Online Editing: What to Look For
Here is a list of things to check for when you are giving an article an initial read, and considering it for publication. These things can also be taken into account when one is writing an article for the web.
These are some things to take a look for:
- Is it a topic you cover?
- Have you covered it recently?
- Is it a topic the site already has a lot of info on?
- Does it have a main point?
- Does it offer a next step, a course of action or give the reader something they can take away from it?
- Is it well written?
- Are the sentences and paragraphs a suitable length for online writing? (Bonus points if the author put in subheadings).
- Does the author treat the reader with respect?
- Are the facts in the article accurate?
- Is the grammar correct or close enough that it can be edited without having to rewrite? Is the article riddled with sentence fragments?
- Does the article stay on topic and not wander?
- Is the general tone of the article positive or at least hopeful? How do you feel after reading it? Would you want the audience to experience that feeling?
- Does the article move at a good pace? Do you feel like the author is rushing past important points or dragging things out too long?
- Is the logic consistent from one end of the article to the other – ie do they change their stand part way through?
- Does the article illuminate anything? Ie is the article something that has not been said better somewhere else?
- Is the article approachable? A complex topic can be approachable in the right hands, even a topic that’s hard to talk about.
- If the article is regional, is it still interesting to people who don’t live there?
- Is the article unrealistic? Does it stray from reality. Ie an article about motherhood where nothing was ever a struggle everything was always easy and perfect.
- Related to that, does the article keep away from stereotypes? Sometimes we see articles that are almost cartoon characters.
Once you have checked your article against these points, you can feel good about moving onto the next step in the process.
