Statecraft: We Exist For You
We think it’s worth clarifying what we’re all about. At its core, Statecraft is a student publication, published by students, for students. We believe student voices belong in the public conversation, and we know you have something to contribute.
But, we also understand that sharing your thoughts can be intimidating. That’s why, in this article, we’ll be addressing some of the most common questions we get asked about writing for Statecraft, including:
- I’m just a student. Who wants to listen to me?
- How do I even write a Statecraft article?
- What kind of content do you accept?
- What is the editorial process like?
- How can I submit?
I’m just a student. Who wants to listen to me?
Let’s be clear: writing for Statecraft is for everyone.
Writing for Statecraft is one of the easiest ways to obtain valuable writing and publishing experience. It also allows you to contribute meaningfully to debate. We believe this experience, whilst it can be challenging, is rewarding, and will greatly support your development as a writer and a thinker.
We understand the feeling that people won’t want to listen to just some student. But this isn’t true. Statecraft articles are primarily read by other students, who are always interested in your opinion. Not only this, but the experience of writing for Statecraft will help you develop skills for future publishing, when you really might have a major audience.
How do I even write a Statecraft article?
There’s no single method for writing a Statecraft article. Some people write snappy opinion pieces in a flash of inspiration, while others spend days or weeks researching and writing.
When writing an article, a good place to start is finding a topic about which you are passionate or interested, and just putting words on a page. You’d be surprised how easily words can form into something more, especially if it is something you believe should be heard.
It’s also really helpful talking about article ideas with friends, or with us! The PPE common room (every Tuesday 4–6pm in the Skerman Building room 65–305) is a great chance to do this.
You could also submit an essay you are proud of, and we can help you transform this into an article for a general audience. This typically involves adopting a more conversational tone than a typical essay.
Whatever your process, the most important thing to remember is that your piece doesn’t need to be perfect when you submit — we will work with you throughout the editorial process to refine your article and ensure it’s the best it can be.
What kind of content do you accept?
The bulk of what we publish at Statecraft is opinion pieces and analysis. We love platforming student opinions, and these types of content are a great way to do this.
However, they aren’t the only type of content we publish. In the past, Statecraft has published satire — see ‘First year PPE student yet to realise economics gets harder’ — as well as poetry, book reviews, film reviews, and university-oriented content.
We strongly value this diversity of content, and would love to publish more satire, reviews, advice, and creative writing in 2023. Basically, whatever you want to write, we want to publish!
If you have academic work that you’d like to publish, you might like to consider writing for Statecraft’s scholarly sister publication, The Statecraft Review.
What is the editorial process like?
You may have heard stories about ruthless editors decimating people’s work. That’s not us. At Statecraft, we aim to create a collaborative, educational, and friendly editing process.
When you submit an article, the first thing that happens is that Tom, our editor-in-chief, will read over it and upload it to a shared google doc for editing.
Next, articles go through a three-step editing process, moving from content editing, through line editing, to proofreading. At every stage, we value your input, and aim to make the experience as rewarding for you as possible.
Content editing — solidifying the big picture.
This is where we’ll engage with the core argument of your piece, and challenge you to improve your article by considering potential objections, further explicating certain points, or rearranging the article’s structure.
This stage involves the most effort from you, but it’s also the most rewarding. We want to make your article the strongest it can be, and we’ll work with you to achieve that here.
Line editing — enhancing the writing.
Once we’re happy that your argument is as persuasive as possible, the next task is to make it as readable as possible.
This means zooming in on individual sentences and paragraphs and ensuring they are easy to read. It’s also about ensuring the piece has the right tone: as students, we’re trained to write dry academic essays, but Statecraft is a place to be conversational, creative, and captivating.
This stage is more work for us, and less work for you — at most, you’ll be rewriting some sentences, or restructuring a paragraph. That said, it’s a fantastic way to get tailored tips about how to improve your writing.
Proofreading — polishing up for publication.
This one’s pretty simple — a final spelling, grammar, stylistics and formatting check from us, before we publish your piece online!
How can I submit?
Email us! Submit your articles at publications.uqppes@gmail.com and we will be in touch about editing and publication.
Our inbox is always open for submissions, and also for queries, so please get in touch if there’s anything more you want to know about writing for Statecraft.
We exist for you.
Statecraft is published by students, for students.
We believe that the process of writing for Statecraft is one that every student will benefit from. More importantly, we truly value your ideas. So please, don’t hesitate — whether it’s a political rant you whipped up over the weekend, a uni essay you’re proud of, a tongue-in-cheek bit of satire, or simply an idea you think is worth sharing — we want to hear from you.
Yours,
Daniel Quill & Tom Watson (Statecraft Editors 2023).
