1. Articles for
Magazines and
Newspapers

2. A little bit of info…
Articles tend to be written for newspapers and
magazines. You may be asked to write an article for
your English language GCSE.
In this information session i am going to make
everything that you need to know clear and easy to
understand.
YOU WILL NEED TO BE CLEAR ABOUT:
The articles purpose
The articles audience
And the required format

3. Purpose:
You
will normally be told in the question the
purpose of the article.
Usually
newspaper/magazine articles are
written to inform, persuade or entertain.
To achieve these aims, most articles will be
written in a lively style and contain interesting
facts and opinions.
If you’re feeling ambitious you can even put
forward your own opinion, BUT you must
argue your opinion convincingly and clearly if
you want good marks.

4. Audience:
You
will usually be given the target audience
that your article is for in the question (e.g.
young children, teenage girls/boys, the elderly
etc…)
The question with tell you the type of
publication for the article and the intended
audience.
The style and tone of your article is very
important as an article written for a school
magazine would be very different from that of
an article written for a national/local newspaper.

5. Format:
The
format of an article is quite straightforward.
An article usually needs a main heading that makes it
clear to the reader straight away what your article is
about.
Always use paragraphs! They will give structure to
your article.
If necessary write in columns, like they do in real
newspaper articles. I think it gets you extra marks!!!!
You can use subheadings to break up writing into
clear sections.

6. What makes a good article?
An effective article is carefully written, it interests the
readers, informs them, makes them think and causes them to
react. This can be achieved in a number of ways:
Choose a subject that in interesting to you, because if its
interesting to you, the chances are you will write a better
article. Talk about current affairs.
Choose your topic carefully and be selective. If you are
writing an article for a travel magazine you can’t cover
everything so think carefully about what to include as you
have a time limit in the exam and you don’t want to feel like
you missed something out.
Use style and devices that make your article lively. This will
depend on your audience. If your writing for a teen magazine
you may wish to be informal and chatty.

7. Be organised!
Organise your material with a purposeful way with:
A catchy heading.
An introduction that immediately draws the readers
attention, perhaps use a question.
Three or four central paragraphs (they don’t have to be
really long).
A short but effective conclusion, don’t repeat anything
you have said previously in the article, YOU WON’T
EARN ANY EXTRA MARKS!

8. GOOD
LUCK!!!!