What is an Answer?

What is an Answer?

A good Answer has the following characteristics:

1. Short: Takes 3-5 minutes to read. It’s okay if your read time is over 5 minutes as long as there is no unnecessary information present in your Answer.

2. Highly technical: The content is explained in a concise and comprehensive manner. There should be no personal opinion present.

3. Interactive: All Answers must contain at least one interactive element. This could be: an executable code widget, an illustration, a graph, a table, or another visual element. The interactive elements you choose to add must enhance the quality of your Answer.

4. Self- contained: Every Answer must be comprehensive, meaning the reader does not need to navigate to another source or article to understand the topic. The only links allowed in an Answer are those to official documentation and other Answers.

5. Original: Educative Answers does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. All submitted Answers will be checked for plagiarism before they are added into the Educative review process. For more information on the Educative Answers plagiarism policy, click here.

Educative Answer vs. blog post

When you write an Answer, make sure that you’re not actually writing a blog post:

How to write an Answer

1. Choose a topic from our topic list or choose one of your own.

For more information on how to choose a topic, please read the next lesson.

2. Research and outline your Answer.

3. Follow the instructions below for how to write and format your Answer.

Steps for a basic Answer

1. Create a title. Add your title and make sure it is applicable to the content within the Answer.

2. Add tags. Add a tag for each language used/discussed in your article. All other tags will be removed before publication. Please keep in mind that only 5 tags are allowed per Answer.

3. Introduce. Begin by briefly explaining what you will be talking about (e.g., define it, describe the topic, etc.). The explanation should concisely tell the reader what they will learn from the Answer.

Specify the version of the technology that the Answer targets where applicable in the form of a note. For example, an answer related to a setup, such as “How to use Zizaco\Entrust for role-based permissions in Laravel” is a good instance where the Laravel version can be added.

3. Explain further. Now, explain your topic further. Depending on your topic, you could provide:

• The syntax

• The “types” of what you’re talking about. For example, if your topic

• is “What is a module in Python?”, you would give the different types of modules in Python.

• A code widget so that each user can run the code within the Answer.

4. Add an example. Provide an example code or situation that thoroughly explains the topic. If you are providing an example code, use the Educative code widget. Regardless of how you represent your example, any code you include should always be followed by a line-by-line explanation so that users can easily follow along.

Example

Let's break down the following Answer, How to calculate the value of pi using numerical approximations.

1. The Answer begins by giving the equation for pi and provides a brief explanation of this equation to give the reader necessary background information.

2. Next, the contributor defines the Gregory- Leibniz series, which is a simple method to calculate the value of pi.

3. The contributor then translates this equation into an executable code widget.

4. The code is then explained with line-by-line bullet points that reference each line of the code.

5. The contributor then provides another method to calculate pi with the Ramanujan- Sato series.

6. The contributor follows the same pattern as the first example and provides an executable code widget that is following with a line-by-line code explanation.

7. The Answer is wrapped up with a quick section that explains the result of these equations.

That’s how a basic Educative Answer is written! If you have any questions, please reach out to answers@educative.io

This is a basic format that will not work for all Answers.

What we don’t accept on Educative Answers

Please see our policies below. If your submission contains any of these elements, it will not be published.

• We do not accept any plagiarized content.

• We do not accept content that contains personal information or opinions.

• We do not accept Answers that are not interactive.

• We do not accept Answers that contain a video.

Worried that your Answer might not be accepted? Email answers@educative.io for guidance.