Quick-tips for writting your article

Formatting

Please submit your article in Times New Roman 10 font, saved as a Microsoft Word Document.

Do not send your article as another file type, such as Microsoft Publisher or Microsoft PowerPoint documents - these documents pose problems when the newspaper goes to the printer's office. For the same reason, do not use special formatting or make-ups in your document.

Posters/advertisements may be sent as either Microsoft Word or PDF files, but Word documents are preferred. We are unable to edit or format PDF files, which can make it difficult to lay them out on the page. Therefore, if you have seperate posters to accomodate both official languages, please use Microsoft Word and we will merge both texts into a single poster.

So that we can credit the author, ensure that the author's name, rank and unit are included. If the author does not have a rank or unit, then please provide their complete job title. This information will be used for the article's byline.

Use Canadian spelling.

Please note that the editor reserves the right to edit texts as needed for clarity, length and the newspaper's publication style.

However, edits are kept as light as possible.

Translation

The Garrison is moving towards becoming a completely bilingual newspaper.

You don't have to worry about having your article translated - we will take care of translation!

Submissions deadlines have been set for each issue, to ensure that we have enough time to have articles translated and returned to us in time for layout. Please see our publication schedule for more information.

Photographs

If you have any pictures related to your article, please send them ! images grab readers' attention and illustrate your story. We prefer to include at least one image per article.

There are a few things to note before sending us your pictures, though:

• We cannot publish pictures that are under copyright to someone else, so submit only pictures that you have taken or have been given permission to reprint.
• You must let us know who took the picture (full name, rank and unit) and who is in the picture (full names, ranks and units, if possible) Also , let us know the date and place where the photograph was taken.
• Please, do not imbed the pictures in a word document - this reduces the image's quality.
• Submit your photographs as hi-resolution jpegs, e-mail to the editor at thegarrison@forces.gc.ca

Further tips for writting your article

• The Garriosn is read by military personnel, their families and civilian community. Therefore, make your articles as accessible as possible. Remember to explain any words or phrases that may be unclear to readers who are unfamiliar with your topic. Although you may know what an acronym means, your reader might not. On first mention, write out the acronym in full.
• Readers scan an article's title first, followed by the lead (the first couple of sentences). If the lead doesn't grab their attention, they won't read any further! To hook readers, keep your lead lively, informative and concise. Remember that not all readers will be familiar with your topic, so your lead should introduce them to your topic and convince them that they need to know more!
• Check the facts! Make sure dates, names, and locations are all accurate.
• Write out all numbers that are less than 10 (example:three), The exception is numbers that are part of a unit name(example:2EW Sqn). Numbers that are higher than 10 are not written out (example:20)
• If you can and if it's applicable, include qoutations. They liven up a text. Just make sure that you cite the speaker or author of those words. Never try to pass someones else's words as your own.
• Provide people's full names, ranks and units. If they do not have ranks or units, provide their full job titles.
• Include a title (headline) with each article.
• Provide a byline identfying the author by their full name, rank and unit.

If you have any questions or concerns as you're writing your article, please don't hesistate to contact the editor. You can also browse our Archives to see what we've published in the past.

Happy writing! We look forward to reading your submissions.