Knol Writing Tips

Introduction - Knol Writing Tips

Why write Knols?

Writing Knols

HTML for your Knol Writing Top 10 Knols Knol Training Template Article Review - Basic Article Review - Advanced

Just a few years ago, if you wanted instant worldwide attention for something you wrote, you had to own a major newspaper or well-established website, or know someone who did who also owed you a favor. Enter Google's Knol project (and several similar efforts around the 'net). Knol offers article writers a unique opportunity to be quickly recognized for their expertise. With an instant global audience at Knol, sharing via writing provides a channel for proliferation and distribution of knowledge, as well as potential commercialization of products and services in a non-advertising environment.

We know it works. One recent Knol in which we had a hand, Influenza Times, earned global readership and a quality badge in only 72 hours. Other Knols have even better records.

Lisa Murray says "The extensive Internet engineering features of a Knol include website and document links, tables, video, images, spreadsheets and HTML formatting options. These allow authors to fully express their thoughts and insights on a specific topic in a comprehensive and engaging way." For authors who take the time to fully exploit the platform, the page view payback can be fast.

Peter Baskerville adds "The Knol project is an invitation to partner in person with a significant global online player with the resources to deliver the promise of providing a platform on which to build a significant knowledge/learning base. When you think about this from a management standpoint, the project represents a huge and generous commitment in computers and engineers that won't realize payback through advertising revenue for a very long period."

The Knol project (like others), while attracting spam, plagiarism and low quality content because of its open invitation, has weapons and resources that will see these activities marginalized and eventually eradicated. The project has provided user tools: rating, flagging and review to constantly purge the content library. These tools are offered on top of the Knol project's backing by Google's resources. If any content site has a chance to win, it is the Knol project. And this explains why quality content writers (such as world-recognized medical professionals) have been attracted to it.

Many current Knol authors believe that they have been given a unique opportunity to "hitch their wagons to a rising star." They believe that staking out their positions early in chosen fields is a smart strategy as the Knol project builds momentum towards eventual leadership. This entrepreneurial concept of "first mover advantage" or "early bird catches the worm" is being implemented by many Knol authors.

For some, the project provides an opportunity to secure passive income via the inbuilt Adsense scheme, although a greater commercialization process exists via the "establish authority and expertise + on-sell products" channel. For example, a service-centric company that effectively delivers units of knowledge in its field will be able to harvest customer inquiries that come its way. This is not traditional advertising; it's the delivery of useful, expert information that builds reputation. In traditional publishing, these "advertorial" efforts are often well received. One or two no-pressure links from Knol to a company website form an on-sell channel, with 100% of the selling effort taking place outside of Knol. To see an example (a Knol about Twitter by Bernie Borges that was actually ghost written by one of our authors, Murry Shohat), click here to view it.

Dr. Neil Flanagan says "Knols can act as an anchor point for strategically planned online writing activities. They can be the center of the universe to which other articles point. Knols in this mode become demonstrations of the writer's mastery of the targeted subject matter. They should be designed to resonate with readers via excellence and authority. They should encourage readers to seek more of the author's work. Of course, strategic use of Knols involves system-level thinking. For example, if you have an online discussion forum at another website, links to your structured Knols gives your readers a welcome place to discover "units of knowledge" related to the topic.

In another example, say you've written one of those simple "10 point" Ezine articles. By linking to a Knol, you can deliver an expanded read. Likewise, you can give your entertaining articles on Hubpages some serious depth; give students from your posts to open universities a greater depth to their learning - by linking all of them back to your Knols.

Some authors believe that the Knol Project has more potential than any other website or Internet service to truly capture and organize pragmatic as well as academic expert global knowledge and make it freely available to anyone on the planet. As widely reported, only about 20% of earth's population now uses the Internet. 80% have yet to log on. As they come aboard, they will be able to tap into the resources of the Knol project for the benefit of themselves and their societies in their own language. Through the magic of wholesale information distribution and hoped-for massive translation, these heterogeneous peoples, nations, societies and interests will discover the benefits of easy and cost effective access to Knol's units. Many of these units will be in the form of education content. Global learning can only improve social interaction and understanding among and between nations. This is motivation is a powerful authorial magnet.

The ability to collaborate with other authors worldwide to create a single Knol, a KnolBook or Collection offers a credible, flexible and authoritative text for global learners in the open online learning age we are now entering. Just take a look at this article's authorial team, which spans all of the time zones of planet earth.

Knol solves long delays in publication -- sometimes six to nine months in authoritative peer review journals. Knol also eliminates the usual high page charges for authors as well as readers, in addition to the low acceptance rate in top ranked journals with high citation rate/impact. Potentially, this makes Knols "an attractive publishing alternative or adjunctive in the biomedical field," according to Krishan Maggon.

Trudy Robinson says "Any person knowledgeable in a particular field or topic does not have to be a formal or experienced author or hold a PhD to opine via Knol. By following the steps set out in a Knol such as this one, an inexperienced writer can present knowledge in a structured and informed manner. Writing-challenged authors can ask for help. Most have a good chance of receiving it since co-authorship recognition is always available. This benefits not only the reader, but also benefits all authors through recognition of expertise. And of course, practice makes perfect: the writing challenged improve quickly by actually tackling the task."

Murry Shohat offers this: "In the current poor economy, with layoffs continuing and jobs hard to find, writing Knols may be your reason to get out of bed in the morning. Here's how and why:

• Do what you love and write about it. The writing is the reward even after you find someone to hire you. Once back to work, keep writing Knols but stick to what you love.
• If you've stumbled upon an effective way to buffer the contemptuous fortune of the current market, sharing it with others will not only boost your self-esteem, it'll help others.
• No matter what field or occupation you are in, writing about some aspect of it adds important organic information to your resume. Today's resumes are often e-documents, enabling you to include direct links to your on-line samples and discourses. Knol is an excellent link, so make the most of it.
• Companies that you might wish to work for probably don't have a Knol. If you are approaching a company for employment, do your homework and write a Knol about some aspect of the company that you find motivating or compelling. Perhaps you've discovered that the firm has a project underway to cut energy use by 50%. Write "How [the company I want to work for] is Helping the Environment". Imagine how you'll look when the interview takes place.

Why Knols are Different.

1. While other user content article sites look for the 400-1,000 word articles, good Knols are likely to start at around 1,500 and can be as long as 6,000 words. This is simply because it take that many words to cover a topic in sufficient depth for an interested reader with a significant need. (i.e. This Knol is over 4,000 words but which part would you delete to make it shorter?) Read Best Practices: Writing Good Knols
2. The Knol Project promotes authorship. A Knol is as much about you the author and your expertise as it is about the content that you provide. So, write content rich and enjoyable reading experiences that encourages readers to want to know more about your other Knols and in particular about you. Interpersonal relationships depend on credibility and trust and this is the underpinning mantra of the Knol Project.
3. The best view to take on writing Knols is to see them as an illustrated chapter of a book. Sure they will take time to write, craft and compile but the investment will be worthwhile when it takes its place as an enduring testament to your knowledge, skill and expertise.
4. Knols are meant to be updated often. The Knol project even includes the date of your last update in the search engine display, to help searcher's identify those Knols that are current and fresh. Updates include the usual spelling, layout and grammar fixes but may also involve new relevant media, links and documents. More importantly they should reflect the feedback from the reviews and comments plus adjustments to accommodate your evolving thoughts. 
5. Knols are a unique blend between an academic essay and an illustrated 'coffee table' book. It's academic because it is written in a formal, clinical, textbook style that includes references and should provide summaries or key point lists. The visual media, attractive layout and the author's opinions/experiences bring the content to life and make for an interesting and engaging 'coffee table' read. 
6. Knols are intended for a wide variety of audiences. So, where ever possible they use a straightforward word over a highly technical one. If a technical one is unavoidable then they make sure that they link to a glossary or dictionary that explains the term in layman's language.
7. Knols are the 'go to' article on a specific topic. So, above all else they must be accurate and accepted as such by knowledgeable peers and other experts in your field. The Knol Project's comment and review system makes this feedback possible and when fully activated by the community of expert and knowledgible Knol writers, it will bring about this key outcome.
8. Good Knols are entertaining, informative and a 'good read'.  The recipient can learn from the experts, without needing the expertise as they are an appropriate balance of the 3 'ex's - expertise, explanation and expression. (TR)

Top of the Knol

Title

1. Choose a title that matches your reader's search string. Use free programs like Google's Adword Keyword Tool or Aaron Wall's SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool to identify the search string that your readers are likely to search for in regard to your topic. This will help get your Knol noticed by your intended audience.
2. Remember to keep your title as short as possible, otherwise your authorship will not display on the search engine pages. Your Knol will display as: [Your Title] - a Knol by [Your Profile Name]. If the combination of these are greater than 66 characters, then your name will be dropped, limiting the key benefit of writing a Knol - 'to be a recognized expert'.
3. Don't use full CAPITALIZATION in any Knol title. It is not reader friendly and it displays a certain desperation to be seen by search engines. Let your content carry the referrals and just use the everyday Capitalized Words. (Some CAPITALIZATION is acceptable in the body text but never in the titles)

Sub Title

1. Use your sub-title to flesh out the title. This can be 75 characters in length before it loops to the next line.
2. If the title is say 'Healthy Habits' then the sub-title should contextualized it. That is, put it in context like "Daily cardiovascular exercises creating healthy habits for the busy professional". If you can, try and include 'what it is' 'how it benefits' and 'for whom it is intended'.
3. The sub-title is a key SEO (Search Engine Optimization) area and so you should use the same text string as you used in the title. In other words don't describe the key search phrase in a different way.

Summary

1. If your title is too long to display your name in the search engine list (see above), it may be best to start your summary with - By [Your Profile Name]
2. Summary is important - Readers will only read title and summary first and most of them will move on.
   So, powerful openers in introduction are required to attract them to the Knol. This should sum up the present state of the Knol subject. (KM)
3. As at February 2009, the summary can only contain 1,000 characters with spaces or about 180 words. If you write more than this it will be cut off and lost, so keep to these minimum numbers when writing a summary.
4. Don't be lazy and just copy the first paragraph of the Knol into the summary area. This is a turn-off for the reader and not a good way to begin your relationship with them. This practice is also a poor use of a valuable piece of online real estate.
5. Again the summary is an important part of the SEO so don't go drifting off with a different way of describing your target market's key search string. Stick with your target market's search string in the title, sub-title, summary and H1 headers, however write the body of your Knol for your readers only.
6. Two schools of thought on summaries appear in Knol articles with neither as yet gaining the position of 'standard', so either is currently acceptable; Summaries should (1) Provide an overview of the key points that a reader can expect to cover in greater detail in the Knol or (2) Introduce the Knol by providing some interesting lead or touching on a reader's need and how this article could help solve it.

Content of the Knol

General Content

1. Make your content 100% unique and post it only as a Knol.
2. Adhere fully with the Knol Content Policy.
3. For Medical Topics: Describe Disease from the point of view of physician,surgeon,biomedical research scientists, healthcare provider, industry, patient. (KM)
4. Write the body of your work for your readers not for the search engines. Leave the SEO to the Title, sub-title, summary and H1 headers. Now concentrate on writing the best possible content to meet a readers need. One human referral is worth a hundred search engine hits.
5. Read the Basics of Writing Knols
6. Read Advanced Knol Techniques
7. A high ranking Knol contains rich content and is presented in an interesting and engaging way. So, use other visual media to make for a great reader experience. The average number of other media used by Top Ranked Knols is 7. This can be a combination of one (1) New Yorker cartoon plus photos from a photo library and videos from YouTube. Use them all to help visually support your content text.
8. Online spell and grammar check using online scientific/medical dictionary is a must before publishing. (KM)
9. As at February 2009, Knols do not have a spell checker so either create your Knol in Word (with spell checker) and 'Copy&Paste" or create your Knol using those browsers with an in-built spell checker like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
10. Literature search on the subject must be complete and up to date. (KM)
11. Read How to write good content (MS)

1. 
   Some New Yorker cartoons appear in the library but are actually unavailable. You will only discover this when you type in the number correctly and while the cartoon appears in the insert box it does not add to the Knol. Just choose another cartoon if this happens to you.
2. It is usually best to select "L" for Large rather than Original when the New Yorker cartoon appears in your Knol as Original is just too big and swamps the Knol. Make sure you select wrap ON and left or right align your cartoon based on the layout objectives. Right align allows for the text to appear directly under the heading, as this cartoon insert has done. There is no need to attribute this image as it is a direct link. Also, it will not appear as the thumbnail for your Knol's picture, but it will appear as your Thumbnail in Google Share if it is the first visual media of the Knol.

Photo Inserts

1. #1 Image source - Flower - flickr.com

   When using a photo from a resource like Flickr, make sure you only choose those licensed under Creative Commons and available for Commercial Use. You can sort on these criteria by choosing the tick boxes inside the Flickr "advanced search' option (this one is set for flowers - change it to suit your query). If you use copyright work without permission or Creative Commons works unattributed, your Knol could be flagged and subsequently barred.
2. Always attribute another author's work. It is something that you would like for your own work, so demonstrate this by being 'over the top' with another's. Provide links in the 'Caption' of your photos. See example - Identify that you have sourced the image (it is not yours) Name according to what it represents in your Knol and identify the site that provided it. The underlying link should go to the author's work and the author's bio. At the end of the Knol provide full details of the photo under the header Photo Attribution. Include " # Image Source - [Full Link] + Author's details + date of uploading + type of License. (See the end of this Knol for an example) 
3. This image (#1) is reduced to "L" Large, Aligned "Right" with wrap text "ON" and is possibility a good default to follow because the text is directly related to the header. . 

4. #2 -  Richard Branson

   It is nearly impossible to source a photo of an existing famous person under the Creative Commons license to illustrate a point or add clarity to your Knol. This is because they need to jealously protect the use of their image as it can impact negatively on their credibility, sponsors and financial arrangements. One way to include their photo without breaking copyright law is to fully display their publicly available book with a link back to a site, like Amazon.com, where the book can be purchased. See the arrangement that I have done here with Sir Richard Branson's book "Business Stripped Bare'. There is no need to attribute, however it does not hurt to do so.
5. You can add a border around an image, like I have done with the book by Richard Branson opposite and the Wordle below, by adding the following HTML code (in red) .... border="1" bordercolor="black" bgcolor="black" .... to the HTML string starting <table ....

 Google Docs

1. Point Lookout - Stradbroke Island
   Many Knol authors are beginning to take advantage of the seemless relationship between the Knol Platform and Google Docs. These can be created in Google Docs, saved and then published to make them publicly available. They can then be uploaded into the Knol via the Insert menu button. Side bars like the one opposite could be used for glossaries or a photo list with links as I have done here.
2. Other Knol authors are creating presentations and embedding them into their Knols. This form of information share allows authors to summaries their Knols and if placed at the top of the article, ensures that the 'time-challenged' folk get the maximum value in the least possible time. See Norman Creaney's How to write a great first CV.

Other Media Inserts

1. Knol Writing Tips - www.wordle.net

   You can always Word Cloud your Knol and provide the reader with a visual representation of the weight of the key words that are used through out the Knol. Simply copy the Knol content (in full) and paste it to the window provided at www.wordle.net Then [alt] + 'Print Screen' and paste to an image program like Paint. Select the Part of the 'Print Screen' that you like and then copy that into a new 'Paint' window. Save it as a JPEG and load into your Knol like any other picture. The Wordle is free to use but you must attribute www.wordle.net and provide a link back to their site via the 'add caption' option as I have done here. The caption should also include your Knol [Title].

Thirsty Koala Bear Survives

A thirsty Koala survives the worst bushfire ever in my country Australia

2. Over the years, technological breakthroughs have delivered more and more features for publishing which has seen the text-only article grow to include illustrations, black & white photos, color photos and now video. The addition of appropriate videos in online articles is growing in both acceptance and expectation by our readers. This new desire is being recognized equally by the search engine algorithms in their rankings. So, adding YouTube videos (either yours or another's) to your Knols is simple and desirable - see Embedding Objects in your Knol

 

Referencing

1. As of 14 February 2009, the reference field in Knol did not allow for any formatting including italics for titles and the reference numbers do not always place where you intend for them to go. An alternative is to simply make Reference a H1 header and enter the references as you would in any word processor.
2. To keep the number of references small, it is better to include latest reviews in top ranked journals rather than the original research papers. (KM)
3. There are various referencing systems used in the literary world to display the look and content of a reference. The Harvard Referencing System is one that is used extensively and is appropriate for Knols. (i.e. if you are referring to an author of a book you would detail the reference in this order - Author, Initials/first name., Year. Title of book. Edition. (only include this if not the first edition) Place: Publisher.) For the complete system link to Anglia Ruskin University UK 

Tables

1.  Tables are simple to create but will require some HTML editing to make them different and attractive. The table above includes codes like <tr bgcolor="limegreen">  for the header and ,<table boarder="1" boardercolor="black"> for the outline and <TR bgColor=gainsboro> for the shaded rows. See Enhance your Knol using HTML .
2. Note: Sometimes content created in another application (Word, Excel etc) is better brought into the Knol as an image because of the above reformatting issue. Create the content in the application, use an accessory tool such as the Snipping Tool in Visa to swipe the content, save/name the image, then upload into the Knol. (TR). 

Links

1. Use plenty to better inform the reader about your chosen topic. The average number of non-commercial links used by the Top Pick Knols are 20. So, make this your aim.
2. Copyright properly prevents us from the 'Copy & Paste' of another author's work without their permission but it does not prevent us from linking to that Author's work while still providing our readers with the best possible experience. So, use information links extensively. Scan your article for potential links that could add to the clarity of a particular point (definitions & glossary) or provide a visual representation of your point (picture, illustration or geographic location) Don't treat your reader with disrespect by excessively linking back to your commercial site. Your goal in the Knol is to establish your expertise not to demonstrate your SEO salesmanship. If your content is good enough and it satisfies a reader's need, then they will seek you out via your Profile or a SINGLE link at the end of the Knol directing those who may want more to your commercial site. Think about how many invitations you need to receive to something you really want to attend. One is enough.
3. Make your links stand out. Maybe background shade them or bold the link text. While the text color of your link can be changed it may be best to stay with the generally accepted 'Royal Blue' link color.
4. Try to source your links, where possible, from respected sites including educational or government ones. This can be done in the Google search box via the site:edu or site:gov precursor to your search word (i.e. "site:edu communication" to search educational institutions for articles about communication). These links serve multiple purposes (1) verifies Knol accuracy (2) broadens/deepens the reader experience and (3) will carry far greater traffic weight with the search engines than the one linked to a commercial site up a dirt track 'deep in the forest of web-sites'.
5. Good information resources on the net like ISI-Thompson-Reuters Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, and Pub Med etc. (KM)

Formatting the Knol

Layout

1. Try and keep some visual media in view at all times as the reader scrolls down the Knol. So, place your visual media accordingly.
2. It is best to alternate between left and right align of your visual media in accordance with the overall presentation and layout. Choose wrap ON as much as possible to embed your visual media in the text to present a blended and cohesive story.
3. When using screen shots explaining a process it may be best to centre align and don't confuse the reader with text on the side because the key focus should be on the instructions contained in the screen shot. Write your Knols with a common theme. This will help you put them together at some point into a collection. It's part of you signature and style. (i.e. Create a set of colors that you will use for your Knols. Decide on your table look and feel.
4. Set an approach to quotes and stick with it. Finish each Knol in the same way.
5. Be careful with continuous text, lines or spaces that stretch across the page width of the Knol. They may appear perfectly in your browser but other browsers and create a horizontal scroll bar which can detract from the reader experience.

Headers

1. H1 headers are displayed in an automatically generated table of contents list at the top of your Knol. Only 10 are displayed before going into a hidden 'read more' tag, so best to keep your headers to 10 or less.
2. H1 headers are also an important part of your SEO, so keep with the same search text string that you have chosen in your title. This helps your intended audience find you in the billions of web pages on the Internet.
3. Without stretching the friendship with the search engines you could start your Knol with "Introduction - [Your Title]" and conclude with "Summary - [Your Title], but leave it at that because the real message of your Knol and content is better directed towards satisfying the needs of your reader not the rankings of a search engine.
4. Because Knols are generally long in word length, try to break them up visually by using color or font variations in the headers. This helps turn the bulk of your information into bit size lengths.
5. The table of contents allows for a page width Header (H1) title, so there is no need to be stingy with the length of your 10 headers. Describe them fully.  

Quotes

1. Quotes add to the reader experience in many ways. (1) They provide a break and relief from the heavy block text (2) They provide some endorsement of your points if they are sourced externally and (3) they can help summarize a point in the smallest amount of words. So include them strategically in your Knol and choose the block text quote option " from the edit bar to add interest to the presentation.
2. In keeping with making for an interesting read, you may also wish to change the color and font type and size of the text and convert the font to italics inside of the quote marks. See example below. 
   

"Leaders are born for our time, but writers for all time"

HTML

COFFEE

1 A Google 10100 Coffee Idea   2 Historic Coffee House

1. If you first wrote your Knol in Word and you are doing a 'Copy&Paste' into your new Knol, then it is best to strip away all the Word formatting because of compatibility issues with Knol's HTML. The easiest way to do this is to 'Copy&Paste' the Word text into a text editor like Notepad as an intermediary step between the Word document and the Knol. Once the basic text from Notepad is in the Knol then use the WYSIWYG editor to re-format in Knol HTML code.
2. Some things like the navigation sidebar opposite can only be created using HTML This sidebar uses the following HTML which you could copy and paste into your Knol (in HTML mode) and then adjust using the WYSIWYG editor. Right click the links to change to your Knols and simply replace the title using the mouse insert. This is a useful addition if you have a series of Knols that are related and you would like to provide directions for readers at the end of your Knol. See the Knol template by Andreas Kemper Andreas Kemper Template
3. A knol about HTML provides insights into text boxes, colorful tables, creating special characters, formating bars, how to use Google Docs (Documents & Presentations) to enhance your Knol. 

 

<TABLE style="FLOAT: right; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(207,226,243)" height=225 cellSpacing=0 width=199>

<TBODY>

<TR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(159,197,232)">

<TD>

<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">&nbsp;</DIV>

<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><FONT style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,255)" size=4>COFFEE</FONT></DIV>

<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">&nbsp;</DIV>

</TD>

</TR>

<TR>

<TD>

<DIV style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(207,226,243)">&nbsp; 1 <A href="http://knol.google.com/k/peter-baskerville/googles-project-10100/14j3i4hyjvi88/18%22%3EA Google 10100 Coffee Idea</A>

<DIV>&nbsp; 2 <A href="http://knol.google.com/k/peter-baskerville/the-historic-coffee-house/14j3i4hyjvi88/9%22%3EHistoric Coffee House</A></DIV>

<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>

<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>

<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>

</DIV>

</TD>

</TR>

</TBODY>

</TABLE>

                                                           

Managing the Knol

Publishing

1. Read Managing Knols.
2. Don't Publish your Knol until you have done the bulk of the work. It is advisable to go back and modify your Knol often, however if you save too many times in quick succession after it is published, you may be treated by the algorithm as a spammer. This problem does not affect the unpublished Knol which you can save as many times as you like without penalty.
3. Don't publish a Knol without first giving yourself a 5 star rating. There is nothing so lonely as a new Knol that no one seems to care about. Anyway, if you have put in the work to create a quality writing investment, then you certainly deserve one.
4. Constantly scan your Knols and look for plagiarizers that have fully copied your Knol to their site. This will show up in the side-bar of the Knol under 'Similar Content on the Web' and give a % (usually 100%). If it is a site that you don't approve of then notify KnolHelp via an email, giving the site's details and a link to your Knol that has been copied with a statement that you did not give them permission to copy it. Ask them to action it and within a week the link will disappear. You don't want the Knol algorithm thinking that you have copied your content all over the Internet - it can diminish your search engine ranking.
5. Think about publishing your Knol in conjunction with other Knols in your field and creating a KnolBook. See the Entrepreneurial Spirit - KnolBook as an example of what you could do.

 

License

There is no one right license to apply to all Knols. A knol that deals with your own personal experience (you bio) should be copyrighted (All Rights Reserved) where as a Knol that you would like to go viral with your name attached would need to be set at the 'Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License'

 

Collaboration

1. Collaboration is the real hope and power of the Knol Project. If enough world-wide experts in a field can be attracted to the Knol Project then there is a real chance of enhanced learning for readers and new discoveries for the authors from the collaborative effort. So, canvas your peers and even experts and ask for the opportunity to work together on writing a Knol. Start with those you know personally and expand that group to include those whose work you admire from the Knol project and beyond.
2. Remember, collaboration is not just with your peers but also with the dedicated team of engineers and support staff at Knolhelp who are trying to make this dream of capturing and organizing global knowledge and delivering it freely to every desk a reality. Get involved by providing suggestions to the knolhelp team.
3. Do reviews on worthwhile Knols in your field, rank Knols on their merits, flag those that are against the Knol content policy because these indirectly cast a shadow over your own hard work.
4. Don't treat collaboration as an online social activity. It should be used for team work, mentoring and/or balanced participation. (TR)

 

Adds – Adsence

Get your Adsense account as early as possible as there will be delays before it is approved and can be activated on your Knols.

Reviews

1. Encourage your peers to review your knol. Use the invite feature in the Knol menu to get reviewers to complete the questionnaire that Knol have created. If they wish to add a comment they can complete the "How to write an Article Review'. This helps get your Knol ranked and separates your Knol from the non-review spammer type articles that are attracted to open-user content sites like Knol.
2. Ensure your reviewers know the difference between a Knol Review and a Comment. (TR)
3.  

 

Knol Author/owner

1. It is usually best to have one Knol owner in a collaboration because the Adsense revenue will only be paid into one author's bank account. Also, most things in life work best when one person takes an overarching responsibility for a project. One strategy to balance this is to write two Knols collaboratively but alternate the authors as I have done with Dr Neil Flanagan in Effective Leadership and Characteristics of an Entrepreneur
2. Make sure your invited Author has first completed their Profile and Photo Upload before accepting co-authorship of a Knol, otherwise the photo and underpinning title will not show up on the Knol. If this happens deleat them as co-authors and re-invite them after they have completed their bio and photo upload.  

Categorizing

1. Make sure you categorize your Knols. Start with the broadest cover first and work down the levels to the more narrow ones that deal specifically with your Knol. Keep the categories as generic as possible and appeal to the widest possible audience. Add no more than 6 as that is the most that will be displayed.

 

Comments

1. Under the 'Share & Invite' option in the side bar, make sure you set your Knol default to receive email notification of any comments made to your Knol. This helps you to respond quickly to reader interest. Maybe invite the interested reader as an co-author to the Knol.
2. Another way to check if people have responded to your Knols is to look under the tag 'Comments' in your profile. Check out the latest comments and if the timing is later than the last time you posted a comment, then there must have been a new comment responce made.
3. Get active on the Knol site. If you see good work, commend it. The more active you are the more frequently the search algorithms will want to visit and capture your new content, wether it be new Knols, reviews or comments. If you are an active contributor, then the things you publish on the Knol platform today, are most likely available on Google tommorrow.
4. Don't just 'copy and paste' the same bland comment on multiple Knols with links back to your website. It's a bad strategy here. (1) because links in the comment are 'no-follow' anyway (2) because it is obviously spammy and noted as such when you look at your comments tag in your profile and see a list of matching comments and (3) you are tagged by others in the Knol community as a non-contributor because you offer false-praise and only leverage off another's hard work for your own commercial gain. Hardly the basis for gaining collaboration privileges in the future.

 

                                                                                

Writer Resources

Medical writers and editors (KM)

1. American Medical Writers Association whoes mission is to promote excellence in medical communication
2. Council of Science Editors committed to ethical and effective communication practices in science publishing
3. European Association of Science Editors an internationally-oriented and diverse community who share an interest in science communication and editing.
4. European Medical Writers' Association supports medical writers and medical editors through training and networking opportunities.
5. Society for Scholarly Publishing whoes mission is to advance scholarly publishing and communication through education, collaboration, and networking among individuals in the field.
6. World Association of Medical Editors is a voluntary association seeking to foster international cooperation, promote professionalism and improve editorial standards among medical editors
7. Amy Markowitz Knol on "Scientific-and-medical-writing" A great Knol help on writing Scientific and Medical Knold.

 

General writers and editors (KM)

1. OWL: Online Writing Lab, a service of Purdue University that provides online documents, pointers to other sources of writing help and email access to writing tutors
2. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, Spanish-English, Medical
3. Roget's Thesaurus Contains 35000 synonyms and over 250000 cross-references in an easy-to-use format.
4. The Word Detective, a newspaper column answering readers’ questions about words and language, an online version of the syndicated column Word for Word, an online column about words and languageWriter's Block, the online edition of a quarterly newsletter for writers

 

A special thanks to  Krishan Maggon (KM) Pharmaceutical Biotechnology R&D Advisor and Knol author for his contribution to this Knol. 

 

For more on writing quality Knols that rank see my article "How to write Knols that Rank Top 10". 

 

                                                                                                               

Knol writing tips - Photo Attribution

#1 - Image source - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fmc550uz/2604128649/ by fmc.nikon.d40 Uploaded 15 February, 2009 - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

#2 - Image Source - http://www.amazon.com/Business-Stripped-Bare-Adventures-Entrepreneur/dp/1905264429/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234866733&sr=1-1 Branson, R Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur

 

Other Knols in the "Help for Knol Authors" series by Peter Baskerville

DESCRIPTION	LINK
How to use HTML to enhanse the presentation of your Knol	HTML for your Knol
How to write Knols so that they rank 'Top 10' with search engines.	Write Knols that rank Top 10
How to write a Knol as a learning tool using a preset template.	Vocational Training Template Knol
How to quickly write a basic article review for a Knol.	Basic Article Review for a Knol
How to write a powerful advanced article review for a Knol.	Advanced Article Review for a Knol
How to add Google Analytics to your Knols to get readership details.	Knol Analytics Guide