3.02 How to check an article

When you check someone else’s work, it is important to pay attention to the right details. Of course, there should be no more spelling mistakes, but, from a broader perspective, the article should also be concise yet complete. In the table below you’ll find the most important details that you should focus on while checking an article.

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Title	Does the title say what it’s supposed to say? Does the title invite you to read further? Isn’t the title too long? (exceptions possible)
Introduction	Does the introduction contain the motivation for writing the article? Does the introduction make you want to read on? In other words: is it interesting enough?
Headings	Are the subheadings short and to the point? In other words: don’t use whole sentences. Are the subheadings catchy and inviting? Show don’t tell!
Spelling	Did the author use correct spelling? Especially in Dutch, verb conjugation (dt-errors) and the use of English idiom (should be printed in italics) are important to pay attention to.
Punctuation	Did the author use the correct punctuation? Guidelines: – there must be a comma between two verbs (if you listen, you’ll hear …) – there must be a comma between two adjectives attached to one noun (beautiful, summer day) – be careful with exclamation marks (that’s like yelling) – song titles are enclosed in single quotes (‘Song Title’) – quotes are enclosed in double quotation marks (“Quote”) – after a colon (:) comes a summary, list, explanation or quote – a semicolon (;) connects two (full) sentences with a clear connection
Synonyms	Are there words that occur multiple times within a sentence or paragraph? Did the author use enough synonyms for the commonly used words like festival, band, album and song?
Style	Did the author make his/her/their mark with this article? Is the text written smoothly and enthusiastically? Are static sentences or statements of fact been avoided? Tip: read the text aloud. Do you stumble over words or sentences? Then the author must continue to tinker.
Research	Does the author go into depth enough on the subject? Does the author tell you ‘something’ new? Are any sources cited or linked in the text?

Visuals

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Featured Image	Is the featured image set? Is it allowed to use the featured image? (check whether it is up to date and what it says under credits) Is the featured image relevant? Does the featured image trigger?”
Images / Photos	Are all images/photos used relevant? Are all photos used royalty-free, recent and qualitative? Did the author use the photos from the media library?
Videos	Is the video properly included in the article? (via link and not via frame) Is the video relevant to the article? (does it add anything? does it illustrate something?) Is the footage of good quality?
Social Embedding	Is the post properly embedded in the article? Is the post relevant to the article? (does it add anything? does it illustrate something?)

Indexing

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Categories	Is the news or ambassador category checked as primary? Is the relevant festival category ticked? Is the relevant format category checked? (not required) Is ‘geen onderdeel…’ unchecked? Are collective names for categories unchecked? (‘Festivals’ or ‘Formats-to be further specified below’)
Tags	Are the tags relevant? Are festival+edition and (main) artist(s) tagged?”
URL / Slug	The URL/Slug is always pre-filled by WordPress. Is it edited by the author? Is the URL / Slug described as briefly as possible? (leave articles and prepositions out (Dutch: lidwoorden en voorzetsels).
SEO	Has the SEO keyphrase been chosen well? (Consider carefully which word or phrase you want to be found on in Google) Is the ’traffic light’ for SEO turned green? If not: check whether adjustments can be made by looking at the advice given by Yoast.
Readability	Is the ’traffic light’ for Readability turned green? If not: did the author use enough transition words?
Crosslinks	Does the article contain outbound (external) links? (sources, festival websites, ticket sales sites, affiliate links) Does the article contain internal links to news articles or program page? (f.e. in intro text or festival info) Does the article contain internal links and/or paragraphs that link to other content?

Sharing

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Redirection	With a remake or a repost: has a redirection been created on older articles?
Social Timeline	Has a social timeline been created?
Twitter	Did the author change {title} in the default tweet to his/her/their own text? Is {permalink} part of the tweet? Did the author use relevant mentions? (@festival) Did the author use relevant hashtags? (#festival #festival+edition #artist)”
Facebook	Did the author change {title} in the default tweet to his/her/their own text? Is {permalink} part of the post? Did the author use emoji’s and relevant mentions? (@festival)
Instagram	Did the author create and use a Festileaks styled image? (via Image Creator) Did the author change {title} in the default post to his/her/their own text? Did the author remove {permalink} from the post? (no links can be processed in a timeline post) Did the author use relevant mentions, hashtags and possibly emojis? Check with the writer whether the Insta post has been thought through: it must summarize the article, as no link can be given.
Meta description	Has a meta text been written to match the title? Does the meta text trigger clicks? Does it contain a summary of the intro text?

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Download the check-checklist

In desperate need of this ‘check-checklist’ in a seperate file? We got your back! below you will find two windows, one for the English version and one for the Dutch. Under each window there is a download button, so you save the document on your own laptop and therefore a shortcut everytime you check an article. Good luck!