Write for Us

Audience

The Well provides relevant articles, life stories, mentoring, event announcements, and resources for women seeking to follow Christ in graduate school and beyond and those ministering to them. Information from our 2010 survey of readers at The Well can be found here. Many of our readers are women faculty members. According to the survey, men make up approximately 10% of our audience.

Writers

Writers may be women or men. If anonymity is desired, consideration can be made to have the article posted anonymously or with a pseudonym, with only the editorial staff knowing the identity of the author.  Our authors generally reflect our audience and in most instances are women (and men) who are attending or have attended graduate or professional school.

Style

Although we are serving an academic audience, we choose not to have a formal academic voice. We appreciate writing with a personal voice and, even in an informative article, appreciate personal stories. Although we address a primarily Christian audience, articles should avoid Christian jargon.

Article length

Suggested length for articles submitted to The Well

In Focus: Thoughtful, articles on the intersection of life, work, and faith (800-1600 words)

Reflections: Stories and meditations on our relationship with God (600-1200 words)

Dear Mentor: Mentors respond to readers’ questions (Questions 100 words, Responses 300 words)

Spiritual Formation: Resources and practices for growing faith (600-1200 words)

Voices: Interviews with academic and professional women (variable)

Arts, Books, and Media:  Reviews, works of art, and inspiration from Christian women working in the arts (600-1200 words)

Staff Resources: Resources for serving women in the academy and professions (600-1200 words)

Blog: Blog posts of interest and supportive of women in the academy and professions (300-800 words)
 

Contract and Payment

Work published on the website is covered by InterVarsity's Author Agreement. Writers for The Well are not paid for their work. As publication of The Well is covered by contributions from donors, writers understand that by waiving the right to any payment, publication costs are reduced, enabling us to make The Well available to student and faculty readers. We acknowledge that the opinions of our guests may not necessarily represent the ministry, doctrine, or policies of InterVarsity. 

Submissions

To inquire about submitting an article, contact the editor for The Well.

Features

In Focus

Articles on the intersection of life, work, and faith,
800-1600 words
 We seek to provide spiritual nourishment and thoughtful and practical articles for women in graduate school, professional school, or on faculty. We welcome articles from a wide variety of disciplines that inform and challenge our readers and articles that address the unique challenges and joys these women experience, including those dealing with the academy, professions, relationships, singleness, career decisions, and child-bearing and child-raising in the context of study and work. We encourage articles written from a personal viewpoint.

Reflections

Stories and meditations on our relationship with God
600-1200 words
Reflections are meditations and stories, often in memoir style, of women's lives as they seek to follow Christ in the academy and professions. We welcome Reflections describing insights into God's faithfulness to women in the midst of academic and professional life.

Dear Mentor

Mentors respond to readers’ questions
Questions 100 words, Responses 300 words
Mentors respond to questions regarding life for women in academia, professional schools, and in working life beyond the academy.  We welcome questions for our mentor team and welcome guest mentors.  

Spiritual Formation

Resources and practices for growing faith

600-1200 words
Bible study guides, instruction in spiritual practices, and descriptions of experience with spiritual practices are welcome as guides in growing a vibrant faith in Christ in the midst of academic and professional life.

Voices

Interviews with academic and professional women

(variable length)
If you are a woman in academia or beyond, we would love to interview you.  We also welcome guest interviewers.  You may use our online form to begin the discussion or just to let us know you would be interested in either being interviewed or in conducting an interview.  We will follow up by email or phone.  Our desire is to have a variety of academic areas and professions represented in Voices.

Arts, Books, & Media

Reviews, works of art, and inspiration from women in the arts

600-1200 words or other (depending on the art)
We are looking for material from and for our audience of graduate and professional women in the form of creative works. Examples would be book excerpts, book reviews, poetry, photography, fiction, images of visual artwork, music — any work that could be effectively shared on the web and that might be of interest and relevance to our audience. In this section we also feature reflections on art or the life of the artist.

Staff Resources

Resources for serving women in the academy and professions

600-1200 words
How are you encouraging and supporting women following Christ in the academy? Or how were you built up in your IV chapter or local church while you were in grad school? Whether you are a volunteer or staff with InterVarsity, a local church, or other organization — or experienced care yourself while in grad school —we’d love to hear about helpful practices in providing support to women through the grad school years.

Blog

Blog posts of interest to and supportive of women in the academy and professions

300-800 words
We welcome blog posts with a variety of themes.  We are happy to repost blog entries with relevant material from previously published blogs posts. Topics we are looking for include:

• Responses to news that affects women in the academy and professions
• Practical posts including ways to negotiate life, e.g., meal ideas and recipes, time management ideas, experiences with family
• Observations or musings on life lived as a women in the academy and professions
• Descriptions of “day in the life of” women in our audience including how to negotiate all the demands of busy lives.  We love to hear how you manage or are challenged in the management of your lives
• Responses to books, movies, or other media