How to Properly Write a Good Article

December 2nd, 2011

Learning how to write a good article is not rocket science. It is simply knowing how to put the right words together in the correct sequence to grab the attention of potential readers.

The first step in writing a good article is for the writer to develop a clear purpose and direction for his or her article. Knowing what he or she hopes to accomplish or prove through writing the article is very important. Having a direction and purpose in mind makes the following article writing steps much less difficult. When a writer knows what he or she wants to do with his or her writing, inspiration comes into play. Inspiration can almost always kick start the writing process and get it going at an appropriate pace for timely completion.

The second step in writing a good article is to write a rough draft. This rough draft is simply a written collection of the thoughts a writer initially has when he or she takes on the task of writing an article. Rough drafts are key in eventually ending up with a quality article and achieving the previously determined purpose. They are a place to pour out ideas and think of every point, fact, and detail that should be included in the eventual article.

Grammar, correct spelling, correct tense, correct punctuation, etc. are not important when writing rough drafts. The most important thing in rough drafts is for the drafter to make sure that he or she can read his or her own words so he or she can work from the draft later at a later time. The rough draft is just the basic foundation for the article, the very beginning. The next step in the process of writing a good article is to organize this rough draft into paragraphs in correct sequence.

The first step in sequencing is to take the rough draft and turn it into paragraphs. It’s not yet necessary that these paragraphs have perfect spelling and grammar. What’s most important at this point is that each piece of important information from the rough draft is included in the paragraph where it best fits. After this is accomplished, the final step in this part of the article writing process is to take all newly created paragraphs and put them into the most logical and effective order. After this is accomplished, the writer is well on his or her way to knowing how to write a good article.

After the paragraphs of an article have been sequenced, it’s important for the writer to read them over. Reading the article after it has been sequenced makes it easy to see if the article is actually sequenced correctly or if the article would be better if the paragraphs were sequenced differently. Seeing how paragraphs flow together and how much they make sense with the paragraphs around them can help a great deal in this step of the writing process. If it is determined that paragraphs need to be ordered differently, it can easily be done at this time. It may also be a good idea during this step of the writing process is for the writer to have others read his or her article so far in its early stages. This way, potential areas of improvement can be identified and several opinions can be gathered and used as the writer makes his or her way through the later steps of the article writing process. Gathering a few critiques from others about an article can make it clear as to what changes should definitely be made and which ones are more optional to be made.

After the article has been sequenced and critiqued by others, now is the time to begin the fine-tuning process. This is the time to make changes and improve the overall flow of the article. When changes are made and the writer is more satisfied with the article than he or she was before, the next step is to conduct a spelling and grammar check. A spelling and grammar check is very important in the article creation process and writing a good article overall. After errors are identified and fixed, it’s time to move on to the next step.

The next step is to have others proofread the article, preferably those who are writers themselves or in the least, avid readers or people with great knowledge in the subject area that the article addresses. It’s ideal to have at least three people proofread the article. This makes the chance of catching all errors a great deal more likely.

After the proofreading process is complete, the final step in the article writing process is to create the finished product. By this time all identified errors have been corrected and the flow of the article aligns well with the writer’s overall purpose and direction. All that is left to do is to type the article and give it a professional appearance. It’s important to make sure the finished product is an article that will grab the attention of readers and draw them in.

To recap, learning how to write a good article is not that difficult. It just involves following a process and several important steps. If a writer follows the necessary steps of the writing process, it is very likely that his or her article will accomplish the very purpose that he or she intended it to.

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