Introduction

A brief guide to writing articles for the SAGE Journals knowledge base.

An article should provide clear and concise information for users on how to accomplish a particular task.

Headings

The article heading can be a specific question that a user may have. For example, ‘How do I reset my password?’ or ‘Where can I find a list of published journals? ‘

Tone

The tone of the article should be formal and polite.

Try to use the active voice when describing an action, rather than the passive voice. 

Do not use the second person, i.e. do not refer to the reader as 'you'. For example, when describing how to access an account on SAGE Journals, write:

'Select View My Account from the Access Options pop-up page'

rather than:

'You select the View My Account link on the Access Options pop-up page'

Clarity

The article should be brief, and focus upon the specific topic raised in the heading. 

Links to more information about the topics discussed can be added at the end of the article. For example in the article 'Where do I find my SUSHI credentials?', a link is provided for more information on the SUSHI protocol:

Consistency

Remain consistent when describing actions and objects throughout the article. 

For example, if the banner of access options icons in the top-right of the SAGE Journals web page is referred to as the 'Access Options bar' at the beginning of your article, then it is helpful to the reader to continue to use this specific term throughout the rest of the article.

Lists

Short sentences and lists are preferable to long paragraphs.

Use bullet points (not dashes) and numbered lists to detail steps to complete a task.

For example, the screenshot below shows the first four steps to run a COUNTER 5 usage report:

Navigation

Highlight web page names and use the > symbol. For example, to guide an administrator on SAGE Journals to the Co-branding page, you can write:

‘Select Institutional Account > Co-branding from the left-hand menu’.

Screenshots and Video

Use screenshots to help establish context for the user. 

For more complicated processes, a short video can be created.

Links

Include links to any relevant sites or articles.

As the knowledge base articles are generally short, step-by-step guides, it may be helpful to link out to relevant information in case the reader would like to find out more.