What makes a good article. The standards every piece is checked against.

What makes a good article? The standards behind every Desk piece

A good article answers a question your readers actually have, and it does so early and plainly. It's built from facts and takes one clear view. It's written for the people reading it, and it ends by telling them what to do next. If a draft does those things, it's ready for you to consider; if it doesn't, it needs more work before you approve it.

Hynca Media Desk set out these standards in a piece titled "What makes a good article", published on 4 October 2026. It doesn't announce a change. It describes how the Desk judges a piece, from the first paragraph to the last. This guide takes each standard in turn and shows how to apply it when a draft lands with you.

What should a good article do first?

It answers the question, in the first paragraph.

A draft that opens by setting the scene makes the reader wait. It discusses the topic in general terms and explains why it matters. Only after three or four paragraphs does it reach the answer. Your readers came with a question, so give them the answer first and the detail after.

The point of view belongs near the top as well. The standards ask for one clear view, stated up front. In practice that means saying what matters most, or what you would do, within the opening paragraphs, and letting the rest of the article support it with facts. A piece that holds its view back until the last paragraph leaves the reader unsure why they're reading.

Here is how that works in practice. Suppose your readers want to know whether a change affects them. The first paragraph says whether it does, and for whom. The second can explain where the news came from. Everything else comes after the reader has what they came for: background, detail and steps.

News follows the same principle with one difference: a news article opens with what changed. A reader who sees the headline wants to know what's different now, so that comes before any explanation of why. Background can follow in the second or third paragraph, if the piece has room for it.

Where do the facts come from?

A good article is built from figures, dates and named sources. Each one is credited and linked, so your readers can see where it came from and check it for themselves. Where a source has no web address, as with the standards behind this guide, it's credited by name.

Of all the standards, this is the one we'd put first. An article can be rearranged, shortened or rewritten for a different audience. An invented fact can't be fixed by editing: it has to be found and taken out. That's why nothing is invented to fill a gap. If a figure isn't available, the article doesn't guess one. If a source doesn't say who made a decision, the article doesn't name anyone. The claim is narrowed or left out. A shorter, accurate piece serves your readers and your site's reputation better than a longer one with gaps quietly filled.

Links work the same way. A good article links to pages that are genuinely relevant to the reader, and it doesn't link to every page it could. Each link should earn its place. Does it take the reader to the source of a fact, or to something they'd want next? If it does neither, it's clutter.

On your own site, the most useful links are often to your own pages: an events listing, a member directory, a service page that relates to the story. Link to them when the story gives the reader a reason to go there; leave them out when it doesn't. A reader who follows a link and finds nothing connected to what they've just read is less likely to follow the next one.

When you review a draft, look at each figure, date and name and ask where it came from. If you can't see a credit, check it against the source or cut the claim. Do this before the piece goes anywhere near your site, and don't let a good opening or a tidy structure hurry you past it.

Who is the article written for?

Your readers. That means their area, their situation, what changes for them and what they should do. The same news can need a different article for a trade body's members than for a local shop's customers, because what changes for each group is different.

An article that reports what happened accurately and stops there leaves the hardest part to the reader. They have to work out for themselves whether it affects them and what to do about it. A good article does that work for them. If the facts show a change hits one kind of business and not another, say so. If there's a date that matters to your readers, put it where they'll see it.

The ending is part of the same job. A closing paragraph that repeats what the reader has just read gives them nothing new; a next step gives them a reason to have read the piece. That step might be to check a date, contact someone or read a related page on your site. It should be specific to the story and to your readers. If the last step would fit any article, the ending needs another look.

How should a good article read?

Plainly. A good article uses plain, specific words and varies its sentence length. It cuts padding, throat-clearing openers and stock phrases.

Specific words do more work than general ones. A figure tells the reader more than "a significant amount". A named source tells them more than "reports suggest". Where a draft uses a vague phrase, there's often a fact that could replace it; if there isn't, the sentence can usually go.

The standards don't define "padding" or list stock phrases. A simple test does the job. Remove the sentence. If the reader loses nothing they need, it was padding.

Sentence length changes how a piece feels. Long sentence after long sentence tires the reader. Short ones in a row feel clipped. Mix them. Some sentences can be very short. Others can take their time, carrying a qualification or a second idea that belongs with the first.

Subheadings help readers scan. Many people read the headings first and then dip into the section that answers their question, so each heading should say what its section is about. This guide's headings are written as the questions a reader would ask, in the order they'd ask them. That's one way to make headings work: a reader scanning the page can find their question and start there.

Lists are used only where they genuinely help, such as steps in order or items a reader will tick off. Most points read better in prose, where each sentence can connect to the one before. A run of points that each need a reason or a condition loses those reasons when it's cut into bullets, and the reader is left with a set of claims and no way to weigh them.

How long should it be?

Length depends on the type of piece, and the standards give two ranges. A news article should be 400 to 700 words and open with what changed. A guide should be 1,000 to 1,800 words and answer a question readers keep asking. News tells your readers something has happened. A guide answers a question that will still be asked months from now, which is why it needs more room.

Take a news story of 500 words. It sits inside the range, 100 words above the minimum and 200 below the maximum. That's enough for what changed, who it affects and what to do, without background the reader doesn't need. A news draft of 300 words is 100 words short of the range. Check whether it has left out what the change means for your readers, since that's the part most easily dropped.

A guide of about 1,400 words sits near the middle of its range, 400 words above the minimum and 400 below the maximum. That leaves space for the answer, the explanation, worked examples and practical steps. A guide that runs to 2,000 words is 200 over. Look first for a point made twice, then for sections the reader didn't ask for.

There's a gap between the two ranges. A draft of 850 words is 150 over the news maximum and 150 short of the guide minimum. A piece that lands there is often unsure what it is. Either it's news that has picked up background it doesn't need, or it's a guide that hasn't yet covered what the reader needs to act. Decide which it is, then cut it back or build it out.

Decide which type of piece you're publishing before you judge its length. The standards give no word counts for other types of article, so for anything that isn't news or a guide, judge it by whether it answers the reader's question without padding.

What should you check before you approve a piece?

Hynca Media Desk checks every piece against these standards before a person approves it. Your review is the last step before anything is published, and the decision is yours.

Order matters more than it seems. Work through a draft in the same order as this guide's sections: the opening, the facts, the reader, the reading, the length. The reason is time. Moving a paragraph up takes a minute. Cutting an unsupported claim can change the paragraphs around it. Polishing a sentence is wasted effort if that sentence later has to go, so leave the wording until the structure and the facts are settled.

If a draft passes every stage, it's ready. If it fails one, that's the part to edit, and the rest can stay as it is.

You read it, edit it and approve it. Nothing is published by itself.

Read the FAQ for how human approval and claim checking work.