Share your work

What belongs in the record?

Project or investigation

Question, method, data or observations, analysis, figures, conclusion and limitations. Include the learner’s reflection and sources.

Teaching resource

Subject, level, learning goals, materials, time, instructions and assessment criteria. Include an editable version and state whether it has been used in a class.

Independent study

Scope, learning objectives, planned deliverable, supervisor’s role, checkpoints and the final evidence of progress. Confirm any credit arrangement with the institution.

Supporting files

Use readable text alongside PDFs, slides, videos or data. Add captions or a transcript to video, units and column labels to data, and a version date to each file.

Useful work includes a careful replication, a well-explained method or a classroom activity. Describe the contribution accurately; a learner’s project need not claim a new discovery.

Write an independent-study brief

1. Focus: state the topic and one question you can address.
2. Learning: identify two or three skills you will demonstrate.
3. Work: choose the sources, method, materials and permissions needed.
4. Review: agree on a supervisor, meeting schedule and feedback expectations.
5. Deliverable: define the report, resource, demonstration or presentation and its assessment criteria.

Download the planning worksheet · Prepare for a review

SME resources do not enroll you in a course, assign a supervisor or award academic credit.

Make review and credit visible

• Author-prepared: the contributor prepared the work; no additional review is implied.
• Editor-screened: record the editor and checks performed, such as completeness, sources, permissions and accessibility.
• Mentor-reviewed: record who reviewed it, when, and the specific method or interpretation examined.
• Externally published: link the actual publication and its review description.

These labels describe different activities, not a ranking or a promise of correctness. Apply a label only when its review has happened. Credit authors, collaborators and assistance; keep dated revisions and explain corrections.

Keep ownership and make reuse clear

The proposed contributor approach is author-retained copyright with a nonexclusive license for SME to publish, preserve, format accessibly and share credited excerpts. Substantive changes would need contributor approval. Final submission terms and a responsible editor are still to be established.

A public reuse license is a separate choice by the rights holder. CC BY 4.0 allows sharing and adaptation, including commercial reuse, with credit. CC BY-NC 4.0 limits licensed reuse to noncommercial purposes. Showcase-only permission can allow SME publication without granting a broad reuse license to everyone.

Creative Commons licenses cannot simply be withdrawn from people who already received and follow them. Confirm ownership, coauthor permission and rights to included images or data before choosing. A license on one resource does not cover every file on this site. See the license-selection guidance.

For young contributors, use an adult-mediated process with the learner’s agreement and appropriate parent/guardian permission. Choose separately what names, photographs or recordings may be public. Keep private contact and school records out of the public packet.

Share evidence of progress

For a family, school or community report, select a few completed works and describe the learning demonstrated, feedback received and the next step. Link the evidence and obtain permission for names, quotations and images. Confirmed presentations and classroom use can be reported; intentions and page views do not establish those outcomes.

Before posting a full manuscript intended for a journal, check that venue’s prior-publication policy.