7 Tips to Write Effective Technical Magazine Articles

Introduction

Writing effective technical magazine articles could be great to heighten your visibility as a technical writer.

There are many respectable industry magazines and journals like STC’s INTERCOM where you can try to publish your articles both to share your valuable knowledge with the vast technical writing community out there and to market your services in a relevant and meaningful way.

If you are developing software, writing manuals or working in IT support, you will almost certainly become involved in technical article writing. Whether it’s for the company newsletter or a major computing magazine, this is an important skill to master.

Here are seven steps that can help you write effective technical articles quickly and easily.

Article Planning

The first step to writing any article is planning. You should never sit down at a keyboard and start banging out text. Article planning helps you structure the entire article, which will keep it coherent and logical throughout. It also gives you a checklist of items that need to be included, which means less time hunting around for information.

Article Structure

Once you have the article planned it is time to set out its structure. This will help your reader keep track of where they are in the text and what’s coming up next. Article structure can be one of two types: sectioned or unsectioned.

A sectioned article using H2 and H3 level subheaders (like this one) is easy for people to read, because the information is grouped into chunks that are easy to digest. The downside of this is that it can become repetitive, which makes the article hard to follow.

An unsectioned article flows more smoothly, but the reader has to navigate around different bits of information by themselves.

Article Length

An article’s length depends on its purpose and readership. Most magazines require articles that are between 600 and 900 words. Articles in newsletters can be shorter, around 200 to 300 words, but most readers like to see at least 400 words. If you monitor an article’s word count early on it will help you decide how long your text needs to be.

When you have a target word count in mind it is easy to determine the supplementary information that you need. For instance, if you are writing a programming article that has a 600-word limit you will not be able to include an entire program listing in the text. Some magazines request accompanying code and programs with articles, but most do not. Article length limits also apply to screenshots and images. If you want to include any images in your article ensure that they add value and are relevant to the text.

Supplementary Information

Supplementary information is useful when you want to explain a concept, but it can also be detrimental to an article’s flow. Therefore, if you want to include any supplementary information it should be clearly signposted. There are different ways to do this, such as writing ‘See Appendix 1 for…’ at the end of the main body text. If you choose not to use these reference points readers can easily miss important information and that will weaken your article overall.

Limitations of Article Length

When writing an article it is important to consider the length limitations. Article length limits vary from publication to publication, so ensure that your article fits before you send it off – editing can be expensive and time-consuming.

Article length also applies to the supplementary information that you include. If a magazine requires a 600-word main body text but asks for a 1,000-word code listing then something has to go. Article length limits can be a pain, but you do have to accept them for what they are and work with them.

Article Writing Checklist

Here is a checklist to make sure your technical magazine article has what it takes to represent your good name in the best possible way:

Article Outline

Outlines are both useful for writers, since they can help organize their thoughts, and also for the reader. Article outlines allow the reader to easily understand an article’s main points while giving them a better idea of what the overall piece contains.

A Sample Outline

If you’ve written a research article on a scientific or engineering topic, have you followed this sample outline?

Purpose of the research
Review of the previous research on the topic
Method of research
Results
Discussion
Conclusions

Significance of Topic

Have you made it very clear why your subject matter is important, timely or relevant, which problem it solves, and/or how it may have an impact on the reader’s life or career?

A key aim for a technical article is to pass on knowledge. You want the reader to understand why your subject matter is important and how they can use it in their day-to-day lives. However, subtlety has been lost from our value system as of late. So you have to point out WHY this subject matter is valuable!

Think about this in relation to yourself.

Imagine you are in your boss’s office, being offered a new job role in another department with more responsibility and better pay. Your response may be something along the lines of “Oh wow! I would love that!”

Now imagine you are at home with your family during an important holiday or celebration, when the doorbell rings and your boss is at the door! She tells you that she wants to speak with you urgently and her car is waiting to take you back to the office. You rush to the office, where your boss offers you an even better job role in another department with more responsibility and better pay! How would this make you feel?

Probably a little scared, right? Well for the reader of your technical article, they are in a similar situation. You need to let them know that the subject matter is extremely important, what the stakes are, and why’d better listen to what you are saying.

An Example

For example, if the title of your article is “Benefits of Vacuuming,” go ahead and explain to your readers how they can not only save time and energy but also reduce the carcinogens in their homes, especially if they have small children at home.

Now you can rest assured that they understood why daily vacuuming is a very important chore since it will have a significant impact on the health of their family.

Defining Acronyms and Abbreviations

Have you defined all the acronyms and abbreviations you’ve used in your article?

One of the most important things when writing an article is using correct terminology. This includes defining any acronyms you are using and defining the abbreviations that have cropped up throughout your article both in your abstract and in your body text where they are used.

If you do not define these terms for someone who has never come across them before, they cannot follow the thread of your argument and will be unable to enjoy reading your article.

Full Source References

Have you given appropriate references to all the sources you’ve used or quoted?

When writing an article, whether it is for a magazine or blog, you should always provide your readers with as much information as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to make use of full source references whenever possible. This could be as simple as citing a book title and author (Krishna, 1993), giving a website address (www.example.com) or as detailed as a journal reference (Smith, AJMS, Vol 3, No 2, March 1998).

Good referencing is very important as it serves three main purposes: it helps to give credit where credit is due; it shows that your work is based on solid evidence and not false information; and finally, it allows for better quality control by allowing anyone to check the original source of your information.

Include a reference section for all finished articles.

If you are planning on publishing your article online, it is very important that you include an electronic reference section at the end. You should make use of any style guide or referencing system which has been recommended by your publication, such as APA, AP, Chicago, or Microsoft Style Guide.

Relevant Analogies and Metaphors

Are you sure your analogies and metaphors are relevant, not over-the-top, and easy to understand?

In describing a complex concept or process, try to use a relevant analogy or metaphor to make it easier for your readers to understand. For example, when explaining how a particular machine works, you could say that “it runs the same way as the human heart,” because most people will have a general idea about how the heart functions. This method is particularly useful when writing an article about a concept that is hard to visualize or conceptualize.

Editorial Guidelines and the Editing Process

Did you make sure your article meets all editorial guidelines? Did you take editorial notes into consideration when writing the second or third draft of your article?

An article template will be sent to you by the technical magazine once you have been commissioned. It is important that you follow these guidelines as they usually contain all of the information that the editor needs to publish your article. If any additional information is needed then you should discuss it with the editorial team before sending your article across.

The template may also contain further tips for you to follow when writing your article. This may include how long they would like the article to be, if they need any diagrams or flow charts, and if there are any specific images that they require in order to accompany the text.

Article guidelines should also contain information about the structure of the magazine and what kind of content is expected from you. For example, will your article be a review, a listicle, or a case study?

It is important to remember that the magazine has been going for years and knows what works and doesn’t work. If you stick to their guidelines then it greatly increases the chances of them publishing your article.

However, don’t stick too rigidly to the template. You should make sure that your writing is personal to you and sounds like you. Your voice should be natural and authentic. If it isn’t, if you are imitating a famous author’s voice and writing style, then you are likely to get rejected.

Some technical editors prefer articles in past tense whereas others prefer them in present tense; always check the guidelines before beginning the article.

The editing process

It is likely that an editor will give you a list of edits that they would like to see you incorporate into your second draft. This is because articles should be concise and should also flow easily for the reader. Therefore, if there are any superfluous sentences or paragraphs then they may be deleted.

Also ask them if the article needs any technical edits such as checking figures or other details in order to ensure that they are accurate.

Fact-Checking

With technology changing so quickly it is important to be aware of what information is out-of-date and needs updating. If your article mentions a specific product or service, then ensure that this is still current and true.

If there is anything in the article which you feel should be changed, then it is important to discuss this with the editorial team. Don’t hesitate to listen to your inner voice if it’s telling you that something may not be right.

To avoid embarrassment, always fact-check every sentence in the article before sending it across for publishing. This helps you to make sure that all of your facts are accurate. If there are any errors, then you need to correct them before they are published. That’s all in a day’s work for any professional writer.

Conclusion

When writing a technical magazine article make sure you follow the editorial guidelines, don’t go over the stated word limit, use appropriate metaphors and analogies, make clear why the topic is significant, check all your facts to make sure your figures and statements are correct and true. Using media, illustrations, and graphics are other important items that make a technical magazine article shine and help the reads read, remember, and retain the information better.