As a writer, there is nothing more exciting than coming across articles that you can complete in a matter of 30 to 40 minutes because it is a topic that you know well. As tempting as it is to quickly write articles based upon your prior knowledge, it is not the best strategy if your goal is to create well-researched, helpful content. While you may be well versed in certain subjects due to your education or job experience, coupling your knowledge with authoritative resources will make your articles much more credible. Consider the tips included below to help with your research efforts.

Evaluate Your Topic
Before you begin researching your topic, take a moment to evaluate it. Read any instructions that were submitted with the work, and consider the target audience. Ask yourself, who is your primary audience? What purpose will this article serve? How will they use this information? Answering these questions will give you a general idea of how much information to convey and the amount of detail to include. It will also guide you on what to emphasize in your article, how much time to spend on your research, as well as the style and tone you should use to communicate with your audience.

Gather Your Resources
Communicate your ideas, but make certain that you support your content with credible and authoritative resources. When you offer readers supporting documentation coupled with your well-researched content, you offer your readers a helpful experience. What classifies resources as authoritative and credible? There are a number of characteristics you should consider to evaluate the usefulness and reliability of a resource. Consider the author. Is he or she considered an authoritative figure in the field? Is he or she associated with an academic institution or in the medical institute? Are the documents outdated? Depending on your topic, outdated material can be considered invaluable. If the document was created for a scholarly audience, then it should contain a bibliography with references to the resources used in the document. Samples of credible resources include magazines, government websites, documents retrieved from academic institutions, government websites and news websites.

Organize Your Ideas
Writing your article will be much easier once the research is completed and you have a general idea of what you want to write. However, after you complete your research you will be left with a large amount of information. What do you do with it? How do you organize what sources will be used? Organizing your ideas is an excellent start to a well-thought out article because it allows you to get a general idea of the information that you are capturing and what needs to be addressed. Consider using the notes that you created during the evaluation phase of the topic. There are a number of methods you can use to organize your ideas. Create a general outline making certain that each section addresses a different aspect of your article. Create a diagram focusing on the main idea and possible subtopics. Note cards are even great to use to help with organizing the data. You could group them based on the subtopics. When you’re done organizing your ideas, you should have multiple sections that address various aspects of your article.

Writing quick articles based on your own personal knowledge without research is not credible. You need to support the ideas that you write, even if you feel you are already knowledgeable on the topic. Build trust with your readers by providing them with, quality, well-researched articles that adds value to their status quo. Remember to only use credible resources; evaluate your topic to get a better idea of what your readers may be looking for and organize your ideas.