Law.
Other Useful Information
The following entries might also be of interest:
Thanks again for all your hard work - and remember, even if your entry is not edited, it will still be a part of the Guide and will show up in the search engine. One of our guiding principles is that we never throw anything away - you never know when it might come in handy!
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