• By ERIK GIFFORD
• Published 03/31/2009
• Article Writing

In school, we are all taught about adjectives, verbs, nouns, and other exciting elements of the English language. Additionally, we are all told to use effective paragraphing, informative introductions, and conclusive endings. Titles should be “captivating”, and audiences should rise from their seats, bursting with applause at the end of each piece of writing. Unfortunately, in the real world, it doesn’t quite work like that. Sure, implanting each of the features mentioned above into an article is bound to make your English teacher happy, but what about the most important people of all – the audience? Indeed, it would appear that instead of customizing articles to fit the criteria of an “A+” school grade, the real objective should be to provide satisfactory content and clarity to please the ultimate audience. Let’s take a look at what that means for the construction of an article. Writing An Effective Title. They say that the title is the most important part of the article, and I would have to agree. If you are looking for information on a particular topic, you don’t scroll down to read a sentence in the middle of a paragraph at random, just to attempt a guess at what the article is about. Instead, you look straight to the bold title. If this title is not relevant to the subject or topic you are interested in, there is no point in reading any further. Hence, for article writers, choosing the correct title is of the utmost importance. Here are a few tips to help you along: 1. Sum up your entire article in to one keyword, and use this somewhere in the title.

2. Make the title broad enough to cater to vary

ing degrees of inquisitiveness. 3. Don’t insult the reader by using a generic title. Getting it right may take some time. Be prepared for this, and ensure that you are happy with the final phrase. Introduction, Paragraph, Ending – Every Time. Unless you are trying to prove a point, stick to the traditional format of content writing. Readers become easily confused when you try to mix and match different ideas and formats throughout a particular text. Ensuring that your writing flows easily is another important aspect of successful article writing. o Introduction: State your objectives and key ideas early. By doing this, you can spend the rest of the article isolating particular concepts and providing further evidence and proof of your opinions. If you eliminate the introductory paragraph, readers will have a tough time identifying your point of view, what your overall arguments are, and how to react to your commentary. o Paragraphs: This is where the idea of “flow” comes in. Try not to jump all over the place in a random fashion. Follow through with ideas, back them up, lead on to the next point or topic, and so on. Write in a constructive and organized fashion, so that your readers can follow along easily. o Ending: The last paragraph should contain a conclusive statement or remark (as you are about to see). Do not introduce any new ideas in your ending or conclusion – everything should have been presented in the previous paragraphs.

That brings us to the end of our discussion (that was the conclusive statement). Hopefully you will be able to use the information above to identify any weaknesses in your writing style, and hence – go on to produce high quality articles in the future.