No, you don’t – this is not that kind of article 😭
We know that with the market being flooded with AI, as a content writer, it is hard not to venture into those areas (i.e. ChatGPT, Claude, and their likes…) to write, or at the very least, to obtain a well-drafted outline for your blog. As a tech publisher, we at HackerNoon have clearly and concretely shown our stance toward AI in content writing (via this article).
https://hackernoon.com/the-right-way-to-use-ai-on-hackernoon?embedable=true
TL;DR: We have our own AI detector at work, and if you use AI to submit generic work. We will catch you, and we will reject your story.
Surely, AI-generated content has a pattern of being generic, and in most cases, when you try to feed a simple question/prompt/topic to an AI model, the answer you receive will just be passable as an outline full of unoriginal claims.
Nonetheless, it is undeniable that AI has continuously proven to be a highly effective assistant to writers, making a positive impact on the quality of internet blogging. That being said, when using AI to assist with your writing, please refrain from copying and pasting absolutely EVERYTHING it gave you into your draft. But if, in certain cases, when a chatbot satisfies you with its answers to your problems, here is a tip to leverage your AI advantage and turn your draft into an article worth reading!
Spoiler Alert! It is called “Thoughtful Writing” ✍️
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Already an experienced writer? Share about your journey as a tech blogger using this writing template!
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What Is “Thoughtful Writing”?
The practice of thoughtful writing is as simple as putting more thoughts into your writing. It involves putting yourself in your readers’ shoes, understanding their perspectives and thought processes, and reaching the end goal of 1) Successfully tackling the writing objectives and 2) Leaving readers with no unanswered questions.
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Keep in mind – Your audience usually isn’t as familiar with your topic as you are. Therefore as a writer, you should expand and elaborate on every point you make rather than leave them as is.
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While concision is valuable, a well-written, detailed expansion offers context and clarity that can transform a simple idea into a comprehensive narrative.
So, How Can One Practice Thoughtful Writing?
Master The Art of Storytelling
Storytelling has long been a powerful weapon for writers. Whether you’re creating short-form or long-form content, weaving a good narrative greatly elevates your blog posts. Check out this HackerNoon article by Vitaliya Letnitskaya on storytelling and how to identify a good story!
https://hackernoon.com/storytelling-what-stories-our-brains-like?embedable=true
You see, having a well-crafted story allows you to attain a more logical flow. By having a clear “end goal” for your story, you are able to easily expand your ideas into more digestible parts, allowing more room for creative perspectives and/or nuances.
Your Trustworthy Writing Blueprint
It is important that when writing about anything, you’re ready to explain and elaborate your points consistently. To further illustrate this point, we introduce the “content triangle” below:
Simple but effective, the Content Triangle is the most basic form for idea development which can help you effectively map out the blueprint of your next article. During this step, it is easy to get lost with too many main points to tackle; to make things easier, constantly ask yourself these questions:
How will this point lead the readers to the end goal?
Is this general knowledge that only needs to be mentioned briefly? Or is it something that can be delved further into?
Have anyone talked about this before? And what can I learn from their findings?
This is from my own experiences – What did I learn?
In answering all these questions you are ready for the next step!
The Power of Elaborations, Examples, and Case Studies
Having elaborated on your main points, it is crucial to top it up with some nice examples or relevant case studies. It’s like the cherry on top – or in this case, multiple cherries are even better 🍒 This is a great way to enrich your drafts with multiple insights as well as a pathway to engage with your readers through further discussion if you ever decide to take your article for a spin on social media!
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Check out our article on audience engagement here!
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“How do I add examples and case studies?” you might ask 👀 Well, the answers are: Images, Videos, Charts, Infographics – anything you can think of as long as it resonates with your visions for the end goal.
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Check out our guide for using images here, and how to fully utilize the HackerNoon Editor here!
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More confident? Practice Thoughtful Writing right away with this writing template!
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Up Your Stats Game – Check Out HackerNoon’s Words Written by Writer Feature!
Gain more insights for your blog! HackerNoon now visualizes writers’ content with word cloud via the Words Written by Writer feature 📈 Refine your blog posts for better SEO, trend spotting, or simply boosting your blog strategy by pinpointing popular keywords ✍️
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https://hackernoon.com/one-would-think-the-world-was-built-just-as-much-for-women-as-it-is-for-men?embedable=true
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https://hackernoon.com/how-websockets-power-real-time-apps?embedable=true
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https://hackernoon.com/ai-coding-tools-are-bad-news-for-lazy-programmers?embedable=true
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https://hackernoon.com/x-outage-exposes-musks-poor-digital-hygiene?embedable=true