Format for writing a Newspaper Article

Newspaper article are included in Paper 1, Section 1-Directed Writing for O-level English Language Paper. It carries 30 marks and the word count must be restricted to 300 words.

Format of a Newspaper Article

•  Heading:

A very catchy headline relevant to the information should be added at the start which you intent to discuss.

• Beginning:

The first sentence of the article has to be striking. It should instantly engage the reader’s attention. This is important to arouse the interest about the topic especially if your article is argumentative in nature. The first sentence may also anchor your opinion. Some effective openings could be as follows:

• A provocative statement (Drinking can help boost your imagination),
• Quotation (pen is mightier than sword),
• A direct question (How do you feel the virtual reality over shadowing your children’s imaginative faculties?),
• An unexpected claim (Technology is making humans more primitive),
• A succinct summary of a situation (Global warming is responsible for most of the earth environmental problems)

• Introduction:

Once the attention is grabbed the writer introduces the real purpose of the topic beginning with some general ideas relevant to his topic. And gradually broadens his theme. The beginning acts as a funnel starting from general to particular ideas of the topic.

• Body:

The writer should broaden his point through adding illustrations and examples to compare and collate certain points.

The body should be nicely paragraphed. Each paragraph must begin with an effective topic sentence or a thesis statement that would engage the reader with the forthcoming information.

All paragraphs must be linked with transition words.

• Ending:

Don’t end randomly. Try to avoid such obvious expression as In conclusion or To sum up. To conclude effectively, you might

ü  Refer back to an opening statement

ü  Look into the future

ü  Suggest a new angle

ü  Make an original observation

ü  Make a short definitive statement

ü  Quote a famous saying

ü  Make a humorous comment

• Subheadings:

Subheadings are added to break the article up and highlight some important things (facts, examples, quotes, proverbs e.t.c) which the writer wants the  readers find in the article.

• Sentence Structure:

Simple, compound and Complex sentences are used in newspaper articles. There is a variation in using different sentence structures so as to avoid monotony in style. This helps in keeping the reader’s interest intact.