How Do You Research To Write a High Quality Article?

Before even starting the research process for a piece of content, I make sure to know what message I intend for that piece to deliver. "Freelancing" it and just hoping to throw a story/message together by whatever pops up online makes for much lower quality articles in my opinion.

Anyways, once you know what your overarching message for an article is going to be, research gets much easier and you go looking for evidence to back up what you want to say instead of random facts you can make stick.

Also, a couple other research resources I like to utilize:

Wikipedia-But not the article themselves. I always look to the source material on a given subject. Those articles and websites are goldmines of much more detailed information on a given topic.

Book Stores/Libraries-With all of the readily available information that is online, it is weird to think that some things can still only be found in books. Utilizing offline resources has really helped me to write better, more well informed articles.

Google is a great resource, but I try not to make it my only resource, you know?

In fact, with the tips of going to bookstores, and libraries, I truly see how one can charge $50 per article.

I do a lot of the pre-writing research from many of the sources you have described, but I make sure I make short notes in my own words about what the general idea of the research is. I know people who copy paste but I try to avoid that since it makes writing an original article much easier when you actually get down to writing.

I begin writing soon after taking those short notes, constantly referring to them I have become pretty good at skimming through articles and finding relevant and useful information, so that's a big plus

There is plenty of information available out there, whether on the web or in libraries, book shops or newspapers. It all comes down to how you manage your time and how quickly you are able to write great quality articles.

Good luck!

I just open ezine article directory site and search there about the topics. I got massive informative posts there. Then i read 3-4 of the articles then i started writing my own article.

Come up with the title, which should set the tone for the entire article. Then come up with the index.
The index will create the sub-categories and their sequence will also dictate the flow, which is important. Spend a few minutes organizing the sequence so that you're stepping people through the article in a logical format.
Once I have the above, I'll type some objectives/notes within each of the index items. These will be brief notes to help me keep the research on point.

Then I'll do my research by searching what's out there. On the web it's easy, I'll read and read different work and just catch a snippet of whatever interests me and paste it under the appropriate index item.
Doing this I'll end up with an outline document that contains the subject, the sub-categories, a logical sequence/flow and some key data and/or points which will become the substance of the article once it's written.

The next step is to rewrite everything and interject my own interpretations of the subject. You'll find that the copied texts, in most cases, serve merely to jog your memory. They'll help you recall specific information from multiple sources and shape what you're writing into something useful to the reader.

You should only be using the copied texts as memory joggers. Occasionally I use them as prompts to go off and explore a certain topic in more detail, if the subject warrants more extensive research.
Quite often I'll quote a specific source with a link and leave a text snippet intact. Then I'll write an alternative viewpoint or expand on what was written by another author. Of course in most cases you wouldn't do this if you were writing for other people, but for your own website you may find it useful to quote and link to reputable sources, often on Wikipedia.
(Most of what I write is not contract work for other people, I'm not good enough for that. But I'd approach it in much the same way if I was writing for hire).

I read your sample articles in another thread and what struck me was that you didn't seem to have any organization in mind as you wrote them. Each sentence and paragraph seemed to sit there autonomously from the rest, as if they were just random thoughts that popped into your head. You wrote them down then moved on to recording the next thing that popped into your head. You need to work on the craft of story telling. Creating an organized structure from the start will make for a better story and a more interesting read.

Now you might be thinking how the heck can you do all of that and only charge $15 for it?
You'll get more proficient at it the more you practice. Also, you should be expecting to lose money on your early work since you're starting out as a novice. You should be prepared to invest your own time into the growth of your trade and not expect it to be funded entirely by your clients.

Try PLR some have good content

Before reading anything I try to write out what I want to convey to the reader, am I looking to entertain, inform, warn, etc. From there I research my keyword through google search, reading other articles and sometimes even contacting someone who may be an "expert" in the niche and write out a rough draft based around it. Polish, perfect and complete.

I also make sure that I know what topic I'm going to write about, and what the main idea of my article is. I also have several niche keywords noted, and my key topics listed.

Then I go check a few sources to see what other people are writing and talking about my topic: Blogs, news outlets, forums, videos, social media, ezines.

Then I go check with expert sources: Books, magazines, .gov and .edu publications. About government and educational sources, their websites have lots of well-researched publications. But their writing style is mostly too tiring, too technical for everyday people. You can rewrite them. They're public domain anyways.

I also use PLR for my research.

Joe has given you some great tips. I visit the library and bookstores on a regular basis to do research for articles. It helps to have other information sources beside the internet.

I also second what Rooze said about having your titles in place before you start writing. If I'm going to write five articles on a topic I always write five titles first. This assures that each one covers a different angle and the articles aren't repetitive. I may change the title later, if I think of a better one, but it helps to know in advance exactly what you want to cover in each article. As I research, I can then jot down notes under each title. This way I only do research once for the five articles instead of researching for each article separately.

Rose

It depends on how much I'm being paid.

I'm charging at least $50 for my presell articles, but then I'll...

(1) Go through my client's product, drawing out the essential teachings, tips, techniques and so on.

(2) Figure out the right balance of information I can give away, without giving away the farm - and at the same time, enticing readers to want more (i.e. buy the product).

(3) Build my client into a perceived EXPERT in their niche, by making sure I'm giving out genuinely expert information that also harmonizes with what my client teaches.

(4) Make sure the article presells in subtle ways, so that the reader is moved closer to the point of buying, without directly pitching the product.

There's no way I'm putting in that effort for $5 an article

what do you mean by "Step 1. Open 4 tabs on Google.com"?

I do no research. I just write from the top of my head, and i still get alot of article views. I'm more on "writing for humans" instead of writing for search engines.

I do a site: .edu, keywords or phrase search.

I don't like to get info from just general websites - I want to see what those accredited in the field have to say. For some things I also will check out .gov sites - but I find their info is usually edited to fit whatever their agenda of the day is and not always the most correct. Sometimes .org sites are okay as well, but I really check those out carefully.

Once I have some pages of info, I open the tabs, shut down the Internet and read the pages - taking notes on wordpad. If I need more info I will start up the net again and check out whatever URLS ended up in my notes or do some further search. Shut down my connection again and read through the added pages. Then I start organizing the writing. Then I take a break to let everything congeal and either get back online or just continue writing.

Shutting down your connection while working after you get the info really helps boost concentration. You aren't tempted to keep flipping back and forth to check email or go to irrelevant sites like here or facebook.

I like to use a pencil and paper (a large legal pad) during the research phase. I also like to research under a warm blanket while I watch television. LOL, I don't know why this helps, but it does. I can't think if it's quiet.

I look up topics on my touchpad or netbook and jot down interesting things about the subjects. I make sure that I write things down in a very general outline form so I don't accidentally paraphrase someone else's work. By the time I'm ready to write the article from my notes, I usually have 2-3 pieces of paper with scribbles of information everywhere (even the top and margins). This works well for writing college papers or internet articles. I go back to my desk and organize an article from my scribbles.

I like your new avatar! Very nice! Your old avatar scared me.

Here's my own way:

First I get myself a topic to write about. For example, my boss wants to write about social media marketing. Then I take out a piece of paper or my notebook, write the topic on the middle. Then I start thinking question about it, like:

-What is social media marketing?
-How do you market your business using social media?
-What are some examples of social media?
-Who uses social media marketing?
-If I am a Internet Marketer, how will social media help me?
-If I am a small business owner, how will social media help me?
-How social media can help to connect customers and business owners?
and so on...
These question is connected to the main topic using lines.

Once I list down all the questions I can possibly think of, then I start doing research to find the answers to all the questions. Each answer is connected to their own respective question.

Now I have all the information to write my own article without rehashing, spin, or copy, other writer's article.

By the way, you can read "Quantum Writer", a book by Bobbi Deporter which I really like. But the version i read is it Malay.

I find when I take an article to notepad and try to rework it, and taking a different angle I end up completely rewriting it from scratch
it's takes work.. but I find that I have to be in that "writing zone" to be effective

If you can't make a decision, it's because you need more information.

Go get more information, then throw away all the obviously-wrong choices.

If you can't get more information, all potential choices are equally good and you should choose arbitrarily.

Joe Robinson said, "A great way to pick up a theme for your piece if you can't come up with one on your own? Talk to your client. They usually have a broad idea in mind of what they want that piece of content to accomplish, and you can derive a theme from that."

As an aspiring ghostwriter/PLR producer, this is something I was wondering about...but I thought the same thing. To me, it makes more sense to go back to the client and ask them to narrow it down. That way, you don't have to give them something they're going to reject.

And to put in that extra time researching (even if you're totally familiar with the subject, I would think you'd want to just do a little basic research, just in case) for something the client is unhappy with, seems like a waste of my own time. :-)

Nancy

You mentioned videos, but have you tried YouTube? There is a lot of great information to be found on there.