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Welcome to the Red Star writing guide!
In this guide I hope to:

• Show you a generic layout to writing articles.

• Show you how to reference.

• Show you the different levels of referencing.

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The general layout should be like this:

You should write in paragraphs.
A paragraph is a block of text which usually encompasses a single idea/point.
A paragraph should be about 100 or so words, give or take, or about 4 sentences.

Your article should be structured using this format, you may add or subtract paragraphs as needed.

TITLE

Optional: Abstract.
This is where you write a very short paragraph on the subject your article is on.

Optional: Definitions.
If your article has some hard to understand definitions, they should be laid out here.

Introduction: What is your article about?

Body: This is the main part of your article. The vast majority of your paragraphs should go here. Remember to only have one idea or point per paragraph.
Some things to keep in mind with the body:

• Try to have at least a few paragraphs.

• That being said, you don't need twenty, like I have done in the past.

• A paragraph is one idea which spans about 100 words, or four sentences.

• If you're struggling to add paragraphs, two can be added as a counterpoint to your point, and then your rebuttal to that counterpoint.

Conclusion: This is where you wrap your article up. Say your closing statements, try not to add any new information, if you find that you are adding new information, perhaps add the new information into your body instead.

For example, if you were writing about Wage Labour and Capital, as I did here:
page=dispatch/id=1016947
Your scaffold would look like this:

Title:
Wage Labour and Capital.

OPTIONAL: Abstract:
Workers operate under an economic system of governance known as capitalism.

OPTIONAL: Definitions:
Worker/Proletarian: A societal class who do not own any means of production and must sell their labour to those who own the means of production.
Means of Production: A place where labour power is extracted and transformed into commodities. The easiest example is a factory.
Labour power: The commodified form of human labour which is sold on the market for a wage.
etc.

Introduction:
[100 words on what this article is about.]

Body:
[Point 1: 100 words] What is the relation of Wage Labour to Capital?
[Point 2: 100 words] How is the price of a commodity determined?
[Point 3: 100 words] What causes price to fluctuate?
[Point 4: 100 words] How are the prices of wages determined?
[Point 5: 100 words] What is the cost of production for labour power?
[Point 6: 100 words] The nature and growth of Capital.
[Point 7: 100 words] The relation of wage labour to Capital
[Point 8: 100 words] The general law that determines the rise and fall of wages and profits.

Conclusion:
[100 words on what this article was about]

Some things to make everyone's jobs easier:

• If you are struggling, please feel free to ask for help on The Leftist Assembly Discord.

• I will obviously proofread your articles, but that is no excuse to send in sloppy work! Please make sure you have correct spelling and grammar.

• Remember that NationStates uses BBcode, so make sure your bolded text looks

  [b]like this[/b]

  . This applies to all other dispatch codes. You can find a guide to that here: page=dispatch/id=333055

• If you are using code in your article, add this to the very top:

   '[pre]' 

  and add the same thing to the end, but with a '/' between the '[' and the 'p' [ /pre] (without the space) this will remove formatting from your article, but retain the code so it is not lost in telegrams.

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When I reference, I generally use Harvard referencing. It is one of the most widely used referencing styles. But in my opinion, as long as you are following some sort of referencing guide you'll be fine. I'd prefer if you did more referencing than just pasting the links at the end of your article, but it is ultimately up to you.

Harvard referencing generally goes as follows:

Book:

Author Surname, First letter of first name/s. Year, [i]Title[/i], Publisher, Location.

Example:
Marx, K. 1867, Capital Vol. 1, Progress Publishers, Moscow.
In Text Referencing: (Marx 1867)

Journal Article:

Author Surname, First letter of first name/s. Year, 'Title of article', [i]Title of Journal[/i], vol. x, no. x, pp. xx-xx.

Example:
Corrigan, P., Ramsay, H. and Sayer, D.. 1981, ‘Bolshevism and the USSR.’ New Left Review, vol. 125, p.45.
In Text Referencing: (Corrigan et al. 1981)

Newspaper:

Author Surname, First letter of first name/s. Year, 'Title of article', [i]Newspaper name[/i], Day and Month of publication, accessed on Day, Month, Year via: Link to article

Example:
Stewart, W. 2016, ‘Back in the USSR: 64 per cent of Russians say life was better in the Soviet Union than now’, The Express, 17 August, accessed 23 December 2017 via https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/701026/russians-life-better-soviet-union-ussr-sixty-four-percent
In Text Referencing: (Stewart 2016)

Some referencing tips:

• When there are 2 names for the one source, write this when you are doing in text referencing: (First surname & Second surname Year)

• When there are 3 or more names for the one source, write this when you are doing in text referencing: (First Surname et al. Year)

• Put your in text referencing at the end of the sentence before you put in the fullstop.

• Sort your references! Your references should be in alphabetical order first, then date, with the oldest sources appearing first.

• This only applies to articles which require sources! If your article is talking about regional happenings then you obviously don't require sources. Not every article requires sources, use common sense.

• If you still have questions or are still confused, please ask us on The Leftist Assembly Discord.

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In my opinion, there are 5 different levels of articles.

Level	What Sort of references	How many sources?
Level 1: Fully Academic	Academic Journals, Books, Journal Articles etc.	Minimum 1 per 100 words.
Level 2: Relaxed Academic	All the above plus newspaper articles	1 per 100 words.
Level 3: Relaxed	All the above plus movies, well sourced blogs etc.	Minimum 1 per 300 words.
Level 4: Low effort.	All the above plus Wikipedia and similar sites.	Minimum 1 per article.
Level 5: No sources.	No sources.	None.

I prefer to keep things at level 3 or higher, but that's no constraint. I have submitted level 4 articles when I have had little time to write. Some articles don't require sources at all, for example: Talking about TLA politics or regional happenings.

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First and foremost, make sure to have fun! Writing articles should be something which is enjoyable, you get to teach the rest of us something!
Secondly, before you start writing, you may want to shoot the Editor a quick telegram to ensure your topic hasn't already been covered.
Thirdly, if you set up a scaffold, writing the article becomes far, far easier. Planning saves time and gives you goals to work towards.
Fourthly, if you still require help, please feel free to message us on The Leftist Assembly Discord.
Finally, once you are done, make sure you send it to the Editor!

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