I've been hanging onto my first article for several days now. I've been rereading it, tweaking it, and trying to get up the guts to submit it! lol
Anyway, I was reading the Writer Guidelines for what seemed like the millionth time and I noticed that it mentioned all articles should have a conclusion. I understand and agree with that. However, I have a tendency to split articles up in sections with subheadings. Would my conclusion need to not have a subheading to be considered a genuine conclusion or could I assign it a subheading as well?
Normally I would just err on the side of caution and write the conclusion without the subheading. My concern there is that if all of the other segments of the article have a subheading, it would be rejected as a stand alone paragraph, or another paragraph that did not fit into the section heading above it - even if it wasn't meant to.
Hmmn, interesting question. I don't know that I'd put a "In Conclusion" type of subheading myself, but if the conclusion can be summarized neatly I might try it. It's kind of a catch-22 though. An article with a final subheading of something like "Next Steps Blah, Blah, Blah" seems as though that subheading really becomes its own point and not really a conclusion summarizing the article. I'm curious what others have to say on this. Here's a short skeleton of an article. Any thoughts on whether or not the last (concluding) paragraph needs a header? I'm thinking no, but?
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Title: How to Groom a Dog
Headings: Gather Grooming Supplies
When grooming a dog, it's blah, blah, blah. . .
Lure the Dog to the Grooming Station
Obviously, you'll need to get the dog into position, blah, blah, blah. . .
Apply Grooming Products
Now that the dog is calm, gently spritz the coat with blah, blah, blah. . .
Use the Blah Blah Blah Technique
The best way to ensure a smooth coat is to brush the dog's coat using the blah, blah, blah technique. First, . . . <End of the final subheading's paragraph. Should a new sub header appear before the conclusion below?>
Grooming a dog is easy when you've done your prepwork by gathering the supplies and applying them appropriately. While the basics are easy, once you've mastered the more complicated blah-blah-blah technique, you'll soon be grooming like a pro and seeing more professional results.
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In the example above, I don't think that it's necessary to put a subheading above the final paragraph. To me, the conclusion is implied and an "In Conclusion" type of subheader not necessary. However, perhaps a header like "Prepwork and Practice Lead to Professional Grooming Results" might be good.
I am famous for segmented articles, and I never put a heading over the conclusion. I DO use a clear "yoohoo, here's the conclusion reader" cue though. I make sure the last paragraph of the body is a very final point. Then next paragraph is begun with "Finally," or "In conclusion" or a custom beginning based on the topic such as an article about short sales the conclusion may read "Short sales are the best alternative to foreclosure for a home underwater." I also really like to funnel paragraph my intro, so fora custom conclusion I begin with my thesis restated. Then retell in brief what the main subheadings stated.
Very formulaic tell them what you will tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. But, following that formula takes out my guess work in structure, and opens me up to be creative in other ways, such as word choice, descriptions, and linking points together.
Take the plunge, CGillingwater, and good luck on CC.
Elizabeth, that's an interesting way of looking at. Great recipe and something I might toy with. I do find myself occasionally harvesting from the lead to use in the closing statements, only to rewrite said lead, but I've never looked at it like that.
When I write articles for Suite101, I do what Celeste does -- simply drop down a space and conclude it, but to do that, my goal is that the last sub-section has only one paragraph. <gr>
When I have sub-sections in articles I submit to CC, I simply leave a ~~~~~~~ line (center)after the last section, and then write the conclusion in the final paragraph without another subhead. The ~~~~~~~ announces the closing statement. For me, it's a clean way of doing it. With this method, I've never had to use words like "In conclusion" or "Finally." The conclusion is obvious. This style has never been rejected, but maybe when Ed sees this thread, he'll have some thoughts. My own question is whether or not those sub-headings should be in bold type.
I use subheads, because I think that's what website owners want. I realize some of our stuff goes into newsletters, but even those need to be catchy. Writing web content requires catchy content. I need to go find the reference where I read that the owner has 3 seconds to grab the reader's eye. So, subheads make it really easy for the reader to find what they are looking for.
And, I never use the "in conclusion." I think I got some habits from DS that keep me from doing some stuff. Some of their editors really hate filler words. There was one editor who told writers to cut out "however" and "local" from a sentence mentioning "local computer store." I dunno...Ed doesn't seem to mind filler words, but writing for DS is like military boot camp for the writing mind.
Speaking of DS, that reminds me of another thing I like about CC--the consistency. At DS you're as likely to write 10 articles and have 5 of them approved without rewrites in an hour, and the other 5 kicked back to you two days later with requests for rewrites from "Find a beeter source" to "Trash this and write it all over again". I'm sure this is because there are so many different editors and each one seems to have his or her own pet peeves doled out with varying degrees of civility and coherence. At CC, you know what to expect from reviews and it always seems even-handed. Maybe if there were more Eds here it would be different but I doubt it.
I agree with Debbi. Ed's pretty consistent and while reviews may take a while because there is only one Ed going through our articles, I prefer the wait over having quicker acceptance/rejection turnarounds and dealing with several different editors who have their own peeves. Of course, if we could clone Ed...
This question about the conclusion is the one problem I have with CC's line spacing rule. In short articles, I think it's rarely necessary to use a heading for the conclusion, or even phrases like "In conclusion." But the problem that always bothers me is if you have one line space between the last paragraph under the last heading and the conclusion paragraph, it looks like the conclusion is part of the last section. My preference would be to use two line spaces before the conclusion to signal the reader that the conclusion paragraph isn't part of the last section. But since CC doesn't allow it, I leave out the extra space -- and while that hasn't kept articles from being accepted, I don't think it's the best solution.
Thoughts on allowing an extra line space when it serves this kind of purpose?
This discussion has been more helpful than you know. The more I read the forums, the more I learn. You've also given me some new ideas in the course of this thread.
I am also glad to know that doublspacing between paragraphs is ok, since it is much easier to hit Enter twice in Word than to go through the Long Summary and insert a line feed between paragraphs.
Well, I was referring mainly to creating more space between two paragraphs to designate the final paragraph as a conclusion. We do want double spacing between paragraphs. Single spaced paragraphs. Double spaces between paragraphs so that it is clear where one paragraph ends and another begins.
Debbi, I guess you are referring to the spaces some programs automatically insert after paragraphs (which, in some cases, looks like a half space and isn't effective). Putting extra spaces after every paragraph when this happens creates an article that looks ungainly - its paragraphs are spread out unevenly, and this doesn't really look professional. My suggestion is to turn off the feature that creates spaces between paragraphs automatically and do it manually. That way, you have proper spaces between paragraph (that you have to press the enter key twice for) and you don't have to do anything special to the content details because those manually inserted spaces will be recognized.
Show the program who's boss. Don't let it make decisions for you.
