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	Writers Guidelines
	Writers' Guideline Table of Contents Editorial Statement Editorial Focus What we're looking for... Career-enhancing articles Technical articles How to submit articles Send materials to... helpdesk@mcsemag.info Payment or Compensation: none Appendix B: Case studies
	Editorial Statement
	MCSE Magazine is the independent technical and career magazine for the elite IT professional and those responsible for managing infrastructure & personnel. We occupy a unique niche among magazines--no other publication is focused solely on the interests and concerns of Microsoft Certified Professionals. Our readers are not necessarily Microsoft certified people. They are managers, consultants, government and university members, HR professionals, young professionals and many more.
	Editorial Focus
	MCSE Magazine provides our reader with technical, career, and professional development information in a single, easy to read source. Information is supplemented with columns on technical tips and real-world experiences from practicing MCPs. Recognizing that readers are inundated with monotonous technical detail, we strive to develop a "light" approach to our writing. Subject: Technical information career-enhancing professional articles certification and industry announcements real-world solution experience sharing for Microsoft technologies.

	Our audience ranges from the new Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) to seasoned veterans with careers in system/network support, training, and application development. In all cases, readers are assumed to have a high level of technical knowledge about Microsoft products, and about software and network technologies. In general, articles should be as detailed as possible, within the constraints of the article’s length. Achieving and maintaining certification Certification news Network and interoperability issues Success stories: MCPs successes with clients & employers Migrating from one product to other products Understanding and using Microsoft and third-party tools Tips, tricks, tutorials and traps Product reviews Expert advice

	Career-enhancing articles Articles on "soft skills" should assume a career development perspective. We want articles that will help others in the Certified Professional community gain maximum benefit from their skills and investment in certification. Using certification to screen new employees Marketing your services with certification Incorporating certification into the corporate career development system Certification and measurement of real world skills "Soft Skills" development to complement technical skills Tips on preparing for, and passing certification exams Developing training for certification objectives The software certification industry How to find a new job using certification How to get promotions and raises through certification How to start a consulting business around certification Trends in training and testing technologies Using your MCP title in negotiating salary
	Technical articles
	Technical articles should emphasize a "case study" point of view and should share the most useful insights gained from real world experiences. For example, it helps to provide a list of recommended resources or steps that will make the difference between success and failure. Networking and Support Related topics: Development Related Windows 2000/.NET/XP family Visual Basic Windows NT Server Visual Basic Add-Ons Windows NT Workstation VBA Windows 95 & 98 ActiveX Automation (formerly OLE Automation) Microsoft Exchange Server Programming Microsoft Office Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SNA Server ODBC Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) MAPI Microsoft to NetWare Connectivity Access Microsoft to Enterprise (Unix) Connectivity FoxPro Internet Information Server Visual C++ & MFC Other Microsoft Internet tools Visual InterDev Microsoft Office products Note: The best articles discuss using the above tools in combination with each other or some other popular platform or tool as part of a business solution. We also need other types of articles. Think about the things you’ve discovered. What are you glad you’ve learned? We also run exam prep product reviews and stories about related third-party products or new application development products and approaches to business solutions. We’re open to story ideas that can benefit users of any key products.

	Appendix B: Case studies A case study is an opportunity to tell readers about a project in enough detail that they can learn concrete information to apply to their own projects. Case studies should highlight both the successes and failures encountered: Did the project take longer than planned? Did several pieces of software fail to work together? Was a wrong choice made in terms of some of the pieces? What would you do differently next time? What would you do the same? MCSE Magazine runs two kinds of case studies: short, 1,000-word-or-less pieces called "e-solutions" that present a short explanation of a technical solution that the writer has implemented successfully, and longer pieces that may run up to 2,500 words. A case study is not a chance for a consulting firm to advertise its services, nor for a product to be described in glowing terms--both sides of the story need to be told. Case Study Format Obviously, all of the following points won’t apply to every case study, and certainly not to short "e-solution" pieces. But use the following outline to remind you of the details about the case study that you may want to include. Remember, you’re charting a path for others who will be attempting a similar feat with similar resources after reading your piece. (Bold lines indicate the most crucial information to include.) The first paragraph of the story should not only draw the reader in, but should give a quick summary of what the "hooks" of the article will be: "When Company XYZ decided to migrate its Microsoft Mail system to Exchange, the IT department had no idea that the biggest challenge would be …" I. What the system consisted of before · Description of what it did · Hardware and software · Personnel involved with supporting it II. Business problems · Why change the system? · Did management, MIS, or users need convincing? (Advice?) III. Approaches considered · Why discarded or accepted IV. Personnel brought in to handle the job · Why they were chosen (third-party party vs. in-house vs. new staff) V. Systems to be created · Goals VI. Cost factor · Current expenses · Anticipated savings or expenditures VII. Time Table · How job was broken down · Estimated time required for each phase VIII. Software · Software (server, app dev tools, backup system, audit, disaster recovery, tools) IX. Hardware · Network, PCs, backup, other X. Configuration · Physical location of equipment XI. Development · Prototyping · Actual coding, or implementation XII. Making the cutover · Testing, QA, debugging · Problems that surfaced · Tricks uncovered XIII. Business as usual · Who handles support · Who’s responsible for updating, problems, etc. XIV. Reassess and review · Do’s and don'ts for readers · Surprises · Unplanned benefits X. Things you wish you’d done differently · What’s next: strategic planning Back to Top
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