Why use structures?

Early in my career, I often sat down to write with no real direction. Of course, that was because I was an artist! I would never do something like that out of laziness. After awhile, I began to realize how much I tended to rant in my first drafts. Much worse, I noticed how long it was taking to fix them afterwards! Then I started to think about finding a better way. I needed something to keep me on track and still give me the freedom to create quickly. After much searching, I found that even an adequate understanding of article structures allowed me to write freely without having to go through all the pre-planning exercises that many writers take the time to do.

With a good working knowledge of structures, you have a critical tool to make your writing more efficient and intelligent while being able to create quickly and effectively. If you do not have this tool, you will be typing blindly. This may end up working out for you in the end, but it will most likely not have been the fastest or easiest way. In this business, just like most others, time is money. More time spent on this article takes away time from the next one. That just will not do!

The 5 Structures!

I have 5 structures that I like to use to create my articles. They are:

  • Definition: A definition article could be about an item (motorcycle, robot), a concept (time travel, nuclear energy), a practice (pediatrics, playing football) or any number of other things that you can clearly define WHAT it is. I emphasize ‘what’ because you must define ‘what’, but do not necessarily have to know ‘how’ for these articles.
  • Be careful here, defining something in terms you understand does not equate to the reader understanding. You need to know your audience. If you are writing about pediatrics to pediatricians, then you can get away with using terms that the lay reader may not fully understand.
  • However, if you are writing for Joe down the street, then you will want to take another route. I like to do what I call “painting a definition” (I’m sure there is some technical term for it, but I don’t know or care to know it). This is using an accurate and vivid description to define something indirectly. Descriptions may not always come in form of, “The robot is made of metal and has flashing lights” type sentences. A good story or examples will go a long way here.
  • Description: Honestly, I use the definition and description structures pretty much interchangeably at times. The reason I lump them together is because they can both answer the ‘what’ of something. One difference is that a description article must describe what makes something what it is. This is something you may not want to do in a definition article.
  • Argument: An argument article is used to convince the reader that the something you are writing about is the case. In other words, that the ideas you are presenting are the best of all the alternatives. The argument article can take on different forms, but at the root you are trying to convince your reader of something. Basically, “I want to convince you to do/think/buy something.”
  • Argument articles do best when they are presented with facts. Opinions are allowable at times, but opinions are generally not going to do the convincing. Just like your high school debate class, you will want to give the reader enough hard facts to convince them of the truth as you see it.
  • Explanation: An explanation article is exactly that. The article will explain why and/or how something is the way it is. These articles could be about any number of things. You could be explaining why it was that General Custer lost the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Maybe you want to explain why that soft drink in your hand is adding inches to your waist. Once again, facts are your best bet here, but opinions are also very good when they are logical assumptions based on generally accepted theories.

This is where I think most writers stop. These 4 would cover just about anything you would want to write about. However, there is one more I like to utilize as well.

  • Discussion: The discussion article is what I categorize as the “food for thought” article. This article may not answer a question at all. There is no need to know the how, what, or why. Quite simply, all I want to do is present an idea, thought or theory. In doing so, I’m hoping to get some feedback. These could be used in a ‘think tank’ situation or possibly just to get some feedback from your audience on a subject.

I believe these 5 structures cover the styles I would want to use to write about anything. At least, I haven’t run across anything yet that I haven’t used one or more of these structures for.

A Short Sidebar!

I’m going to take a second here to address an issue I know some new writers are having. If you can use descriptions for a definition article, what is the difference in the two types of articles? A definition article’s purpose is to show exactly WHAT something is. The purpose of a description article is to show what makes something WHAT it is.  All that is really required of you is to ask yourself, “Do I want to define, describe, convince, explain or discuss.” Then you just start writing (or researching if you haven’t already).

I know the differences of the structures can be subtle, but the differences are not the point. The purpose of the structures is to get you writing intelligently and quickly, not to be overly concerned about which structure you are using. You’ll see in the rest of the articles in this series that I am absolutely unconcerned with which structure you choose to use to accomplish your task. More on that later.

Having said all this (and with more specific explanations of the article structures to come), I don’t want you to begin thinking that these are hard and fast rules. Often, very good articles utilize more than one “structure” within it.  In fact, this is the case most of the time. However, this should not be done without you, the writer, knowing it. You need to have a clear direction and utilize the tools to properly state your ideas. Otherwise, your readers will get to end of your article (if they get to the end of your article) and not have a clear understanding of what you were trying to say. That is probably not the reaction you were going for when you set out to write the article.

What’s next?

In the next few articles, I’m going to go into more specifics about the different structures and then I’m going to present you with an exercise that will not only help you write in all the styles, but provide you with the means to write many articles in a short period of time. I hope you will stay tuned for that!

Part 2: Definition articles

Share