Article is effective - that means everything! (3,5)
I believe the answer is:
the works
'everything' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'article is effective that' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'article' could be 'the' (the definite article in English) and 'the' is found within the answer.
'is effective' could be 'works' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'works' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'means' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for the works that I've seen before include "plant?" , "factory?" , "Comprehensive treatment" , "(Give it) everything" .)