Editorial Standards

The Understory holds itself to the following standards.

Sourcing

Every article cites a minimum of three authoritative sources. We link to Wikipedia, government data, major publications, peer-reviewed research, and primary documents.

Voice

We write in active voice. We explain every piece of jargon on first use. We assume the reader is intelligent and curious, not previously informed on this topic.

Length

No article is published below 1500 words. We target 1800 to 2200 words. Articles longer than 3500 words are split into two.

Closing

Every article ends with a Why This Matters section that connects the topic to the reader’s real world.

Comments

Comments are disabled across the site. We prioritize the writing over the discussion.

Corrections

If we get something wrong, we fix it openly and note the correction at the bottom of the article.