the magazine article essay

How to Write a Magazine Article (in Ten Easy Steps)

When I was a little kid, I used to walk around my house with a notepad and inundate my parents with questions. Then I’d take those notes and use them to create a two-sentence “article,” which became features for one-page newspapers and magazines.

Fast forward about 20 years to when I saw my name in print for the first time. What a rush. Every writer should have a chance at that feeling; it’s one of the best.

The other best feeling, of course, is helping fellow writers land that byline. So, here’s how to write a magazine article, broken down into ten easy steps:

Step 1: Choose a magazine

If you’re thinking about how to write an article for a magazine, you may already have titles in mind. That’s great – go ahead and pitch them! 

It’s also fine not to have a target publication in mind. Don’t worry, they’re out there! 

There are household names like Cosmo, Time, and People, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. 

For pieces that target the general public, including people with specific hobby interests, there are plenty of  in-flight magazines  and corporate-sponsored online publications looking for writers.  

For professional audiences, trade publications are great, and there’s plenty of them. You can find one by Googling the name of a specific industry plus “trade publication,” or check out  TradePub.com . Alternatively, if your topic is more general-audience oriented, think about pitching local/regional magazines, national magazines targeted at a certain age/income group or magazines which come as supplements with newspapers.

Whichever direction you decide to go, take plenty of time to choose the right magazine. The fit between an article and a magazine is a big part of whether that article succeeds.

Step 2: Get to know your audience

The only way to pitch the right article to a publication is to know what they already publish. Before you do anything else, get a copy of the magazine or check out its website and read some digitally printed articles – you should look for ideas for how to adapt your subject treatment to their style. 

Read at least five articles, regardless of format, and learn as much as you can about who the magazine is targeting. Try to  identify the target reader  by their:

• Marital and family situation
• Financial and socioeconomic status
• Personal interests and hobbies
• Professional status

Identify whether there are specific characteristics of the target audience that you should know. Trade publications, for example, inherently aim their content toward professionals in a particular field. Niche interest magazines… well, that one’s fairly obvious.

Step 3: Confirm or choose your topic.

Reading articles that the magazine has published will give you an idea not only of the magazine’s readership but also the story angles and tone that they tend to prefer, and therefore how to pitch them an idea which will be appealing. 

If you already have an idea….

Keep your eyes open for red or green flags (not literally, of course). Sometimes, you’ll find that your idea fits perfectly within the magazine’s content calendar. At other times, you’ll realize it’s not quite right for this publication.

Sometimes, the article won’t work no matter how hard you try, and that’s okay. It’s not anything against your article; it just means that you’ll need to pitch to a different publication. 

If you need an idea….

That’s also fine. It might even make your life easier because you don’t have to, as one writer I know delicately puts it, “kill off your baby.” You just have to find a baby, which is no easy task either.

As you’re reading the magazine you’ve chosen, brainstorm article ideas that come to you. They won’t all be winners but write them down anyway. Keep brainstorming as your mind processes what you’ve read. 

Meanwhile, pay attention to the news. You won’t necessarily pitch a hard-hitting political editorial, but current events inform almost every industry and even many hobbies. The US just elected a zombie as president? See if Good Housekeeping wants an exposé on how the White House might redecorate.

Step 4: Choose an angle

An angle is your approach to the topic. It’s your way of telling the audience why you care about the story and why they should too.

In researching this article (every article gets researched!), I encountered a spot-on  definition of angle :  “It’s the lens through which the writer filters the information… and focuses it to make it meaningful.” 

I like this definition because it clearly distinguishes the angle from the topic. Two writers can consider the same topic but because they view it from different angles – through different lenses – they create a completely different image.

For example, imagine two writers who are crafting articles about the recent zombie apocalypse. The first writer, who’s pitching to a trade publication for contractors, focuses on techniques for repairing zombie-damaged homes. The second wants to pitch to Psychology Today, so they choose the angle of how zombie PTSD has put an increased load on therapists’ private practices. How to ‘frame’ stories like this is a skill you pick up over time (and a good reason to be a generalist rather than a specialist, in many cases).

Step 5: Write a query letter

Your angle is the most important part of your query. It tells the editor most of what they need to know about why your article matters, who will want to read it, and why you feel compelled to write it. This will be the first sentence or two of your pitch.

You’ll also need to include a little bit  about yourself as a writer . Think of this as a mini-bio (emphasis on the mini). Open with a few compelling words about what you write and why you’re qualified to write it. If you have names to drop – a degree you’ve earned, a certification, or big-name magazines that have published your writing – definitely drop them. 

All told, your pitch should be no more than two paragraphs. One is better. It shows you can express a complex idea succinctly. Editors love that.  Here’s a full guide on how to writing a query letter , which you may find useful.

Step 6: Know the job

From here on out, we’re assuming that you got the gig. This may not be the case the first time around and that’s normal. Don’t give up if you get a few – or many – rejections before you get an article accepted.

Once you do, of course, step 5.5 will be to celebrate. You’ve earned it. Then it’s time to dust the confetti off your shoulders, finish off your last bite of cake, and get down to business.

Read the message from the editor who hired you. Make sure you know what their expectations are for the piece. That includes word count, deadline, and any structural requirements the publication has given you. 

If they haven’t given you a style guide, ask if they have one – it’ll tell you how to write in the house style and will dramatically cut down the editing you (or the subeditor) will have to do after you submit your piece. Make sure you know whether they use AP style, Chicago, or something else altogether.

Step 7: Research the topic

Researching is one of my favorite aspects of writing. It’s like brainstorming in reverse – instead of waiting to see what’s going to come out of my fingers, I just have to keep my mind open for exciting facts and new ways of thinking.

Let your research take you where it will, but always check the legitimacy of the source before you use it. Look for:

• Publication dates  within the last year or two. Nothing from a prior decade, unless you’re specifically looking for historical information
• Credible authors  with verifiable backgrounds. If you don’t already recognize the website and the author as highly respected, check credentials. 
• Primary sources , or as primary as possible. If an article references a study, keep digging until you find the study, and then use that.   

Step 8: Interview sources

Look at your research and think about what sub-topics might benefit from first-hand accounts or the insights of working professionals. Interviews add a lot to an article, and editors love them.

Finding an expert

There are lots of  ways to find experts , from tapping your network to cold calling an association or agency in the industry you’re targeting. PR agencies can also be great resources for pointing you toward someone who has specialized expertise in a particular topic.

Interviewing the expert

Prepare, prepare, prepare. Make a list of questions beforehand and check it against your outline to be sure you’re not missing anything. Make sure your list includes the basic information like name, job title, and location.

Hold the interview  at a time and place that’s convenient for the source. Record the interview if you can get explicit permission and if the source seems comfortable with being recorded. 

Ask as many open-ended questions as possible. It’s okay to follow the source’s lead if they take you in an unexpected direction but don’t stray too far off-topic. 

Step 9: Create an outline

Outlining is another of my favorite parts of writing. There’s just something about taking all of those chaotic research notes and putting them in a nice neat outline.

There are lots of ways of outlining, and you should feel free to use whichever technique appeals to you. Personally, I like a basic skeleton outline. It lets me line out all of the sub-topics I want to write about, in the order I want to write about them. Then I make a brief note of the supporting details.

Here’s a sample of what it might look like (thanks to the Writing Center Workshop ).

This is just a template. No one will be seeing your outline but you, so choose any structure and style that makes your writing life easier. 

Step 10: Write!

This is the really fun part, and it gets to be even more fun when you’ve invested the time in solid researching and outlining. By the time you get to this part, you’re so well-prepared that the words can just flow.

Now you have a road map for writing for a magazine, all the way from concept to execution. So what are you waiting for? Go write, and come back to add the piece to your portfolio when you get your byline!

Ellie is a full-time freelance writer with a background in playwriting, theater, and dance. She especially loves writing articles that help creatives and freelancers manage their time, talent, and money.

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How to Write a Magazine Article

Last Updated: October 11, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 935,639 times.

Magazine articles can be a big boost for seasoned freelance writers or writers who are trying to jump-start their writing careers. In fact, there are no clear qualifications required for writing magazine articles except for a strong writing voice, a passion for research, and the ability to target your article pitches to the right publications. Though it may seem like magazines may be fading in the digital age, national magazines continue to thrive and can pay their writers $1 a word. [1] X Research source To write a good magazine article, you should focus on generating strong article ideas and crafting and revising the article with high attention to detail.

Generating Article Ideas

• Check if the bylines match the names on the masthead. If the names on the bylines do not match the masthead names, this may be an indication that the publication hires freelance writers to contribute to its issues.
• Look for the names and contact information of editors for specific areas. If you’re interested in writing about pop culture, identify the name and contact information of the arts editor. If you’re more interested in writing about current events, look for the name and contact information of the managing editor or the features editor. You should avoid contacting the executive editor or the editor-in-chief as they are too high up the chain and you will likely not interact with them as a freelance writer.
• Note recent topics or issues covered in the publication and the angle or spin on the topics. Does the publication seem to go for more controversial takes on a topic or a more objective approach? Does the publication seem open to experimentation in form and content or are they more traditional?
• Look at the headlines used by the publication and how the articles begin. Note if the headlines are shocking or vague. Check if the articles start with a quote, a statistic, or an anecdote. This will give you a good sense of the writing style that gets published in that particular publication.
• Note the types of sources quoted in the articles. Are they academic or more laymen? Are there many sources quoted, or many different types of sources quoted?
• Pay attention to how writers wrap up their articles in the publication. Do they end on a poignant quote? An interesting image? Or do they have a bold, concluding thought?

• These inspiring conversations do not need to be about global problems or a large issue. Having conversations with your neighbors, your friends, and your peers can allow you to discuss local topics that could then turn into an article idea for a local magazine.

• You should also look through your local newspaper for human interest stories that may have national relevance. You could then take the local story and pitch it to a magazine. You may come across a local story that feels incomplete or full of unanswered questions. This could then act as a story idea for a magazine article.

• You can also set your Google alerts to notify you if keywords on topics of interest appear online. If you have Twitter or Instagram, you can use the hashtag option to search trending topics or issues that you can turn into article ideas.

• For example, rather than write about the psychological problems of social media on teenagers, which has been done many times in many different magazines, perhaps you can focus on a demographic that is not often discussed about social media: seniors and the elderly. This will give you a fresh approach to the topic and ensure your article is not just regurgitating a familiar angle.

Crafting the Article

• Look for content written by experts in the field that relates to your article idea. If you are doing a magazine article on dying bee populations in California, for example, you should try to read texts written by at least two bee experts and/or a beekeeper who studies bee populations in California.
• You should ensure any texts you use as part of your research are credible and accurate. Be wary of websites online that contain lots of advertisements or those that are not affiliated with a professionally recognized association or field of study. Make sure you check if any of the claims made by an author have been disputed by other experts in the field or have been challenged by other experts. Try to present a well-rounded approach to your research so you do not appear biased or slanted in your research.

• You can also do an online search for individuals who may serve as good expert sources based in your area. If you need a legal source, you may ask other freelance writers who they use or ask for a contact at a police station or in the legal system.

• Prepare a list of questions before the interview. Research the source’s background and level of expertise. Be specific in your questions, as interviewees usually like to see that you have done previous research and are aware of the source’s background.
• Ask open-ended questions, avoid yes or no questions. For example, rather than asking, "Did you witness the test trials of this drug?" You can present an open-ended question, "What can you tell me about the test trials of this drug?" Be an active listener and try to minimize the amount of talking you do during the interview. The interview should be about the subject, not about you.
• Make sure you end the interview with the question: “Is there anything I haven’t asked you about this topic that I should know about?” You can also ask for referrals to other sources by asking, “Who disagrees with you on your stance on this issue?” and “Who else should I talk to about this issue?”
• Don’t be afraid to contact the source with follow-up questions as your research continues. As well, if you have any controversial or possibly offensive questions to ask the subject, save them for last.

• The best way to transcribe your interviews is to sit down with headphones plugged into your tape recorder and set aside a few hours to type out the interviews. There is no short and quick way to transcribe unless you decide to use a transcription service, which will charge you a fee for transcribing your interviews.

• Your outline should include the main point or angle of the article in the introduction, followed by supporting points in the article body, and a restatement or further development of your main point or angle in your conclusion section.
• The structure of your article will depend on the type of article you are writing. If you are writing an article on an interview with a noteworthy individual, your outline may be more straightforward and begin with the start of the interview and move to the end of the interview. But if you are writing an investigative report, you may start with the most relevant statements or statements that relate to recent news and work backward to the least relevant or more big picture statements. [10] X Research source
• Keep in mind the word count of the article, as specified by your editor. You should keep the first draft within the word count or just above the word count so you do not lose track of your main point. Most editors will be clear about the required word count of the article and will expect you not to go over the word count, for example, 500 words for smaller articles and 2,000-3,000 words for a feature article. Most magazines prefer short and sweet over long and overly detailed, with a maximum of 12 pages, including graphics and images. [11] X Research source
• You should also decide if you are going to include images or graphics in the article and where these graphics are going to come from. You may contribute your own photography or the publication may provide a photographer. If you are using graphics, you may need to have a graphic designer re create existing graphics or get permission to use the existing graphics.

• Use an interesting or surprising example: This could be a personal experience that relates to the article topic or a key moment in an interview with a source that relates to the article topic. For example, you may start an article on beekeeping in California by using a discussion you had with a source: "Darryl Bernhardt never thought he would end up becoming the foremost expert on beekeeping in California."
• Try a provocative quotation: This could be from a source from your research that raises interesting questions or introduces your angle on the topic. For example, you may quote a source who has a surprising stance on bee populations: "'Bees are more confused than ever,' Darryl Bernhart, the foremost expert in bees in California, tells me."
• Use a vivid anecdote: An anecdote is a short story that carries moral or symbolic weight. Think of an anecdote that might be a poetic or powerful way to open your article. For example, you may relate a short story about coming across abandoned bee hives in California with one of your sources, an expert in bee populations in California.
• Come up with a thought provoking question: Think of a question that will get your reader thinking and engaged in your topic, or that may surprise them. For example, for an article on beekeeping you may start with the question: "What if all the bees in California disappeared one day?"

• You want to avoid leaning too much on quotations to write the article for you. A good rule of thumb is to expand on a quotation once you use it and only use quotations when they feel necessary and impactful. The quotations should support the main angle of your article and back up any claims being made in the article.

• You may want to lean on a strong quote from a source that feels like it points to future developments relating to the topic or the ongoing nature of the topic. Ending the article on a quote may also give the article more credibility, as you are allowing your sources to provide context for the reader.

Revising the Article

• Having a conversation about the article with your editor can offer you a set of professional eyes who can make sure the article fits within the writing style of the publication and reaches its best possible draft. You should be open to editor feedback and work with your editor to improve the draft of the article.

• You should also get a copy of the publication’s style sheet or contributors guidelines and make sure the article follows these rules and guidelines. Your article should adhere to these guidelines to ensure it is ready for publication by your deadline.

• Most publications accept electronic submissions of articles. Talk with your editor to determine the best way to submit the revised article.

Sample Articles

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about writing an article, check out our in-depth interview with Gerald Posner .

• ↑ http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules-and-tips/tips-on-writing-a-good-feature-for-magazines.html
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/20-ways-to-generate-article-ideas-in-20-minutes-or-less
• ↑ http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jun03/eight-tips-for-getting-published-in-magazines-6036
• ↑ http://www.thepenmagazine.net/20-steps-to-write-a-good-article/
• ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R5f2VV58pw
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-nonfiction/how-many-different-kinds-of-articles-are-there
• ↑ http://libguides.unf.edu/c.php?g=177086&p=1163719

About This Article

To write a magazine article, start by researching your topic and interviewing experts in the field. Next, create an outline of the main points you want to cover so you don’t go off topic. Then, start the article with a hook that will grab the reader’s attention and keep them reading. As you write, incorporate quotes from your research, but be careful to stick to your editor’s word count, such as 500 words for a small article or 2,000 words for a feature. Finally, conclude with a statement that expands on your topic, but leaves the reader wanting to learn more. For tips on how to smoothly navigate the revision process with an editor, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Julia Clementson

Magazine Article Structure: How to Master the Layout

Table of Contents

Understanding the intricacies of a magazine article’s structure is crucial for writers and readers. A well-structured magazine article ensures clarity and engagement and enhances the reader’s comprehension and retention of the content. From captivating leads to compelling conclusions, every element plays a pivotal role.

Visual elements, sidebars, and subheadings are also woven to provide depth and context. With the diverse formats available, it’s essential to discern which structure best fits the content and audience. Mastery of these structural elements promises impactful and memorable magazine articles.

Introduction to Magazine Article Structures

When picking up a magazine, readers must recognize the careful planning and structure of crafting each piece. However, the backbone of a magazine article is its structure, an invisible force guiding the narrative and ensuring clarity and engagement.

Why Structure Matters

Understanding the structure of a magazine article is beneficial for writers and readers. Just as architects need blueprints and chefs require recipes, writers rely on structure to build a coherent and impactful piece . The structure offers a systematic approach, ensuring that the writer’s message is conveyed precisely and that the reader’s journey is smooth and intuitive.

For readers, a well-structured article provides a clear path to comprehension. It ensures that the introduction grabs their attention, the main content delivers valuable information, and the conclusion ties everything together, leaving them with a clear takeaway or thought.

Components of a Magazine Article

At a high level, a magazine article consists of:

The Lead: This is the hook, the captivating start that grabs the reader’s attention.

The Body: This section delves into the heart of the topic, whether it’s an in-depth investigation, a profile, or a feature on a particular subject.

The Conclusion: It wraps up the article, providing closure or sometimes leaving the reader with something provocative to think about.

However, this is a simplification. Depending on the type of magazine article, the structure can vary, with elements such as sidebars, pull quotes, and visual aids adding depth and richness to the content.

Gains for the Reader

When readers familiarize themselves with these structures, they begin to read with a more informed perspective . They can anticipate the flow of the content, knowing where the author might present crucial facts, opposing viewpoints, or anecdotal evidence. This knowledge enriches the reading experience, allowing readers to extract more value from the article.

Moreover, an awareness of structure can heighten readers’ critical thinking skills. By understanding how an article is constructed, readers can more effectively assess the strength of an argument, the research’s depth, or the narrative’s bias.

A Mutual Understanding

In essence, the structure of a magazine article serves as a bridge between the writer’s intent and the reader’s understanding. For writers, it’s a tool to convey their message effectively. For readers, it’s a lens through which they can better interpret and engage with the content . A mutual appreciation of this structure ensures that the dance between writer and reader is harmonious, with each step or sentence leading seamlessly to the next.

The Anatomy of a Lead for a Magazine Article

In any compelling narrative, the beginning often sets the stage for what’s to come. For magazine articles, this critical beginning is known as the “lead.” It’s the gateway into the story, providing a glimpse of the content that awaits. The lead’s role is paramount: it either entices the reader to venture further into the article or fails to capture their attention, causing them to move on.

A magazine article example can significantly illuminate the power of a strong lead. Consider two articles on the same topic: while one might begin with a shocking statistic, the other could open with a personal anecdote. Both are valid approaches, but their impact on the reader can vary significantly depending on their execution and the target audience.

Different Types of Leads and Their Purposes

Anecdotal Lead: This type begins with a short story or personal account related to the main topic. It aims to humanize the subject and forge an emotional connection with the reader. For instance, a magazine article example about climate change might start with a villager’s firsthand account of witnessing glacier melt.

Question Lead: This lead engages the reader’s curiosity by posing a thought-provoking question. “What if you knew the exact day you’d die?” could be an intriguing lead for an article about genetic predictions.

Statistic Lead: This lead utilizes complex data or surprising statistics to underscore the article’s significance. An article discussing smartphone addiction might start with, “75% of millennials check their phones within 5 minutes of waking up.”

Descriptive Lead: Painting a vivid picture, this lead immerses the reader in a setting, scene, or situation. For a magazine article example about a bustling city market, the lead might dive into the cacophony of sellers, fragrances, and colors.

Quotation Lead: Beginning with a relevant quote, this lead lends authority or contrasts viewpoints. An article on freedom might open with a quote from Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King Jr.

Contrast Lead: This lead highlights the disparity by juxtaposing two opposing ideas or scenarios. An article about the digital divide might start by comparing a day in the life of two students, one with and one without internet access.

Mastering the Lead: A Foundation for Success

Regardless of the type, a lead’s primary function remains consistent: to captivate and guide the reader into the article’s main body. It’s the reader’s first impression; as the old adage goes, first impressions matter. Whether drawing from a magazine article example or crafting an original piece, understanding the anatomy of a lead is crucial for anyone aiming to engage and inform their audience effectively.

Main Body Formats: From Narratives to How-Tos

The main body of a magazine article is where the meat of the content lies. It’s the detailed exploration, the unfolding narrative, the in-depth discussion. Depending on the content and purpose, the magazine article format for the main body can vary widely. From weaving engaging narratives to instructive how-tos, the format chosen significantly influences the reader’s experience and comprehension.

Narrative Format

Application: Used primarily for personal essays, long-form journalism, and features.

Description: This format relies on storytelling techniques, often flowing like a novel or a short story. It might follow a chronological order or use flashbacks, with character development, plot, and a climax.

Real-life Example: An article detailing a mountaineer’s ascent of Mount Everest would use the narrative format. It would chronicle the journey from the base camp and capture the challenges, personal emotions, and eventual triumph or setback.

Expository Format

Application: Common for articles that aim to inform or explain without the writer’s personal opinion.

Description: This format provides a straightforward, fact-based explanation of a topic. It relies heavily on research, expert quotes, and data.

Real-life Example: An article exploring the reasons behind bee population decline, detailing the role of pesticides, climate change, and habitat loss, would adopt an expository magazine article format.

How-to or Instructional Format

Application: Used for articles that guide the reader through a process or instructions.

Description: This format breaks down a task into digestible steps, often supplemented with tips, illustrations, or cautionary notes. It’s direct and often written in the second person, addressing the reader directly.

Real-life Example: An article teaching readers how to create a rooftop garden, complete with steps, necessary tools, and best plants for rooftop environments, would utilize this format.

Q&A Format

Application: Typical for interviews or articles that revolve around experts’ insights.

Description: Presented as a series of questions followed by answers. This magazine article format is straightforward but engaging if the questions are insightful and the solutions provide depth.

Real-life Example: An interview with a renowned climate scientist, where they answer queries about global warming, its impact, and mitigation measures, would adopt a Q&A structure.

Listicle Format

Application: Popular in modern digital magazines or platforms catering to readers looking for quick, engaging reads.

Description: As the name suggests, it presents information in a list form, often numbered or bulleted.

Real-life Example: “10 Revolutionary Women Writers of the 21st Century” would be a listicle briefly describing each writer and their contributions.

Embracing Versatility

The main body’s structure of a magazine article is as varied as the topics they cover. By understanding each magazine article format and its applications, writers can ensure their content is engaging and compelling, catering to their readers’ specific needs and preferences.

Using Sidebars for Additional Insight

In magazine layouts, sidebars often stand out as strategic design elements, adding layers of context, detail, or intrigue to the main content. A well-designed sidebar doesn’t just supplement the article but elevates it, providing readers with enriched understanding and engagement.

The Role of Sidebars in Magazine Article Design

The primary function of a sidebar in a magazine article design is to offer supplemental information related to the main content. Instead of disrupting the flow of the article with tangential or in-depth details, sidebars house this additional data, ensuring the main narrative remains crisp and focused. Sidebars can:

Highlight Key Points: Summarizing essential information or presenting “at a glance” insights.

Delve Deeper: Offering a more in-depth exploration of a specific point mentioned in the article.

Provide Context: Sharing background information or historical data relevant to the topic.

Showcase Visuals: Including charts, graphs, or images that support the article’s content.

Share Testimonials or Quotes: Giving voice to experts or those affected by the topic.

Designing Effective Sidebars

The magazine article design for sidebars varies, but there are a few best practices to ensure they serve their purpose effectively:

Contrast with Main Content: Different fonts, colors, or backgrounds differentiate the sidebar from the primary content.

Keep It Concise: Sidebars should be brief, offering bite-sized information. Overloading a sidebar can overwhelm readers and detract from its purpose.

Strategic Placement: Position the sidebar close to the relevant content, ensuring readers naturally gravitate towards it as they progress through the article.

Use Clear Headings: If the sidebar contains different types of information, use subheadings to guide the reader.

Enhancing Reader Engagement and Understanding

Including sidebars in a magazine, article design does more than beautify a page or fill space; it significantly amplifies reader comprehension and interaction. By offering additional insights without breaking the primary narrative’s flow, sidebars cater to readers who crave a deeper dive into specific points.

For instance, in an article about the benefits of organic farming, a sidebar could provide statistics on increased organic produce sales over the years. This immediate access to supplemental data can strengthen the article’s argument and give readers a holistic understanding.

Moreover, for readers skimming the article, sidebars can act as focal points, drawing their attention to critical facts or insights that might otherwise be buried in the main content.

The Sidebar’s Pivotal Role

Sidebars play a pivotal role in the intricate dance of magazine article design. They enhance aesthetics and enrich content, providing readers with a multi-dimensional exploration of topics. When designed with purpose and precision, sidebars can transform a good article into a great one.

The Power of Effective Headings and Subheadings

The tapestry of a magazine article is not just its intricate and detailed content but also its magazine article frame—constructed using headings and subheadings. While these elements might seem simple, they wield a transformative power in guiding and enhancing the reader’s journey and comprehension.

Significance in the Magazine Article Frame

Within the complex structure of a magazine piece, headings and subheadings function as navigational beacons. Just as a map uses landmarks to help travelers find their way, the magazine article frame uses these elements to direct readers through its content.

Setting the Tone: The main heading is the reader’s first interaction with the content. A well-crafted header grabs attention and sets expectations, highlighting the article’s tone and focus.

Segmentation: Particularly in lengthy articles, subheadings break the text into digestible sections. This segmentation aids readers in understanding the article’s flow and the progression of ideas.

Facilitating Skimming: Only some readers dive deep into the content in today’s fast-paced world. Many skim to gather the gist. Headings and subheadings allow these readers to quickly pinpoint areas of interest and understand the main takeaways.

Breaking Down Information Effectively

An article without clear divisions can appear daunting, much like a long, winding road without signposts. Headings and subheadings work to classify information, making it accessible and easily digestible.

Highlighting Key Points: Through concise and impactful subheadings, writers can emphasize the core ideas of each section, ensuring readers grasp the essential messages even if they don’t delve into every paragraph.

Creating a Logical Flow: Sequential and thoughtfully crafted headings guide readers through a logical journey, from introducing a topic to providing evidence, showcasing examples, and concluding.

Aiding Memory Retention: By compartmentalizing information, headings and subheadings make it easier for readers to recall details. The human brain often remembers structured information better than continuous, undivided content.

Crafting Effective Headings in the Magazine Article Frame

While the utility of headings and subheadings is evident, their efficacy relies on their construction. An impactful header should:

• Be concise yet descriptive.
• Engage the reader’s curiosity.
• Reflect the content it precedes.
• Be consistent in style throughout the article, ensuring a cohesive magazine article frame.

The Unsung Pillars

While imagery, quotes, and narrative arcs often steal the limelight in magazine articles, the humble headings and subheadings remain the unsung pillars of the magazine article frame. They structure and shape the content , ensuring the message is noticed in the maze of words. As integral parts of the magazine article frame, they are pivotal in enhancing readability, understanding, and engagement.

Integrating Visual Elements: Photos, Illustrations, and Infographics

The intricate blend of words in a magazine article forms a tapestry of information, weaving narratives and presenting insights. However, visuals such as photos, illustrations, and infographics play a quintessential role in any effective magazine article template. They are not mere decorations but powerful storytelling tools that complement and amplify the textual content.

The Role of Visuals in a Magazine Article Template

Instant Engagement: A picture is worth a thousand words. In the bustling world of content consumption, visuals can instantly grab readers’ attention, anchoring them to the article. Before delving into the textual content, an evocative image or a captivating infographic can intrigue readers, setting the tone for what’s to come.

Complementing the Text: A magazine article template’s relationship between text and visuals is symbiotic. While words convey detailed information, visuals support, emphasize, and enhance those details. For instance, an article on wildlife conservation becomes infinitely more impactful when accompanied by a striking image of an endangered species in its natural habitat.

Breaking Monotony: Long-form articles can appear daunting and monolithic. Integrating visuals breaks the textual monotony, offering readers a refreshing change of pace and facilitating easier content digestion.

Facilitating Understanding: Complex topics or data-heavy discussions can be challenging to convey solely through words. Here, infographics shine. They simplify intricate data, presenting it in a digestible, visually appealing manner. A magazine article template incorporating infographics can transform a dense topic into an engaging, easily understandable narrative.

Enhancing the Magazine Article Template with Varied Visuals

Photos: Authentic, high-resolution images can evoke emotions, set contexts, or provide real-life examples. They add a layer of realism to the article, allowing readers to visualize described scenarios or subjects.

Illustrations: These offer a more flexible and creative avenue than photos. Images can be tailored to match the article’s tone, whether whimsical, serious, or abstract. They add a unique flair to the magazine article template, making it stand out.

Infographics: As visual representations of information, infographics distill complex data or concepts into easily graspable visuals. They’re especially effective in articles that deal with statistics, processes, or timelines.

The Visual-Textual Symphony

The art of crafting an influential magazine article lies in the harmonious integration of text and visuals. In a well-designed magazine article template, each visual element is strategically positioned to reinforce, complement, and elevate the textual content. Through this blend, articles achieve a dynamic, multifaceted form of storytelling, ensuring readers understand and experience the content.

The Art of Crafting a Memorable Conclusion for a Magazine Article

In magazine articles, every section has a unique role, from the gripping leads to the compelling body. But, within the intricacies of a magazine article layout, the conclusion stands out as the final note. This swan song leaves a resonant echo in the reader’s mind. Much like the finishing stroke in a painting, it completes the picture, offering readers clarity, insights, and a sense of fulfillment.

The Quintessential Role of a Conclusion in the Magazine Article Layout

Every component of a magazine article layout has a purpose, and the conclusion is no exception. It is the culmination of the reader’s journey, a destination that should leave them informed, contemplative, and spurred into action.

Leaving a Lasting Impression: The ending of an article often defines its remembrance. While readers may skim sections of the main body or gloss over details, the conclusion offers a summarized essence, reinforcing the core message. A memorable conclusion ensures the reader leaves with a clear takeaway, deepening the article’s purpose in their memory.

Providing a Sense of Completion: The conclusion acts as the seal, closing the narrative. In a well-structured magazine article layout, the conclusion ensures all threads spun in the narrative converge, offering readers a rounded perspective. This closure prevents readers from feeling adrift, ensuring they leave with a sense of satisfaction.

Inspiring Action and Reflection: Beyond mere summarization, a robust conclusion nudges readers towards introspection or tangible action. Whether challenging them with a thought-provoking question, presenting a call to action, or urging them to reconsider preconceived notions, the conclusion’s potential to instigate change is immense.

Tailoring the Conclusion to the Magazine Article Layout

While the significance of a conclusion is undeniable, its effectiveness is contingent on how it’s integrated into the overall magazine article layout.

• Consistency with the Theme: The conclusion should harmonize with the article’s overarching theme, ensuring a fluid transition from the main body.
• Avoid Introducing New Elements: A conclusion is a synthesis, not a place for fresh revelations. New information can jolt the reader, detracting from the sense of closure.
• Engage Emotionally: Evoking emotions, whether hope, concern, or inspiration, amplifies the lasting power of the conclusion. An emotional connection ensures readers carry the article’s essence with them.

The Lasting Legacy of Conclusions

In the multifaceted design of a magazine article layout, the conclusion emerges as the final brushstroke, the defining silhouette against the backdrop. Its power lies in its subtlety, its ability to encapsulate the narrative’s spirit, and its potential to leave a lingering trace in the mindscape of readers. Crafting this section with intention and finesse ensures that an article doesn’t just end but resonates, echoing its core message long after the last word is read.

Common Magazine Article Types and Their Unique Structures

The world of magazine article writing is rich and varied, offering a plethora of formats that cater to different content needs and audience preferences. Each type of article possesses a distinct structure crafted to enhance its primary objective. Let’s delve into some common magazine article types and unpack their unique structural nuances, offering illustrative examples for better understanding.

Feature Articles

Structure: This is the crown jewel of magazine article writing, often diving deep into a topic, person, event, or trend. Feature articles typically start with a strong lead, setting the tone and drawing readers in. They then progress through a detailed body with subheadings, anecdotes, interviews, and personal reflections. The conclusion often circles back to the lead, offering closure.

Example: A feature article on the impact of climate change on polar bears might begin with a heart-wrenching account of a lone bear’s struggle, delve into scientific data, expert opinions, and local stories, before ending with a broader reflection on nature’s fragile balance.

Structure: Profiles focus on individuals, providing an in-depth look at their life, achievements, personality, and more. After a compelling introduction highlighting the individual’s significance, the body elaborates on their background, significant milestones, challenges, and personal anecdotes. The conclusion often offers insights into their future plans or broader impact.

Example: In magazine article writing, a profile on a renowned author might begin by discussing a pivotal moment in their latest book, dive into their writing journey, personal life, and literary achievements, and conclude with their legacy in the literary world.

News Stories

Structure: Unlike newspapers, magazine news stories offer more depth. They commence with a headline and lead that outlines the main event or update. The body provides detailed information, background context, related events, and expert opinions. It concludes with implications or future predictions.

Example: A news story about a technological breakthrough in renewable energy sources might start with the discovery’s announcement, explain the technology, its potential benefits and challenges, and conclude with its potential global impact.

How-to Articles

Structure: These are instructional pieces. They start with an introduction explaining the importance of the task. The main body follows a step-by-step format, often accompanied by subheadings, bullet points, and images for clarity. The conclusion offers additional tips or emphasizes the benefits of completing the task.

Example: An article on “How to Grow Organic Tomatoes” would detail the process, from selecting seeds to harvesting, guiding readers through each phase with clear instructions and visual aids.

Structure: Reviews assess products, books, films, etc. They begin with an introduction that provides context. The body delves into features, pros, cons, and personal experiences. The conclusion offers a verdict or recommendation.

Example: A movie review might introduce the film’s context, discuss its plot, characters, direction, and cinematography strengths and weaknesses, and end with a recommendation.

In Summation

The diversity in magazine article writing ensures writers can approach subjects from various angles, presenting engaging and apt content. By understanding the unique structures associated with each type, writers can craft pieces that resonate, inform, and captivate their readers.

What are feature articles?

Feature articles are comprehensive pieces that delve deep into a topic, person, event, or trend. They combine detailed analysis, anecdotes, interviews, and personal reflections to give readers an in-depth understanding.

Are magazine news stories similar to newspaper articles?

While both report on current events, magazine news stories offer more depth and context than their newspaper counterparts. They often include background information, related events, and expert insights.

What is the primary objective of a how-to article?

How-to articles are instructional pieces guiding readers through a process or task step-by-step . They are structured for clarity, often using subheadings, bullet points, and visuals to ensure understanding.

How do reviews offer a verdict or recommendation?

Reviews assess products or media by discussing their features, strengths, and weaknesses. Based on this assessment and the writer’s personal experience, a conclusion provides a verdict or recommendation to readers.

Can a magazine article combine multiple formats?

While each type has a distinct structure, skilled magazine article writing can blend elements from various formats to create a unique, engaging piece tailored to the topic and audience.

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Knowledge Base > Magazines > How to Write a Magazine Article? 12 Golden Rules

How to Write a Magazine Article? 12 Golden Rules

Although the number of magazines is shrinking in the digital age, many magazines have moved online. Many magazines created by online magazine maker are still popular, and authors enjoy fame and respect. That’s why, for many freelance writers, writing articles in magazines is often a career goal – because the pay can be ten times more per word than writing articles or texts for the local newspaper.

Writing magazine articles requires a different skill set than writing blog posts, screenplays, or advertisements. What’s more, as a magazine writer, more than in any other industry, you need to specialize to succeed. You write articles about history differently, sports differently, and sports history in a different way still.

A talent for writing, a love of meticulous research, and flexibility in creating texts are vital skills you need to master. Therefore, many people are interested in creating and publishing their own magazine need to master this specific style and learn how to write a magazine article.

What is a magazine?

A magazine is a publication that is a collection of articles that appears regularly. The magazine articles can be about any topic, as well as topics that interest a specific group, such as sports fans, music fans, or board game enthusiasts.

A magazine can be published weekly, monthly, bimonthly, or only a few times a year. Most magazines are published once a week or once a month. Most magazine articles do not have a list of sources and are written by regular magazine editors and writers, rarely freelance writers.

Most magazine articles are easy to read and don’t take too long to read. They are often illustrated with photos or other images, and are written with simple but remarkable fonts . Today, magazines are increasingly being replaced by websites, but there are still many magazines on various topics.

What is a magazine article?

A magazine article is a specific text that can be found in a magazine or newspaper. It can be a report, a profile of an important person, an opinion piece, a discussion of a topic or a personal essay. Depending on the topic, a magazine article is usually 1,000 to 5,000 words long.

The magazine usually employs a group of editors who come up with a theme for each issue and relevant article ideas. This way, all the articles and features in the issue will have something in common. A sports magazine might talk about the start of a new season, a political magazine about an upcoming election, and a Valentine’s Day issue might be about romance.

How the format of a magazine article differs from that of a newspaper or other articles? In a newspaper that comes out every day, put the most important parts of the story first. Newspaper articles are usually read once and aren’t supposed to influence anyone. It has to be news, something you want to read.

On the other hand, a good magazine article should often start with a mystery, a question, or a situation that makes the reader want to read on. Daily newspaper articles should be unbiased descriptions of what happened, while magazine articles, often subjective, can cover a particular topic from a certain angle. To learn how to write a magazine article, you need to know what the magazine is about and how to appeal to its readers.

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Types and examples of magazine articles

Magazine editors categorize articles by type and often mention them in publication’s submission guidelines, so knowing these types by name will help you communicate with the editor. These are: First Person Article, Opinion Piece, Information or Service Piece, Personality Profile, and Think Piece. Many news articles, how-to articles, and reviews can also be found in magazines, but they are slightly different, and many of these have moved online, to digital magazines . Articles can also feature essays or humor pieces.

First Person Article

First-person magazine articles are written in the first person because they are based on personal experience. Depending on their length and newsworthiness, they can be sold as feature articles or essays. They are frequently personal accounts, especially interesting if they are written by a well-known magazine writer or celebrity. Typically, the purpose of such an article is stated in the first line or paragraph to hook the magazine’s target audience, such as “I voted for this politician, and now I regret my life choices.” When you write a magazine article like this one, you should present an unpopular or overlooked point of view from a fresh perspective.

Opinion Piece

This kind of magazine writing piece or opinion essay is less personal than the First-Person Article, but it still requires a narrow focus on a specific topic. The reader’s main question is, “Why are you qualified to render an opinion?” Everyone has an opinion, but why should anyone read yours?

If you’re an expert on this subject, let the reader know right away. Don’t criticize music trends if you’re not a musician! Demonstrate your knowledge, and support your opinion with up-to-date information and credentials.

Information/Service Piece

An informational or service piece expands the reader’s understanding of a particular subject. This can be a guide, a list of important issues. You can either be the expert or interview one. These are extremely pertinent to a specific industry. In a sports magazine article, you can explain a complete history of a sports team and its roster for the upcoming season.

You can expect some in-depth knowledge if the article title contains the phrases like Myths about or Secrets of. Explain everything you know: magazine journalism is different than being a freelance writer in that you should have some industry knowledge already.

Personality profile

This type of magazine article can present a silhouette of an important or relevant person – a politician, a political activist, a sports legend… If you’re writing for a video game magazine you can showcase a famous game designer or even an entire article can be about a game character like Lara Croft or Guybrush Threepwood, if the fictional character is detailed enough! Explain why readers will find this person interesting or noteworthy.

Think Piece

Written in an investigative tone, the think piece frequently shows the downside or less popular ideas of a popular industry aspect. This magazine article could also explain why something is popular or why a political party lost elections. A think piece is more in-depth than most feature articles and necessitates credibility. Confirm your thesis by interviewing analysts and experts. This type of article can be also found in zines , self-published magazines in small circulation, which often focus on niche hobbies, counterculture groups, or subcultures. If you would like to expend your knowledge about interviewing, make sure to check our guide on how to write an interview article .

How to start a magazine article?

Most creative writing professionals would agree that the best way to start writing a magazine article is with a strong opening sentence. A feature article must draw the attention of your target audience, and grab them from the go.

You can start by asking the reader a question which you will answer in the text of the article – for instance “Did you know that most users of Windows never use 80% of their functions – and that’s a good thing?”. In the content of your magazine articles you will be able to answer this question.

Another example of a good magazine article beginning is storytelling – human brains are fascinated by stories. Starting your example with “20 years ago no one in the industry knew what a genitine was, but now their inventor is one of the most influential people” can draw attention and spike up curiosity.

A great example is also a shocking quote – a compelling idea that goes against the grain is sure to capture the reader’s attention.

Most creative magazine article ideas

Even the most experienced journalists can often be looking for ideas for great articles. How to write a magazine article if you don’t have the slightest idea? Here are some of our suggestions:

Take a look at your specialty. If you’re a freelance writer, it’s a good idea to write about what you know. Delve into a topic thoroughly, and you’ll eventually find your niche and you might move from freelance writing jobs to magazine writing! Why? Having a writing specialty will make magazine editors think of you when story ideas in that genre come up.

Check out what’s trending. When browsing popular stories on social networks, many freelancers choose to write about current events. Lists of popular articles can help you understand what to focus your efforts on. Keep in mind that an article for national magazines needs to be well researched, and what’s trending now may change before the magazine finally comes out.

Reach out to the classics. Nostalgia always sells well. You can go back to books or movies that people remember from their youth or, for example, summarize the last year. Lists and numbers always look good!

12 rules on how to write great magazine articles

1. Write what you know about

If your articles are really fascinating and you know what you are writing about, you have a better chance of getting published, whether in a local newspaper or in a major magazine. Writing requires researching your chosen issue thoroughly. Identify perspectives that have not been explored before – describe something from the perspective of a woman, a minority, or a worker.

2. Research how you should write

Check the writing style requirements or guidelines of the magazines to which you want to submit your work. Each magazine has its own set of guidelines on what topics, manner and tone to use. Check out Strunk and White Elements of Style for tips on writing styles, as this is what many magazines draw from.

3. Remember to be flexible

One of the most valuable writing talents a journalist can possess is flexibility. You may find that you discover completely new facts while writing a magazine article and completely change your approach. Maybe you’ll change your mind 180 degrees and instead of attacking someone, you’ll defend them – anything to attract attention.

4. Make connections and meet people

Networking is important in any business, especially for freelance writers who want to make a jump to magazine writing. Editors regularly quit one magazine to work for another. Therefore, remember to know the people first and foremost than the magazine they work for.

5. Prepare a query letter

A query letter tells the editors why your magazine article is important, whether you think someone will want to read it and why you feel obligated to write it. Add to it a text sample and some information about yourself as a writer. Even a local magazine might not be aware of who you are, after all.

6. Prepare an outline

Always before writing a text have an outline that you can use when composing your articles. It must contain the important ideas, the content of the article body and the summary, the points you will include in it. You will find that it is easier to fill such a framework with your own content.

7. Meet the experts

You need to know pundits in your industry. There are several methods of locating experts, from networking to calling organizations or agencies in your field of interest. If you want to meet a police officer, call the police station and ask if someone could talk to a journalist – many people are tempted if you promise them a feature article.

8. Talk to experts

Once you get a contact for an expert, do your best to make the expert look as good as possible. The more prominent the expert, the better your text. Make a list of questions in advance and compare it with the outline to make sure you don’t forget anything. Remember to accurately describe your expert’s achievements and personal data.

9. Create a memorable title

This step can occur at any point in the process of writing an article for a magazine. Sometimes the whole article starts with a good title! However, there is nothing wrong with waiting until the article is finished before coming up with a title. The most important thing is that the title is catchy – editors-in-chief love that!

10. To write, you have to read

You never know where you will come across an inspiring text. It’s your duty as a good writer to read everything that falls into your hands, whether it’s articles on the front pages of major publications or small blog posts. Learn about the various issues that may be useful to your magazine writing skills.

11. Add a strong ending

End with a strong concluding remark that informs or elaborates on the theme of your piece. The last paragraph should make the reader satisfied, but also curious about the future progress of the issue. He must wonder “what’s next?” and answer the important questions himself.

12. Don’t give up

Writers are rejected hundreds of times, especially when they are initially learning how to create articles for magazines. However, even a seasoned freelance writer and professional journalist can get rejected. The most successful authors simply keep writing – being rejected is part of magazine writing. Freelance writing is a good school of writing career – including coping with rejection.

Now you know how to write a magazine article that will be engaging and interesting. Despite the digitalization of the market, writing magazine articles still offers many possibilities to a freelance writer or a seasoned professional. The market of press and magazines is evolving fast, but the basic principles of journalistic integrity stay the same!

You may be also interested in:

How to Make a Magazine Cover With a Template? 5 Reasons to Start Using a Magazine Maker

Aesthetics and minimalism enthusiast. Loves to explore the world, and travel is the meaning of her life. Amateur photographer and passionate about dogs. At work, she points her energy into crafting content that reflects her interest in literature and design.

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Write Nonfiction NOW!

How to Write Magazine Articles and Essays

November 11, 2008 By nawnfinimport2 2 Comments

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In case you’ve only recently discovered Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) or you’re still struggling with what to write for the challenge – or you simply haven’t found time until now to get started, here’s another idea that you can still complete before month’s end: write a newspaper or magazine article. Put your pen to paper or your fingers to keyboard and whip out an essay or a reported piece of writing.

I’m a journalist by trade, so I thought today I’d offer you my expertise. (Sorry, no guest blogger; just me, Nina Amir.) I received my degree in magazine journalism specifically, although Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Journalism required all magazine journalism majors to also know how to write for newspapers, do layout and edit copy. (The latter put me on the path of becoming a nonfiction article, book and proposal editor.) I’ve been writing articles since I was in high school, where I began my career by reviving the defunct school newspaper and went on to become the school news reporter for the local newspaper.  Since then, I’ve written for more than 45 local, national and international magazines, newspapers, ezines and newsletters on a full-time or freelance basis. I’ve written hundreds of articles on more subjects than I can remember. 

I love what I do. I get to write about so many interesting things and people and so many things that interest me. For example, recently I was asked to write an article on the new Crique de Soleil show, Believe , opening in Los Vegas. I had a blast learning all about its creator Criss Angel and writing about the people who helped him bring his dream into reality. (Look for it in the November/December issue of Movmnt magazine.) Then, I got to write an essay for InterfaithFamily.com on something very personal – my struggle with my husband’s loss of faith.  (You can read it in this week’s issue .) Prior to that, I wrote a reported article for the same ezine on how to prepare for the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. (Read it here .) And before that, I wrote a reported article on the state of the organic market for a trade journal called Grocery Headquarters and a story on female tap dancers in a show produced by Emmy-award winning choreographer Jason Samuels Smith for Dance Spirit magazine. (My son’s a dancer, so I loved writing this article and talking to these phenomenal dancers. Plus, it provided great platform building for the book I’m writing on mentoring boys who want to become professional dancers. If you have a son who dances, check out this blog .)

If you’ve never written an article, don’t be put off. It’s not that difficult. Just tell them what you’re gonna tell ’em. Tell ’em. Then tell ’em what you told ’em. At least that’s what my old Professor John Keats , rest his soul, used to tell us students. (It sounds just like what most high school students are told when writing an essay.) So, let’s break down the three parts of an article.

The Three Parts of an Article

• Just tell them what you’re gonna tell ’em. An article consists, first, of a lead, or a first paragraph that entices the reader into your article. This could also be comprised of several paragraphs if you choose to use an anecdote or a few bulleted items or to talk about a trend occurring. After that, however, you need a sentence or a few sentences that tell your reader what the article is about – a statement of purpose, if you will. Tell them what the article is about so they have an idea of where they are going. Hopefully, you’ve enticed them into wanting to go there.
• Tell ’em.   This section represents the meat of your article. Here you place all your supporting material, such as statistics, quotes you obtained from interviews, additional anecdotes, your analysis, etc. Remember, however, that if you are writing a reported article, in most cases you must write in an unslanted manner; this means without an opinion. If you are writing an essay, you may voice your opinon as loudly as you like. Also, if you are writing an essay, you may not be using quotes but relying instead on your own “voice.”
• Tell ’em what you told ’em. Now write your conclusion. Sum up what you wrote about without simply repeating what you already said. That’s right: Say it again but in a totally new way so your readers have no idea that they are reading the same information again. Give it a new angle. Put a new take on it. Offer additional information to support what you’ve already offered. For an essay, if possible, provide a bit broader view or some quote or anecdote or bit of information that takes the reader into the future. You can use this tactic with a reported article as well, but it works especially well with essays.

If you are looking for a great topic to write about, ask yourself what interests you. Prof. Keats, like most good teachers, always said, “Write about what you know.” I tend to look at my life and identify issues with which I’m currently struggling. I query magazines and newspapers with those topics, and I usually find the editors pretty receptive. Most people are just like you. They struggle with the same issues.

I have a caveat to the “write what you know” advice: Know about what you write. A good writer/journalist can write about anything at all simply by becoming the expert on that topic. I’ve written about life insurance tax law, immortality, retail store imaging, Kabbalah, geodesic domes, lobbying, and the supermarket pet aisle. I served as the managing editor and primary writer for two international medical newsletters, Same-Day Surgery and Clinical Laser Surgery . I didn’t know about these topics when I began writing about them. I knew a lot about them when afterwards. The biggest compliment I ever received came from an employee at the Equitable Life Assurance Society. I was working as the associate editor of employee communications and had just written and published a huge article in the employee newspaper about life insurance tax law. She came up to me and said, “That’s the first article on the subject that I’ve ever understood.”  I told her, “I had to understand it to be able to write about it.” 

So, pick a topic for an article or essay, preferably one you are interested in or feel passionate about. Learn about it. Understand it. Then write about it. And dont’ forget to try and get it published!

For more information on article writing and publishing, check out last year’s archive of blogs. Or contact me at [email protected] .

March 30, 2017 at 1:36 pm

Thank you for helping me understand it very well

October 24, 2017 at 1:20 am

Thanks so much. You’re awesome!

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How to Cite a Magazine Article in APA Style | Format & Examples

Published on February 1, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on December 27, 2023.

To cite a print magazine article in APA Style , list the author’s name, the publication date, the article title, the magazine name, the volume and issue numbers if available, and the page range of the article.

Our free APA Citation Generator can help you create accurate citations for magazine articles.

Cite a magazine article in APA Style now:

Table of contents, citing online magazine articles, frequently asked questions about apa style citations.

To cite an online magazine article, follow the print format but add the URL at the end. Volume and issue numbers, as well as the page range, may be omitted if they’re not stated anywhere.

More academic magazines may list a DOI , much like a journal article . Always use a DOI if one is available; otherwise, try to find a stable URL on the page (e.g. under a “Share” button).

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Include the DOI at the very end of the APA reference entry . If you’re using the 6th edition APA guidelines, the DOI is preceded by the label “doi:”. In the 7th edition , the DOI is preceded by ‘https://doi.org/’.

• 6th edition: doi: 10.1177/0894439316660340
• 7th edition: https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0894439316660340

APA citation example (7th edition)

Hawi, N. S., & Samaha, M. (2016). The relations among social media addiction, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in university students. Social Science Computer Review , 35 (5), 576–586. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439316660340

When no individual author name is listed, but the source can clearly be attributed to a specific organization—e.g., a press release by a charity, a report by an agency, or a page from a company’s website—use the organization’s name as the author in the reference entry and APA in-text citations .

When no author at all can be determined—e.g. a collaboratively edited wiki or an online article published anonymously—use the title in place of the author. In the in-text citation, put the title in quotation marks if it appears in plain text in the reference list, and in italics if it appears in italics in the reference list. Shorten it if necessary.

When you quote or paraphrase a specific passage from a source, you need to indicate the location of the passage in your APA in-text citation . If there are no page numbers (e.g. when citing a website ) but the text is long, you can instead use section headings, paragraph numbers, or a combination of the two:

(Caulfield, 2019, Linking section, para. 1).

Section headings can be shortened if necessary. Kindle location numbers should not be used in ebook citations , as they are unreliable.

If you are referring to the source as a whole, it’s not necessary to include a page number or other marker.

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The Difference Between an Article and an Essay

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In composition studies , an article is a short work of nonfiction that typically appears in a magazine or newspaper or on a website. Unlike essays , which often highlight the subjective impressions of the author (or narrator ), articles are commonly written from an objective point of view . Articles include news items, feature stories, reports , profiles , instructions, product descriptions, and other informative pieces of writing.

What Sets Articles Apart From Essays

Though both articles and essays are types of nonfiction writing, they differ in many ways. Here are some features and qualities of articles that differentiate them from essays.

Subject and Theme in Articles

"A useful exercise is to look at some good articles and name the broader subject and the particular aspect each treats. You will find that the subject always deals with a partial aspect examined from some viewpoint; it is never a crammed condensation of the whole.

"...Observe that there are two essential elements of an article: subject and theme . The subject is what the article is about: the issue, event, or person it deals with. (Again, an article must cover only an aspect of a whole.) The theme is what the author wants to say about the subject—what he brings to the subject." (Ayn Rand, The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers , ed. by Robert Mayhew. Plume, 2001)

"An article is not everything that's true. It's every important thing that's true." (Gary Provost, Beyond Style: Mastering the Finer Points of Writing . Writer's Digest Books, 1988)

Article Structure

"There are five ways to structure your article . They are:

- The inverted pyramid - The double helix - The chronological double-helix - The chronological report - The storytelling model

Think about how you read a newspaper: you scan the captions and then read the first paragraph or two to get the gist of the article and then read further if you want to know more of the details. That's the inverted pyramid style of writing used by journalists, in which what's important comes first. The double-helix also presents facts in order of importance but it alternates between two separate sets of information. For example, suppose you are writing an article about the two national political conventions. You'll first present Fact 1 about the Democratic convention, then Fact 2 about the Republicans, then Fact 2 about the Democrats, Fact 2 about the Republicans, and so on. The chronological double-helix begins like the double helix but once the important facts from each set of information have been presented, it then goes off to relay the events in chronological order...

"The chronological report is the most straightforward structure to follow since it is written in the order in which the events occurred. The final structure is the storytelling model, which utilizes some of the techniques of fiction writing, so you would want to bring the reader into the story right away even if it means beginning in the middle or even near the end and then filling in the facts as the story unfolds." (Richard D. Bank, The Everything Guide to Writing Nonfiction . Adams Media, 2010)

Opening Sentence of an Article

"The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third sentence, it's equally dead. Of such a progression of sentences, each tugging the reader forward until he is hooked, a writer constructs that fateful unit, the ' lead .'" (William Zinsser, On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction , 7th ed. HarperCollins, 2006)

Articles and Media

"More and more, article content written for printed media is also appearing on digital devices (often as an edited version of a longer article) for readers who have short attention spans due to time constraints or their device's small screen. As a result, digital publishers are seeking audio versions of content that is significantly condensed and written in conversational style. Often, content writers must now submit their articles with the understanding they will appear in several media formats." (Roger W. Nielsen, Writing Content: Mastering Magazine and Online Writing . R.W. Nielsen, 2009)

Writer's Voice in Articles and Essays

"Given the confusion of genre minglings and overlaps, what finally distinguishes an essay from an article may just be the author's gumption, the extent to which personal voice , vision, and style are the prime movers and shapers, even though the authorial 'I' may be only a remote energy, nowhere visible but everywhere present. ('We commonly do not remember,' Thoreau wrote in the opening paragraphs of Walden , 'that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking.')" (Justin Kaplan, quoted by Robert Atwan in The Best American Essays, College Edition , 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, 1998)

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• Further vs. Farther: How to Tell the Difference
• Afterward or Afterword: How to Choose the Right Word
• The Notion of Number in English Grammar
• Using Dependant vs. Dependent
• The Value of Analogies in Writing and Speech

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Works Cited Page: Periodicals

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Periodicals include magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals. Works cited entries for periodical sources include three main elements—the author of the article, the title of the article, and information about the magazine, newspaper, or journal. MLA uses the generic term “container” to refer to any print or digital venue (a website or print journal, for example) in which an essay or article may be included.

Below is the generic citation for periodicals using the MLA style. Use this as guidance if you are trying to cite a type of source not described on this page, omitting any information that does not apply:

Author. Title. Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publisher Date, Location (pp.). 2nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Pub date, Location (pp.).

Article in a Magazine

Cite by listing the article's author, putting the title of the article in quotations marks, and italicizing the periodical title. Follow with the date of publication. Remember to abbreviate the month. The basic format is as follows:

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical , Day Month Year, pages.

Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time, 20 Nov. 2000, pp. 70-71.

Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping, Mar. 2006, pp. 143-48.

Article in a Newspaper

Cite a newspaper article as you would a magazine article, but note the different pagination in most newspapers. If there is more than one edition available for that date (as in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the edition after the newspaper title.

Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post, 24 May 2007, p. LZ01.

Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times, late ed.,  21 May 2007, p. A1.

If the newspaper is a less well-known or local publication, include the city name in brackets after the title of the newspaper.

Behre, Robert. "Presidential Hopefuls Get Final Crack at Core of S.C. Democrats." Post and Courier [Charleston, SC],29 Apr. 2007, p. A11.

Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette, IN], 5 Dec. 2000, p. 20.

To cite a review, include the title of the review (if available), then the phrase, “Review of” and provide the title of the work (in italics for books, plays, and films; in quotation marks for articles, poems, and short stories). Finally, provide performance and/or publication information.

Review Author. "Title of Review (if there is one)." Review of Performance Title, by Author/Director/Artist. Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, page.

Seitz, Matt Zoller. "Life in the Sprawling Suburbs, If You Can Really Call It Living." Review of Radiant City , directed by Gary Burns and Jim Brown. New York Times, 30 May 2007, p. E1.

Weiller, K. H. Review of Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender: Historical Perspectives and Media Representations , edited by Linda K. Fuller. Choice, Apr. 2007, p. 1377.

An Editorial & Letter to the Editor

Cite as you would any article in a periodical, but include the designators "Editorial" or "Letter" to identify the type of work it is.

"Of Mines and Men." Editorial. Wall Street Journal, eastern edition, 24 Oct. 2003, p. A14.

Hamer, John. Letter. American Journalism Review, Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007, p. 7.

Anonymous Articles

Cite the article’s title first, then finish the citation as you would any other for that kind of periodical.

"Business: Global Warming's Boom Town; Tourism in Greenland." The Economist , 26 May 2007, p. 82.

"Aging; Women Expect to Care for Aging Parents but Seldom Prepare." Women's Health Weekly, 10 May 2007, p. 18.

An Article in a Scholarly Journal

A scholarly journal can be thought of as a container, as are collections of short stories or poems, a television series, or even a website. A container can be thought of as anything that contains other pieces of work. In this case, cite the author and title of article as you normally would. Then, put the title of the journal in italics. Include the volume number (“vol.”) and issue number (“no.”) when possible, separated by commas. Finally, add the year and page numbers.

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal , Volume, Issue, Year, pages.

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu ." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.

Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise ." Arizona Quarterly , vol. 50, no. 3, 1994, pp. 127-53.

An Article in a Special Issue of a Scholarly Journal

When an article appears in a special issue of a journal, cite the name of the special issue in the entry’s title space, in italics. Add the descriptor “special issue of” and include the name of the journal, also in italics, followed by the rest of the information required for a standard scholarly journal citation.

Web entries should follow a similar format, and should include a DOI (if available), otherwise include a URL or permalink.

Burgess, Anthony. "Politics in the Novels of Graham Greene." Literature and Society, special issue of Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 2, no. 2, 1967, pp. 93-99.

Case, Sue-Ellen. “Eve's Apple, or Women's Narrative Bytes.” Technocriticism and Hypernarrative, special issue of Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 43, no. 3, 1997, pp. 631-50. Project Muse , doi:10.1353/mfs.1997.0056.

Hypocrisy, Spinelessness, and the Triumph of Donald Trump

He said Republican politicians would be easy to break. He was right.

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I n the summer of 2015 , back when he was still talking to traitorous reporters like me, I spent extended stretches with Donald Trump. He was in the early phase of his first campaign for president, though he had quickly made himself the inescapable figure of that race—as he would in pretty much every Republican contest since. We would hop around his various clubs, buildings, holding rooms, limos, planes, golf carts, and mob scenes, Trump disgorging his usual bluster, slander, flattery, and obvious lies. The diatribes were exhausting and disjointed.

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But I was struck by one theme that Trump kept pounding on over and over: that he was used to dealing with “brutal, vicious killers”—by which he meant his fellow ruthless operators in showbiz, real estate, casinos, and other big-boy industries. In contrast, he told me, politicians are saps and weaklings.

“I will roll over them,” he boasted, referring to the flaccid field of Republican challengers he was about to debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that September. They were “puppets,” “not strong people.” He welcomed their contempt, he told me, because that would make his turning them into supplicants all the more humiliating.

“They might speak badly about me now, but they won’t later,” Trump said. They like to say they are “public servants,” he added, his voice dripping with derision at the word servant . But they would eventually submit to him and fear him. They would “evolve,” as they say in politics. “It will be very easy; I can make them evolve,” Trump told me. “They will evolve.”

Like most people who’d been around politics for a while, I was dubious. And wrong. They evolved.

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“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump told me the following spring, as he was completing his romp to the 2016 nomination. We were talking on the phone, and Trump had just wrapped up a rally in Anaheim, California. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry had recently endorsed him, despite dismissing Trump earlier as a “cancer on conservatism” and “a barking carnival act.”

“He made a statement saying something like I’m ‘the smartest guy ever to run for office,’ ” Trump told me (Perry didn’t say exactly that , but close). “How do you get from ‘cancer on the party’ to that? I get it, I get it; it’s how politicians are. But I couldn’t do that.”

Trump accepted Perry’s support, and then promptly taunted him. “He was going [around] saying the worst things about me!” Trump said at the Anaheim rally. “I have never seen people able to pivot like politicians.”

“It’s happening with all of them,” Trump said. “Lindsey Graham just called and was very nice … even though he used to say the worst things.” (Graham had called Trump, among other not-nice things, “ a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot ” and “a kook.”) Soon enough, the last holdouts would come around too. “It’s just so easy, how they do that,” Trump said.

As went individual Republican politicians, so went the party. Reince Priebus, the chair of the Republican National Committee in 2016, would become frustrated with Trump over his obvious scorn for his organization. Still, Priebus would gamely try to assure me that the GOP was shaped not by one man but rather by a set of traditions, principles, and conservative ideals. “The party defines the party,” Priebus kept telling me.

After Trump won the nomination in 2016, “The party defines the party” became a familiar feckless refrain among the GOP’s putative leaders. House Speaker Paul Ryan vowed to me that he would “protect conservatism from being disfigured.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the radio host Hugh Hewitt that “Trump is not going to change the institution,” referring to the GOP. “He’s not going to change the basic philosophy of the party.”

In retrospect, this was hilarious.

By the second night of the 2024 Republican National Convention at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum in July, some attendees had started showing up with a gauze pad slapped over their right ears, a tribute to the boxy white dressing Trump wore to cover the injury he’d suffered in an attempt on his life in Pennsylvania just days earlier.

The near miss had cast a peculiar aura over Trump’s jubilee in Milwaukee. For one thing, the bloodshed reaffirmed the popular Republican notion that Trump is a uniquely marked and defiant figure, as reflected by the T-shirts being sold depicting the wounded nominee raising his fist (as well as the still-fashionable mug-shot merchandise). But I spoke with several convention-goers who appeared stunned into a heightened sense of vulnerability by the event: Trump’s physical vulnerability, yes, but perhaps something shared as well. One could view the ear bandages in the crowd as a communal gesture of humanity, or even empathy.

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Whatever was behind them, the ear accessories quickly spread through the crowd and became ubiquitous. In a sense, the entire Republican Party has become an accessory. To no one’s surprise, everything in Milwaukee revolved around its unavoidable protagonist, “our 45th and soon-to-be 47th president, Donald J. Trump.”

On the first night of the convention, Trump made what would become his familiar WWE-style entrance. His head filled the big screen as the Republicans’ official cantor, Lee “God Bless the U.S.A.” Greenwood, provided the walk-up sermon. “Prayer works,” Greenwood called out as Trump stood in the wings. And God ensured, “as Donald Trump turned his head just slightly, that the bullet missed him just enough.” Trump was then seen on-screen doing a quick twirl of his finger, the universal gesture for Let’s get on with this .

“We have believed for so long that God will make some changes in this country,” Greenwood continued. (This was a few days before the other party’s God, Joe Biden’s “Lord Almighty,” would finally get through the White House switchboard.) Greenwood persisted in bestowing his blessings until Trump could wait no longer and began his slow walk onto the convention floor.

The roar was colossal. Trump waved and clapped for himself. Everyone he passed stepped back in reflexive obedience, or awe. I’d been watching Trump’s adulators work the arena all week, trying to outdo one another. “My fellow Americans,” Senator Marco Rubio said from the podium while Trump—his Audience of One—squinted up at him like a building inspector. As with many other brand-name Republicans in the arena, Rubio had once despised Trump. He ran against him for president in 2016. It got ornery. Rubio implied that Trump had a small penis; Trump derided Rubio as “Liddle Marco” and called him “weak like a baby.” That last assessment held up well.

“The only way to make America wealthy and safe and strong again is to make Donald J. Trump our president again,” Rubio declaimed from the podium. Trump nodded along from his center box, radiating pride of ownership—Liddle Marco had grown up so beautifully.

Not all that long ago, Rubio had told me that “we should not have cults of personality” in the U.S. His parents and grandparents had fled dictatorship in Cuba. Their journey made him appreciate the gift of freedom and the danger of strongmen.

I talked a lot with Rubio in the last days of the 2016 primary, back when he was happy to speak candidly about Trump, and about how he knew better than to entrust the leadership of the United States to a “fraud,” “lunatic,” and “con artist” with autocratic instincts. And they all knew better—the Rubios, the Ted Cruzes, the J. D. Vances, the Doug Burgums, the Nikki Haleys, the Mitch McConnells, the Vivek Ramaswamys, all of them. They probably still know better. But they are all expedient, to their political core. “If you don’t want to get reelected,” Graham once told me, “ you’re in the wrong business .”

For years, many had predicted a reckoning, a shared realization that the noisy, grievance-packed redoubt that the GOP had become—marked by servile devotion to one man—was perhaps not aligned with the party’s best traditions of rugged, free-thinking individualists. “Anytime a leader builds an entire movement around himself, it almost always leads to disaster,” Rubio had told me.

After so many party defections, electoral defeats, and broken spirits, surely some Republican self-correction was inevitable. But although there have been flashes, they haven’t lasted. I’ve heard all the private doubts about Trump from his most public of validators. These private doubts were once very public. “Mark my words, there will be prominent people in American politics who will spend years explaining to people how they fell into this,” Rubio told The New York Times in 2016 , right before he “fell into this” himself.

“I don’t think so,” Doug Burgum, the North Dakota governor, said during his Republican-primary campaign last year, when asked whether he would ever do business with Trump. “I just think it’s important that you’re judged by the company you keep.” Within a few months, however, Burgum would be eager to tell everyone what regular company he was keeping with Trump. “It’s been a real honor for Kathryn and I to have spent as much time with the president as we have,” Burgum said in June as he was auditioning to be Trump’s running mate.

I’d thought that maybe 2024 would be the year the GOP finally began some semblance of a post-Trump future. At the very least, new voices of resistance had to finally assert themselves .

“I feel no need to kiss the ring,” Nikki Haley, Trump’s most competitive primary challenger in 2024, had vowed in February. Haley even made what passed for a subversive remark in her convention speech, when she said that not everyone agrees with Trump all of the time. “That’s their problem,” someone yelled out from the crowd.

But the ring, it would be kissed. “Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period,” Haley said.

I ran into former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson on the arena concourse. He was one of the only Republican-primary challengers who dared question Trump’s worldview. His campaign had gone nowhere, but Hutchinson held relatively firm. “I’m troubled,” Hutchinson told me. “I don’t want our party to be defined by attacks on our judiciary system. I don’t want it to be defined by anger.”

Hutchinson had previously distinguished himself as one of the few Republicans to have held elected office who said he would not vote for Trump. “I’ve made some commitments about not voting for a convicted felon,” Hutchinson conceded to ABC News later at the convention. Then he softened his position. “But that seems like a long time ago.”

Also a long time ago: the 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland, where Ted Cruz had delivered his plucky “vote your conscience” speech in defiance of Trump, whom Cruz had called “utterly amoral” and “a sniveling coward.”

“God Bless Donald J. Trump” is how Cruz’s speech in Milwaukee began. “Let me start by giving thanks to God Almighty for protecting President Trump,” he said, while the bandaged Almighty himself preened up at the sniveling coward onstage, who would follow him anywhere.

Biden’s defeat of Trump in 2020 had seemed certain to weaken Trump’s grip on the Republican Party, if not end his political career. No relevant precedent existed for any one-term president to become his party’s default front-runner in the next election. Especially not an extremely unpopular one-term president who lost by 7 million votes, refused to concede, incited a lethal insurrection in an attempt to overturn the result, was impeached for a second time, defied long-honored tradition by skipping the swearing-in of his successor, left behind a traumatized nation (with 25,000 National Guard troops defending the capital against his own supporters), became the first former president to be indicted … and the rest of the whole loser litany.

Yet the speed with which Trump has settled back into easy dominance of his party has been both remarkable and entirely foreseeable—foreseen, in fact, by Trump himself. Because if there’s been one recurring lesson of the Trump-era GOP, it’s this: Never underestimate the durability of a demagogue with a captive base, a desperate will to keep going, and—perhaps most of all—a feeble and terrified opposition of spineless ciphers (“weak like a baby”).

“You know what I liked about Trump?” Lindsey Graham asked, waxing nostalgic about the former president—and yearning for his return—during a speech in Nashville in 2022. “Everyone was afraid of him. Including me.” It was a killer line, Graham in his amiable-mascot mode. It would also suffice as a preview of the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. “Resistance” to Trump, lame as it was, had become an inside joke among the party faithful.

Trump’s last remaining primary challenger, Haley, quit the race on March 6. That same day, Mitch McConnell—who had criticized the then-president for his “disgraceful” conduct on January 6, 2021—endorsed Trump. Two days later, the spring meeting of the Republican National Committee, in Houston, featured a final address by the outgoing chair, Ronna McDaniel.

McDaniel can get a little weepy at times, especially during goodbyes—or, in her case, an eviction. She started the job in 2017, the day before Trump delivered his mood-setting “American carnage” speech at his inauguration. She had done her best for Trump, taken so much of his abuse and carried so much of his water. She sacrificed her dignity, her reputation, her future employment prospects—even her dynastic family surname, Romney, because Uncle Mitt had fully established himself as a MAGA infidel.

The granddaughter of a Republican governor of Michigan (George Romney) and niece of her party’s last pre-Trump nominee (Mitt), McDaniel was always the wrong nepo baby for this dynasty. Yet she tried to adapt. She said all the right things and made herself MAGA-friendly and reliable, enough to persuade Trump to make her his RNC chair.

Even then, McDaniel had to know that an inelegant end would come, as it usually does for even Trump’s most fervent flunkies and flatterers. She steadied herself at the podium on the fourth floor of the Hilton Americas–Houston, acknowledged her family, and gave a special nod to her staff. “Thank you for all your hard work to send our candidate, Donald J. Trump, back to the White House,” she said. A few RNC employees wiped away tears. They were surely aware that their own days were numbered in this consolidating family business.

Sure enough, 60 RNC staffers would quickly be axed by the incoming regime, executed by the new RNC co-chairs, Michael Whatley and—the real new boss—Lara Trump, Eric Trump’s wife, who had been handpicked by the holy father (in-law) himself.

The message was clear: “That Republican Party, frankly, no longer exists,” Donald Trump Jr. gloated on Newsmax the day of the RNC staff purges. “The moves that happened today—that’s the final blow. People have to understand that … the MAGA movement is the new Republican Party.”

Lara Trump rose from her seat, slim, cocksure, and angular in the classic style of the family wives. Her father-in-law called Lara “his most valuable asset,” the Maryland committeeman David Bossie would say in his speech seconding her. She was fully fluent in the family language: victimhood. How unfair it all is. All of the witch hunts. “The scales are always tipped against him,” the new co-chair would later tell Sean Hannity on Fox News. “It’s rigged so heavily.”

“Since the day my father-in-law came down the golden escalator—everyone remembers that famous day—this has never just been about each of us as individuals,” she said in her acceptance speech in Houston. “It is about us as a family, and it’s been about our country.”

“This isn’t about just right versus left, Republican versus Democrat,” she said. “It’s about good versus evil.”

These were big stakes indeed. Heads nodded in every row as Lara gazed upon the crowd, and her voice softened in reverence.

“I’d be remiss,” she said, “if I didn’t thank President Donald J. Trump.”

She would never be remiss.

After Lara’s speech, I made a quick sweep of the place in search of McDaniel, but she had disappeared, possibly never to be seen again.

As I left the Hilton, I ran into Ron Kaufman, a Republican committeeman from Massachusetts. I was surprised to find that Kaufman, a vestige of the pre-Trump party—he served in George H. W. Bush’s administration—was still involved with the RNC. As it would turn out, he would not be there much longer: Kaufman was voted off by the MAGA-fied committee a month later.

He had to have seen this coming. Kaufman remained close to Mitt Romney and, unlike McDaniel, did nothing to hide this association. After Houston, Kaufman told me, he was heading down to Florida to celebrate Romney’s 77th birthday, not far—geographically, anyway—from Mar-a-Lago, where Trump would be receiving a dear friend of his own the same weekend: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an authoritarian whom Trump hailed as the best leader in the world.

Kaufman told me he was fine with Trump, explaining to me in the common parlance of a practiced Trump apologist that “not everybody likes his style.”

“Don’t you have any ambivalence at all about Trump?” I asked.

“I have ambivalence about my first wife,” Kaufman replied.

This was not an answer I was expecting.

“But you probably wouldn’t vote for her as president, either,” I said. “Or would you?”

I include this exchange because it typifies how some longtime Republican officials—clearly uneasy about Trump—can become comically evasive whenever asked about him. I interviewed several who veered straight into spheroid equivocation.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump famously tried to strong-arm to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, seemed especially anxious when I had breakfast with him in Atlanta in May. “Why are you so afraid of saying what you really feel about Trump?” I asked.

“Because no one gives me the platform to do that,” he replied.

“But I just did,” I said.

“That’s not the platform,” Raffensperger said, looking down at the phone on which I was recording our discussion.

(Raffensperger’s communications aide then jumped in, effectively shutting down whatever platform this was or wasn’t.)

The night before, which happened to be primary night in Georgia, I’d attended an election watch party hosted by Mike Dugan, a former Republican majority leader in the state senate who was running for an open congressional seat near the Alabama border.

“Does anything about Trump give you pause?” I’d asked him.

“Oh yeah, I don’t want to hang out with him,” Dugan had told me, adding that he likes many of Trump’s policies.

But what about all of the outrage, distraction, and controversy Trump tends to generate?

“He’s not asking me to come play golf with him,” Dugan had explained to me.

“What if he did ask?”

“I’m not a golfer.”

Unluckily for Dugan, his main Republican rival for the congressional seat, Brian Jack, used to work for Trump in the White House. Back in March, Trump had traveled to Rome, Georgia, for a rally in which he would praise Jack as “a fighter” and “a MAGA man.”

Jack seemed like a savvy operative with good political instincts (proof: he did not respond to my texts). “I am both humbled and honored to earn your endorsement,” he said at the rally for the man he called “the greatest president and political athlete of all time.” As someone who has hung around Trump a lot, Jack knew enough to focus on the boss’s main erogenous zone: his golf game. Trump appears to reserve special appreciation for those attendants who are willing to exult in his alleged physical prowess—right out of the authoritarian playbook of the bare-chested and robust Vladimir Putin on horseback.

“I’m not sure if I should say this,” Jack said faux-sheepishly, “but, just a few weeks ago, President Trump put to shame two professional golfers.” He then revealed that Trump had shot a 70 on 18 holes. This sounded impressive, I thought, though not as impressive as the 11 holes in one that the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il shot in the first golf game he ever played (source: North Korean state media, 1994).

Although Jack was not yet well known in this heavily Republican district, he was “Trump-endorsed”—all the yard signs said so—which is akin to a golden ticket in today’s GOP. (Jack wound up winning the primary by a large margin.) The path always starts with a beeline to Trump’s rump. As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis observed in January: “You can be the most worthless Republican in America, but if you kiss the ring, he’ll say you’re wonderful.”

In 2022, J. D. Vance proved himself a master. Although the Senate candidate from Ohio had previously dismissed Trump as “noxious,” “reprehensible,” and “cultural heroin,” among other things, he worked to convince Trump that he was reformed. Trump may or may not have believed him, but he very much relished the grovel of it.

“J.D. is kissing my ass. He wants my support so bad!” Trump bragged at a campaign stop with Vance in Youngstown in 2022. He also claimed that Vance had fallen “in love” with him. If anything, this is the fun part for Trump: showing off that he has snapped up another politician like a distressed condo asset. He had made another Republican candidate—a rich Ivy League ex-Marine, no less—self-emasculate on his behalf.

They all wore red ties, or most of them did. Fat and long, the signature Trumpian garments hung just below their belts. It was not clear whether Trump himself cared (he probably did; such an honor!), but dressing in the boss’s full uniform—white shirt, navy suit, and the signature neckwear—was an added curtsy. If Trump had a mustache, his acolytes would all grow and groom one just like his—as Baath Party loyalists did for Saddam Hussein.

They made their pilgrimage to the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where Trump spent a good part of May facing 34 criminal counts stemming from his ill-fated attempt to hide a $130,000 payment to his alleged porno paramour. The acolytes flanked their victim/defendant on the 15th floor as he sat with his arms crossed, jacket open, and eyes closed through prolonged stretches. “I do have a lot of surrogates, and they are speaking very beautifully,” Trump bragged during one of his news conferences.

My visit to 100 Centre Street coincided with the arrival of a large retinue of Trump’s defenders: 11 Republican House members made the trip that Thursday. They would take turns decrying (“very beautifully”) the “political persecution” that was taking place and the travesty of how Biden had “weaponized” the courts against the “greatest president in history.” I waited for the House members at a park across the street from the courthouse, along with a daily clot of reporters and camerapeople, clusters of pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators, and some bemused tourists, most of them from other countries, who had no idea what they’d stumbled upon.

“Standing back and standing by, Mr. President,” said Representative Matt Gaetz, the poofy-haired provocateur from Florida who led that day’s brownnoser brigade. Gaetz’s words, which appeared on X, intentionally echoed Trump’s from the 2020 debate where he’d been asked to condemn neofascist groups who had been disrupting some of that summer’s Black Lives Matter protests. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by” is how Trump responded to the debate question, less a call for restraint than a call to action. (“A dog whistle through a bullhorn” is how Kamala Harris described it at the time.)

Each of the Trump toadies in attendance outside the courthouse said their piece about the towering injustice that was occurring inside. Trump is “in good spirits,” Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida reported, while Gaetz complained that their hero was facing “the Mr. Potato Head doll of crimes,” which is not technically a legal classification, by the way.

A group of New York hecklers greeted the traveling-circus caucus with Bronx cheers. One man stood behind the field-trippers holding a Bootlickers sign.

“Lies, lies,” the hecklers cried out.

“Get the fuck out of New York!”

“Go to fucking hell!”

“Matt Gaetz is a pedophile!”

Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado started to speak but was interrupted by chants of “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice,” which, for the uninitiated, referred to an incident at a Denver theater in September 2023 when Boebert was evicted from the musical comedy for performing a series of infractions in her seat: vaping, giggling, and fondling her date below the belt.

Straining to be heard over the hecklers, Boebert vowed that neither Trump nor his supporters would be gagged. “President Trump is not going anywhere … And we are not going anywhere, either.”

A few minutes later, they were all gone.

Boebert saved her best work for that night back at the Capitol, where the House Oversight Committee held a session to debate contempt charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland. (Originally scheduled for that morning, it had been postponed because so many members were in New York.) Boebert took the opportunity to boast on Trump’s behalf about one of his favorite topics: his supreme intelligence—as evidenced by the fact that, as Trump loves to mention, he allegedly once “aced” some cognitive test.

But here’s what Boebert actually said: “President Trump, when he was in office, underwent testing for his cognitive dissonance.”

I’ve noticed that for whatever reason, Trump is a magnet for these kinds of mangled phrases, misstatements, and malapropisms. This might be because those who speak excitedly about Trump, including Trump himself, tend to talk fast and off-the-cuff and perhaps have less capacity than most for shame and embarrassment (and grammar). They can be desperate to please and maybe get careless or lapse into Freudian candor. “We’ve been waging an all-out war on American democracy,” Trump announced in Iowa this past December.

Boebert’s “cognitive dissonance” claim made me think of the early days of COVID, in 2020, when Trump tried to convince everyone that the pandemic would soon disappear. Why? Because you’ll develop “a herd mentality,” Trump explained at a town hall in Pennsylvania. He presumably meant “herd immunity,” but this felt like an apt malapropism, if there is such a thing.

Trump’s movement had in fact drawn his followers together as a self-reinforcing herd. They were joined in contempt for a unified enemies list—defined loosely as liberal elites. They also shared the buoyant faith that supporting Trump would be a panacea. “Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore,” Trump reassured a gathering of Christian conservatives this past July.

“What Trump offers is an easy escape from the pain,” as Vance wrote in this magazine in 2016 . He was a fierce critic of Trump before he became a Republican Senate candidate who saw an obvious path to the front of the herd.

Vance was one of several vice-presidential prospects who trekked to New York to audition to be Trump’s next Mike Pence. He donned the red tie and nailed his umbrage marks. Vivek Ramaswamy, the super-thirsty former GOP-primary candidate, performed his own star turn at the courthouse, but with one notable hiccup. “Let’s pray for our country being stronger on the other side of this disgusting sham politician,” Ramaswamy said. He tried to correct himself—“prosecution”—but it was too late. The word had escaped. The moment went viral.

Cognitive dissonance can be exhausting, and there’s a lot of that going around the herd these days. I kept thinking about this as I ambled through the Republican convention. It was such an upbeat and cheerful affair, not characteristic at all of these gatherings since Trump took over the franchise and made it a grievance-filled and even menacing place. Trump was solidly up in the polls. He’d just survived an assassination attempt, which lent a charmed-life quality to the proceedings.

Several delegates I spoke with said the near miss proved that Trump either had been touched by God or possessed a superhuman ability to withstand danger. Biden, meanwhile, seemed old and tired, and his campaign appeared terminal (and in fact it was).

Yet beneath the Republicans’ triumphalist excitement in Milwaukee, I sensed an undercurrent of disbelief. They were projecting confidence, yes, but there was a tight, gritted-teeth quality to this, of a once-serious party that had now been subdued, disoriented, and denuded of whatever their convictions once were. The final scene of The Graduate came to mind: Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross were out of breath after catching the bus. They had gotten what they thought they wanted. But what had they really just done—again?

Republicans had expressed these doubts before, and not so long ago, before they all capitulated. I watched a lot of Trump’s biggest former skeptics as they peacocked their way through the arena: Rubio, Cruz, Graham, Vance, DeSantis, Burgum, Ramaswamy, Elise Stefanik, and the rest. They had made their calculations, wore their practiced faces of satisfaction, and had somehow found a way to live with the learned helplessness that Trump had reduced them to. But others who had served Trump had made different judgments. I kept recalling the words of retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, who had been Trump’s first secretary of defense. Mattis, who was of course nowhere near this convention, had issued a statement on the night of January 6, 2021, blasting Trump as well as those who enabled him as “pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.” In other words: They all knew better.

That was the nagging dissonance of this spectacle: the gap between what the GOP traditionally believed and what it now allows itself to abide. The party that allegedly reveres the Constitution is going all in on someone who has called for its termination. A party that cherishes freedom is willing to cede authority to a candidate who says he would be a dictator on his first day in office. A party that supposedly venerates law and order is re-upping with an actual felon. A party whose rank and file overwhelmingly wants Russia to defeat Ukraine believes that Biden stole the 2020 election, and that Trump’s legal shambles are entirely a Democratic plot. This is now a party whose standard-bearer has not been endorsed by any former Republican president or nominee, or even his own vice president, who barely escaped death by hanging the last time. And to what end, any of it?

Or maybe the dissonance doesn’t matter. Trump can do as he pleased, as he predicted. “Well, I think we’ve had very weak people,” he said in 2015. “I look at some of the people that are running, and I think they’re not strong people.” I remember hearing that as bombast at the time, the kind of casual dismissals Trump tosses around. In retrospect, though, Trump was prospecting, sizing up the Republican “leaders” he would be competing against. If nothing else, Trump has a keen eye for finding soft targets: pushovers he can bully, rules he can flout, entire political parties he can raze and remake in his image. He would roll over them.

This article appears in the October 2024 print edition with the headline “Hypocrisy, Spinelessness, and the Triumph of Donald Trump.”

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / How to Cite a Magazine Article in MLA

How to Cite a Magazine Article in MLA

Magazine: A publication that is issued periodically and contains items such as articles, essays, poems, or pictures.

Note that magazines are different from journals in that journals only contain scholarly articles that are peer-reviewed and relate to a specific academic field. If you are looking for the format for citing a journal article, this guide on citing a journal in MLA can help.

How to cite magazine articles published and found in print

Cite your source

How to cite magazine articles found on a website

Note:  When citing sources reproduced online from their in-print version, it is not necessary to include online information such as the website publisher or the date of electronic publication.

Published October 31, 2011. Updated May 18, 2021.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

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• Paraphrasing
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To create an in-text citation for a magazine found in print:

Place the author’s last name and the page number of the quote in parenthesis after the borrowed quote or information. Example: “Time spent with family or friends is more important now than ever” (Garcia 120).

To create an in-text citation for a magazine found on a website:

Place the author’s last name in parenthesis after the borrowed quote or information. No page number is needed. Example: “Every day I was excited to see my dad, the way you’re excited to be around a new friend” (Rothbart).

MLA is the style most often used in literature, language, history, art, and theater subjects.

No matter what citation style you’re using (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) the EasyBib Citation Generator can help you create the right bibliography quickly.

To cite a magazine with multiple authors and no page numbers in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the authors, publication date, title of the article, magazine name, and the URL. The templates for in-text citations and works cited list entries of a magazine article written by multiple authors along with examples are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues.” In subsequent citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues.” In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”

Citation in prose:

First mention: Katherine Zoepf and colleagues . . . or Katherine Zoepf and others . . .

Subsequent occurrences: Zoepf and colleagues . . . or Zoepf and others . . .

Parenthetical:

. . . ( Zoepf et al.)

Works cited list entry template and example:

The title of the article is in plain text and title case; it is placed inside quotation marks. The title of the magazine is set in italics. Follow the format given in the template and example for setting the date, month, and year.

Surname, F., et al. “Title of the Article.” Magazine Name , Publication Date, URL.

Zoepf, Katherine, et al. “Shopgirls: The Art of Selling Lingerie.” The New Yorker , 15 Aug. 2019, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/23/shopgirls .

Use only the first author’s name in surname–first name order in the entry, followed by “et al.”

To cite an online journal or magazine article in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author, publication date, title of the article, journal or magazine title, volume and issue numbers, and the URL. The templates and examples for in-text citations and works cited list entries for an online journal article (with one author) are given below:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author in the first occurrence. In subsequent citations, use only the surname. In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the author.

First mention: Roger Dawkins . . .

Subsequent occurrences: Dawkins . . .

. . . (Dawkins)

The title of the journal or magazine article is in plain text and title case; it is placed inside quotation marks. The title of the journal or magazine is set in italics.

Surname, F. “Title of the Article.” Journal or Magazine Title , vol. #, no. #, Publication Date, URL.

Dawkins, Roger. “How We Speak When We Say Things About Ourselves in Social Media: A Semiotic Analysis of Content Curation.” M/C Journal , vol. 18, no. 4, 2015, www.journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/999 .

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Magazine Article References

This page contains reference examples for magazine articles.

Lyons, D. (2009, June 15). Don’t ‘iTune’ us: It’s geeks versus writers. Guess who’s winning. Newsweek , 153 (24), 27.

Schaefer, N. K., & Shapiro, B. (2019, September 6). New middle chapter in the story of human evolution. Science , 365 (6457), 981–982. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay3550

Schulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love story. The New Yorker . https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/16/superfans-a-love-story

• Parenthetical citations : (Lyons, 2009; Schaefer & Shapiro, 2019; Schulman, 2019)
• Narrative citations : Lyons (2009), Schaefer and Shapiro (2019), and Schulman (2019)
• If a magazine article has a DOI, include the DOI in the reference (as in the Schaefer and Shapiro example).
• If the magazine article does not have a DOI and is from an academic research database, end the reference after the page range (as in the Lyons example). Do not include database information in the reference. The reference in this case is the same as for a print magazine article.
• If the magazine article does not have a DOI but does have a URL that will resolve for readers (e.g., it is from an online magazine that is not part of a database), include the URL of the article at the end of the reference (as in the Schulman example).
• If the magazine article does not have volume, issue, and/or page numbers (e.g., because it is from an online magazine), omit the missing elements from the reference (as in the Schulman example).

Magazine articles references are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 10.1 and the Concise Guide Section 10.1

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Citation Styles: A Brief Guide to APA, MLA and Turabian

• Magazine Articles
• Journal Articles

Citing Magazine Articles

• Newspaper Articles
• Government Publications
• Other Materials
• In Text Citations
• Sample Bibliography: APA
• Sample Bibliography: MLA
• Sample Bibliography: Turabian
• Creating an Annotated Bibliography This link opens in a new window

MAGAZINE ARTICLES

The basic format for citing a magazine article is similar to the journal format. Required information includes author’s name, article title, name of the magazine, date of issue, and inclusive page numbers. Some magazines may include volume numbers. None of the three styles require those for magazines citations. Turabian recommends against citing page numbers for magazine articles since article pagination is often not continuous.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE – ONE AUTHOR

The example is based on an article published in the magazine Food Talk. The article, “Blue Green Algae – It’s a Main Course, It’s a Shampoo, It’s a Floor Wax – What Is This Stuff Anyway? was written by author Mack Roe Biotek and was published in the September 28, 1992, issue of the magazine on pages 27-32.

Biotek, M.R. (1992, September 28). Blue green algae – It’s a main course, it’s a shampoo, it’s a floor wax – What is this stuff anyway? Food Talk , 27-32.

Biotek, Mack Roe. “Blue Green Algae – It’s a Main Course, It’s a Shampoo, It’s a Floor Wax – What Is This Stuff Anyway?” Food Talk, 28 Sept. 1992, pp. 27-32.

Biotek, Mack Roe. “Blue Green Algae – It’s a Main Course, It’s a Shampoo, It’s a Floor Wax – What Is This Stuff Anyway?” Food Talk , September 28, 1992.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE FROM ONLINE FULL-TEXT DATABASE

The example is an article published by author Almonda Chickpea in the magazine Nutrition Around Us entitled “Original Tofu Recipes With a Bit of a Kick.” The article appeared on pages 43-52 of the April 15, 2008, issue of the magazine. It was retrieved from the online database FoodSearch Online on August 18, 2008. The magazine is not available on the Internet and the article has not been assigned a DOI. Note: APA advises that it is generally not necessary to provide retrieval information for journal articles pulled from databases, since coverage in the database might change. When no DOI or website is available, the citation will take the format of the print journal article.

Chickpea, A. (2008, April 15). Original tofu recipes with a bit of a kick. Nutrition Around Us , 43-52.

Chickpea, Almonda. “Original Tofu Recipes With a Bit of a Kick.” Nutrition Around Us, 15 Apr. 2008, pp. 43-52. FoodSearch Online,  www.foodsearchonline.com/tofu041508.html. Accessed  18 Aug. 2008.

Chickpea, Almonda. “Original Tofu Recipes With a Bit of a Kick.” Nutrition Around Us , April 15, 2008. http://www.foodsearchonline.com/tofu041508.html (accessed August 18, 2008).

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Know the Differences & Comparisons

Difference Between Article and Essay

An article is nothing but a piece of writing commonly found in newspapers or websites which contain fact-based information on a specific topic. It is published with the aim of making the reader aware of something and keeping them up to date.

An essay is a literary work, which often discusses ideas, experiences and concepts in a clear and coherent way. It reflects the author’s personal view, knowledge and research on a specific topic.

Content: Article Vs Essay

Comparison chart.

Definition of Article

An ‘article’ can be described as any form of written information which is produced either in a printed or electronic form, in newspaper, magazine, journal or website. It aims at spreading news, results of surveys, academic analysis or debates.

An article targets a large group of people, in order to fascinate the readers and engage them. Hence, it should be such that to retain the interest of the readers.

It discusses stories, reports and describes news, present balanced argument, express opinion, provides facts, offers advice, compares and contrast etc. in a formal or informal manner, depending upon the type of audience.

For writing an article one needs to perform a thorough research on the matter, so as to provide original and authentic information to the readers.

Components of Article

• Title : An article contains a noticeable title which should be intriguing and should not be very long and descriptive. However, it should be such that which suggests the theme or issue of the information provided.
• Introduction : The introduction part must clearly define the topic, by giving a brief overview of the situation or event.
• Body : An introduction is followed by the main body which presents the complete information or news, in an elaborative way, to let the reader know about the exact situation.
• Conclusion : The article ends with a conclusion, which sums up the entire topic with a recommendation or comment.

Definition of Essay

An essay is just a formal and comprehensive piece of literature, in which a particular topic is discussed thoroughly. It usually highlights the writer’s outlook, knowledge and experiences on that particular topic. It is a short literary work, which elucidates, argues and analyzes a specific topic.

The word essay is originated from the Latin term ‘exagium’ which means ‘presentation of a case’. Hence, writing an essay means to state the reasons or causes of something, or why something should be done or should be the case, which validates a particular viewpoint, analysis, experience, stories, facts or interpretation.

An essay is written with the intent to convince or inform the reader about something. Further, for writing an essay one needs to have good knowledge of the subject to explain the concept, thoroughly. If not so, the writer will end up repeating the same points again and again.

Components of the Essay

• Title : It should be a succinct statement of the proposition.
• Introduction : The introduction section of the essay, should be so interesting which instantly grabs the attention of the reader and makes them read the essay further. Hence, one can start with a quote to make it more thought-provoking.
• Body : In the main body of the essay, evidence or reasons in support of the writer’s ideas or arguments are provided. One should make sure that there is a sync in the paragraphs of the main body, as well as they,  should maintain a logical flow.
• Conclusion : In this part, the writer wraps up all the points in a summarized and simplified manner.

Key Differences Between Article and Essay

Upcoming points will discuss the difference between article and essay:

• An article refers to a written work, published in newspapers, journals, website, magazines etc, containing news or information, in a specific format. On the other hand, an essay is a continuous piece of writing, written with the aim of convincing the reader with the argument or merely informing the reader about the fact.
• An article is objective in the sense that it is based on facts and evidence, and simply describes the topic or narrate the event. As against, an essay is subjective, because it is based on fact or research-based opinion or outlook of a person on a specific topic. It analyses, argues and criticizes the topic.
• The tone used in an article is conversational, so as to make the article easy to understand and also keeping the interest of the reader intact. On the contrary, an essay uses educational and analytical tone.
• An article may contain headings, which makes it attractive and readable. In contrast, an essay does not have any headings, sections or bullet points, however, it is a coherent and organized form of writing.
• An article is always written with a definite objective, which is to inform or make the readers aware of something. Further, it is written to cater to a specific niche of audience. Conversely, an essay is written in response to a particular assertion or question. Moreover, it is not written with a specific group of readers in mind.
• An article is often supported by photographs, charts, statistics, graphs and tables. As opposed, an essay is not supported by any photographs, charts, or graphs.
• Citations and references are a must in case of an essay, whereas there is no such requirement in case of an article.

By and large, an article is meant to inform the reader about something, through news, featured stories, product descriptions, reports, etc. On the flip side, an essay offers an analysis of a particular topic, while reflecting a detailed account of a person’s view on it.

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Anna H. Smith says

November 15, 2020 at 6:21 pm

Great! Thank you for explaining the difference between an article and an academic essay so eloquently. Your information is so detailed and very helpful. it’s very educative, Thanks for sharing.

Sunita Singh says

December 12, 2020 at 7:11 am

Thank you! That’s quite helpful.

Saba Zia says

March 8, 2021 at 12:33 am

Great job!! Thank u for sharing this explanation and detailed difference between essay and article. It is really helpful.

Khushi Chaudhary says

February 7, 2021 at 2:38 pm

Thank you so much! It is really very easy to understand & helpful for my test.

Dury Frizza says

July 25, 2022 at 8:18 pm

Thanks a lot for sharing such a clear and easily understood explanation!!!!.

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The Prince We Never Knew

A revealing new documentary could redefine our understanding of the pop icon. But you will probably never get to see it.

Prince in 1983. Credit... Allen Beaulieu

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By Sasha Weiss

Sasha Weiss is a deputy editor at the magazine. She reported this article for a year and a half and interviewed more than 20 people. She is one of a small number of people to have seen the Prince film.

• Sept. 8, 2024

Dig, if you will, a small slice of Ezra Edelman’s nine-hour documentary about Prince — a cursed masterpiece that the public may never be allowed to see.

Listen to this article, read by Janina Edwards

It’s 1984, and Prince is about to release “Purple Rain,” the album that will make him a superstar and push pop music into distant realms we had no idea we were ready for. The sound engineer Peggy McCreary, one of many female engineers he worked with, describes witnessing a flash of genius during the creation of his song “When Doves Cry.” Over a two-day marathon recording session, she and Prince filled the studio with sound — wailing guitars, thrumming keyboards, an overdubbed choir of harmonizing Princes. It was the sort of maximalist stew possible only when someone is (as Prince was) a master of just about every musical instrument ever invented. But something wasn’t right. So at 5 or 6 in the morning, Prince found the solution: He started subtracting. He took out the guitar solo; he took out the keyboard. And then his boldest, most heterodox move: He took out the bass. McCreary remembers him saying, with satisfaction, “Ain’t nobody gonna believe I did that.” He knew what he had. The song became an anthem, a platinum megahit.

The next sequence starts to probe the origins of Prince’s genius, how it grew alongside a gnawing desire for recognition. His sister, Tyka Nelson, a woman with owlish eyes and pink and purple streaks in her hair, appears onscreen. She describes the violence in their household growing up. How their musician father’s face changed when he hit their mother. The ire he directed at his son, on whom he bestowed his former stage name, Prince — a gift, but also a burden, a reminder that the demands of supporting his children had caused him to abandon his own musical career. Prince would risk lashings by sneaking over to the piano and plinking away at it — the son already embarked on his life’s work of besting his father, the father giving and withdrawing love, the son doing the same.

Cut to Jill Jones, one in a long line of girlfriend-muses whom Prince anointed, styled, encouraged and criticized. Hers is one of the most anguished testimonies in the film, revealing a side of Prince many of his fans would rather not see. Late one night in 1984, she and a friend visited Prince at a hotel. He started kissing the friend, and in a fit of jealousy, Jones slapped him. She says he then looked at her and said, “Bitch, this ain’t no [expletive] movie.” They tussled, and he began to punch her in the face over and over. She wanted to press charges, but his manager told her it would ruin his career. So she backed off. Yet for a time, she still loved him and wanted to be with him, and stayed in his orbit for many more years. Recounting the incident three decades later, she is still furious, still processing the stress of being involved with him.

In the next sequence, it’s the evening of the premiere of “Purple Rain,” the movie, which will go on to win the Academy Award for best original song score in 1985. Prince’s tour manager, Alan Leeds, was with him in the back of a limo on the way to the ceremony. He remembers one of Prince’s bodyguards turning to Prince and saying: “This is going to be the biggest day of your life! They say every star in town is there!” And Prince clutched Leeds’s hand, trembling in fear. But then, as Leeds tells it, some switch flipped, and “he caught himself.” Prince’s eyes turned hard. He was back in control. “That was it,” Leeds says. “But for maybe 10 seconds, he completely lost it. And I loved it. Because it showed he was human!” In the next shot, we see Prince emerging from the limo and walking down the red carpet in an iridescent purple trench coat over a creamy ruffled collar, his black curls piled high. He swaggers, twirling a flower, unbothered: a creature of regal remove.

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History Repeats the Old Conceits: Johan Grimonprez on Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

by Christina Zachariades in Director Interviews , Directors , Interviews on Sep 18, 2024

Fall 2024 , Johan Grimonprez , Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, by Belgian artist and filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, is an essay film of many dimensions: the high tensions of the Cold War, the activism of the Black Civil Rights movement in America and its solidarity with the independence movements that were sweeping across Africa, the power grab between the East and West for control over minerals and resources in the Congo and the relentless espionage attempts to undermine those efforts, including the CIA sending jazz ambassadors to covertly gain intelligence. Plunging viewers into the historical events surrounding Congolese National Movement leader Patrice Lumumba’s leadership and assassination […]

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Why I take at least 1 night off parenting every week

We mark the days on the calendar, treating them like essential, non-negotiable appointments.

When was the last time you took a weeknight off from parenting? Not a date night, not running errands , but a night purely for yourself.

If you’re like most parents, the answer is probably “before my kids were born.”

That was my answer, too. For years, I believed that spending every evening with my children was just what parents did. But the reality of balancing my career with the demands of parenting two toddlers just a year apart in age pushed me to the edge. 

At some point last year, I found myself perpetually exhausted, and, yes, admittedly snapping every so often at my kids and husband. I was running on fumes and reached a point where I needed a break — or else I’d break. 

That’s when my husband and I decided to try an experiment that on the outset seemed simple, but that we soon learned would be life-changing and life-giving: We would each get one or two nights “off” per week.

Initially, I had a hard time sticking to it. It felt too easy to default to our old ways, and I felt guilty for leaving my kids and for saddling my husband with their care. The idea of stepping away, even for a night, felt selfish. But as an introvert desperate for solitude and time to recharge, I realized that without some time off, I wouldn’t be able to give my family the best version of myself (or — if I’m being honest — even a semi-human version). 

So, my husband and I made a pact: Every week, we’d both have a night off to do whatever nourished our souls — no questions, no guilt. We marked these days on the calendar, treating them like essential, non-negotiable appointments.

Having a designated night off has felt like fresh air after years of holding my breath.

Once we did that, the impact was immediate and profound. Having a designated night off has felt like fresh air after years of holding my breath. Some nights, I’ve taken a solo hike or enjoyed a quiet dinner alone; other times, I let myself roam without a plan, savoring the rare and delicious freedom of unstructured time. 

It wasn’t long before I noticed a transformation in my parenting, too. I’ve become happier, more patient and joyfully present with my children. The time away isn’t just a luxury — it is a lifeline. Taking a break and having time to recharge is a necessity for my well-being, and thus for theirs.

When I started sharing our new routine with other parents, I noticed that many of them found the idea highly unusual and hadn’t ever considered taking this kind of time for themselves. (Before I tried it, I had never imagined it either!) And, living in a culture that glorifies self-sacrifice, especially for mothers, that makes sense. 

However, a few shared that they’ve taken similar “breaks” from parenting. Kelly Hubbell, founder of Sage Haus, an outsourcing platform for busy parents, has carved out a similar routine with her husband. He swims with friends on his nights off; she enjoys yoga or a moms’ night out on hers.

“It’s a necessary break to be more patient, kind and fully present, both with each other and our children,” she tells TODAY.com. “This rhythm has become essential for maintaining our sanity and nurturing our relationship.”

While having a partner certainly makes the approach a bit easier, fractional CEO and sales consultant Dora Rankin has always prioritized her own well-being, even as a single mom to two daughters.

“When the mothership goes down, everything goes down,” she tells TODAY.com. By taking regular weekends away with friends, she shows up as a stronger and more present mother. “My girls showed up just as strong, independent and self-sufficient too,” she adds.

Taking time off from parenting might seem counterintuitive, but it’s by far one of the best decisions we’ve made for our family. These breaks recharge us, enabling us to be more present, loving and fulfilled. As a result, every moment we spend with our kids feels richer and more meaningful.

It has also taught us a vital lesson: There are no strict “rules” to parenting. The more we give ourselves permission to break away from societal expectations and focus on what truly replenishes us, the higher the chances are that we can lead a life that feels truly aligned, even during these intense years when we’re dedicating so much of ourselves to our children. It’s easy to fall into default patterns — or frankly have so much on our plates we don’t come up for air to consider that there might be another way — but I’m living proof that this approach is a fast track to burnout. Thankfully, by stepping away from what we’re “supposed” to do, we’ve created a happier, healthier home for everyone.

For anyone feeling overwhelmed or burnt out, I encourage you to consider your own version of a night off. I know it’s easier said than done, and that even considering a night off requires a certain amount of privilege, but I also know how important it is to see alternative versions of what life could look like. Whether it’s scheduling solo time, hiring a babysitter or setting up a system with a partner, co-parent or friend, the key is to identify what you need on an ongoing basis, and not only give yourself permission to do so but to make it a priority. 

Your needs can’t always come last, because it’s only when we’ve taken care of ourselves that we can take care of others. In that sense, it’s the most selfless thing we can do for our families.

Gesche Haas is the founder of Dreamers & Doers , a highly curated community for extraordinary women entrepreneurs and leaders. She lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with her two toddlers, husband, and dog.

The Fed Should Go Big Now. I Think It Will.

An aggressive 50-basis-point reduction in interest rates makes sense.

The US Federal Reserve faces a crucial decision at its policy-making meeting this week: Ease off slightly on monetary restraint with a 25-basis-point interest-rate cut, or go for a rare 50-basis-point cut to fend off a recession.

What should it do, and what will it do? The answers to these two questions don’t necessarily have to be the same. But this time around, I think they will be.