Simple Article Writing: 5 Steps For Beginners Who Are Learning To Write Articles (Try This!)

If you are just getting started with writing free reprint articles, you may feel like you don't know where to start. It reminds me of a friend who was learning how to sew quilts. When she looked at a beautiful patchwork quilt she was in awe of the intricacy and also completely confused about how all the tiny elements worked together to form a cohesive design.

Then she took a quilting class, and she learned how to break a quilt down into "blocks". Instead of looking at the quilt as being one big design, she began looking at the quilt in smaller pieces (blocks), and that helped her to see how it was pieced together.

When my friend took her class she would assemble one block of design at a time, and then after she had all her blocks finished she just sewed them together. She ended up with a beautiful, intricate looking quilt. Even though she was a beginner, she was able to make a patchwork quilt that looked way beyond her skill level. Breaking down the design into blocks helped make the quilt easier to piece together and understand.

I think the same concept applies to submitting articles. When you look at an article, you may say, "That article looks great, but I have no idea how I would produce something that good."

In this article I am going to help you break your article creation process down into "blocks"--smaller bits of information that when assembled together will form a top quality article submission.

1 - There are several parts to an article. There is the title, the introductory paragraph, the supporting paragraphs, and the concluding paragraph. For your article submission, you'll also create a resource box (author bio) and a short description of your article.

Instead of sitting down to "write an article", focus on the various elements--the title, the resource box, etc. Taking it one section at a time will help you to get started.

2 - When a person is in the process of creating a quilt, they'll often step back to look at how the individual blocks are looking in relation to each other. By seeing how the elements look as you go along, you can make adjustments where needed.

With your articles, you will often need to do this too. When you're in the creation process, you will read through your article repeatedly to get a feeling for how sentences sound together and how paragraphs transition into each other. It's write and review, write and review. You'll spend a lot of time reading over your article when you're in the creation process.

3 - Start with the basics. When creating a quilt design, I've heard that you start with a foundation of solid fabrics and then you add more lively prints to the mix. The design will only make sense if there is a strong foundation. If you have only high intensity prints in your quilt, it can overwhelm the viewer. There needs to be some places where a person's eyes can "rest".

The same thing can apply to your article--first you assemble your foundation of basic information, and then you can add content with more flair. You may wish to start by writing down the bare basic facts that you wish to include in your article. Briefly jot down every major point you want to cover--this is your foundation.

After you have your foundation in place, you can work on how you phrase things and how you transition into each idea. You can also add examples and stories to help illustrate your points.

4 - When you have your basic article written, you'll "stand back" and review it, just like a quilter does after she's created all her blocks but before she sews them all together. You want to take one last look to be sure that everything goes together and there are no awkward parts in the article.

5 - Part of creating a finished quilt involves trimming those loose threads and pressing your quilt so that it's flat and all the seams are going in the appropriate direction. It's the same for your article--there will come a point when you're very close to being done. You think you have every paragraph just the way you want it, but in order to truly finish the piece you need to edit and proofread the article.

Editing involves removing any unnecessary words or phrasing or reworking how you say things in the article. Proofreading is when you'll correct grammar and spelling issues in your article. By the time you get finished editing and proofreading, you will have a polished article which is ready to be submitted.

As a beginner, breaking the article creation process down into smaller steps is a big help in creating a finished article. You don't have to tackle the whole thing at once--just take it step-by-step and before you know it you'll have a finished unique article.