How to write an Article

Introduction

Writing generally is an important skill. It is an art of communication and most importantly, a medium of expression. It is advised that people learn to write at least the most relevant kinds or forms of writing. These forms of writing are letter writing, copywriting, etc.

Because of the diverse forms of writing, people write in different ways for so many reasons. Writings sometimes are done for the fun of it, that is why there are thousands of blog sites out there which talk about lifestyle and travels, educating people on health, relationships, etc.

There are different forms of writing. Interestingly, people write for a living. There are business articles, research and academic writing, creative writing, content marketing and many others.

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What is an Article?

An article is an informative piece of writing about a particular subject or topic. The subject of focus is usually determined by a writer or the reading audience. Articles are usually published in newspapers or magazines, as the case may be. In recent times, people have access to reading on different websites.

This makes article writing and publishing possible on the internet. Article writing can be about anything; fashion, religion, food and diets, hygiene and fitness, security, education, name it. Writing can be fun especially if it is an activity one enjoys doing. Surprisingly, it is one of the most sought after skills in contemporary times.

How to Write an Article

Writing is an art and requires the writer’s creativity to captivate his readers with just words, creating scenarios and images to convey a message. Some writers are so gifted that their choice of words are figurative enough to have readers see themselves in the piece of information being read.

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There is no one way to write an article because the skill is an art. The only time writers are restricted in writing is when and if there are rules guiding a particular kind of writing, sometimes for an essay competition, for example, research writing.

When a researcher writes, he ought to have a background of his research, a literature review, the purpose of his research, his findings after going to the field and his conclusions and suggestions. Research writing always has a structure to follow, this depends largely on a field of study.

Generally, a regular piece of writing has three parts. These parts of writing are;

1. The Introduction
2. The body of the writing and finally
3. The conclusion.

The Introduction: A piece of writing usually has a title or a heading. Depending on the reason for writing, one has to be careful with the choice of words for a title. Except it is for advertising in a newspaper, a writer should be careful to not get readers by using catchy headings but one good enough to call a reader’s attention.

An introduction of a piece of writing is that part that tells whether or not readers will stay glued till the end. It gives a brief introduction about what is to be said in the body of the article. A writer must be careful not to dish out all of his information in the introduction; otherwise, his audience will not read till the end.

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Example of an Introduction

An article with the topic: “Democracy is Preferable to Military Government” can have an introduction as this;

The word democracy refers to the government of the people by the people and for the people. In a democratic state like Nigeria, people are elected into power as presidents, governors, senators, legislators and councillors. However, a military sysytem of government is one in which the soldiers rule the people by force; in this sysytem of government, people are not elected into power but usually by coup and counter coup. This was evident in Nigeria under military rule 1983-1999.

This is a perfect example of an introduction of an article. The readers get to know what to expect but do not fully grasp the title and can only be expectant. An introduction can begin with the definition of keywords, or a direct address of the title or an opinion of the title. Almost always, you need to begin or end a paragraph with a Topic Sentence.

The Body: The body of an article is that part that contains the entire information of an article. In the body, a writer gets and keeps the attention of his readers. He expresses all the thoughts and opinions he wants his readers to know. In the body of an article, each paragraph developed explains and supports the topic.

The Conclusion: The conclusion of an article usually ends in a paragraph or two, depending on the volume of the work. A conclusion is as important as the introduction of work. In the conclusion, a writer summarizes all his thoughts expressed in the body of the article.

There are a few ways to write the conclusion of an article, some of them are:
1. Stressing your position on the topic: A writer can choose to highlight his opinion on a topic. For example, a topic as; “Women should have equal rights to education as men” can be concluded by saying, ” Women also contribute to the development of society in many ways.

A lot of women have succeeded in places where some men have failed. For this reason alone among others, you will all agree with me that women should have equal rights to education as men”.

2. Making suggestions: A writer can equally conclude an article by making suggestions about his topic. For example, the topic “The Problem of Unemployment in Nigeria” can have a conclusion which says “Unemployment is unarguably a major cause of crime among the young people in my country.

It is important that while people get an education, they should also get the knowledge to help them create jobs for themselves. However, the government should create mass job opportunities for the youths.

3. Main points: Another interesting and common way of concluding writing is by listing the main points already stated in the body of an article. This way a writer is able to leave a lasting impression in the minds of his readers.

In conclusion, writing an article can be tasking if a writer has only a little knowledge about a topic. It is advised that when picking a topic to write on, one must have a good knowledge of the topic in order to have an easy flow of thoughts when writing or putting the information together.