The Bell Ringer is the blog of the Critical Race Theory Collective (CRTc). We are always looking for new essays grounded in the legacy of CRT and examining racial injustice. We welcome submissions from scholars, information professionals, educators, community organizers, activists, and students from around the globe.
We welcome essays from professionals and freelance writers. All submissions will be subject to a peer-review process and authors may be asked to revise before publication. We reserve the right to reject submissions that do not meet our expectations and submission standards. Blog submissions are accepted on a rolling basis; there is no deadline.
Blog Submission Requirements:
For Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and discoverability, blog posts must include the following information and formatting standards:
Title & Subtitle
Your blog must include a title. Please be clear and concise, and avoid the use of jargon.
Feature image
Please include an example image to feature at the top of your blog post. The editorial team will make final decisions regarding any images used in the published blog post.
Abstract / Description
Provide a brief synopsis of your blog post. Don’t repeat the title in the description; use it as an opportunity to provide more context and highlight keywords and phrases. The description is important for SEO. It will appear underneath the title of your post. It can also be used to support social media distribution. Maximum characters: 150
Body of Text
Blogs must be original works that have not been previously published elsewhere. The body of the text is formatted single-space. Do not indent paragraphs, instead separate by a line break. Utilize headings to distinguish between the different sections of the blog. If the blog will include images or embedded content, files should be submitted along with the appropriate credit information. It should be clearly indicated in the body of the text where the image or video is to be embedded in the blog post. Authors should write for general audiences. Please use clear and compelling language, while avoiding the overuse of scholarly or industry jargon. If you must use it, please provide definitions and/or context for your readers. Word count range: 1,000-2,000.
Hyperlinks
Avoid excessive and lengthy footnotes; Hyperlinks are preferred. Include links to relevant sources – especially when citing sources.
Author Information
For each person, include author(s) name, pronouns, a brief bio (max 150 words), a good quality headshot.
Citations
Formatted citations for all references and works cited should be provided in MLA 8th style.
Submitting Your Blog
Email a completed draft of your blog post with the subject line “Blog Post Submission” to Stephanie Birch, senior blog editor, at sbirch@crtcollective.org. Your post should be attached as a .PDF or .DOC file.
Copyright & Licensing Disclaimer
The Bell Ringer is open access and submissions are published freely available online. Authors and contributors assign non-exclusive publishing and distribution rights to CRTc and its editorial board. All content posted to The Bell Ringer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Authors and contributors retain copyright of their work published on The Bell Ringer blog; material that has appeared on the blog may be reused by the author in any form.