Tutorial:How to create an article - before you start drafting

Overview of all steps

This tutorial is part of How to create an article step by step and provides information you will need before you start drafting.

Full article

Covering a theme

First of all, take a look at existing Statistics Explained articles, especially in the theme your article would fit in.
Reflect on the message you want to communicate, the patterns or trends in the data you want to show your readers. Draft a brief outline of the statistical story you want to tell. Should you need advice about the structure or whether your text is feasible for a Statistics Explained article, you can consult the Statistics Explained team (ESTAT-STATISTICS-EXPLAINED@ec.europa.eu).
In order to 'cover' a theme (such as 'Health', 'Labour market' or 'Transport') in a comprehensive and coherent way, it is recommended to organise articles at three levels:

one overview article of the whole theme or subtheme, providing a general view;

one article on each of the main topics within the theme (eg.'Transport' could be 'Road transport', 'Air transport' etc.);

very specific and topical 'stories' covering one particular issue.

With this in mind, you can consider either writing a whole new article or updating/changing an existing one.

Statistical articles have no strict minimum or maximum length, but 10-15 printed pages is optimal. If articles get longer, they should be shortened or split up in two or more statistical articles - these can be easily interlinked or grouped.

Structure

Take a look at the structure of the articles by checking the model page for statistical articles. This structure shows the compulsory sections of the article:

Introduction: since a large majority of users will arrive directly via a Google search on your page, the introduction should tell them what the article is about, but the introduction should be short enough to still fit in on the first page of the article (see below).
Main statistical findings: a clearly written text divided into paragraphs with, if possible, journalistic subheadings. An appropriate amount of graphs and tables should also be included.
Data sources and availability: briefly describes the source of the data (e.g. a particular survey) and any additional information on the availability and comparability of the data. Definitions should not be in this part, but in a separate Glossary page (see step 4).
Context: describes the policy behind the data collection and the uses of the data: the legal basis, the policy context etc.
An Excel table which serves as a basis for the graphs and tables.
See also: links to similar articles in Statistics Explained of interest to the reader.
Further Eurostat information: links to information available on the Eurostat web site. It is subdivided into five possible sections, not all of which have to be present in all articles:

- Downloadable publications

- Main tables related to the subject

- Database related to the subject

- Dedicated section(s)

- Related visualisation tools

- Other information, including legal texts, manuals, ...

- External links: to trustworthy official organisations (e.g. ECB, OECD, UN, WHO), specific to the subject treated and leading directly to additional information.

The Highlights contain:

A planned update date
Some tweetable main messages of the article
An interactive or static illustration of some of the main data
A brief introductory text

Tutorial:How to create an article - before you start drafting

Full article

Covering a theme

Structure

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