Advice for Writers Hoping to Get Into Big Publications

Maybe your research (or lack thereof) is the problem.

Someone commented on an article I wrote last week. They said teaching writing and knowing academic writing rules was worth nothing in the blogging world.

And being both a writing teacher and blogger, I wasn’t offended by the statement. After all, the commenter was correct in many ways. For example, if you know anything about grammar, you’ll notice that the beginning of this paragraph starts with a fragment.

Fragments in college? Fragments in professional emails?

They’re the kiss of death.

But for a blogger, the use of fragments often sounds more like honest conversation with the reader. After all, no one speaks in complete sentences all the time. As a result, a blogger may deliberately use fragments to seem more relatable. It makes them more of a friend to the reader and less of a college professor.

However, some academic rules of writing are incredibly beneficial to a writer. Here are a few:

• knowledge of basic outlining and organization
• knowledge of how to use transitions to make writing smooth and easy to follow
• knowledge of how to use sentence variety to create rhythm and engagement
• knowledge of rhetorical techniques to persuade the audience

And there’s more, so much more bloggers can use from knowledge of academic writing, but let me stop here. (By the way, if you want to learn more about these “academic” things, here’s an article with all my writing teacher tips.)

I’m stopping my sermon on the benefits of traditional writing rules because today I want to address one specific hurdle many writers face.

Research.

And in many cases, it’s actually the lack of research that keeps you from getting into more prominent publications.

Readers don’t believe you without evidence of expertise.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and thought, “This idiot has no clue about what they’re talking about.”

Now imagine this “idiot” provides you with a Harvard study to prove their point. You start to change your mind about their ideas, don’t you? Even if only in a small way.

Well, the same principle holds true when composing articles.

For example, let’s say you’re writing an article on diabetes. Who knows more about it? You or WebMD?

Big publications want proof for what you claim. And yes, a personal story from your life goes a long towards gaining credibility.

However, if you really want to persuade your audience, you often need to use more than just your experience.

The problems many writers face when citing research

So, maybe you already know what I’ve told you. Perhaps you’re already aware you need knowledgeable others to support what you say.

However, even if you know the importance of research, do you pay attention to whom who cite?

Many people don’t.

They use Wikipedia as a reliable source(please, please don’t ever do this).

The Guardian explains the specific problems of using this particular site for research purposes.

“Academics discredit the website for several reasons: articles can be written by anyone, not necessarily a world expert; editing and regulation are imperfect and a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing. Vandalism is also common. There are numerous examples of politicians and public figures amending articles about themselves to erase unfavourable material.”

So, now that we’ve gotten the problem with Wikipedia out of the way, let’s look at other ways writers discredit themselves in their use of research.

• They use untrustworthy sites.

Wikipedia is not the only site in the no-nos of research. There are literally millions of them. Your best bet is to try to use sites with a .org or .edu at the end of the URL.

In addition, the more closely the publication is tied to the topic, the more credibility you achieve with your reader. For example, if you’re writing an article on the business world, Forbes may be the better source to include because business is its specialty.

The truth is there are many credible sites a writer can choose from. Still, a site that focuses exclusively on your subject matter will always be the best one.

• They use outdated resources.

If you’re writing an article on effective beauty procedures to try, a source from 1982 is not going to be as credible. Because of this, writers need to use up-to-date research.

How even the best-researched article can backfire

One of the biggest things I need to work on in my writing is not including research. It’s including too much research. For example, don’t make my mistakes and write articles where the research “writes the article.” Instead, make your point and let a few pieces of research support what you say.

The bottom line:

Canadian writer Robert J. Sawyer states:

“The heart and soul of good writing is research; you should write not about what you know but what you can find out about.”

And if your articles contain relevant, credible, and up-to-date sources, more publications will want you, and you’ll increase your following as well.

Want to know why?

Readers will trust you always do your homework, and eventually, they’ll stop needing those extra sources to believe what you say.

Do me a favor, though.

Keep adding those sources. It’s a habit you don’t want to break — especially if you’re going to write for the big guns.

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