types of newspaper articles

7/29/2019 Types of Newspaper Articles

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Before writing a newspaper article, one must have anunderstanding of the different types of articlescontained in a newspaper. Most news articles are newsstories and focus only on the facts but editorials and

columns are not considered real news stories andusually reflect the opinion of their writer. There areseveral types of news articles*:

A local news article focuses on what's going on inyour neighbourhood. An example of a local newsstory would be an article on a city council meeting.

A national news article focuses on what'shappening in the country. An example of a nationalnews article would be an article on the Canadiangovernment passing a new bill.

An international news article focuses on newsthat's happening outside the country. A story on aninfluenza outbreak in China would be considered aninternational news story.

A feature article is an article that is about "softer"news. A feature may be a profile of a person whodoes a lot of volunteer work in the community or amovie preview. Feature articles are not considerednews stories.

An editorial is an article that contains the writer'sopinion. Editorials are usually run all together on a

specific page of the paper and focus on currentevents. Editorials are not considered news stories.

A column is an article written by the same personon a regular basis. A columnist (the writer of thecolumn) writes about subjects of interest to


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him/her, current events or community happenings.Columns are not considered news stories (-Noauthor).

There are certain aspects that characterize a newspaperarticle. These distinguishing features need to beconsidered before writing about a topic in order to havea well structured article.

Headline and BylineAll newspaper articles should be set off with a headline.The headline shouldnt be a summarization of the

article; instead it should serve the purpose of gettingthe readers attention. The byline should usually followthe headline. This states the authors full name. In somecases the byline can occur and the end of the article.Remember to not use the first person point of view inyour article (-Mass).

*The proper visual format for each type of article isshown on the Newspaper Articles poster.

Lead ParagraphThe lead paragraph is the first one in a news story.

Usually, the lead is one sentence long and summarizesthe facts of the news story in order of most newsworthyto least news-worthy (-Knox). The lead paragraph should not tease atthe beginning or summarize at


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the end, as you sometimes see on television news.Instead, the author should lay all his/her cards out onthe table, so to speak. The lead paragraph shouldinclude the who, what, when, where, why, and how of

the story (-Cigelske). Depending on the elements ofnews value, the summary news lead emphasizes andincludes some or all of these components:

Who names the subject(s) of the story. The who, anoun, can refer to a person, a group, a building, aninstitution, a concept -- anything about which a storycan be written.

What is the action taking place. It is a verb that tellswhat the who is doing. Reporters should always useactive voices and action verbs for the what becausethey make the wording direct and lively.

When tells the time the action is happening. It is anadverb or an adverb phrase.

Where is the place the action is happening. Again, it isan adverb or adverb or adverb phrase.

Why, another adverb, explains the action in the lead.

How usually describes the manner in which actionoccurs.

One example of a lead is: Bargainers from General

Motors and UAW Local 160 will resume talks in Warrenthis morning seeking to end a day-old strike over thetransfer of jobs from unionized employees to less costlycontract workers.

The who in the lead above are the bargainers fromGeneral Motors and the UAW. What are the bargainers


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doing? The lead says they will resume talks.When will the bargainers resume talks? The bargain aremeeting this morningIn our story, the where is Warren.

Why are the bargainers meeting? The bargainers aremeeting to discuss the transfer of jobs (-Knox).

The reader should know this information at first glanceso they are aware what the story is about and what theemphasis is on.

The lead sets the structure for the rest of the story. If the

lead is good, the rest of the story comes together easily.Many reporters spend half their writing time on the leadalone. One guiding principle behind story organizationis: the structure of the story can help the readerunderstand what the author is writing about. Thestructure should lead the reader from idea to ideasimply and clearly. The object is to give readersinformation, and wow them with convoluted style.

TransitionsWith one-sentence paragraphs consisting of only oneidea -- block paragraphs -- it would be easy for a story toappear as a series of statements without any smoothflow from one idea to the next. Block paragraphingmakes the use of effective transitions important.Transitions are words or phrases that link two ideas,making the movement from one idea to the other clear

and easy. Obvious transitional phrases are: thus,therefore, on the other hand, next, then, and so on.

Transitions in news stories are generally made byrepeating a word or phrase or using a synonym for a keyword in the preceding paragraph. Think of block graphs


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as islands tied together with transition bridges ofrepeated words or phrases (-Knox).

Explanation and Amplification

Following the lead paragraph comes the explanationand amplification, which deals with illuminating details.The author should use discretion in choosing details toinclude in this part of the story. Some details may not beas important as others and they should be presented inorder of importance from greatest to least. The authorshould not feel the need to include everything he/sheknows, but include everything he/she feels is important

(-Cigelske). In addition, a direct quote should be usedafter the summary statement to provide amplification orverification, for example (-Knox).

Background Information

At a high reading level, the average reader will becomeconfused reading the story. Therefore, the authorshould fill in the gaps with background information.

When in doubt about whether information should beincluded, the author should put it in. For example,almost every piece on the O.J. Simpson case included inthe explanation and amplification section the basicinformation on what he was on trial for even though itwas basically common knowledge (-Cigelske).

Biases

Newspaper articles should be written without bias.Personal prejudices should not find their way into thearticle. The use of an op-ed or column forum isrecommended for personal opinions (-Cigelske).

Direct and Indirect Quotes


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When possible, the author should use direct or indirectquotes to enrich the article. However, quotations shouldnot be included just for the sake of using them: makesure they are relevant (-Cigelske). Direct quotes can be

used in the following situations: if a source's language is particularly colourful orpicturesque when it is important for written information --especially official information -- to come from anobviously authoritative voice to answer the questions why, how, who, or what?

Remember, a direct quote repeats exactly what theinterviewee said. If a person's exact words arent known,the author can paraphrase, but never change themeaning of a person's words. When paraphrasing,quotation marks arent required but the indivudalsname should be included after the paraphrasedsentence.

BibliographyThe article must always contain a Bibliography orWorks Cited list that includes at least two sources. Allsources must be documented in the correct format* (-Sebrank).

The basic format of a newspaper article can becondensed into a simplified explanation:

HeadlineAn attention getting phrase at the top ofthe article.

Byline By, your name. Lead Paragraph Start with a strong, interesting

sentence to get the reader engaged. Include the


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who, what, when, where, why, and how asappropriate.

Explanation and AmplificationThis section willinclude several brief paragraphs explaining the

details surrounding your photograph. Background InformationThis section will include

several brief paragraphs explaining events leadingup to the picture, related national stories, etc. (-Sebrank).


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*Refer to the How to Write a Bibliography sheetattached before the bibliography.

Bibliography

Cigelske, Azor. How to Write a Newspaper Article.2004URL:http://www.cuw.edu/WritingCenter/writecenter_pdf/newspaper.pdf

Knox, A. Richard. Newspaper Writing 101. 1997URL:http://www.freep.com/jobspage/academy/writing.htm

Mass, L. How to Write a Newspaper Article in Five EasySteps. 2004

URL:http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/bealles/newspr/howart.html

Sebrank, Patrick. How to Write a News Article. 1995

URL:http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/98/brady/article.html

No author. TYPES OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES. Nodates/yearsURL: http://www.dispatchnie.com/typesofarticles.html
http://www.cuw.edu/WritingCenter/writecenter_pdf/newspaper.pdfhttp://www.cuw.edu/WritingCenter/writecenter_pdf/newspaper.pdfhttp://www.freep.com/jobspage/academy/writing.htmhttp://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/bealles/newspr/howart.htmlhttp://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/bealles/newspr/howart.htmlhttp://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/98/brady/article.htmlhttp://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/98/brady/article.htmlhttp://www.dispatchnie.com/typesofarticles.htmlhttp://www.cuw.edu/WritingCenter/writecenter_pdf/newspaper.pdfhttp://www.cuw.edu/WritingCenter/writecenter_pdf/newspaper.pdfhttp://www.freep.com/jobspage/academy/writing.htmhttp://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/bealles/newspr/howart.htmlhttp://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/bealles/newspr/howart.htmlhttp://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/98/brady/article.htmlhttp://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/98/brady/article.htmlhttp://www.dispatchnie.com/typesofarticles.html

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