by Bill Woffington

Created on: August 20, 2008   Last Updated: April 21, 2010

When you write with authenticity your work is believable.  If you want your readers to stay with you to the end of the article you need to show that authenticity in the first few sentences if possible. 

Yes, you need a strong lead but you also need strong believability and the faster you can establish that the better.

Authenticity in an article means ‘this information is coming from a proven, believable source and that source is…’

In the case of this particular article which is a ‘how to’ on writing I need to tell the readers what makes me qualified to write it. I need to say things about how long I've been writing (since the early 70's), that I have received money from magazines and newspapers for things I've written and that I can truly be called a professional free lance writer.

For further documentation illustrations, if you are writing a medical piece maybe the source is the Mayo Clinic Web Page or Dr Spock or your family physician.  If you are talking about how automobiles run your source might be Joe at the corner garage who has been fixing cars for twenty years.  “We spoke with Joe Smith with Smith’s auto repair on Main Street.  Joe has been fixing cars for twenty years and…”

When we were in school we were taught that we have to show source documents for term papers. It’s no different in the writing world.  For instructional articles, magazine editors must have proper documentation or they put the reputation of their publication at risk. A professional writer adheres to the same code for the same reason. Their reputation, their believability as a writer, is at stake.

Unfortunately there are a lot of bad examples in the writing world. There are tons of articles that just start out telling the reader how to do something.   Perhaps it’s an article on how to set up a family budget.  There is a rhythm and flow to the piece that make it an enjoyable read. So far so good.  We know that the article comes from someone who is a good with words.

The critical question though has to do with authenticity.  Can we trust the information in the article?  Before readers can take this article seriously they want to know who it is that is telling them how to set up their budget. A careful reader is going to have questions such as, "am I reading advice from an economist with a proven track record or am I hearing from a kid right out of high school who has no experience with budgeting?  Without some documentation the article sounds impressive but there is nothing to back it up. To quote an old political slogan, "Where's the beef?"

If we are serious about our writing we need to be equally serious about our authenticity.  It is an integral part of our striving to be the best we can be.

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