What Is Article Writing and the Four Types?
An article is an effective format to package and deliver information to a larger audience. Depending on its purpose, an article will most likely fit into one of four types: expository, persuasive, narrative, or descriptive.
The type of article you are writing will also dictate your style and tone. Here is how these four types are commonly seen in business writing.
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Expository Writing
Expository writing shares facts and information with the target audience. It includes everything from ‘how to’ articles to research articles published in scientific journals.
Expository articles follow a logical progression and guide the reader to a new understanding. Many of the articles published on the web today are expository because companies are positioning themselves as authorities in their field. They want to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise, offering value to the reader.
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Persuasive Writing
Persuasive writing evokes more emotion than expository writing. It is the article writing format for a sales page or anytime you want the reader to feel motivated to take a specific action.
In a persuasive piece of writing, you connect with the reader’s current experience or the problems they are trying to solve. Then, you lead them to understand how they can resolve those problems or benefit by taking your recommended action.
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Narrative Writing
Narrative writing is essentially storytelling. It can be a form of persuasive writing, but a good narrative article has a strong introduction followed by rising action, a climax, and a resolution.
The purpose of narrative writing can be to inform, persuade, or connect. You want to take the reader on a journey and lead them to a new understanding through the example of another’s experience.
Narrative writing is a useful way for businesses to engage with customers, share their stories, or build a sense of community.
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Descriptive Writing
If you are writing an article that describes a product, its features, and its benefits, you may employ descriptive writing. Descriptive writing sets the scene and delivers concrete, sensory information about a place, thing, or experience.
Descriptive writing is used when you want to set the scene for your reader by giving them all of the sensory information you can. You want to describe the atmosphere, the environment, and what is happening in this piece of writing.
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The Article Writing Format
To grab a reader’s attention, articles must be eye-catching. That is why you want to format it correctly with a heading, body, and conclusion.
Your article writing format is the framework you use to present information in an easy-to-consume way. It’s essential to have a clear purpose for each article. You want to build the reader’s expectation with your heading and deliver on that expectation in the body of your article.
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Heading
The heading should be a concise and accurate description of what your article will discuss. If you are writing an article for the web, including a keyword in your heading helps search engines understand the content. You also want to format your heading as H1.
Your heading must be eye-catching but also informative. If you grab the reader’s attention with a witty headline that has little to do with your content, you will lose their attention. Search engines clock how long someone looks at your article, so that kind of bait-and-switch works against you.
Your heading will be in title case. It is important to know what to capitalize in a title.
For many articles, you will add a byline with your name under the heading. This depends on if you are writing for a publication that will credit you as the author or if you are ghostwriting.
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Introduction
The introduction is an essential element of a good article. Your introduction needs to both draw a reader in and also confirm they are in the right place and will find the information they expect in your article.
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Body
Once you’ve introduced your topic, you can dive into the meat of the content in the body of your article. You can determine the length of your article as you are writing it, or you may be given a target word count by your employer.
For the web, you want to divide your content into clear sections with H2 or H3 headings that identify the content that follows. Keep your paragraphs short and make your article body easy to scan. This will help readers get the information they want and stay engaged with your article for as long as possible.
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Conclusion
Your conclusion can have a descriptive heading or be called, ‘conclusion”. It is a final paragraph or two that leaves the reader with an appeal, recommended action, opinion, or closing thought.
How Should an Article Be Written?
Now that you know the types and format of an article, you may want to understand the process of how to write one. Here are the steps to follow when writing an article.
- Choose your topic. An ideal topic is focused enough to address in a single article.
- Think about your target audience. What questions are they asking about this topic? What are the most important answers you can deliver to them? You want to speak directly to your reader, so having your target audience clearly in mind is a critical step.
- Gather your facts and data. Do they support the points you plan to include in the article?
- Write an outline, including the headers. Does it flow? Can you cover this topic adequately in the space of an article?
- Write your rough draft.
- Edit. Some writers read their drafts aloud to check for flow and avoid common grammar mistakes. You can use tools like the Hemmingway app or Grammarly to help with this step.
How Can I Start Writing Articles?
To apply for jobs and freelance projects requires work samples. You need to understand web formatting and at least the basics of SEO.
However, if you have no work samples ready, there are several ways to develop a portfolio. The pay for these first steps is little to nothing… but you’ll gain experience and take the first important steps to become an article writer.
To develop a portfolio, you can:
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