by nissa_amas_katoj

Created on: December 05, 2008

The internet is full of political articles, but quality political articles are not that common. How can you improve your political writing skills? Here are some tips.

1. Have a clear focus for each political article that can be stated in a single, relatively simple sentence. The main part of your article should consist of backing that up with reasonable argument and/or solid facts. The alternative is an article which meanders from the war in Iraq to gay marriage to hybrid cars without really getting to a point. You can't cover every possible topic in only one article, don't even try.

2. Know your readers. Some of the readers for each political article will be conservative and some will be liberal. Try to understand both points of view in order to come up with something that makes at least some sense to as many of your readers as possible. It's alright to have a political position. But if your article is of interest only to those already agree with you, perhaps you need to widen your perspective.

3. Humor in a political article can add a little salt. But it can also be problematic. Readers may just not get it. Or they may pretend not to get it in order to disagree with you more effectively. Whenever you are making a joke, look at your words through the viewpoint of someone who is taking you too literally. If it might be too offensive taken that way, don't do it.

4. Avoid the shock article, the type that says: President Clinton/Bush/Obama is a criminal and should be arrested and imprisoned. Yes, it gets the readers attention. But it makes you, the writer, look like an unbalanced fanatic and somewhat of a clown. Look at the opinion columns in your local newspaper. They don't use shocking exaggeration to get attention. Neither should you.

5. Don't talk down to your audience. In a political article you may need to explain certain things for those readers who may not know them. But don't ever give off the impression that you think some of your readers are stupid. It's also important never to imply that all of those who don't agree with you are stupid. There are people on each side of every political issue who are highly intelligent. Don't make them mad at you, or they will make YOU look stupid.

6. Check your facts, and give references for these facts. In that way if your article contains a big mistake, it's not YOUR mistake. It's the mistake of the New York Times or whatever your source was. But if you give out something as a fact without mentioning a source, if it turns out not to be true, it makes you look bad when the facts come out.

7. Be polite. It may not be fashionable, but it does make you look good in a world where people like to call their least favorite political person all sorts of rude names. Take the high road, and it will make your political article look more high-quality.

Political writing can be an enjoyable and rewarding pastime if you learn how to do it the right way. I hope these tips will be of use to the aspiring political writer out there to improve their political articles.

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