HOW TO WRITE A NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE ARTICLE

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HOW TO WRITE A NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE ARTICLE
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Whats the trick?

• The key to writing a successful article is to
  keep it CLEAR and SIMPLE.
• Be OBJECTIVE use facts and figures to support
  the ideas.
• Get reliable information. Dont invent facts!
• Do not include biassed sentences.

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General Structure

• Headline
• Byline (by Joe Smith)
• Lead (lede or lead paragraph)
• overview summary of the story (who, where, what,
  why, when, how)
• Explanation and amplification
• Additional information
• Conclusion

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General Structure

• A typical newspaper article contains five parts

• Headline This is a short, attention-getting
  statement about the event.
• Byline This tells who wrote the story.

1. Lead paragraph This has ALL the who, what, when,
   where, why and how in it. A writer must find the
   answers to these questions and write them into
   the opening sentence(s) of the article.

1. Explanation After the lead paragraph has been
   written, the writer must decide what other facts
   or details the reader might want to know. The
   writer must have enough information to answer any
   important questions a reader might have after
   reading the headline and the lead paragraph. This
   section can also include direct quotes from
   witnesses or bystanders.

1. Conclusion A final catchy paragraph to summarise
   the text.

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Headline

• The phrase that grabs ones attention
• Often a noun phrase (no verb)
• Unexpected visit
• Overwhelming response of voters
• Use present simple tense for past events
• Parliament confirms new stray dog policy
•  Leave out auxiliary verbs
• Temperatures rising as climate changes 
• Use infinitives for future events
• President to visit France for further talks
•  Leave out articles (a, an, the)
• Prime Minister hikes Alps for charity
•  Leave out to be
• Residents unhappy about new road

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The body

• Upside down pyramid.
• Facts in order of descending importance
• Unbiased.
• Use quotes to demonstrate opposing opinions or
  bring in the human element.
• No more than three/four sentences per paragraph.
• Writer must assume reader has no prior knowledge
  of the story.

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Style

• Clear and meaningful vocabulary and
  sentences.
• Facts told in active voice
• Police searched for evidence.

• Reported speech in passive voice
• It was later revealed that there was evidence of
  arson.
• Direct speech for quotes.
• The suspect said, I am innocent.
• Direct questions to the reader.
• Have you ever been mugged?

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Useful patterns

• To introduce facts
• Statistics show that
• The survey shows that
• To talk about statistics
• On average,
• Most people
• More than two thirds of (the) students
• Half the animals
• More / less than 70 of (the) citizens
• About / Over / nearly 60 of (the) classes
• To compare
• More popular than / poorer than
• As popular as
• The most popular / the poorest

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Useful connectors

• Order first, secondly, third
• Cause Because / since / as ( SV)
• Due to / Because of / As a result of ( N)
• Consequence Therefore / as a result /
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  consequently ( S V)
• Addition Furthermore / In addition / Also ( S
  V)
• Contrast However / Nevertheless / Yet ( S V)
• Although ( S V)
• Example For example ( S V)
• Such as ( N)

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• Ethiopia situation critical, warn aid agencies
• Business leaders urge euro vote
• 200 buried as quake hits school
• Nurses save patients amid power cut
• British journalist shot dead
• Murder 'victim' in a closet
• Scientists to discover a new vaccine
• Jail murderers for longer, judges ordered