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Infographics That Elevate Articles

If you need a visual element to help explain an aspect of your article, consider creating an infographic! They may take some time to plan and make, but they help make pieces more unique and eye-catching than others they may be in competition with.

Here are some tips and pointers:

• Consider elements of your story that entail a step-by-step process or could use a visual explainer; think of aspects that might not be easy to capture/source as a regular image. Once you've isolated your points and what you need to convey, use these to build the infographic. 
• Since it's a graphic element, try to make it as eye-catching as possible, considering things like color palate and image composition.
• In line with that, the less text, the better. Don't bog it down with small font sizes and long sentences. 
• Look for platforms like Canva that have free elements you can use to build your infographic and even have templates to help get you started.
• Pin to Pinterest! Infographics look great on Pinterest (or other photo-oriented social media platforms like Instagram!) as they tend to stand out against photography. If you use an infographic, "pin" that to your board over the top image! 

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Fact-Checking Through Google Search

Did you know that yesterday, April 2, was International Fact-Checking Day? Though it seems like nearly every day of the year is now dedicated to celebrating something or another, fact-checking is rather important to the content that HubPages produces. 

Yesterday, Google published an article highlighting new and innovative ways to use search to help you fact-check. The tools are helpful for writing an article or just checking the accuracy of something your friends told you that just doesn't seem true! 

Here's more on the topic:

• If you click the three stacked dots above an article's headline in search, a side panel will appear with more information about the result. Before visiting the article, you can click "More about this page" to see information about the site and publisher.
• The three stacked dots tool is available in Google Images results as well. Clicking will generate information like the age of the image, if the publisher has added any metadata, and how other websites have described what it shows. 
• You can use Google's Fact Check Tools to search a topic and see if fact-checking has been conducted on it. Before believing every incendiary headline, run the topic or keyword through this tool to see what work has been done to verify or dispel the information. 

If you'd like to learn more, check out Google's piece, 4 ways to use Search to check facts, images and sources online.

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Featured Articles of the Week

From the history of space exploration by Americans to a haircut on the eve of Ramadan, these are our featured articles of the week! Thank you to our writers!

• LetterPile: The Day Before Ramadan Began by  Rosina S Khan
• Holidappy: The History and Symbolism of Easter by Tolovaj
• Owlcation: Alan Shepard: First American in Space by Doug West