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How To Write An Article
By Alan Leach
Whether it's an article for a school project or for getting published on the web, learning how to write an article is a useful skill. Like all writing, learning how to write an article is not easy, but the application of the following steps should see you headed in the right direction.
Before you start to write the article, you may have to choose a topic. In many cases, the topic may have already been chosen for you. If not, the sky is the limit for possible topics, though it helps when you write an article that it is based on something of interest to you. Your interest will be evident in the article, making others interested in your work also.
It may also be useful when learning how to write your article to spend time researching and planning your work. While you may have plenty of knowledge and experience in the given topic, it helps, especially when providing evidence to support your opinions (more of which later) to research what others in the field feel about the issue, allowing you to write a more knowledgeable and rounded article.
When learning how to write an article, the first part is the introduction. This should state in a couple of very general sentences what your article is about. You probably want people to read your article, so make it interesting. While the style will often vary according to factors such as the publication you are writing for or your intended audience, articles are generally written to be read. While you don't need a formal style of writing, it should at least not be conversational.
Once you have done the introduction, you should also state the relevance of your topic. Basically, why should people care about what you are writing? An important point to keep in mind when learning how to write an article is that articles are often related to events or ideas relevant to modern life (think of newspaper articles). Readers won't care about a topic that was controversial ten years ago!
The next step in learning how to write an article is the body of the article itself. Here you should present the main points of your argument or idea, and provide examples and / or evidence to support these main points. Support could be anything from quotes from people in authority to statistics. Your article should be logical and clear to read so when you right the body, ensure the different points are grouped into paragraphs.
The last part of the article is the conclusion. Here you should briefly summarize the main points you have made then provide a recommendation. Based on your arguments, what do you think should happen or should be changed? Such a conclusion should follow naturally from your key points and be logical.
As with all types of writing, the last step in learning how to write an article is to check it carefully for mistakes, both in spelling and grammar, as well as problems with style. While a computer grammar and spell check is a useful device, there is no substitute for the human eye, so try to get at least two other people to check your work for you and provide you with feedback. Sloppy mistakes will not be forgiven easily so it pays to get it right.
While learning how to write an article is not easy, follow the steps above and you will be on the road to producing work of high quality, and most importantly that other people will want to read.
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