Jobs as a content writer are increasingly being sought and needed by many companies. Do you want to become a content writer, but are still unsure about your ability to write good articles? Don’t be afraid to write! Check out how to write articles for beginners below.
Definition of writing
Writing is an activity that humans do every day, ranging from simple things such as writing customer orders, writing letters, writing reports, writing meeting notes to writing a diary. KBBI explains that writing is an activity that generates thoughts or feelings by writing, for example composing and writing letters.
Writing itself is defined as an activity to express ideas, thoughts, and experiences of the author. Writing can also be interpreted as an effort to convey messages with systematic grammar. Writing is a person’s attempt to describe a symbol using active and productive language that is easily understood by others.
Article definition
Articles can be interpreted as complete written works in the form of news reports, essays in magazines to newspapers. An article is a written work that contains the author’s opinion about problems that arise in society.
Article is a type of writing that can contain opinions, criticisms, ideas, to the author’s thoughts regarding an issue, problem, or information that the reader wants to know or is looking for by the public. An article is written with the aim of entertaining the reader, providing information, educating, to give the reader confidence in something.
Types of articles
Before knowing how to write a good article, you also need to understand the types of articles so that you can write articles in accordance with the purpose of writing.
1. Article description
A description article is a piece of writing that describes an object in detail. The purpose of writing a descriptive article is so that the reader can imagine what the author describes in detail. So that in writing descriptive articles, authors are strongly advised to use the five senses as a basis for writing. That way, the reader seems to be able to see, hear, feel and experience the events that are written down.
For example, when you want to write about the experience of visiting a white sand beach, you can write down the color of the sea water which is turquoise, white sand is fine between your toes to the distinctive aroma of the sea and the sound of the waves when you sit on the beach.
2. Narrative article
A narrative article is a story that tells a true or fictional event. Narrative writing generally tries to connect stories based on cause and effect. In narrative articles, the topic of writing is clearly conveyed to the reader. The type of narrative article is more commonly used in works of fiction such as novels, short stories, and saga.
3. Articles of persuasion
A persuasive article is a type of writing that explains a topic and has an element of inviting the reader to agree with the opinion written by the author. In order to influence readers, writing must be able to attract attention and convince readers by providing reasons or prospects that are believed to be true. The written facts and opinions will help the reader understand and understand the author’s opinion based on the valid data provided in the article.
4. Exposition articles
Exposition articles are delivered by outlining, explaining, and explaining topics and issues clearly so that readers can understand them. This type of scientific writing pays attention to linguistic elements, structure, and oral aspects that write facts and are informative.
Exposition articles are written with the aim of providing knowledge, conveying information, explaining a topic, answering questions and broadening the view of the reader. Exposition articles are also persuasive in nature, but are more coercive and urge the reader to agree with the opinions and information provided by the author.
5. Procedure article
Procedure article is a type of writing that contains a sequence of stages or steps to achieve a goal. Examples of procedure articles usually use the word how, such as this example article, which is how to write a good article.
How to write a good article
After knowing the types of articles, it’s time for you to listen to how to write good articles.
1. Define ideas, topics, and themes
The first thing you have to do from how to write an article is to determine a writing idea or a problem that you want to answer and solve in the article. Determining this idea is an important step because writers often feel that they lack ideas, are not confident in their own ideas and feel that their ideas are not as interesting as other people’s ideas.
Some of these reasons eventually made the writer not develop, became lazy to write, and lost his passion and intention to write. When you’re feeling stuck and don’t have any ideas, here are some things you can do to spark new ideas:
- Start with a simple idea, for example a problem faced in everyday life. Although the problem is simple, but if it can provide a solution then your writing will help others.
- Record every idea that comes up, no matter how small the idea is, you can still develop the idea so that it can become a more interesting idea. Don’t be discouraged because ideas that you think are normal can mean different things in the eyes of other people.
- There are so many things you can think of into writing ideas. This may also be thought by others. However, those who finally succeeded in writing down the idea into an article were the winners.
- Taking a walk can help you get an idea while watching events happening around you.
- Reading and watching movies can hone your imagination and creativity so you can think of new writing ideas.
2. Compile an article framework
The next thing in how to write an article is to develop an outline. The outline of the article or the outline of the article is an important thing to do, especially for novice writers. The outline of the article will help writers know the outline of something they are going to write about. Another function of the outline of the article is so that the author does not lose his way, so that when the author stops in the middle of the road they can come back to remember the things they wanted to convey in the article.
3. Looking for credible references and referrals
The next way to write articles is to look for credible references and referrals. Unlike fiction which is based on imagination, writing articles requires the right sources or references. The trick is to read the results of research or books that are relevant to the theme of the article you want to write. Providing credible references will help gain the reader’s trust in the articles you write.
4. Write a short but contains opening paragraph
The first paragraph in an article greatly influences the reader to continue reading the article until it is finished or skip it. So it is important for you to write an opening paragraph that is not too long but interesting and can provoke readers to continue reading the article until it is finished.
5. Write short, concise, and to the point articles
How to write the next article is to write with effective sentences that are easy to understand and to the point . Avoid repeating words just to lengthen the article and increase the number of words, because this has the potential to make the sentences you write difficult to understand and boring. Write information in clear words so that readers get maximum understanding of the issues or ideas you are writing about.
6. Adding illustrations or pictures
The fifth way to write articles is to add illustrations or pictures. Illustrations or pictures can help readers feel interested in reading your writing because they are visually attractive.
7. Add a table or graph
The next step of how to write is to add a table or graph. How to write this article you can do to help readers understand the things you convey in writing. Sometimes, there are some things that will be easier to understand if they are projected in the form of tables or graphs, for example data comparisons or numerical data translation.
8. Reread the article
The next way to write articles is to reread the article. You have to do this so that you can review the sentences you wrote. So that you can evaluate your writing, correct if there are sentences that feel awkward, and correct wrong writing or typos .
9. Make a good and attractive title
The last way to write an article is to make an attractive title. The title is very important in writing articles because the title will be the initial determinant of the reader to want to continue reading the article you wrote or skip it. In writing a title, you need to pay attention to the SPOK element so that the sentence from the title can be understood clearly. Try not to make the title too long, make the title in one breath.
10. Keep practicing writing regularly
Writing is a skill that you can hone. The trick is to keep writing every day. If you can’t write every day, at least make a regular schedule for writing. That way, you can continue to grow and write better.
That’s how to write articles that you can practice to make your writing more interesting. Don’t be afraid to write, OK?