Writing a news story or newspaper article for school assignment can be stressful to many students. Unless you’re a Journalism major, this is the first time most students have ever written a news article or paper of any kind. If you need to know how to write a newspaper article, read on for great tips, examples, structure, and outline.
When writing your newspaper article, make sure it has several components.
- The first component should be an introductory paragraph where the reader learns who, what, when and where.
- The second component is body paragraphs. These will feature quotes from people such as the reporter or eyewitnesses to the event.
- A conclusion. Conclude with a closing paragraph that references all information in your article.
You may want to have a “by line” at the beginning of your article where you state who wrote the article. The by line could also include your position or role in a news event or a quote from a person that was interviewed for the article.
A good news article can be one of the most challenging types of writing for someone to do well, but also one of the most rewarding when it goes over well with an audience. In fact, many journalists will tell you that they find this type of work very difficult and stressful, since there are so many guidelines and details that need to be followed to produce a great piece. Before you attempt a story, it’s a good idea to learn what makes writing a news article work well.
Let us review the process of writing a newspaper article for school.
How to Write a News Story – 10 Steps
Here are 7 steps in writing a good news story for school or for your english or journalism class:
- Choose a current, newsworthy event or topic to write about.
- Conduct timely, in-person interviews with witnesses
- Establish the “Four Main Ws”
- Plan your article
- Create an outline
- Write your first draft
- Insert quotations
- Research additional facts and figures
- Read your article out loud before publication
- Polish up your article for publishing
Each of the step is discussed below:
Choose a current, newsworthy event or topic to write about.
First of all, you will need to choose a good topic for your article. Try to find something that is currently happening and important in the world. If you’re writing an article for school, it’s best if you pick something that interests you personally so that you can do some research about it and make your opinion known in the article.
How to find a news topic to write about:
- Look for popular news stories on the internet at websites like CNN News or BBC News.
- Watch the TV to see if any current topics are being covered.
- Ask your parents what they’ve been watching on TV and why it’s important.
- Read the newspaper to see what is trending.
- Read the flyers and posters around your house and school for inspiration!
For example:
Let’s say you want to write about the 2016 U.S elections and who you think will win the presidency. This is a good topic because politics are always ongoing and there is never a lack of topics for debates. You can look on news websites or search on social media websites such as Facebook to find new, incoming events that might be newsworthy. Or, you can also just stay up to date on the news by watching your local channel or reading the newspaper.
Once you have a identified a news topic, it’s time to get started!
Conduct timely, in-person interviews with witnesses
This is a really important part of how to write a news story for your class or for your school newspaper. You need to get information from people who were actually there so that you can write about their experiences. Some of these people may include eyewitnesses or police officers who arrived at the scene of an accident. You should also interview people who have been affected by the issue or event that you are writing about.
For example, if you were writing a story on bullying in your school, you would want to talk with bullies and victims of bullying as well as teachers and staff members.
You should ask each person the same set of questions so that their answers can be compared later. You can also make it easier to compare answers by numbering each question in order.
For example, if you are interviewing three students about their experiences with bullying at your school, you could ask them questions 1-3 for the first student and 4-6 for the second student all while recording their responses or having another person take notes.
- What is your name?
- How long have you been bullied for?
- Have you ever seen another person being bullied at school?
Make sure to give each person a chance to tell you what they think about the issue, solution, or event that you are writing about. This means that you will have to ask them questions that they might not have felt comfortable answering on their own, such as “What do you think should be done to stop bullying?”
Sometimes people may not want to talk with you, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that there is something wrong with what they have to say.
Establish the “Five Main Ws”
This is also called the Five Ws and One H. You should always answer Who, What, When, Where, Why and How when writing a newspaper article. The sixth question that journalists ask is “How much?” but in some cases, this can be included in the “What” question.
- Who: Who is the story about?
- What: What happened?
- When: When did it happen?
- Where: Where did it take place?
- Why: Why did this happen?
Plan your article
Before you start writing about an event or story, make sure that you understand what is happening and how it happened. You need to figure out the who, what, when, where and why of the story. You can do this by conducting good, in-person interviews with witnesses, experts and eyewitnesses of the event you are writing about.
List the important facts about your story. What makes this newsworthy to readers? Do you have any breaking details or hints of drama in your piece?
List possible interviewees for your article. You’ll want to include different people who could provide different perspectives on the topic if at all possible. For example, if you are writing an article about a new community centre opening in your neighbourhood, you will want to include the director of the community centre and other people who live in your area.
Create an outline
A good outline should be a short paragraph or a number of points that describes what you plan on writing about and how you intend to structure it. You should include information such as the topic, who you will be interviewing and what your article will include.
Write your first draft
Now it’s time to put everything you’ve learned into practice! Make sure that your article flows well and is free of spelling or grammar errors before moving on to the next step. The most important thing here is to make sure you don’t miss anything, so make sure to read over your story a few times before proceeding further.
Insert quotations
Once you have your facts straight about your article topic, it’s time to include quotes from people that were actually there and saw what happened. Try to use quotes that best describe the event in order to paint a vivid picture.
Research additional facts and figures
This is where you will include any additional information that you have found about your article topic during your research. You can also use this space to talk about various statistics related to the topic, for example how many people died because of the cause of your story or what cities are most affected by the event or issue.
Read your article out loud before publication
This is an important part of how to write a news story because if you read it out loud, you can catch any mistakes that may have slipped through in your writing process. No matter how great the rest of your article was written, if there are typos or grammatical errors, it will probably be rejected by the news website that you’re submitting your article to.
Polish up your article for publishing
Get someone else to review your article. This could be a co-worker, a proofreading service, or a friend that you feel would have useful input into the story and how it is presented. Let them know what kind of feedback you are looking for and that you would appreciate their input. You can also request feedback from your teacher or professor if you are submitting the article for class.
Check over your article once more to make sure it is free of errors before publishing it.
General tips for writing an “A” grade newspaper article:
- Avoid flowery language, long sentences and big words…write as you would speak to someone
- Include quotes from eyewitnesses and people who are part of the story
- Proofread your article several times or have a friend check it for grammar or spelling mistakes
- Double check that you have spelled names correctly in your article. If possible, use a name in a quote to ensure you spell it right. If not, call the person and ask them to spell their name for you.
- Include a relevant picture of the people involved, not just the location (a picture of the car that was stolen or even of a person with a quote about how they feel.)
- Timelines are important in news writing – include them!
Your Turn!
Create a news story based on this scenario: The town where you live has recently found a new source of water. People have been asking where the water came from, so you decided to investigate. You discovered that after years without rain or snow, the town’s reservoirs dried up and were not able to provide enough fresh water for people to drink. After a few dry wells, residents began digging their own wells until a nearby farmer hit water.
Do you need help writing a news article assignment? Click here to ask for news story assignment writing help by professional journalists and college paper writing help instructors.
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