What is an article and how can you write one?

What is an article and what does it take to write one? Does formal education matters? What type of writings can be regarded as articles?

All of these questions will be answered. By the time you finish reading this article, you should have definite answers to these questions.

Let me start from here:

It takes using a pen and a paper to write something down, at least in a fairly modern way, unlike some centuries ago when our forefathers used to carve words on rocks and stones.

Revolution has a way of changing the ways of men and how they do things; the advent of technology is one of the revolution that man has witnessed, and that has greatly affected all areas of life.

While pen and paper are gradually becoming a thing of the past (thanks to the booming digital technology), paperless have become the next big word in the modern world.

In a world where information is seen as precious as gold, it is glaring by today's standard that the easiest way to share one's opinion about anything is to write about it and post it online.

What is an article?

According to Merriam Webster, "an article is a short piece of writing typically expressing a point of view."

The "point of view" in this statement means the writer's opinion on the topic he writes about.

So to speak, we were all taught how to write starting from when we were in kindergarten. Any man that has a formal education can write and pen his idea down.

To express ourselves in a world that is increasingly becoming complex; to share our point of view on global topics that matters, knowing how to write is of great importance.

However, it is one thing to know how to write, and it is another completely different thing to know what to write. This is what differentiate a school pupil from a professional journalist.

An article can be about anything, a poet, a news, a press release, a biography, just to mention few. It varies depending on the topic of discussion and the content.

Writing an article can be as easy as ABC, and it can be as difficult as climbing mount everest. What decides how hard or how easy it'll be to write any article is the topic of focus - the subject is the deciding factor.

As I said earlier, any man can write articles just as any man could speak. It's one of the ways by which we can communicate and express ourselves verbally without speech.

"Writing is essential to life - it is the next available option to express words that cannot be orally spoken." - Caleb Olayiwola

Formal education do not really matter, although it do help in most cases.

As long as you are comfortable writing in a language you understand, and you have the knowledge about the topic you want to write about, you are good to go.

If we are to go by Merriam Webster definition, an article can be as short as a tweet. The word count does not really matter. Of course, this only applies to certain form of content that are mostly personal.

If you take writing as a profession, you will be made to conform to a different level of standard as required, depending on what you are paid to write.

For instance, an article that will be published in a newspaper is expected to be detailed, informative, and explanatory, whereas a breaking news article does not necessarily need to meet this standard.

What do you need to write an article?

To start writing an article, you only need a few things. A pen and a notebook are enough to start with, that is if you don't mind the ancient (analog) approach.

But we are living in the digital age right now, which means, there are better and fancier ways to write. Nearly all smartphones released nowadays comes pre-installed with a notepad (or note app).

This makes it easier and more comfortable to write wherever you are without carrying a pen and a notebook around.

You can write an article on your smartphone using the notepad app that is pre-installed on it. If your device does not have one, there are plenty of note apps in Google Play Store and Apple App Store that you can install.

ColorNote is one of the apps I found particularly useful for many years. I do use it to compose articles that I want to post on my blog. It is light, feature-packed, and it support cloud backup and restore.

If you are not comfortable using your smartphone to write (like I do), there are other options such as using a laptop or a tablet. The Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy S (and A) series tablets comes to mind.

If you have a Windows laptop, you can install Microsoft Office and use Microsoft Word or Microsoft OneNote to write your articles. ChromeBook users can use Google Docs, while MacBook users can use Apple Notes.

There are third-party softwares you can use as well, such as Goodnotes and Evernote.

Where to post your articles?

You can create a blog (like this one) and post your articles there. You can also post your articles on social network sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

You only need to create an account and start posting right away. There are other publishing platforms you can use on the web as well, such as Medium and Quora Spaces.

Mind you, you don't need to post your article online if it is a love letter to your girlfriend 😉

Does formal education matters?

As mentioned earlier, it is not compulsory to have formal education before you can write an article.

As long as you are comfortable writing in a language you understand, and you know the topic or the subject you want to write about, you are good to go.

However, there are articles that requires certain level of standard, such as magazine and newspaper articles. Some articles may require having formal education - it widely depends on the topic.

For instance, it'll be difficult for someone without a formal education to write articles about technology, softwares, and technical products.

Conclusion

Whatever approach you might take, it takes little to nothing to write, as long as you can use a pen. Just as you are entitled to speak, you are entitled to write about anything, either to yourself, to your family, or to the world at large.

We all have different point of view, likewise different mindset, different background, different upbringing, and different level of understanding, which reflect in our writings.

That is why we can not write the same way or express ourselves the same way, even on the same topic.

Writing comes natural to some people, while some people find it a difficult thing to do. But with time and practice, anyone can be an excellent writer.