You’ve done your homework: now you’re ready to write the article. What are the considerations to review as you begin? Some recommendations:
Refer to the guidelines supplied by the publication. Generally, double-spaced, clean, legible copy is desired, although increasingly, providing articles on disk or via electronic media is requested.
I’ve found that my articles stand a better chance of getting published if the article is well-organized and presented in manageable, bit-sized pieces. Editors tend to like headings, key points, bullets, and numbered points to break up the article, making it appealing to the busy reader (and what reader isn’t?).
Your article should reflect the real world, and not an academic or rhetorical approach (unless you are writing for that kind of journal). When I first began writing, I was concerned that my writing wasn’t formal or “academic” enough, but was quickly reassured by my editors that most publications and therefore most readers wanted real-world approaches in conversational language.
Provide success stories, examples, and cases. Use your experiences as a practitioner to illuminate your key points, and provide enough detail to make the story come alive for your reader. A longer success story or case example might be appropriate as a side-bar.
Write to the pain of your audience. What are the concerns and issues that cause your readers pain? Outline areas that may be alarming or painful to your reader, and provide ideas and recommendations for addressing their concerns.