Intro

With the rise of other users making their own SP Explained posts, I have achieved part one of my master plan to create a self sustaining fountain of knowledge for me to read.

However, while I enjoy seeing other people share their knowledge to others, their post are not formatted correctly, which creates drama and other issues. So, to help these new writers out, I am writing this post to explain to people how to correctly write a proper informational article.

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SP Explained - How to write a proper informational article

What is SP Explained

Before we get in the gritty technical stuff, lets go over what SP Explained is. SP Explained is a forum series dedicated to the explanation of topics relating to the SP site and community. It covers a whole variety of topics, from how insignificant forum upvotes are to describing how to use the inter workings of the human mind to your advantage.

SP Explained also strives to be unbiased, as it tries to be a source of information to help educate users on issues and topics relating to the SP community. Users are then able to use this newfound knowledge to make their own judgement and opinions. We also urge our readers to do their own research as they will be able to better understand the topic.

Finally, SP Explained should not be used for political or personal gain, including but not limited to, drama, arguments, ideologies, religion, racial matters, and more. Please remember to also keep profanity out of SP Explained posts. Your posts effect the reputation of SP Explained as a whole. If you make a post for the wrong reasons, it will negatively effect peoples opinions on my posts and others post.

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Formatting your post

Even with slight discrepancies in the title or name format, SP Explained posts made by me usually follow the same layout.

Each post should start with an intro, which is written to hook the reader in and get them interested in the post. I may start out with an interesting question or by bringing up a topic to build up interest. What you choose to do with your intro is up to you.

The title is self explanatory, it's a few words about what your forum post is about. If you are writing for SP Explained, it will also include SP Explained in the title. My last forum post related to drama and how to stop it, so it was simply Stopping Drama. Remember, your title should be simple and short.

Subheadings are basically little titles used to tell the reader what the following section is about. They are used to separate topics into different sections and break up the wall of text. This makes it easier for readers to read and retain what they are reading. Your sub headers should be 3-5 words.

Paragraphs are sub sections of texts in SP Explained. They can be long single paragraphs with all the info of a topic in that one paragraph or multiple smaller paragraphs which divide the larger paragraph into different sub topics, usually based of minor differences in topics throughout the paragraph. Here is an example of the two:

Single Paragraph

The first thing you should do before starting this adventure is figure out you building niche. After all, there is no point in trying to get platinum if your means of doing so is doing something you don't enjoy. By finding your niche, you will enjoy doing something you love and will be more motivated to put time in effort in it. Through trial and error, you will also be able to improve your builds. Lets say your niche was building generation four aircraft. Over time, you would begin to discover new ways to improve your builds, like better fuselage building techniques and decals/liveries. By finding what you love doing, you assure the quality of your builds, which is something the community greatly values.

Multiple Paragraphs

The first thing you should do before starting this adventure is figure out you building niche. After all, there is no point in trying to get platinum if your means of doing so is doing something you don't enjoy. By finding your niche, you will enjoy doing something you love and will be more motivated to put time in effort in it.

Through trial and error, you will also be able to improve your builds. Lets say your niche was building generation four aircraft. Over time, you would begin to discover new ways to improve your builds, like better fuselage building techniques and decals/liveries.

By finding what you love doing, you assure the quality of your builds, which is something the community greatly values.

I split my paragraphs into smaller paragraphs so it's easier for people to read, but it's up to you on how you want to do it.

Conclusions are used to wrap up your post and topic. They can answer your main question asked in the intro or summarize your findings. Example:

The path to Platinum will not be easy. It will require you expand your abilities and skills, learn patience, and so much more. So, to answer the question, by optimizing your ability to collect upvotes and using your knowledge of the human brain to your advantage.

This conclusion sums up the discussed topics and answers the question asked in the beginning.

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The Do's and Don'ts

In a perfect SP world, you as a writer would be able to write about anything you want. However, just like in real life, you can’t.

As the writer in an informational article, your job is to present information to readers in an unbiased view, taking no sides on the matter at hand. This prevents your views from tainiting the views of the undecided. You can do this by taking a third person point of view, as talking in first person means you are using words that assume that you have the same experiences or viewpoints as the reader.

Being the writer also means you need to prevent the spread of lies, misinformation, and drama around the SP site. You can do this by being specific in your word choice and being well informed in the topic you are writing about.

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Personal Notes

For almost 4 years now, I have been part of world building, story writing, and other things. I am taking advanced english courses in school. I am even planning on writing a book when I get some more time. You might look at my previous or newer posts and see that I am not following a lot of the things I wrote here. It’s not that I am a hypocrite, but that it is important to learn how to do something correctly before doing it in your own style. Relate it to flying. Before you can take off and soar through the sky, you must learn the basics. You learn what the instruments do and how to navigate. Otherwise, you put yourself in danger. Like flying, it is important to learn what to do and not to do before doing your own thing.

I have years of experience writing, but even I have trouble sometimes writing posts that don’t spread drama and misinformation. Most people don’t, so it is very easy to mess up in their lack of experience. I suggest doing your own research on your own time too. I also suggest you write forum posts, even if you are inexperienced. The best teacher is experience, which is only gained through trial and error.

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Conclusion

Writing informational articles is not for everyone. Like building, it requires the utmost attention to detail and may take hours to do. However, unlike building, there is no upvote reward for you in the forums. The only reward you receive is an addiction to new notifications and the craving of more comments. In other words, you only really will have fun doing this if you love researching and writing. So if that isn’t for you, no big deal. There are many things you can do in Simpleplanes. However, if it is for you, remember I am always here to help you if you have any questions or concerns. Who knows, maybe I might make SP Explained a group project and invite you to join. And as always, have a great day or night, the choice is yours.

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Previous SP Explained posts

-Platinum through forums alone
-Why your builds are not getting more upvotes
-How to become Platinum
-How a possible updated Rank System could look
-How to grow SP Drama in 3 easy steps
-What TRUE Criticism : Special Guest KnightsOfRen
-The Realism and lack thereof of SP and Things to Know : Special Guest APilotOfPlanes

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