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!