HOW
TO WRITE A
NEWSPAPER OR
MAGAZINE ARTICLE
What’s 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. Don’t invent
facts!
Do not include biased sentences.
General Structure
Headline
Byline (by Joe Smith)
Lead (lead paragraph)
• overview summary of the story (who, where,
what, why, when, how)
Explanation and amplification
Additional information
Conclusion
General Structure
A typical newspaper article
contains five parts:
[Link]: This is a short, attention-getting
statement about the event.
[Link]: This tells who wrote the story.
[Link] 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.
4. 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.
5. Conclusion: A final catchy paragraph to summarise the text.
Headline
The phrase that grabs one’s 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
The body
Upside down pyramid.
Facts in order of descending importance
Unbiased.
Use quotes to demonstrate opposing
opinions or bring in the human element.
Writer must assume reader has no prior
knowledge of the topic.
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?
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
Useful connectors
Order: first, secondly, third…
Cause: Because / since / as (+ S+V)
Due to / Because of / As a result of (+ N)
Consequence: Therefore / as a result /
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)
• 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
