by Sandra Piddock

Created on: July 07, 2009

If someone asked you a question and you repeated the question back to them before giving an answer, the person who asked the question would wonder what was the matter with you, and you couldn't blame them, could you? Well, that's how I feel when I'm rating articles and the first sentence of the article is a repeat of the title.

Why do people do this? There's only one thing worse than repeating the article title in my book, and that's repeating the article title using CAPITAL LETTERS. It's irritating and it's unprofessional, just like ending the article with 'Thank you for reading this.' When have you ever read a magazine article that started with a repeat of the headline and ended with 'Thank you for reading this?' Never? I thought so. If you haven't seen it in print, please don't do it on Helium.

What we must remember is that, here on Helium, our articles are competing with hundreds of thousands of others, so we must do everything in our power to give our writing the edge over the rest. Making an impact with your first paragraph is the best advantage you can give yourself when it comes to writing - and rating. If the first paragraph doesn't grab me, I don't want to read any further. As well as rating other member's work, I have my own writing to get on with, and I'm not going to waste time reading unprofessional outpourings from anyone. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that's the way it is.

You should refer to the article title in some way in the first paragraph, because it will help you to focus on the article and it will show the reader that you have engaged with the title, but there are better ways to do this than simple repetition. Turn the title on it's head to grab the reader's attention. I started an article about whether people preferred to tumble dry or line dry their laundry with 'Why would anyone ever want to tumble dry when they could line dry?' This was my first thought on reading the article title, and it made a strong start to the article, as well as helping me to organise my arguments in favour of line drying. No matter what the topic, you can always make a punchy start to your article by turning the title around. Try it with the next title you write to and you'll see what I mean.

There is an old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but that maxim certainly doesn't apply here on Helium. Plagiarism, or copying someone else's work, will get your articles deleted, and repeating the title at the beginning of your article will ensure your work is rated down by me - and probably many more Helium members. Please don't do it!

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