Writing your news article

Writing your news article

In this mini-lesson, I'll take you through the general steps you need to make to write your article, and give a few pointers on how to do it.

Writing a news article about a social issue

• Assume your audience doesn't know anything about your social issues topic;

• Define your argument. Take a stance;

• Choose appropriate evidence. Back up your opinion;

• Draw conclusions. Wrap it up.

Assume your audience doesn't know anything

• Define your teams social issue topic;

• Think about why this is a problem in the world. Why does this continue? Explain;

• Make sure that any example or idea that you introduce, you explain clearly;

• Any reference that you make needs to be explained.

Define your argument: take a stance

• Read through all of the scripts from your teammates, and look for a general theme;

• Based on this, decide on your team's specific opinion about the social issues topic;

• Make sure you support your argument through the whole piece.

Choose appropriate evidence: back up your opinion

• Include facts and data to support your argument;

• Choose at least one real-world example related to your social issues topic to talk about;

• Use quotations (from team members' scripts) to support your argument;

• You can include personal anecdotes here if you have them.

Draw conclusions: wrap it up

• What could help to fix the problem? Give resolutions;

• Summarise your argument in your last paragraph.

Multiple Choice

How should you start your news article?

• Assume your audience doesn't know anything.

• Take a stance.

• Back up your opinion.

• Wrap it up.

Multiple Choice

How can you define your argument?

• Read one teammate's opinion and then just go with that.

• Read through teammates' opinions and find a general theme.

Multiple Select

What evidence should you include in your article?

• Quotations from teammates' scripts.

• Facts and data.

• Real-world example(s).

Additional resources

• The Inverted Pyramid method:

  pictured right

• How to Write an Editorial (NY Times): https://nyti.ms/1nbHOMF

• The OREO method: https://youtu.be/ZTWXWVvSpa0