Just drank the alphabet as a bowl of soup, dare me to write?
Hey! I’m back with an article full of tips for writers.
In this article, little I know, I’ll share how to write an article. The article starts with the types of articles, then moves to the structure, and ends with some tips.
At the end of the article, I’ll recommend a great author to improve your writing skills.
Ready, set, go.
Types of articles
We need to start from scratch which is the genres of articles. Knowing which type of article you write will help you better structure it.
In academic writing, as I recall, the articles (essays) are divided into the genres of expository, persuasive, argumentative, descriptive, balanced, narrative, etc.
For digital writing the types of articles are more or less the same, maybe with different naming (comparison, review, story, etc.).
Here are the most common types of articles used for digital content.
Expository articles are informative articles where you introduce an idea, and inform readers about a particular topic with analysis. Like this one, where I present a topic and explain the process of how to write an article. The tone of this article is neutral; no one is to be persuaded into believing the presented idea. These types of articles are objective and written in clear and concise language.
Expository articles can be guides and instructions, news (depends), magazine articles (depends), etc.
Example title for expository articles: “A closer look at cats: understanding their behavior”.
Persuasive articles are intended to change or influence the readers’ beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors, and convince them to take a particular action. In order to persuade a reader about an idea, you use several techniques like emotional phrases. Depending on the context sometimes personal experience can be used too. At the end of persuasive articles, you invite readers to take an action with certain CTAs.
Examples could be promotional content, advertisement, political speeches, and fundraising letters i.e., for startups, it’s a pitch deck.
Example title for persuasive articles: “Why you should adopt a cat?”.
Argumentative articles are like persuasive articles – to influence the reader’s opinion on a particular issue or topic. The subtle difference is that persuasive articles use techniques like emotional appeal while argumentative articles use logical statements supported by research, data, and statistics. Plus, in persuasive articles, you try to convince readers that your way of thinking (the presented article) is the best, whereas in argumentative articles you maintain fairness.
The tone of the argumentative articles is formal and tactful. When writing an argumentative article, you need to give credible evidence to support your argument(s).
Near the end of the article, you give a counterargument to your position, but still support your position in an obvious way.
Example title: “Owning a cat has lots of benefits for your health”
Descriptive articles describe an event, object, place, phenomenon, or anything you want to describe. The intention is to evoke a sensory experience and emotion in readers, bring the described subject to life, and make it memorable. These types of articles include a descriptive and comprehensive description which can be formal or informal. The descriptive articles are written with the help of vivid language and metaphors in order to create an experience, make the article alive, and let the readers use their own imagination.
In the descriptive article, you need to use adjectives that accurately describe the subject’s characteristics, such as “large,” “heavy,” “colorful,” etc., and sensual language to describe the sound, smell, taste, feel, and appearance of a subject to create a lifelike representation of it. You can also use more descriptive or figurative adjectives, such as “towering,” “breathtaking,” “enchanting,” etc. to create a more imaginative tone in your article.
Example title of descriptive articles: Stunning beauty of my cat.
Balanced articles (essays) present multiple viewpoints on a given topic in a just and fair manner. In this type of article, you make it clear that you has considered all sides of the topic or argument before coming to a conclusion.
Near the end of the article, you give your own opinion; you can choose one of the positions, or completely disagree or agree with both sides based on your analysis.
Writing a successful balanced essay lies within approaching the topic objectively, and considering all the relevant facts, opinions and/or arguments.
Note: if you give, for example, 3 disadvantages (negative side, cons, drawbacks) of the discussed point, then you should present 3 advantages to keep the balance and fairness.
Example title for balanced essay: Should you own a cat?
PS: you should adopt a cat. Just saying. No persuasion.
Now you know the difference between the main genres of articles, let’s learn how to write them.
Outline
Before writing, sketch your outline. You should create a skeleton for your article which is the most important step in writing.
I remember, in my academic writing course, we would submit our paper 4, sometimes 5 times: outline, rough-rough draft, rough draft, draft, and final article.
First, start just writing down the raw ideas you want to present in your article in any way you like, and create a mindmap. I ask writers in our content team to write a precise outline (short intro, headings, short paragraphs under each heading, and short conclusion) so I can guide them better. But if you’re writing alone, you can brainstorm and just write the ideas in any way you like.
The structure of an article goes like this:
- Introduction
- Body
- Conclusion
After sketching your outline, in a rough rough way, organize your ideas – put the related ideas together. You give a title to each related group of ideas, we call these headings. These groups of related ideas – headings, and their supportive paragraphs create the body of the article.
Now you’re done with the skeleton, it’s time to write the article, starting with the introduction.
Make the first impression
See my first sentence in the introduction part? While writing, I was listening to Stan by Eminem, just thought it’s a good idea to refer to his lyrics as I did almost in every article I’ve written. I just wrote it with a thought I might delete it, then I thought it’d be catchy. Is it? Even if you didn’t realize it was from Stan, you might have thought “what the heck is she talking?” Or at least if you got any confusing feelings, hurrah, I succeed at catching your attention.
Now, here’s what an introduction should look like:
Funnel!
Your introduction should start with a general idea to the call to action part where you invite readers to read your article.
First, you need to create a hook. The introduction part is your only chance to grab the attention of the readers and make them keep reading. Your hook should be something that immediately captures the interest of your readers, piques their curiosity, and encourages them to keep reading.
Introduction can start with a story, quote, anecdote, statement, fact (numbers), asking question, etc. Or, you can write something totally unrelated, or write a short plot twist. But never ever ask rhetorical questions or “have you ever..” types of questions like: “have you ever heard about X?”, The reader might say “yes, I’ve, so what?” or “no, I haven’t, now I have, so what?”. Also, don’t make “imagine if..” statements.
Once you’ve successfully grabbed the attention, then you need to briefly provide an overview of your main topic, it’s usually called a bridge. It should be general and not specific. The purpose of the bridge is to give your readers an idea of what your article is about.
Depending on the topic, your bridge may have a 3-4 sentence long paragraph. For my bridge which is the second line in the introduction part, I could give why you a brief about my writing background to create credibility and give a reason why you should keep reading the article, but I wanted to make the intro the shortest possible. Not to mention I didn’t want to boast about my super high, tremendously amazing writing skills.
Anyway. Once you provided your readers with the bridge, move to the last part of the introduction – the bottom of the funnel.
The last sentence of the introduction is better to be a strong call to action – inviting the readers to read your article. In academic writing, it’s called a thesis statement. This thesis sets the tone for the rest of your writing and prepares readers for what they should expect from your article.
In the thesis statement, you make it clear what you’ll talk about and state the main argument or point you will be making in your paper, but in a way that you keep the thesis mysterious, meaning you don’t give the details. It should be specific, but not too.
Sound complicated?
While you state the main argument or idea of your article, you allow room for exploration. The thesis statement acts like a roadmap for your article, guiding your readers through the key ideas or points you will be presenting.
One last tip about introduction: always ask yourself, why should your readers keep reading your article?
Body and paragraphs
The body is the longest part of your article that’s located in the middle, between the introduction and conclusion. It includes several headings and/or subheadings with related paragraphs where you present your ideas in a detailed way and elaborate on them.
Each paragraph consists of several sentences that are called supportive sentences in academic writing.
The purpose of the body part is to support the thesis statement you make in the introduction part, tell what’s been told in the title, and what’s promised in the thesis statement.
So, depending on the genre of your writing, in the body part, you can write the pros and cons and support them (balanced article), give instructions step by step (expository articles), or give your arguments with supported sources (argumentative), etc.
If you pay attention, you’ll see that body sections have also a funnel technique. Paragraph(s) under a heading starts with a general statement, then give the main point, and the last sentences summarize the whole section in order to fully support what’s said in the heading.
In writing, that general statement is called a topic sentence whic 99% of the time is the first sentence of the paragraph.
The topic sentence also gives a summary of the whole section (under a heading) and prepares readers to know where the paragraph is going.
After writing your topic sentence, you support it with related information – data, research, personal experience, etc. depending on the genre of an article you’re writing.
Each paragraph under a heading should represent only one idea. Likewise, these groups of paragraphs should match and support the heading, and each heading should support the title.
You “close” each paragraph under a heading with a conclusion – summarizing the points you made in the section. It’s optional.
Small tip: think of a whole article as a funnel with includes many funnels inside it.
After you’re done with the body part and convey the whole idea, you can conclude your article.
Conclusion
So the conclusion is the end of your article. At the end of your article, you provide a summary of what you’ve discussed and restate your main points and takeaways. The reason is that some readers head straightly to the conclusion part to get the whole idea of the article quickly.
The conclusion part is a great opportunity for a call to action: asking them to subscribe, take a survey, sign up, invite them to use/try a product & service, or read some related article.
Like the introduction, we also use the funnel technique for the conclusion part, but upside down. We start with a restatement of the thesis, give a brief overview of the main points, and at the end of the end, create a hook – make their mind wander, and call for action (depends).
The purpose of the conclusion is to summarize the whole article with a couple of sentences and leave your readers with wonder and questions. It is for making your readers to still think about your articles after reading them and making them keep coming back to your blog to read your articles. A good way to keep their interest might be again, asking a question or writing a quote.
Here I’ve created some example article to show the structure:
Now we know what an article looks like, lets move to the tips and advice.
Some tips to write a great article
The chef’s receipt:
Know the difference among facts, statements, and assumptions
You should be able to differentiate fact, statement, and assumption because you should know when to give a source to your piece of writing, or which phrases you should use in order not to confuse your readers.
Fact is objective, and it’s a piece of information that can be proven to be true or false through evidence or verified sources.
Assumption is subjective, it’s a belief or statement that’s can’t be proven to be true or false, often based on personal experience.
Statement is an expression or deceleration of information, belief, or opinion. It can be fact, assumption, or a combination of both.
Examples:
Today’s temperature is 17°C in Baku (it’s a fact, and can be verified though weather data sources).
Assumption: It’s always hot in Baku. (It’s an assumption, based on personal experience or subjective interpretation of the weather, not necessarily true).
Statement: I heard that it’s gonna be raining tomorrow in Baku. (it’s a statement and an expression of a piece of information. If it’s not verified, it’s an assumption since the phrase “I heard” can be false or true; if it’s verified, it’s a fact since the phrase “it’s gonna be raining tomorrow in Baku” can be verified)
When you use fact, you have to give it a source, if you don’t give a source then your presented information will not be trusted by the readers. Or when you use the assumption sentence, you have to state that it’s your feeling or opinion.
This will help your readers differentiate between what can be proved and what is simply your opinion. It will also help to avoid confusion and establish trust between you and your readers.
Less is more, more is less
A good writer is one who uses fewer words to explain big ideas.
No muss no fuss. Be concise, focus on the key points, and leave out the fluff.
I didn’t tie you down to read my 200 words long introduction. Watch me: I didn’t write what is writing, how to learn writing in the first grade, or how things changed from handwriting to digital, I didn’t tell you the writing history of the Sumerian archaic. Yes, this is a mistake: elaborating the first sentence of this paragraph was unnecessary ‘coz you already got the point.
Again, actually, it depends on how long your copy should be. Since my article is expository, I kept the “bla, bla” part short, but if the title was different, I could write the history of Sumerian writings.
In writing, everything depends, no strict rules to follow.
Follow your writing
Follow what are you’re writing. Are your paragraphs support your headings, are they really supportive sentences?
It’s a common mistake that all the writers in my team tend to make. They lose themselves in writing and forget what they should actually write. Result: no related info is given in bodies → cannot support their headings with the help of paragraphs.
Take this example, the article is written for Uvodo, this article is about the Cash on Delivery payment method and how it can help online sellers to improve customer experience. The argument in this example is that offering multiple payment options to customers can reduce cart abandonment rates. At first, the paragraph may make sense, but the “slow checkout” part isn’t related to the “multiple payment methods can reduce cart abandonment” argument. So, the research doesn’t support the argument.
Each sentence in the paragraph should support the argument (heading or subheading) and the main title.
When you sketch your outline, follow if your headings support your title, then see if your supportive sentences do support your argument in the heading.
And again, as I said above, each paragraph should represent only one idea.
Say no to fancy, academic, techy words
You’re not writing documentation or governmental paper, or an article to impress your instructor. If you do, go on.
But if you’re writing a blog post, like this, don’t use IELTS/TOEFL vocabulary. Use simple words that you use in daily life. Come on, you don’t say leverage casually, you say improve, or you don’t say boost, you say increase.
Don’t use fancy words like “buzz” or “skyrocket” in your blog posts. It’s outdated and looks funny. If you want to describe a nice girl, just say a nice girl, don’t say “a girl with a ravishing beauty, a goddess incarnate, a vision of loveliness”. You don’t write a romance book or fairy tale either. It does not apply to descriptive blogs though.
Choose simple words.
This also applies to landing pages. It seems I just got an idea of what will my next article be about.
Anyway.
Keep your readers entertained
Spice up your writing.
Readers just got time to read an article, and they don’t want to spend their reading time bored.
Gary Vaynerchuk uses the word “infotainment”, in his book “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” he says: “Consumers want infotainment, not information. Information is cheap and plentiful; information wrapped in a story, however, is special.“
Watch your language
In. real. life. if. I. talked. in. this. monotonous. tone. like. this. wouldn’t. you. get. bored? You’d probably lose your focus, and let your mind wonder what to eat later.
Here comes the storytelling.
Emphasize some words, fluctuate around your words, and choose the words wisely so your tone (anger, frustration, happiness, hopefulness, etc.) is clearly understood.
This reminds me of two persons making the same joke, but you laugh at one’s.
Content inside content inside content inside
Use visuals, quotes, stats, videos, sonra, gifs, memes, tweets, and screenshots throughout the article anything that can make your whole article visually informative and entertaining.
Besides, link to other related articles that your readers might be interested in.
Note: the purpose of external or internal linking – linking to other articles, is to improve readability and the quality of the time spent on your page. It’s not just for the sake of SEO. Giving an external or internal link just so your page has outgoing or inbound links is not a good practice. If it doesn’t contribute value to your readers and let them get more info about the topic, then don’t do it.
Be funny, but not always
You’re not a comedian also. Yes, keep your readers entertained, use some jokes and puns throughout the article, and don’t let them get bored, but not in every presented idea.
Depending on your content, in some part, you need to be serious.
Iced out, style your article
Use bullets, block quote styles, numbered lists.
Most importantly, use headings and subheadings. It’s not only for SEO, but improving readability (which also affects SEO, but anyway).
The purpose of the headings is to make your article skimmable. Readers like to skim an article – look through it to get an idea of what’s included in the article, what are the ideas, and which part to read.
It’s best you use key points (keywords of your topic) in the heading, so that when readers skim the article, they know where to stop.
PS: I don’t do keyword research and add keywords to my headings or articles at all for this blog since the purpose of my whole blog is to give value and publish them on related platforms to reach certain people, I know you will read it all.
You can use a table of contents at the beginning of your article, and let your readers jump to a specific heading. For this, you may need to install a plugin for that or have basic HTML skills.
Here’s how to do with HTML (*wears black hoodie)
Put the id attribute into the headings to create a bookmark, then add a link with that id attribute included to your table of contents or on the specific anchor text.
Here is how to do it in WordPress:
Select the heading you want to create a bookmark for, and hit edit it as HTML:
Here, use the id attribute inside the <h> to create a bookmark:
Then, add the value #summary to the hyperlink to the selected hypertext:
Again, it’s WordPress.
Or, you can do it the longer way.
When you edit the text as HTML, without command+k (or ctrl+k), add the <a> tag inside <p> or <h>:
Check live how it works here.
<p> tag defines paragraph
<a> tag defines hyperlink
You can make the anchor text (hypertext) <h1>, <h2>, etc. if you want to give it a different format. Example:
<h3><a href=”#summary”>Summary here</a></h3>
This way your readers can jump into a specific heading. You can also this bookmark thing to point to a specific section on another page.
Just for info, typically, creating a link to a text looks like this:
<a href="https://www.linkexample.com/">Text example</a>
If you think I didn’t explain it well, learn here.
Enough with the HTML.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The whole idea.
Should you write the title first then the article? Or article comes first? For me, both should go parallel.
Here’s what I highly recommend:
Say you’ve got an idea. Decide on the genre and write your ideas – the main message you want to deliver (the outlining process). Then, start writing your draft article. As you write, always keep the main message in mind, you can get flexible as writing, and put branches to your tree. Then, you can read the article to create your final title that best matches to genre and the message you want to deliver.
How authentic you are?
Add your style to writing, make a signature. As the works of the well-known artists are recognizable, make your writings represent your style.
Tweak, tweak, tweak
Once you think you’re done, you are wrong.
After you think you’re done, read it once. Judge your idea and the whole article, do you give what you promised in your title and thesis in the introduction?
Leave the article, read it tomorrow, you’ll see there are lots of improvements left.
Always read your article 4-5 times, first, check the general idea, then step by step check the headings, paragraphs, and sentence structure, then check the grammar, then overall quality. From general to details. Read your writing enough that you almost memorize it. Believe me, every time you read, you’ll see the parts that need to be improved.
Refining & polish: no matter if you’re writing in your mother tongue or second language: check twice your wording, and check out the possible synonyms which may represent your idea better, or which may make your whole sentence shorter.
Your article may seem good on the first check. Leave it as it is, and come back a day later.
First, judge your ideas, then structure, and logic. Grammar and overall quality should come at the end. With the overall quality, besides what you’ve written, see what else can be written.
Read a lot, consume lots of content
To teach better, you need to be a good learner, to be a good writer, you need to be a good reader. Not only a book, I am not saying you need to read Dostoyevsky, but be a consumer of the online and offline content you see: ads, guides in the handbook, check their wording, how it’s applied in the context, their tone, how they make you feel, etc. If you like or don’t the copy, think why? What would you write? Always question the content you consume.
I’m reading everything readable, I read the sign tables at the metro, stickers on the pickle jar.
In short, have your ear to the ground. Honestly, I didn’t know that “have your ear to the ground” phrase, I may have seen or heard it somewhere and noted it so I can use it and look cool.
Finally, avoid looking stupid
Who are you?
Several weeks ago, I came across a post on Facebook, it was written by a writer & journalist.
He wrote a post about khash (foot soup); he said, “I look down on people who eat kash, why would someone eat something called khash? even they eat it at 5-6 am, why would someone eat an animal foot? it’s not logical..” bla bla bla. In short, he put the khash eaters on blast.
I wanted to write “who are you talking like that?”, then I did nothing and unfriended him.
Khash contains a substance called collagen, which is extremely useful in the fight against cancer, it improves skin moisture, elasticity, and hydration, its ingredients are useful for children in the developing stage. The meal is best to eat in the early hours, in the morning since it is quite heavy and filling, has high calories, and it provides sustained energy, besides the cultural and social aspects. It is ideal for those who have calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus deficiency, it makes bones stronger, it has omega 3, etc etc. The benefits can go on and on.
In short, who is he to talk about khash? He’s not a medical doctor, he’s a journalist. I think what he did was clout chasing. So, by saying avoid looking stupid, I mean know what you’re writing.
If you don’t know something, don’t talk about it, or at least make your research before making your statement. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom to present.
Bye bye now
Carl Sagan is a renowned planetary scientist, astrophysicist, astronomer, author more and more and more.. The way he communicates science with people is so poetic. I highly recommend reading his books or watching his TV shows. Pay attention and see how perfectly he stayed at the intersection of science and poetry.
Here’s good a piece of writing/speech by Carl Sagan:
”Eyes evolved, now the cosmos could see”
See how many ideas, feelings are conveyed with just this short sentence? The feeling of unity, oneness and interconnectedness. It makes me wonder.
If you’re interested, the source for that speech:
“Cosmos: A Personal Voyage: Episode 13 ‘Who Speaks for Earth’”
And, here’s one of the famous speeches by Carl Sagan, talking about the “Pale Blue Dot” a photograph of Earth taken Feb. 14, 1990: