Of the importance of presenting a subject in such a manner that the reader is led to see its application to himself and his own affairs, Mr. John M. Siddall, editor of the American Magazine, has said: 

    Every human being likes to see himself in reading matter—­just as he
    likes to see himself in a mirror.

The reason so much reading matter is unpopular and never attracts a wide reading public lies in the fact that the reader sees nothing in it for himself.  Take an article, we’ll say, entitled “The Financial System of Canada.”  It looks dull, doesn’t it?  It looks dull because you can’t quite see where it affects you.  Now take an article entitled “Why it is easier to get rich in Canada than in the United States.”  That’s different!  Your interest is aroused.  You wonder wherein the Canadian has an advantage over you.  You look into the article to find out whether you can’t get an idea from it.  Yet the two articles may be basically alike, differing only in treatment.  One bores you and the other interests you.  One bores you because it seems remote.  The other interests you because the writer has had the skill to translate his facts and ideas into terms that are personal to you.  The minute you become personal in this world you become interesting.

COMBINING APPEALS.  When the analysis of a topic shows that it possesses more than one of these appeals, the writer may heighten the attractiveness of his story by developing several of the possibilities, simultaneously or successively.  The chance discovery by a prominent physician of a simple preventive of infantile paralysis, for instance, would combine at least four of the elements of interest enumerated above.  If such a combination of appeals can be made at the very beginning of the article, it is sure to command attention.

DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE.  In view of the multiplicity of possible appeals, a writer may be misled into undertaking to do too many diverse things in a single article.  A subject often has so many different aspects of great interest that it is difficult to resist the temptation to use all of them.  If a writer yields to this temptation, the result may be a diffuse, aimless article that, however interesting in many details, fails to make a definite impression.

To avoid this danger, the writer must decide just what his purpose is to be.  He must ask himself, “What is my aim in writing this article?” and, “What do I expect to accomplish?” Only in this way will he clarify in his mind his reason for writing on the proposed topic and the object to be attained.

With a definitely formulated aim before him, he can decide just what material he needs.  An objective point to be reached will give his article direction and will help him to stick to his subject.  Furthermore, by getting his aim clearly in mind, he will have the means of determining, when the story is completed, whether or not he has accomplished what he set out to do.