To write and edit an article like a pro and feel confident about your article, follow this guide. You will learn much.
If you are writing an article and plan to publish it, you need to be confident about how precise your writing is. Of course, you don’t want to publish something with errors and get let down because of it.
You need to understand that we are not born professionals, and it’s more than okay to have a rough start as a writer. You will eventually get there. After some practice and studying how to write a refined piece of writing.
It is hard to come up with your best work on the first attempt. So don’t be disheartened if you fail the first few times. Some writers spend hours on an article to come up with a draft that they feel is perfect.
However, the most important step after you are done writing is to edit the article. Editing helps you to delete unnecessary information, add additional information, or simply correct errors in it.
But keep in mind, editing takes double the effort you put in drafting an article. So, brace yourself for it.
Here are some steps you can follow to make editing your article easier.
How to Edit an Article
By following these steps, it will be easier when you’re editing your drafts and articles.
- You Need to Know your Target
We often get distracted while working on our article, it’s for the best if we realize what our topic is and focus on it. We should know that our goal is to provide more information on the target topic, rather than writing about the unnecessary matter.
When you’re writing a specific topic look up words that complement the topic. The vocabulary used is important. Do your research before writing, to provide relevant information.
You can check Altvark to take help from a number of software and articles they provide.
- The Framing
The frame is the structure of the article. We mostly follow the basic structure of writing an article. The introduction, the body, and the conclusion of your topic.
In the introduction, you are supposed to explain the objective of your chosen topic, briefly. It’s as simple as it sounds, try to introduce the given topic in an interesting manner, to attract readers from the very beginning.
In the body of the article, you dive deeply into the topic, to talk about the subject in detail. Provide every single piece of information you can gather. It’s the vessel through which you want to convey your article’s message.
Lastly, in the conclusion, you need to talk briefly to your readers about your opinions, and suggestions. Remember to keep it short.
- Avoid Repetition
No one enjoys reading articles, with repeated sentences and words. Try using synonyms when you have to use a certain word. Try expressing a common thought in a different tone, to make it sound interesting rather than repetitive.
The problem with repeating words and sentences, makes your article look weak and the readers may not be convinced. They will miss the effort used while writing the article, and fail to acknowledge your effort.
- Accessorize your Article
Remember a book with illustrations always attracts readers more than a book without one. So keep in mind that accessorizing your article is quite vital.
It makes the subject more interesting to look at or to read. You can add quotes and illustrations to make it more eye-catching to the readers. But make sure the accessories you’ll be using are relevant to the topic of the article.
- Make Sure to Use Grammar Detecting Software programs
There are possibilities of making errors in grammar or sentence structures while you work on an article. It is more than normal to make mistakes. However, you can avoid these errors by using certain software and applications which detect grammatical mistakes and help you fix them.
The most used and popular software for detecting grammatical errors is Grammarly.
Grammarly is extremely user-friendly and free to a certain point. You can work the basics, free of cost using Grammarly. It resolves issues like tenses, spelling, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, etc.
- Additional Advice
As mentioned above, try to use synonyms and adjectives to express your article intellectually. Weak descriptions can make your article look weak, which will not set a good example for the readers.
Keep your sentences simple and short. Avoid making sentences too long, it will be easier for people whose first language isn’t English to easily read and understand the article.
Try to omit slang as it can be difficult for some readers to understand what you are trying to convey. As readers have a short attention span, it is wise to cancel the unnecessary usage of jargon.
Try to be more creative while writing an article, don’t use unnecessary words, to make your article long. Try to be creative by using adjectives instead.
It is best to remove the unnecessary use of punctuations. Just because we advised you to keep your sentences simple and choppy, it doesn’t mean you’ll use punctuations in places where it is completely improper.
Sieve Through for Corrections
Remember this step is one of the most important ones. You need to go over the whole article one last time to detect possible issues in the article.
Look for errors, as sometimes apps like Grammarly cannot detect certain issues.
Ready to publish!
If you follow these simple steps, you are more than ready to publish your edited piece of writing. You need to understand that it isn’t a matter of one day, continuous practice in editing will make you a pro at it.
Happy writing, editing, and publishing!
