#230 6 Gateways to a worth reading article

6 Gateways to a worth reading article

It’s not an easy task to write an impressive article. In an attempt to write an article, you might have spent many hours drafting, so that you get a perfect one. But, you end up screwing your article. Then you feel pity for yourself. Even I have faced such kind of problems. The reasons behind your failure can be the lack of ideas, poor writing skills, absurd facts, not having catchy titles and poor presentation skills.  But you don't need to worry much. All you have to do is to figure out your shortcomings in writing and try to analyze and review your article in perspective of your readers. If you still find it difficult to do, then take help of your friend, college, and elders. They can suggest much more changes be done to your article to make it worth reading. 

Here I have enlisted some ways to make your article worth reading for readers.

1.            Research on topic- The foremost step for writing an article is to think of a topic that interests you. Collect matter from various sources. It can be anything related to that topic. If you are writing a scientific article, you need to provide a lot of evidence and facts to support your points. If it is on mythology, then examples from the ancient time would definitely fit the context.

2.            Make an overview- From the overview, I mean that a rough sketch of the sub-topics you want to include in your article, should be made. In other words, an overview is just a framework of your article. Every article must start with an introductory note followed by the sub points and conclusion.

Ø  Introduction: It should be short and capable enough to cover the notion of the topic. Some background knowledge can also go well. For example writing an article on “Mobile: A boon or bane”, you can start with the history of the advancement of mobile.

Ø  The body of an article: Body of an article includes all relevant sub-points. Fragment your entire article into subtopics/ sub-points so that it becomes easy for the readers to apprehend. It should be descriptive in nature keeping in mind the essence of your theme.

Ø  Conclusion: Conclusion should contain gist/summary of the article and your opinion. You should not forget to include what you feel about the topic. You can also add some quotations in the end which will convey a strong message to the reader.

3.            Catchy Title- No one is going to read your article if its title is boring.  You should exercise a lot of your brain cells for framing a creative title. The title should be chosen in such a way that it reflects the entire idea at one place. It should be compact and quirky. Mostly weird titles are able to draw a lot of attention of readers. So, a writer is in advantage if he/she finds a catchy or unconventional title.

4.    Target audience- Articles are deciphered in perspective of readers. So, it’s of utmost importance to know what kind of readers the article is written for. The knowledge of taste of the target audience helps a writer in focusing on a specific idea instead of getting deviated or distracted from the main idea. 

5.            Presentation- Presentation plays an important role in making an article effective. An article should be written in paragraphs. It should not be long otherwise the readers would be tired. Using bullet points can be a great way to highlight main ideas. It will be wise to add pictures to your article to make it suitable. Appropriate pictures will be able to grab the attention of readers. Headings of the articles can be made decorative but the body of the article should maintain the simplicity and uniformity. The font size should be chosen a moderate one- neither too large nor too small. The sub-points or any important points should be written in bold and quotations should be italicized. You can select the color of the text in contrast to the background. For example, for a dark background, the chosen color of the text should be a lighter one and vice versa. Proper spacing between the lines should be considered. Text should be justified. I would always recommend you to choose a primitive font style instead of going for the creative ones.

6.            Style of writing- Everyone has got different writing skills. That is what distinguishes a writer from his/her contemporaries. So, writing skill can be associated with the identity of a writer. Your writing should be simple and easy for the readers to comprehend. It should reflect your thoughts distinctly. Choice of words should not be overrated . 

In the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it's done”. Everything starts with an idea and to execute that idea you need courage with determination. Just believe on your writing skills and bleed over the typewriter continuously.

You have to always remember the golden words of Richard Bach, “A professional writer is an amateur who did not quit”.  You can't head towards a better article by skipping any of the above-mentioned points. You have to keep on writing and editing till your article becomes perfect. In this entire process of article writing, you try to recreate your thoughts and ideas in a better way. In a nutshell, article writing is nothing less than painting your words with colors by the help of your pens as brush over the canvas.

 

By-Sweta Sarangi