Guidelines for Publication Submission

Beacon

Editors: Tierney Langdon, editor; Katrina Wilson, co-editor
Contact Email: publications@gaschoolcounselor.org

Deadlines for Receipt of Beacon Articles

Fall 2024 Edition: Deadline September 23, 2024
Theme: Fundamentals of School Counseling

Spring 2025 Edition: Deadline March 3, 2025
Theme: Fundamentals of School Counseling



Tips for Writing Articles

Best Practice is defined by Wikipedia (2010) as: “a technique, method, process, activity, incentive, or reward that is believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. when applied to a particular condition or circumstance. The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems and unforeseen complications. Best practices can also be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people.”

Advocacy (Wikipedia, 2011) by an individual or by an advocacy group normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an asset of interest. Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes including media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research.

Provide articles full of innovative methods which could include a thorough description of techniques, strategies, skills and activities developed or implemented by counselors. Discuss why the intervention is particularly effective. Articles are 2500 words or less.  

Procedures

Article Checklist (please check off on each submission):

  1. At the top of each article submitted:
    1. Center title of article
    2. Center your name and email address
    3. Example:
      Keeping Schools Safe and Secure
      FirstName  LastName, Your Email Address
  2. Type the article in Arial 12 font
  3. Please check spelling other than just spell check as it will not catch all grammatical errors.
  4. Proof article for clarity and understanding.
  5. Please have someone else proof your submission for errors before you email it.
  6. Length of article is 500 - 2500 words.

Submission:

  1. All articles MUST be sent electronically in Microsoft Word format. Faxed or hard copies of articles will not be accepted.
  2. Once emailed, you may not make changes to your article. Please email only your finalized version.
  3. Submit photographs when available. Pictures should be of high resolution (at least 288K). Photos are best with a light background. This is the greatest concern of the graphic designer and printer.  If including students in the pictures, please make sure you have a media release form on file.
  4. Upon receipt of the article, the Beacon Editor will reply to you via email to let you know that your article has been selected.

Thanks for all of your efforts to promote our profession! Please follow the guidelines, meet the deadline, and help us publish a professional source of information for Georgia School Counselors!

Beacon Back Issues

Counselor Connection

The Counselor Connection is GSCA's monthly members only newsletter featuring best practices, further reading, resources, GSCA news and school counseling community news - it is designed to provide professional school counselors in our state with relevant best practice articles and advocacy ideas/tools each month. This is an electronic publication for which we accept e-articles. E-articles should be best practices…a successful group, a parent workshop, counseling tips, surveys, using data, review of literature, synopsis of a publication, review of a great workshop or course, etc. or an article on ways to advocate for the school counseling profession.

All articles should be from 100 to 500 words in length. The document should be in Microsoft Word. It should be 12” font. Please proof for grammatical errors prior to submission. All submissions should be sent to info@gaschoolcounselor.org with the subject line "Counselor Connection."