Writing & Interacting

TIPS FOR WRITING A NEWS ARTICLE

STRUCTURE 

THE HEADLINE

News articles always start with a short, punchy, attention-grabbing headline. Headlines often use:

• Alliteration (using the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words). For example, “Fed up with festive food waste” or “Harry’s health sees him hurry for home”. 
• Abbreviations. For example, “Deficit expected to deepen in MYEFO report”.
• Casual language/slang. For example, “‘Intimidating’: 100 brawling youths terrorise at Maccas”.

Headlines are typically short, partly to keep them punchy, and partly because of a shortage of space.

THE LEAD

The first paragraph of a news article is called the lead. The lead is usually less than 25 words, and gives an overview of the event or story. The lead will often explain WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY. The reason for this is that when many people read newspapers, they often only read the first few paragraphs of a story, so journalists try to present all the important information first.

        • Who - who was involved? 

        • What - what happened? 

        • Where - where did it happen? 

        • Why - why did it happen? 

        • When - when did it happen? 

        • How - how did it happen?

THE BODY

After the leading paragraph, the rest of the article should be written from most to least important information. You can organise your information according to the inverted pyramid. 

After you’ve listed all the most important facts in your news article, include any additional information that might help the reader learn more, such as contact information, additional facts about the topic or people involved, or quotes from interviews. When writing a quote in a newspaper article, always put the attribution – the ‘he said’ bit – after the quote.

THE TAIL

Conclude your article by giving it a good concluding sentence. This is often a restatement of the leading statement or a statement indicating potential future developments relating to the article topic. Where appropriate, you can direct readers to places where they can find out more information or can get help. You can include web addresses or phone numbers.

THESAURUS

When we write a text, we may repeat some specific words over and again. Don't let yourself be repetitive! Take a look at this online dictionary for synonyms and many more things.