Parts of an Article
Think of your article as a story. It must have a beginning, middle, and end. It should tell a complete story and include all the information a reader needs to be satisfied. All articles must be 600 words or more, with the exception of Breaking News. A Breaking News article is allowed to be 250-350 words because there might be limited information available about the situation, and the piece should be completed and published quickly.
Introduction
The introduction is the first section of your article. It begins with your lede. This is the hook and should contain the most important information. It has to grab your reader’s attention and make them want to keep reading. It should be concise, under about 30 to 40 words, and it must answer the journalist’s most important questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Visit this Total Apex University article for more in-depth information on how to hook your reader:
https://totalapexuniversity.com/understanding-hooks/
What’s in the Middle?
Most of your article content must be organized in sections divided by headings. There must be at least two H2 headings for breaking news and at least three for all other articles. The H2 headings should be concises, capitalized like titles, and descriptive of the content in that section. Sections can be broken up further by H3 headings (or even smaller headings, if it makes sense).
For example, if you’re writing a listicle, there may be more than one category of items included. So you would use an H2 for the category and H3 headings for the individual items in the list.
For more about structuring articles, you can read “Outlining & Structuring Articles” in the Total Apex University.
Conclusion
The conclusion is the last part of your article. It wraps up the story. The conclusion should have its own H2 heading, and that heading should not be “conclusion,” “final thoughts,” or similar. Instead, give the conclusion a more satisfying heading to help wrap up your story. Include any final details a reader might need. For instance, if you’re writing about a food recall, include links or phone numbers they need. If you’re writing about the death of a celebrity, include something sincere and heartfelt, such as, “All of us at Total Apex Media are saddened by this great loss to the acting community, and we send our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and anyone mourning.”
Nothing else appears after the conclusion except in two circumstances:
- A disclaimer: You might need a disclaimer for anything related to physical or mental health, exercise, relationships, or others. A list of prewritten disclaimers is available here.
- A list of similar articles: This may apply if your article is part of a series or if other articles on the website with similar content should be included. *Sources of information provided in the article should be linked in the article where that information appears.
Additional Resources:
- Templates (coming soon)
- Disclaimers
- Outlining & Structuring Articles
- Understanding Hooks