Article Summary dots Q?

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Article Summary dots Q?

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What do you think is better to end an ARTICLE SUMMARY with:

A) Three dots …

B) A question that leads the reader into wanting to read the full article.

C) Cutting off a sentence mid stream so that your reader is forced to wonder what else you said and has to click on the full article to see it.

Which is best?

Posted by Christopher M. Knight on April 12, 2005 at 2:36 pm

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6 Comments »

Dennis Mellersh writes:

If the article is on a website, I would end it with…(read more)

(read more) would be a link to the rest of the article

Example:

There is an interesting post on this topic at …(read more)

Dennis Mellersh

Comment provided April 12, 2005 at 3:15 pm

Tony Farrell writes:

I think using whichever of the three that is necessary is wise. I’m not sure if one is better than the other. But I do think that there could be an order of importance, when deciding which one to use.

A question that leads the reader into wanting to read the full article, is probably the best way to make the reader curious and ask themselves that question. It helps make the reader interact with what the article is about. Therefore this would be my choice for the best one.

In some cases, maybe a question may not suitable. Therefore ending a summary with either “Three dots…” or “Cutting off a sentence mid stream” is the next alternative.

I hope I got my point across.

Comment provided April 12, 2005 at 4:22 pm

Alden Smith writes:

I use the ellipse to leave a comment open to reflection. It is something I do in my daily journaling, but would be hesitant to use it to end an article summary. it is open to interpretation.
I believe ending a statement in mid sentence is a bad use of grammer.
Therefore, I believe that using a question, or call to action, is probably the best choice of the three.

Peace,

Charlie~

Comment provided April 12, 2005 at 6:23 pm

Steve writes:

The three dots strategy is definitely in third place. In my view this is usually just an easy way out. Second place goes to breaking the sentence in mid-phrase as grammatically being a bad choice and will likely just annoy the readers. So I’m voting with a solid number one for posing an intriguing question in the title. This is also the most challenging for the writer, but serves to get the reader involved at the very outset.

Comment provided April 15, 2005 at 5:06 pm

Glennys writes:

I LOVE the three dots at the end and I like the three dots to be in midsentence. It makes me curious about what comes next. It builds excitement.

In my mind, three dots also signifies leaving the topic open for reflection — for further delving into its mysteries.

Third comes the question — it’s all right for authors to use a question to get their readers involved, but it makes me feel like I’m in grade school again. Maybe it’s a test! Question, answer. Question, answer. What if I get it wrong?

Comment provided April 21, 2005 at 11:33 am

Lance Winslow writes:

I was thinking on this the other day and since I run a Think Tank, I started putting a question asking the reader something and then writing. Think about it. as the last sentence? Not sure if this will work, but it definitely gets them thinking which for me was the point in the first place. What do you think is the best way to end an article anyway? Think about it…

Gotcha ! HA.

Comment provided April 28, 2005 at 9:45 pm

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