How to develop articles on admission alerts and notifications at ISC

Introduction

Headings

• Introduction

  For writing the introduction part of the articles, besides referring the official admission notification, the website of the concerned institution/organization may also be referred for writing an appropriate introduction of the article.

• Important dates

  Important dates like application start date, application closing date, admit card download date, preliminary examination date, final examination date, interview date, result declaration date etc. may be included under this heading. However, the typed dates should be checked at least thrice or even more to ensure that the same are correct only.

• Eligibility criteria

  The eligibility criteria may include academic eligibility criteria, age criteria, nationality criteria and any other specified criteria. The core points should be mentioned in the article without missing any important information, though avoiding detailed descriptive account.

• Reservation

  Generally, in cases of the Government institutions, the reservation criteria is fixed, but still it is advisable to include the same in the article if mentioned in the admission notification. However, all the details given in the admission notification e.g. nature of the physical disabilities in case of seats reserved for the persons with disabilities need not be reproduced in the article. Instead, the candidates may be advised to refer the original notification.

• Application fee

  Category wise application fee described in the admission notification may be mentioned in the article. Related information like the mode of payment of the fee or the information that the fee once paid is not refundable under any circumstances etc. may be included strictly as given in the admission notification.

• How to submit application

  This is perhaps one of the most important parts of the article and has to be drafted very carefully after fully understanding/comprehending the actual process. It is always advisable to draw the attention of the candidates toward the instructions/directions given in the admission notification in this regard.

• Examination format

  Many examinations comprise three stages like preliminary examination, final examination and personal interview. Such details may be included in this section together with the type of examination i.e. whether it is an objective/Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) or Internet Based Test (IBT) or CBT or Computer Based Test (CBT) or online type format. Subjects to be covered and duration of examination, weightage of marks etc. may be included in this part. However, instead of attempting to incorporate detailed syllabus, which is likely to make the article very lengthy, it is better to advise the candidates to refer the original notification.

• Important points

All other points which are considered important from the point of view of the applicants can be mentioned in this part.

• Contact details

  Generally, the contact details like phone number, email address and postal address etc. are mentioned in the admission notification for making any kind of inquiry regarding admission procedure or such other details etc. Sometimes, the name of an individual is also mentioned. Such details should be mentioned in this part though by taking care to not to simply copy and paste from the published notification.

• Conclusion

  It is very important part of the article in the sense that the candidates should be advised to refer the original notification published in the newspaper or the website and refer and rely on the information displayed on the same only. It may be made clear that the article is only illustrative in nature and not comprehensive. The candidates may be advised to read the instructions carefully and adhere to the same scrupulously before taking further necessary action regarding submission of the application etc.

Development of contents

• The obvious headings may be inserted first followed by developing the contents subsequently.
• It is not necessary to develop the contents strictly in the sequence of the headings.
• The fixed data contents like 'important dates', 'reservations', 'application fee' and 'contact details' etc. may be developed first followed by other contents of descriptive nature which require much more time.
• 'Introduction' part may be written later after completing/developing the other headings followed by the 'Conclusion' and 'Summary' at the end.
• The approach, as explained above, is likely to help in ensuring that there is no repetition of the contents of the 'Introduction' and 'Summary' in the main body of the article.

Important points

1. Admission notification articles already published in the resources of ISC should be studied to grasp the nuances, to begin with.
2. Never copy and paste content from any other internet resource.
3. Certain details like telephone numbers, email address or postal address cannot be changed, but the style of the presentation of the data can be styled differently e.g. 'Phone: +91-111-2222222 can be written as Telephone Number - 0111-2222222.
4. External link to the application page of the Government websites, university websites etc. can be given by inserting the HTML tag as - in the case of http://www.gate.iitr.ernet.in/
5. Too many HTML tags should not be inserted which makes the article look cluttered or jumbled.
6. Before submitting the article for publication, related keyword feature should be used to add related articles.
7. In case an article has already been published during the previous years e.g. in cases of an annual admission event, then either the previous article may be re-published or a new article may be developed. In most of the cases, it is advisable to develop a new article as often it becomes cumbersome to update the previously published article fully in respect of the updated details/features of the current year.

Finishing touch

1. The article should be read and re-read as many times as required to weed out all possible spellings and grammar errors.
2. Generally, a separate session should be devoted for reviewing the articles after a gap of few hours. In such a manner, the mistakes can be easily discerned and corrected/edited.
3. In the case of any doubt the spellings should be cross-checked with the help of online dictionaries instead of depending solely on the auto correct features of the system.

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Conclusion