Fall 2012 Editorial Guidelines

So you want your work to be read by hundreds of thousands of college students and scores of corporate executives across the country? This document contains the basic framework, in terms of both content and style, for all student editorial submissions to Business Today. If you are interested in writing for BT this spring, please look over the guidelines below, then peruse the editorial calendarwhich you will find on the following pagesto see if your personal interests align with our editorial objectives. The calendar has been created as an inspiration, rather than as an inflexible list. If you would like to tackle one of the questions we have posed, we would welcome that. But if you have other relevant ideas, perhaps tangential to the questions we posed, please pitch us the article so that we can work with you to fit it into our editorial scheme. Below are a few guidelines that we hope you keep in mind when writing for the magazine: 1. Readable Style. Were a student publication, not The Economistwhile our articles are succinct and sophisticated, they are best received when written with a sprinkling of personality. Write like youre having a sophisticated conversation with a friend, not like youre writing a final paper for a scrooge of a professor. Please look at our website, www.businesstoday.org, and read through some old articles to get a sense of the tone we strive for. The standard length of an article is typically 1,400 words, but we are flexible on this front if you give us a clear projection of word count in your article pitch. 2. Relation to Students. Every article must somehow relate to, or be of interest to, college students. We are a student magazine, and we always take into account that our main audience is students. A question you should ask yourself is: Would my roommate be interested in this? Try to take a creative angle on your topic of choiceespecially when youre tackling big, important, global issues. 3. Reliable Sources. While background research is necessary for any article, a firsthand interview with an expert on your topic would likely be your best source. Outside interviews with at least one economist, professor, executives or any industry expert are highly encouraged. Articles should contain supporting facts and statistics, but these facts should only come from credible sources, such as government and university websites. Each source should be clearly identified in the sentence in which the fact appears (ex. The number of women entering the workforce increased 15% between 1990 and 2000, according to a 2002 report by the US Census Bureau.). Although we do not print footnotes or a bibliography, we do need a list of all the sources referenced to in each article for our records. Generally, popular magazines and newspapers should not be used as sources. So you want to write for Business Today? If you feel compelled by the topics in our editorial calendar, send us an email at sheffern@princeton.edu. Please include the topic you wish to cover, an outline of your argument, a projected word count, and some of the sources you expect to use (including interviews you plan to conduct, if any). We will then work with you to make any necessary adjustments before you begin your draft. Additionally, if you have any original article ideas, either for this issue or for one in the future, email us and we can work with you on developing the idea. All article submissions for the fall issue will be due at 11:59PM on Friday, August 25.

Fall 2012 Editorial Calendar

Financial Fallout
The Price Weve Paid. Tourism is Italys largest industry accounting for over 10% of GDP. Visitors flock each year to the countrys ancient ruins and renaissance art, and their presence is vital to Italys economic prosperity. However, the cost of maintaining the Colosseum and other ancient attractions has become a serious burden on the indebted nation since the recent financial crisis. Diego Della Valle, the founder of the luxury leather brand Tods, announced that his company will pay $34 to restore the Colosseum as a symbol of national pride. Other executives of Italian luxury goods companies such as Gucci and Prada have followed suit and taken on restoration projects of their own. On a different note, officials in Gary, Indiana have vowed to sell foreclosed houses for as little as a dollar if anybody is willing to maintain the properties. The city has donated many municipal properties including parks and playgrounds to the church as it is the only institution in the area with sufficient funds to keep those properties running. This series of short articles would mention these two stories and other similar tales of ways in which the financial crisis has caused governments to search for alternative solutions to fund municipal projects and public works. Feel free to submit just one short story that you have come across. Americas Ailing Infrastructure. The American infrastructure is a ticking time bomb. Most gas pipelines were installed before 1970, New Yorks water supply tunnels were built at the beginning of the 20th century and have not been touched since, and about 3 billion gallons of sewage seeps out of the DC sewage system into the Patomac each year. However, it can be difficult to identify which pipelines belong to the government and which ones are privately owned as they were laid so long ago. More importantly, state and local governments around the country (not to mention the federal government) do not have the funds to adequately repair the aging infrastructure. As of now, projects seem to only take place after a major disruption to the system or a serious brakeage or leakage. How can the US fix its infrastructure problems to avert a catastrophe, and, moreover, can this opportunity be exploited as an area for government spending to stimulate the economy, a New Deal of the 21st century? Tree Huggers or Pioneers of Industry? Is the green industry a viable business model or merely an industry reliant on government subsidies and the recent trend towards environmental protection? For more than 25 years Gallup has been asking Americans to choose between economic growth and environmental protection. In 2009, for the first time since the poll began, more people chose growth over environmentalism. In fact, though environmentalism had trumped economic growth for every year up until 2009, the margin by which it won decreased whenever the economy was in recession or periods of stagnant growth. Is this an industry that will survive given the slow recent economic growth or will companies and individuals abandon their environmental goals until we return to a prosperous economic climate? How can environmentalists make their efforts more resilient to economic downturns? From Madison Avenue Giants to Small, Independent Firms. The advertising industry experienced a major shift in the second half of the 20th century as the predominant form of content delivery transitioned away from print, radio, and TV media towards mobile, internet, and digital media. The Madison Avenue advertising giants that we are fascinated by on Mad Men lost much of their power to smaller companies or start-ups that had more innovative ways to advertise on digital media. Despite this shift, the percent of

GDP spent on advertising has remained almost the same since the 1920s. The Internet age also gave rise to websites and online companies that rely solely on advertising for revenue, thereby making the industry even more important. What can we learn from this industry that helps us understand greater trends in the economy? What is the current state of the advertising industry and where might the next change in the industry occur? Furthermore, looking at the history of this industry as an example, can we see a larger trend in the economy away from large, powerful corporations towards smaller start-ups and independent companies?

Democratization of Education
Homework without the Classroom. Many of the nations top universities have vowed to offer full online non-credit classes available for free to the general public. In fact, as part of its opencourseware initiative, MIT has had many full classes with video lectures, final exams, and problem sets available online for years. No admission is necessary to be able to use these resources, but no degree is awarded upon completion of a program of study. Until now, most people used these courses to enhance their own education or to brush up on topics that they may have forgotten from college. However, a former Stanford professor of computer science, Sebastian Thrun, has co-founded an online university called Udacity. While only six courses are currently offered, he hopes drastically increase that number and enroll over half a million students. While no degree is offered, certificates of completion are issued at the end of each course and the online format gives access to education for those people who cannot attend traditional universities. How will credible online universities change the higher education landscape and will they affect the value of a degree from a traditional institution? Major Choices. Recent polls have reported that students are choosing to study practical majors that have the highest chances of ensuring a job after graduation. It is obvious that this shift is a result of the recent economic crisis and the current lack of jobs, but it would be interesting to investigate if this trend has happened in previous economic downturns. In fact, one could even liken the current emphasis on job security to the post-depression generation of the 1950s that valued job security and a steady income over pursuing individual passions. Similarly, this article could also discuss larger trends in areas of study such as a shift towards economics as a major in the 1980s with the increased number of Wall Street jobs or the recent emergence of computer science as a desirable area of study for jobs in high-tech industries.

Global Issues
2012 London Olympics. In the aftermath of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a sharp divide between the Chinese government and the general public became evident as the government maintained an optimistic view on the long-term socioeconomic implications of the event while there was significant backlash from the media on the events actual effects (exorbitant spending, censorship, etc.). This article would provide a breakdown of the economic/political goals (and their feasibility) behind hosting events such as the Olympics (World Expos and the World Cup can also be taken into consideration), and analyze what effect we can expect the Olympics to have on the British economy (and, if any information exists immediately following the event, what has been the observed effect as of this fall). Furthermore, how has

advertising played a role in the event and what percentage of revenue comes from international marketing at the event and on regional broadcasts. The Facebook Generation. Our generation is the first to have our lives documented on Facebook. People in their mid to late twenties would have joined Facebook in college or at the end of high school and people still in middle school will have their entire lives documented online, but each of us has at least some part of our lives available for public viewing. In fact, in recent years companies have started to use Facebook as a way of promoting products and events or simply maintaining an online presence. College students have been told over and over again that companies are now checking Facebook in the interview process and that they should hide all pictures and incriminating posts. However, many companies are now using facial recognition services to find hidden photos, which could be the difference between getting hired and being unemployed for someone with questionable pictures. To what extent do these investigations affect the hiring process and how can students protect themselves? How will Facebook continue to be used by companies and what are the benefits for a business of having an online persona? These questions and many others surrounding how Facebook will affect the workplace in the coming years should be addressed in this article.

Please send articles or pitch new story ideas to sheffern@princeton.edu. Thank you for your interest in Business Today!