HOW TO WRITE YOUR ARTICLE
The main purpose is to inform, interest and engage the reader, so there should be some opinions or comments and not only facts about your topic. Do some research on your topic first. Don't forget to cite the sources in your article! You can also create a survey to collect other partners' opinions and later analyse the results.
General structure
- Give your article a title or headline which makes the subject clear and also catches the reader’s attention.
- Begin with an interesting introduction – an example, perhaps, or a question. Although you don't know the readers personally, you can address them directly and ask them a rhetorical question. It helps to involve them.
- Divide the article into paragraphs to help the reader follow the argument. Include a topic idea in each paragraph.
- Give examples where appropriate to bring your article to life.
- Use a personal or more neutral style, but not formal (you might use contractions).
- To illustrate your article, include your own photos or images which are copyright free images citing the authors correctly.
- Give a conclusion or a summary with an overall comment in the last paragraph.
Guidelines and advice to write an article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english/creativewriting/commissionsrev2.shtml
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/writing-your-article
Steps to follow:
Pre-writing |
- Select a topic
- Brainstorm ideas
- Share the work within the team
- Collect resources / information
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Drafting
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- Put ideas on page (team's page)
- Organize ideas
- Incorporate resources and information collected
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Re-writing
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- Check coherence of content
- Re-write for logic and organization (paragraphs)
- Choose a catchy title, the subtitles, etc.
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Editing
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Proof-read your article: check spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, grammar
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Publishing
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Choose the layout and the illustrations and publish on madmagz (choose a person in your team who will be given a login to do this task)
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USEFUL EXPRESSIONS IN ARTICLES
Opening to involve the reader
- Did you know …?
- What would you do if …?
- Do you want to know about …?
- Read this article if you want to find out.
- Have you ever …?
- What do you think about …?
- Are you one of those who thinks that …?
- Are you one of those people who ...?
- What would life be like if...
- Just imagine...
- How would you feel if ...?
- If the answer is … , you should …
Introduction
- Let's start with ...
- To begin with,
- First of all,
- Firstly,
- The first thing to consider is …
Introducing more points
- Another advantage of ...
- Secondly,
- Another thing to consider is …
- Apart from that,
- In addition to this,
- Moreover, …
- Furthermore, …
- So …
- As a result, …
- Therefore, …
- However, …
- On the one hand … on the other hand …
Reporting and giving opinions
- Many people feel that ...
- It is widely believed that ...
- It would be ideal if ...
- Another argument in favour is ...
- It is clear from the facts that ...
- The benefits of ... outweigh the disadvantages.
- On the whole, I think ...
Giving opinions
- I / We think that ...
- In my / our opinion ...
- It seems to me that ...
- If you ask me,
- Personally I believe that …
- In my view.
- From my point of view,
- To my mind
- My personal opinion is ..
- I personally feel that ...
- I find it hard to see why ...
- I certainly don't believe that ...
- It is difficult to believe that ...
- I object to the cloning of animals.
Contrasting points
- On the other hand ...
- Other people think ...
- An opposing argument is ...
Making the article lively and interesting
- I was absolutely terrified when I realised...
- More importantly, it was something I...
- Not surprisingly, it's a good way of raising money.
- The tent was worryingly small for three people!
- It was the most amazing experience I have ever had.
Conclusion
- Finally, …
- To summarise,
- In conclusion,
- To sum up.