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15++ Tips to Writing A Good Feature Article

By Raymund Magno Garltos (Rhandee Garltos)


Executive Editor, Cruising #GoingPlaces Magazine
1. In order to write a good article, choose your topic first and decide its
boundaries. The topic must be narrowed as much as possible, and the scope of it
must be outlined clearly.
2. Make a serious and detailed research on the topic prior to writing. Be
sure that you have not missed any important issue written about the topic.
Omission of crucial details, deliberate or not, is unforgivable.
3. Write your draft in a clear, understandable and plain language. People
of all ages must be able to understand your claims, aim and sentences
easily. Using pompous language or gobbledygook, obscure words and phrases and
kilometric sentences may be good for a literary article; but if youre writing with the
mind frame of a journalist, a feature should read clear and engaging, using the BEST
WORDS, BEST ORDER.
4. Be clear with what you mean with the terms, concepts and words that
you introduce in the article and put them in proper context. While writing an
article, keep an ordinary and a terminology dictionary with you at all times. The
utmost danger an article faces is to use terms and concepts wrongly. Make sure that
you dont overuse terminology that could distract readers either. Terms are the
fruits, frames, keys and summary of knowledge. Use them sparingly.
5. In the introduction part, state clearly the basic aim of the article and
why people will be compelled to read it. Do you want to provoke strong
feelings? To tell a story the way a gossip would spread a juicy news? To justify why
things happen? To let readers know what goes on in the mind of a person?
Nevertheless, YOU NEVER OPENLY STATE YOUR OBJECTIVE; YOU JUST SHOW HOW IT
GOES. Show, dont tell.
6. Make the first sentences of each paragraph the main ideas of them.
7. Be careful that the draft your article is free from basic mistakes. Check
your grammar and syntax (subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent relations,
number-noun agreement, spelling, conjunctions, punctuation, order/hierarchy of
modifiers, etc.) Print out after you finish, and have a quick but careful check to find
any errors.
8. Unless you intend it to be an extensive discussion on a topic, keep your
article to a minimum number of words. A good article is sufficiently long
enough.
9. Cross out any stray or irrelevant words and sentences. It is a good article
if it is saved from unnecessary words, sentences, paragraphs or information. Avoid
verbal deadwood.

10. Attribute the sentences and information that do not belong to you,
referring to them either by quotes or paraphrases. Do not claim them to
have come out of your own mind or mouth. The more an article includes
references, the more qualified it is. Value and eminence of an article lies in the
knowledge and it refers to.
11. Make a special study of conclusion part of the article. The conclusion is
not necessarily the summary of article. It is a part that opens a door to further
scrutiny, makes an evaluation, and shows your contribution to the world of ideas,
like the academe or a specific industry.
12. As a good introduction of an article shows your knowledge, the
conclusion of a good article shows your penetration to the future; in other
words, your horizon or depth.
13. After your finish your first draft, EDIT, EDIT, EDIT! Be your most astute
critic. But dont overthink to the point that you dont finish. Avoid being your worst
enemy.
14. Come up with a good title that will draw attention to your feature
article. Titles are everything. In the commerce of ideas, you have to sell your
ideas by making your article compelling to read. A good title can command readers,
even to an article that has a commonplace topic.
15. Beyond you, have a qualified and objective critic to assess your work.
Even the most intelligent writers need advice; otherwise your creativity and genius
will stagnate.
+1. Write like there is no limits (and no contest to contend with). But since
you are aiming to win a contest, write like there is no tomorrow.
+1 more. There is no clear-cut formula to a winning formula to an awardwinning formula. Prepare yourself by reading a lot magazines, newspapers,
books, journals, even the likes of labels of food and graffiti walls (youll discover
there are ideas that germinate even in the unlikeliest of places). Build a community
and group where you share ideas with fellow campus journalists. And always have
the mindset of a rumor-monger or chismoso/chismosa: that you should always come
prepared for a juicy story everyones dying to know!

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