The Writing Lab
The Writing Lab is a virtual writing center where you can get personalized help from members of the 18F editorial team, which includes members of the Content Guild, the Experience Design Content Team, and the Outreach Team. We’re here to provide short-term, ad-hoc writing and editing help for anything you need.
What we do
We offer four types of help:
- Generative — help coming up with and fleshing out ideas for a piece of writing.
- Developmental — help structuring and planning a piece of writing.
- Stylistic — help shifting the voice and tone of a piece you’ve already written.
- Copy editing — help copy editing your finished piece of writing.
We’re ready to help with any kind of written content including emails, site copy, guides, presentations, talking points, blog posts, and more.
What we don’t do
The Writing Lab is designed for short engagements. If you need more than 10 hours of content help, contact Nicole Fenton about getting a content designer assigned to your project.
Our role is limited to improving the overall quality of content — its readability, flow, voice, and tone — and doesn't include approving it for publication. After a piece of writing has passed through the Writing Lab, it will be polished and will follow 18F’s Content Guide, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s ready to be published. Obtaining necessary approvals, designing a place for the content to live, and completing the technical work of posting content are all responsibilities of the content owner.