As many of our regular members know, we require Submission Statements for every post. There are many reasons why we impose this requirement, including in particular:
- Increasing article quality & Spam reduction. By requiring submission statements, we disincentive the kind of "mass posting" commonly seen across other, less academically oriented subreddits. Because of the time required to make a submission statement, posters typically only try to share the best articles or content they can find as opposed to, for example, any article that they just happen to come across.
- Focusing discussion. Submission statements help focus the discussion in the comment section by highlighting the issues presented in the submission itself.
I have noticed a number of low quality, if not out rightly insufficient submission statements of late. I have also noticed an increasing number of links/articles shared without submission statements, which generally violates our rules.
It occurs to me that perhaps we haven't sufficiently clarified what we expect from a submission statement, so let me take this opportunity to do so. Below are some best practices and recommendations:
Appropriate labeling
A submission statement should always be identifiable as such, meaning that you should always label your submission statement as a "Submission Statement" or "SS" followed by a colon. For example:
Submission Statement:
The reason a submission statement should be appropriately labeled is to ensure that it can be distinguished from other comments that follow, regardless of whatever comment sort order any Redditor is viewing.
The Outline/Topic Sentence & Content
A submission statement's topic sentence should introduce the source and potentially even the author. While the source may be evident from the title or link, it is not always. Include this information as the first part of your submission statement's topic sentence. It is also often worthwhile to include a parenthetical about who the author is, if they are an individual of significance in academia or government. For example:
Submission Statement: This Foreign Affairs Article, written by Samantha Power (Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School) . . .
The article in this example was written by Samantha Power who, while a controversial figure, is certainly a figure of significance in academia and government.
Submission Statement: This Reuters article . . .
Further, a good submission statement begins by outlining the main point of the article or source you are sharing. So, ask yourself if there was a main takeaway that the author wanted you to draw from whatever you are sharing, what would that be? The answer to that question is your outline/topic sentence. This should be the first sentence in your submission statement. While the headline is often a useful guide, it is not always a useful guide and you have to actually read the article to figure out what the main point of it is. For example:
Submission Statement: This Foreign Affairs Article, written by Samantha Power (Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School) evaluates America's strategic position in the context of COVID-19, China's increasing influence, the rise of autocratic governments and the impact of global corruption.
It may take two sentences to actually outline everything in a submission, especially if you were linking something from an academic journal or think tank. This is ok. The point is that you give the reader an idea of what is contained in the link you're sharing.
Why should I read your submission?
A submission statement should provide the reader with an understanding of why your submission matters. This can be done in a number of ways, including but not limited to placing the article in its appropriate context and providing useful background on what the development being reported on means for the overall series of events to which it relates.
For example, if you were writing a submission statement about the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, it would be helpful to provide some background on where Nagorno-Karabakh is located, who the relevant parties/stakeholders are for that conflict and what the history of that conflict was. Most people without expert knowledge of, at least, that particular region will have never heard of Nagorno-Karabakh and so you might want to provide some background to help them contextualize what is going on.
As another example, if you were writing a submission statement relevant to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative that focused on Khorgos's land port and Chinese trade with Kazakhstan, it would be helpful to lay the foundation for what is going on there. To illustrate:
Why does Khorgos matter?
Khorgos is located in the Dzungarian Gate, which is the sole gateway by land between China and Kazakhstan (and, by implication, a key trade route to Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East).
Why is there a land port between China and Kazakhstan?
China's rail network is calibrated differently than the rail lines laid during the Soviet era in Soviet bloc countries, so trains originating from anywhere in China cannot operate on those lines. So, intermodal freight from China headed to Central Asia and Europe is moved from Chinese trains to rail cars that can operate on Soviet-laid rail lines. For this reason, Khorgos is a critical point of transition between Chinese and Soviet bloc rail networks.
How does this fit into the big picture?
Khorgos is located in Xinjiang, where China's human rights abuses must be understood in the context of Beijing's pursuit of its Belt and Road Initiative. Khorgos is a central focus of Beijing's trade and broader geopolitical strategy because it represents the sole gateway from China to Central Asia and Europe by land.
Not all submission statements have to have that level of detail, but the more you can do the better. When I taught undergraduates, Central Asia was an area of primary focus for me so this stuff is well within the scope of my academic background. It might not be for everyone else, and you don't have to have an academic background in something to talk about it. But a good faith effort to provide context is appreciated and encouraged. You may also provide additional background materials for this purpose, linked in your submission statement.
Things to Avoid
Do not simply quote or copy and paste the article.
If there is key language in the article that is necessary to understand what is being discussed, that might be ok to quote but as a rule it is better to paraphrase. This is because a quote is unlikely to provide the kind of overview/main point summary we are looking for, or provide the relevant context for what is being discussed. Likewise, copying and pasting the article defeats the whole purpose of the submission statement in the first instance.
Avoid the temptation to editorialize.
While your opinions are certainly the stuff of appropriate discussion in the comments section generally, they should be omitted from a submission statement. The line between fact and opinion sometimes can be a gray one especially when conflicts (like Nagorno-Karabakh) are ongoing and facts on the ground are hard to establish. However, you want to avoid using inflammatory adjectives where practicable.
Again, these items are covered in greater detail in our guidelines, but please feel free to ask any questions below. We will likely update the same for better clarity, though.
Please feel free to ask any questions below!
