Beyond the introduction

And beyond 

Your first and second paragraphs lay the foundation for your in-body content. Once you’ve carefully – and concisely – crafted your initial copy, you’re left to weave your words into an engaging, captivating  and informative piece. Elaborate on The Five Ws as best as you can and into your third paragraph  and beyond, explain: 

• What has happened (in the past) 

• What is happening now (in the present) 

• What will happen (in the future) 

Be very careful not to trip yourself up with tenses. As a general rule of thumb, writing in past tense is  regarded as the most common approach. Whatever you choose, though, make absolutely sure that  you do not jump between past and present tense. A clear switch from past to future is less  problematic, especially when detailing the consequences of the topic at hand. 

Comments

Because we would like to encourage article comments and other engagement with The South African’s readers, after your last article paragraph please insert a question (as an H2, H3, H4 or H5 heading) pertaining to your article and then insert this call-to-action text:

Let us know by clicking on the comment tab below this article or by emailing info@thesouthafrican.com or sending a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. You can also follow @TheSAnews on X and The South African on Facebook for the latest news.

See example below

Commenting on articles

All writers and content producers are required to post comments on articles, be it their own or their colleagues’ articles, with a minimum of 10 comments desirable every week.

Again, not only is this important engagement, hopefully it will spur healthy and informative debate about the subjects we cover.