- For Wikipedia guidelines, see Wikipedia:What is an article.
An article is a stand-alone section of a larger written work. These nonfictional prose compositions appear in magazines, newspapers, academic journals, the Internet or any other type of publication. For the Wikipedia guideline regarding editing articles see WikipediaManual of Style. Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. An academic journal is a peer-reviewed Periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular Academic discipline is published The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks To publish is to make content Publicly known. The term is most frequently applied to the distribution of text or images on paper or to the placing of content
Articles can be divided into two main categories: news and features. Straight news stories deal with the timeliness and immediacy of breaking news, while feature articles are news stories that deal with human-interest topics[1] or which offer the opportunity for providing more breadth or depth, context of history or other explanatory background material.
Contents |
News Articles
- See also: News style
A news article is an article published in a print or Internet news medium such as a newspaper, newsletter, news magazine or news-oriented website that discusses current or recent news of either general interest (i. News style (also journalistic style or news writing) is the particular Prose style used for News reporting (ie Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks News is any new information or information on Current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or Word of mouth A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. A newsletter is a regularly distributed Publication generally about one main topic that is of Interest to its Subscribers Newspapers and A newsmagazine, also spelled news magazine, is usually a weekly Magazine featuring articles or segments on current events A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages e. daily newspapers) or on a specific topic (i. e. political or trade news magazines, club newsletters, or technology news websites).
A news article can include accounts of eyewitnesses to the happening event. It can contain photographs, accounts, statistics, graphs, recollections, interviews, polls, debates on the topic, etc. Headlines can be used to focus the reader’s attention on a particular (or main) part of the article. The writer can also give facts and detailed information following answers to general questions like who, what, when, where, why and how.
Quoted references can also be helpful. References to people can also be made through written accounts of interviews and debates confirming the factuality of the writer’s information and the reliability of her source. The writer can use redirection to ensure that the reader keeps reading the article and to draw his attention to other articles. For example, phrases like "Continued on page 3” redirect the reader to a page where the article is continued.
While a good conclusion is an important ingredient for newspaper articles, the immediacy of a deadline environment means that copy editing often takes the form of deleting everything past an arbitrary point in the story corresponding to the dictates of available space on a page. Copy editing (also copy-editing and copyediting) is the editorial work that an editor does to make Formatting changes and improvements to a manuscript Therefore, newspaper reporters are trained to write in inverted pyramid style, with all the most important information in the first paragraph or two. The inverted pyramid is a Metaphor used to illustrate how information should be arranged or presented within a text in particular within a news story. If less vital details are pushed towards the end of the story, the potentially destructive impact of draconian copy editing will be minimized.
Feature Articles
- See also: Feature writing
Feature articles are nonfiction articles that intend to inform, teach or amuse the reader on a topic. A feature story (also known as a feature article is an article in a Newspaper, a Magazine, or a news website that is not meant to report Breaking The topic centers around human interests. Feature stories may include conventions found in fiction such as dialogue, plot and character. A feature article is an umbrella term that includes many literary structures: personality sketches, essays, how-to's, interviews and many others. [2] The following are examples of feature articles:
- Column — A short newspaper or magazine piece that deals specifically with a particular field of interest, or broadly with an issue or circumstance of far-reaching scope. A column is a recurring piece or article in a Newspaper, Magazine or other publication They appear with bylines on a regular basis (daily, weekly, etc. ). They may be written exclusively for one newspaper or magazine, they may be marketed by a syndicate, or they may be self-syndicated by the author.
- Essay — A short, literary, nonfiction composition (usually prose), in which a writer develops a theme or expresses an idea. An essay is usually a short piece of writing It is often written from an author's personal point of view.
- Evergreen — A timeless article that editors can hold for months and publish when needed. They need little or no updating. [3]
- Exposé — These articles use in-depth reporting with heavy research and documentation. Investigative journalism is a type of reporting in which reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest often involving crime Political corruption, or some other Scandal Used to expose corruption in business, politics or celebrities. Also called the investigative article. [2][3]
- Filler — Short non-fiction items, usually just under 300 words, used to fill in small spaces on a page of a magazine or newspaper page. [4]
- How-to — How-to articles help people to learn how to do something. A how-to or a how to is an informal often short description of how to accomplish some specific task They provide step-by-step information for the reader. [5]
- Human interest story — An article that involves local people and events and can be sold to daily and some weekly newspapers. A human interest story is a News story that discusses a person or persons in an interactive and/or emotional way Human interest elements, such as anecdotes or accounts of personal experiences, can support ideas in magazine articles as firmly as facts or statistics. Also called "true-life" stories.
- Interview —This feature story type article includes the text of the conversation between two or more people, normally directed by the interviewer. An interview is a conversation between two or more people (the interviewer and the interviewee where Questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from Interviews are often edited for clarity. One common variation is the roundtable — the text of a less organized discussion, usually between three or more people.
- Op-Ed — Articles that run opposite the editorial page. An editorial, leader (UK or leading article (UK is an article in a Newspaper or Magazine that expresses the opinion of the Editor They are a response to current editorials and topical subjects. Political op-eds are the most common, but they don't have to be limited to politics. They should, however, reflect items that are current and newsworthy.
- Personal experience — An article in which the writer recounts an ordeal, process or event she has undergone. Personal experience of a Human being is the moment-to-moment Experience and Sensory awareness of internal and external events
- Personality Profile — A personal or professional portrait — sometimes both — of a particular individual. [5]
- Seasonal — An article written about a holiday, a season of the year or a timely observance. This kind of article will be submitted months in advance of the anticipated publication date. [5]
- Service Article — An article about a consumer product or service; it outlines the characteristics of several versions of the same type of commodity. The aim is to help a potential purchaser to make the best selection possible. [3]
- Sidebar — A short feature that accompanies a news story or magazine article. For other uses see Sidebar In publishing sidebar is a term for information placed adjacent to an article in a printed or Web publication It elaborates on human interest aspects of the story, explains one important facet of the story in more depth or provides additional factual information — such as a list of names and addresses — that would read awkwardly in the body of the article. Can be found in a box, separated from the main article on the side or bottom of the page. [2]
- Travel literature — Travel articles inform and enlighten the reader through facts about a region's landscape, scenery, people, customs and atmosphere. Travel is the change in location of people on a trip through the means of Transport from one location to another [2]
Other types of articles
- Academic paper — is an academic article published in an academic journal. Academic publishing describes the subfield of Publishing which distributes academic Research and Scholarship. An academic journal is a peer-reviewed Periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular Academic discipline is published The status of academics is often dependent both on how many articles they have had published and on the number of times that their articles are cited by authors of other articles.
- Blog — Some styles of blogging are more like articles. A blog (a contraction of the term " Web log " is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary descriptions of Other styles are written more like entries in a personal journal. For other uses of the term 'diary' see Diary (disambiguation.
- Encyclopedia article — In an encyclopedia or other reference work, an article is a primary division of content. In an Encyclopedia an Encyclopedia article is a unit of writing on a particular Topic.
- Marketing article — An often thin piece of content which is designed to draw the reader to a commercial website or product. Article marketing is a type of Advertising in which businesses write short articles related to their respective industry
- Usenet articles — are messages written in the style of e-mail and posted to an open moderated or unmoderated Usenet newsgroup. Usenet, a Portmanteau of "user" and "network" is a world-wide distributed Internet discussion system
Elements of an article
Headline
A headline is text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article. A headline (sometimes termed a news hed) is text at the top of a Newspaper article indicating the nature of the article below it The headline catches the attention of the reader and relates well to the topic. Modern headlines are typically written in an abbreviated style omitting many elements of a complete sentence but almost always including a non-copula verb.
Lead
The lead (sometimes spelled lede) sentence captures the attention of the reader and sums up the focus of the story. In Linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it often preceded and followed The lead also establishes the subject, sets the tone and guides the reader into the article. [6]
In a news story, the introductory paragraph tells the most important facts and answers the questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how. In a feature story, the author may choose to open in any number of ways, including the following:[2]
- an anecdote
- a shocking or startling statement
- a generalization
- pure information
- a description
- a quote
- a question
- a comparison
- See also: Narrative hook
Body
- For the news story, details and elaboration are evident in the body of the news story and flow smoothly from the lead. A narrative hook (or hook is a Literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that he or she will keep reading on
- Quotes are used to add interest and support to the story.
- The inverted pyramid is used with most news stories. The inverted pyramid is a Metaphor used to illustrate how information should be arranged or presented within a text in particular within a news story.
A feature article will follow a format appropriate for its type. Structures for feature articles may include, but are not limited to:[6]
- chronological — the article may be a narrative of some sort.
- cause and effect — the reasons and results of an event or process are examined.
- classification — items in an article are grouped to help aid understanding
- compare and contrast — two or more items are examined side-by-side to see their similarities and differences
- list — A simple item-by-item run-down of pieces of information.
- question and answer — such as an interview with a celebrity or expert.
Conclusion
One difference between a news story and a feature article is the conclusion. Endings for a hard news article occur when all of the information has been presented according to the inverted pyramid form. The inverted pyramid is a Metaphor used to illustrate how information should be arranged or presented within a text in particular within a news story. By contrast, the feature article needs more definite closure. [1] The conclusions for these articles may include, but are not limited to:[5]
- a final quote
- a descriptive scene
- a play on the title or lead
- a summary statement
Characteristics of well-written articles
- The piece is a factual account of a newsworthy event.
- The writer is objective and shows all sides to an issue.
- The sources for this news story are identified and are reliable.
- Show, don't tell. Show don't tell is an admonition to Fiction writers to write in a manner that allows the reader to experience the story through a character's action words thoughts senses
Authorship
Publications obtain articles in a few different ways:
- staff written — an article may be written by a person on the staff of the publication.
- assigned — a freelance writer may be asked to write an article on a specific topic. A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer
- unsolicited — a publication may be open to receiving article manuscripts from freelance writers.
- See also: Slush pile
Notes
- ^ a b Sova, Dawn, How to Write Articles for Newspapers and Magazines. In Publishing, the slush pile is the set of unsolicited Manuscripts either sent directly to the publisher by authors or sent through an agent not known Thomson Arco: 2002. ISBN 076891089X, pp. 1, 87
- ^ a b c d e Polking, Kirk, Writing A to Z. Writer's Digest Books: 1990. ISBN 0898795567, pp. 136, 143, 224, 422, 497
- ^ a b c Wilson, John M. , The Complete Guide to Magazine Article Writing. Writer's Digest Books: 1993. ISBN 0898795478, pp. 19, 21, 32, 37-38
- ^ Boggess, Louise, How to Write Fillers and Short Features That Sell. Harper & Row: 1981. ISBN 0060104929, pp. 70-83
- ^ a b c d Wray, Cheryl Sloan, Writing for Magazines: A Beginner's Guide. NTC Publishing: 1990. ISBN 0844259616, pp. 8, 31, 50, 96-97
- ^ a b Jacobi, Peter, The Magazine Article: How to Think It, Plan It, Write It. Writer's Digest Books: 1991, ISBN 0898794501, pp. 50-77, 90
External links
- How-to Articles
- How to Write Articles
- How to Write Special Feature Articles
- Getting Published: Your Article Submission Checklist
- Article Submission
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic