How I Write an Article

by Sruthi Krishna Vydyula

In this article, Sruthi outlines how she wrote her article ‘Cutting Deep’, which was awarded QMSU Feature of The Year 2019/20. It’s by no means a complete guide on how to write an article - but might be helpful if you’re not sure where to start!

Step 1: The Idea

This is the hardest part of writing, but it’s ok because ideas come from many places! For example, my article on knife crime ‘Cutting Deep’ was born because I’d had multiple conversations with people about the crime rates in London, and had been exposed to it through my ambulance shifts. To increase the probability of getting an idea, I suggest following the news sources around your interests and keeping up with the latest developments. I usually like writing about current events and topics already in spheres of discussion; it helps engage your audience and give them a real-life context, and a ‘reason’ to read the article. 

Step 2: The Flow

This isn’t exactly the physical structure of the article, but it is a way to direct your research. For example, before writing my article I decided that I wanted to write about: the rise of knife crime, reasons behind it, and what is being done. Hence I now knew what questions I had to answer through my research. I think this is a really important step, so take your time with it!

Step 3: The Research

Once you have a topic and the flow, now you can research! For my knife crime article, I wanted to interview stakeholders such as frontline doctors, social workers, charities who work on prevention, etc., and collate their views. Interviews are a great way to bring something original to your audience e.g. an expert’s opinion/explanation, or a difference in opinions highlighting the complexity of a topic. Don’t be afraid to send emails asking to interview and follow up; doctors are super busy and notoriously bad at replying to emails. If you’re doing a phone/in-person interview, make sure to have a list of prepared questions (around 5), and have a pre-set time limit (e.g. half an hour) for the whole interview; this will help you stay on track.

If not interviews, research can involve reading other people’s work on some aspect of your idea, e.g. in newspapers, journals, or other publications. I contacted some uni lecturers for material on the social determinants of health, and used some lectures from our global health lectures to supplement my research.

Step 4: The Structure

For longer articles, I find it very useful to make a rough plan for each subtopic (attached below). You can revise this as you write, and it ensures that your article flows well. I always visualise my audience as a ‘lay person’, who has only heard about my topic in passing, perhaps as a fleeting news headline.

Step 5: The Writing

And now (finally!!) you can write! I always find the introduction the hardest part to write, so I usually write a basic first version, and start on a subtopic/argument. While writing, I read it out loud in my head to answer some of these questions: does the flow make sense? Are the sentences too long? Is the argument coherent or am I just regurgitating facts? I try to get my article to flow like a story, or a piece of persuasive writing; you want to take the reader by the hand, and lead them through your topic and arguments, so you both end up at the conclusion together.

The time it takes to write varies; It took me three months to gather the info for ‘Cutting Deep’, and two weeks to write and revise it, but some others were researched and written in a couple of days. It’s also very useful to set yourself an internal deadline for a first draft at least a week the magazine’s deadline. If possible, send your article to someone else to read, preferably someone with little knowledge of the issue; if they find it interesting and coherent, you’re probably good to go!

Step 6: The Title

Unless you are inspired, I always leave this for last, because it takes me forever to think of a good title (not too long, witty but not cringe, etc.). For my knife crime article, I had given up after two days of brainstorming, but as soon as I cut into my chocolate cake, I thought of *the* title (Cutting Deep). Go for a walk, make a mind map (see below), have some cake, whatever you need. If you still can’t think of one, you can leave it blank and ask your editors for help, or just have a generic title, it’s really not as important as we think!