HOW TO WRITE A PERFECT ARTICLE

To write a great article, the first step is to understand what exactly an article is and what kind of works fall under the term.

In simple terms, an article is a piece of writing usually intended for publication in a newspaper, magazine or journal. The term ‘article’ covers a broad and varied list of topics and is written for a wide audience. As such, it is essential that the article you plan to write is interesting enough to catch the reader’s attention. An article can describe an event, provide information, offer suggestions and advice etc.

Before you start writing your article, there are things you should take note of:

Where is the article going to appear-newspaper, magazine, journal?
Who is the target audience-students, teenagers, or adults?
What is the aim of the article-to advice, suggest, inform?

These are the factors that will determine the layout of your article and after you have considered all this, you can then begin writing. The following steps will guide you:

1. SELECT YOUR TOPIC
Choose an interesting topic that you are well versed in and can focus on for a while. You want to go straight to the point so that your audience can easily catch the gist of your topic. Narrow your topic if it is a broad one. For example, instead of writing about estate management, try writing about estate management in suburban areas. That’s more specific and will be easier to handle.

2. MAKE A ROUGH DRAFT
After you’ve made up your mind on a topic, write a draft with everything you can think of. Enjoy the process of sharing what you know and don’t worry about limiting your words and ideas. When you are done, you will have the skeleton of an article that only you can write.

3. RESEARCH
Because you don’t want to make false claims, you need to do adequate research on your chosen topic. Give only information from trusted sources and be sure you can verify whatever you state if need be. This will ground your article and make it authentic.

4. TIGHTEN YOUR DRAFT
Keeping your audience in mind, tweak and tighten your draft with information collected from the research you’ve done. Make sure you’ve covered all the basics and important information but be sure to make it specific. Let your work be easy to read, understand and digest.

5. READ, REVISE, REPEAT
After you’ve tightened your draft, read it again to find out if you’re satisfied with what you’ve written. Make sure your grammar is correct, your sentences are cohesive and the point you are passing across is a clear one.

In article writing, it is important to always remember that you are writing for the public and not your friends. This means you will be more objective than subjective. Do not talk about yourself and do not use over-personal language or simplistic vocabulary. Keep it clean, interesting and simple.

After all this is done, your article should be ready to be sent in for publication.