Honey Dew Skin Care

In teaching business and article writing one of the things that drives me mad is the poor use of headings.  This is true whether the written piece of work is in the printed form or online.  The following is a few simple tips on how to improve your headings when writing an article.  For more articles and resources please visit our website.

• Hong Kong English tuition
• IELTS Hong Kong
• English resources for students
• IB resources
• Hong Kong education news
• HKDSE
• Preparing for SAT in Hong Kong

Three requirements of a good heading

Well-written headings serve important purposes. They enable readers to skim a piece of writing, get a general impression of its contents, and focus on issues of interest. They enable you to highlight important points and break up long blocks of solid print.

Headings are not easy to write, for they must fulfil several requirements. Below are three simple ideas that will help a person write good headings to an article or webpage.

Headings should show the relationship of ideas

By simply looking at a piece of writing, a reader should be able to tell which topics are of major, secondary or minor importance. All topics at the same level of generalisation should have headings that look the same; that is, their typography and placement should be identical. The typographic options available on most computer printers provide writers with a wide range of design choices. Headings can be underlined, printed in bold face, italics, all capitals, or set in a different typeface. Higher-level headings should have more visual impact than lower-level headings.  This is a simple formatting rule that can improve the look of a piece of work.

Headings should be informative

Just as the headings in newspapers provide readers with information, so too should the headings in business documents or webpages. A heading should give as much information as possible. The heading ‘Bright Future for Product X’, for example, can be made more specific: ‘Sales of Product X to Double by 2011′. Broad headings like ‘Background’ and ‘Conclusion’ should be replaced with headings that summarise the background (‘Regulation Has Limited Our Marketing Efforts’) or state the conclusion (‘Deregulation Will Open New Markets’).

Headings should match the information in scope.

Headings should fit the material that follows them; they should be neither too broad nor too narrow. If a heading reads ‘Homeowners Protest Against Ruling’, the discussion that follows should be limited to only that point. If those who rent property are also discussed, the heading should be broadened: ‘Residents Protest Against Ruling’. If only owners of holiday homes are involved, the heading should be narrowed: ‘Owners of Holiday Homes Protest Against Ruling’.  The heading should be a statement as what is to come in the following text.

Good luck and I hope to be reading your great headings soon.