Get Involved

The ESDA needs writers. It seeks to include articles on every aspect of Adventist history, so consider: What can I write on? It may be a forgotten person that you think people should know more about. It may be the Adventist work in the country, state, or city in which you were born. You may want to write an article on a school or ministry, or about Adventists’ engagement with an issue that you are passionate about, such as social activism, technology, or the environment.

This page contains documents that provide the expectations for each type of article. The goal of each Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists article is to be primary source-based, honest, open, comprehensive, and rigorous, representative of the diversity and richness of Adventism, and fully understandable to both church members and the public. These official guidelines will help ESDA authors produce such an article.

To contribute to the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, please contact us at [email protected] with your article idea, or leave your message at the Contact Us page on this website. Click here to view the list of unfinished articles we are currently working on.

• General Guidelines

  • ESDA Documentation Manual

    This manual is a one-stop shop for documenting sources in your Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists (ESDA) article. Although there is not an example of how to cite each of the dozens of types of sources, the major ones are included here and can be used to help determine less common citations.

  • Interview Release Form

    Attain proper authorization for the use of content gleaned from interviews.

  • Oral History Interview Guidelines

    Although most sources will already have been written, some will come from talking with people whose memories will be a valuable primary source for an article. The object for the ESDA author, then, is to not only use the information conveyed in the interview to write the article, but to get the interview on permanent record, thus creating a source from which others can access and benefit.

  • Peer-Reviewer Form

    A list of questions to assist in the peer review process.

  • Preserving Primary Sources for ESDA Articles

    Your article was written based on primary sources. Since the ESDA will be a digital resource, every effort should be made to digitize (scan) the unique and significant primary sources that were used to write your article. This brief guide will show you how to do this.

• Condensed Article Guidelines

  • ADRA | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this ADRA office, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Biography | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this person, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Church Administrative Unit | Article Essentials

    This article will be the go-to source on this church administrative unit, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Country | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on Adventist history in the country, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Educational Institution | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this educational institution, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Events | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this event, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • General Conference Entity | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this General Conference entity, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Issue | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this issue, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Medical Institution | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this medical institution, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Ministry | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this ministry, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Periodicals | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on the history of this periodical, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.

  • Publishing House/Media Institution | Condensed Article Guidelines

    This article will be the go-to source on this publishing house, and so should meet the high standard that all ESDA articles will achieve: thoroughly researched, primary-source based, information-rich, clearly written, accurate, honest, comprehensive, engaging, authoritative, and written for both Adventists and the wider public.