diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
index ca83a4f68..c95e5a927 100644
--- a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -1,14 +1,21 @@
+## Hacktoberfest notes:
+
+- due to volume of submissions, we may not be able to review PRs that do not pass tests and do not have informative titles.
+- please read our [contributing guidelines](/CONTRIBUTING.md)
+- be sure to check the output of Travis-CI for linter errors
+- if this is your first open source contribution, make sure it's not your last!
+
 ## What does this PR do?
 Add Resource(s) | Remove Resource(s) | Add info | Improve Repo
 
 ## For resources
 ### Description 
 
-### Why is this valuable (or not)
+### Why is this valuable (or not)?
 
 ### How do we know it's really free?
 
-### For book lists, is it a book?
+### For book lists, is it a book? For course lists, is it a course? etc.
 
 ### Checklist:
 - [ ] Not a duplicate