Submission Guidelines

Who Can Write for C.E.L.L.MATES?

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C.E.L.L.MATES is written by University of Chester English Students (Language, Literature and Creative Writing) and if you are enrolled on a single or combined honours programme in the English department, we would love to hear from you!

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We are looking for opinion pieces, how-to guides, uni-life hacks, essays, reviews on music, books, films, festivals, events, etc. – anything and everything that will make readers feel connected!

Let us know about events that are happening soon, send us photographs and sketches that you have done or send in links to podcasts, videos and other media that you have created.

(Please note, we will need a personal release from anyone featured in your photographs, podcasts or videos before we can publish them).

The Nitty-Gritty

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Please submit your work using your university email address to The Editors at  cellmatesed@gmail.com. 

Title the email - CELLMATES SUBMISSION 

Attach your work as a word document, double spaced, in Arial or Times New Roman, size 12. Make sure paragraph breaks are easy to see: use an indent to begin paragraphs, leave a full line between separate sections.

Aim to keep your pieces relatively short – anything from 200 words to around 1,000 is ideal. Make every sentence, every word, count: strip out ‘weasel words’, fluff and clichés, leaving only the narrative.

In the body of the email please provide your name and student number. You may also wish to provide a pseudonym you’d like to be published under.

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You may also provide a photograph of yourself to be published with the article.

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If you wish to submit a photograph with your work, please attach it to the email in a separate file as a JPEG or PNG, not as a image in the word document. Please ensure if you have attached a picture that it is one you have taken yourself and not sourced from the internet.

The Do’s and Don’ts of C.E.L.L.MATES

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Do's

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Do use an easy-to-read style of writing. The occasional long word or use of jargon is fine, but overdoing it can alienate an audience. Having said that, do not be afraid of expressing complex ideas!

Do read the guidelines before submitting. If you have an idea for something outside the guidelines, please do send a brief (250 word) proposal to the editors before starting work on the piece.

Do start your piece with a strong opening line – you have about two seconds to grab your reader’s attention before they skip to the next title!

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Do make sure your piece flows well: the structure from introduction to the body of the text to the conclusion should be seamless. A good way to round off a piece is to return to the points raised in the introduction.

Do feel free to introduce your own titles and sub-headers if you want to. However, if you’re struggling to come up with these, our amazing C.E.L.L.MATES editorial team is here to help.

Do proofread and check your piece. It really does make a difference!

Don’ts

Please don’t send us creative writing. They would be better suited for Pandora’s Inbox, the UoC English Dept’s Creative Writing magazine. C.E.L.L.MATES is devoted to factual non-fiction.

Please don’t submit more than once every fortnight so as to give other students a chance to submit and get their work shown, unless invited to do so.

Please don’t generalise or make vague, sweeping statements. Use truthful personal or specific examples – this adds to the interest in your piece.

If you’re planning on submitting a piece, please ensure that you’ve fact-checked your work so that it is accurate and does not promote ‘fake news’ or fear-mongering.

Please don’t use any crude, racist, homophobic, sexist, transphobic, or any discriminatory language. C.E.L.L.MATES is a welcoming space for all.

A Note on Accepts, Edits and Rejects

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Academic publishing often has layers of acceptance: from an outright acceptance to a request for edits, whether major or minor, to the possible rejection.

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Acceptances with edits are very common with academic journals, so you should never be dismayed to receive one: instead, seize the opportunity to learn from the editors’ collective expertise to polish and perfect your writing.

Rejections can be upsetting. However, they can happen to any writer, for any of a number of reasons: the journal could have several pieces on similar topics and themes, you may have misread the guidelines and written too much, not enough or gone off topic. If you do receive a rejection, do not let it deter you from trying again in the future.

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Sincerely,

The Editorial Team