1. Navigate to the project repository

2. Clone the repository to your local machine

3. Follow the instructions on the README.md to get set up and running

4. If the project has a contributing.md guide, look it over to see if there are any specific guidelines for contributing to the project

5. Before you make any changes, create a new branch in git. Name the branch something descriptive (e.g. 100_add_new_feature). This can be accomplished from the command line with:

   git checkout -b branchname
   

6. Make changes to the code to address the GitHub issue and commit them as you go. This can be accomplished from the command line with:

   git commit -am "some descriptive commit message"
   

7. Push those changes up to the repo on GitHub. This can be accomplished with:

   git push --set-upstream origin branchname
   

8. Go to GitHub and open a pull request for that branch back to master

9. Get the pull request reviewed and tested by the team working on the project.

10. Once the pull request is approved to be merged, you can click on the dropdown to the right of the “Merge pull request” button and select “Squash and merge”. Once the button says “Squash and merge” click that.

11. Once the pull request has been successfully merged into to project repository, you can close out the GitHub issue for that contribution.

Updated 10/27/2020