Guidelines for Authors

Middle Ground provides a voice and a resource for those committed to the educational and developmental needs of young adolescents. NMSA's readership includes more than 30,000 principals, teachers, central office personnel, professors, college students, parents, community leaders, and educational consultants across the United States, Canada, and 45 other countries.

• Articles for Middle Ground should be practitioner-oriented and speak directly to those in middle schools and classrooms. Start with a purpose. Think about why you are writing the article and what you hope to share or accomplish.
• Describe best practices and exemplary programs with candid discussion of barriers or problems you sought to overcome. Articles should not be research-oriented, but should address points that other middle level educators will find useful in your experience. A good balance of research and practice is ideal.
• Addressing specific school programs is acceptable, as long as you also include information about how the program fits into best practices and discuss why it was implemented and how it promotes more effective middle level education. In other words, writers should not simply describe the program, but discuss why it works.
• Consider what educators can do with the information, even if it is to think about a problem from a different perspective. Tips, advice, and examples can be provided as sidebars.
• Write in an informal, conversational style. Avoid educational jargon; use examples, anecdotes, and quotes.
• When referencing other publications, use textual references ("As Howard Gardner explains in his book Multiple Intelligences…") rather than footnotes/endnotes.
• Feature articles should be limited to no more than 1,500 words in length.
• Include a two-sentence author identification that will be included at the end of the published article. The first sentence should include your current title and affiliation; the second sentence should include some information that highlights key accomplishments or reinforces your authority in discussing the topic.

When Submitting Your Article

E-mail the article as an attachment, in Word for a PC format, to: editu2@aol.com. Please include your name, affiliation and title, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Or, you may send it on disk (PC) to:

Patricia George, Editor
Middle Ground
37864 Alberts Farm Drive
Purcellville, VA 20132

Because we like to accentuate the article with photographs and artwork, we welcome photographs, graphics, etc. Please include a photo credit and brief caption that identifies recognizable individuals or a brief description of supplementary materials. If the photos are digital, they should be high resolution (300 dpi) and sent as .jpeg files

If you use an extended quotation (including charts, graphs, and tables) from another publication, please obtain written permission from that publisher before submitting the article to Middle Ground. This permission must accompany the article, and there must be proper credit in a footnote.