Having been a silent TVSA regular for quite some time, I finally got the courage to register with the aim of writing an article. Then I kept thinking “what would your first blog be about?” Memories of all the times I’d winced at the replies some first time bloggers got for writing not so good blogs/articles were vivid in my mind, prompting me to postpone my TVSA registration. I decided to be brave and write about my take on what makes a good article. Please don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to come across as a “know-it-all,” I am merely stating my observations and thoughts.
• You will never go wrong if you still apply the rule that we learned all those years back in primary school i.e. introduction, body and conclusion. In that order.
• While I really like the idea of using colour, different fonts, bold letters, italics etc. make sure they don’t turn your article into something that resembles a pack of smarties or even worse an over crowded squatter camp. Instead make sure they enhance your article, emphasise your points and draw the attention of the reader rather than being off putting. Don’t make readers feel like they will go blind or get a splitting headache if they continue reading your article because you have used a lot of different colours, font sizes, bolds, caps, underlines, etc.
• Stick to the point. Do not drift off your topic and start to write things that do not tie up with your chosen topic. If you need to use examples make sure you clearly demonstrate their relevance to the topic.
• Make sure your article is easy to read, use paragraphs, headings, bullets, numbering, punctuation, etc. There is nothing worse than just reading words and words without any breaks in between.
• Make sure your points are strung together sequentially and logically.
• Use a spelling and grammar checker if you can. I am not one of those people who make a big fuss about perfect English, but spelling and grammar mistakes can take something off your article depending how bad the mistakes are. Some people even stop reading altogether because they find it difficult to follow the point.
• Keep it as short and straightforward as you possibly can. As they say these days… “Less is more.” I do know that some things can’t be said in a few words so if you are going to be long, try to keep the reader interested right through.
• Proof read your article and make sure it makes sense.
I know we are not writing serious articles for big publications that some big shots might read but I also feel that if you go to the trouble of writing an article, it means you want to be heard and put a point across. Therefore you might as well make sure you give it your best so that people do not stop reading because of minor mistakes. I am by no means suggesting that all good articles follow what I have just written, yes there are variations and deviations and the list not exhaustive so more might be added. I do hope though it will be helpful enough to save some bloggers from embarrassment and from being slandered by fellow bloggers.
P.S. I promise I didn’t steal anything I wrote here from a textbook, all those years in school might have helped though:).
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