This document provides guidance on writing for journalism, including tips for selecting story topics, different types of article formats, and styles for writing news stories, features, editorials, and columns. It discusses choosing timely, relevant topics that connect to readers, and emphasizes developing a personal voice suited to opinion writing. The document also outlines the inverted pyramid structure for news stories and more flexible formats for features, and emphasizes concise, third-person writing with vocabulary at a 5th grade level.
2. You have an idea.
Now what?
1. Who does this story/news affect?
2. What makes the idea
newsworthy/timely/current?
3. Who can you interview?
4. Is this ethical?
5. What pictures go with this story?
3. Others things to keep in mind
while picking a topic
Timeliness. The best stories are the ones that just happened, are
happening right now, or will be continuing to happen. Timeliness just
means that we aren’t reporting on things that are not news, i.e.
happened a while ago.
Connection to readers. How does your topic pertain and relate
directly to UIC students, parents, alumni, community, etc.? For
example, if you really want to write a story about pigeons, you would
need to provide and work with what is known as a peg. The peg is
this “connection” to readers. For your pigeons story, you would
discuss the ways in which pigeons at University Hall bother students
walking on campus. Your topic is pigeons, and your peg is students
near University Hall being bothered by them.
4. Types of Articles.
Each category of article is written differently.
News – news section
Feature – such as ResLife
Editorial– such as Op/Ed or Extinguisher
Feature/Editorial – a column is a bit of both
Sports – similar to news section
5. Important for Editorial,
Column articles
There are a couple important ideas to keep in mind when writing
an article with your opinion throughout it, such as editorial or
column.
Developing a personal voice. Your opinions are just as
important as developing your own style of writing, your “voice” that
is specific to you. This will take time, but to really stand out as an
opinion writer or columnist, you will hook readers and be able to
have regular readers by developing your “writing persona.”
Professional yet creative/informal writing. It is not an easy line
to draw, but to get ideas across in a way that is tactful,
professional, and well written and also personal and creative is
the best way earn respect from readers and your journalism
peers.
6. In every article…
is the first sentence that News and Sports stories
catches a reader’s attention, both use what is called a
is often a summary, and is summary lead, meaning
the single most important that all the most important
part of your article, the lead. information from the story is
in the lead.
For every type of article,
there are different types of Editorial, Feature, and
leads that are generally used Column articles generally do
and fit the format and style of not use summary leads, but
the article style the best. use more creative leads
since they are not straight
news.
7. First we will start with News
Story leads & style.
News stories use a summary lead. For the summary lead,
you must ask yourself:
Who? What? When? Where? How?
An important part of asking these questions of yourself is
deciding which parts are the most newsworthy.
For example, if President Obama gets arrested, his
name is included in the headline. But, when “John
Smith from Wrigleyville” gets arrested, his name is not
necessarily involved in the headline, but his charge will
be.
8. Organizing the Lead, Cont’d
Generally speaking, it is the “what” that is most important.
For example, the “what” refers to what happens, such as
an election, an arrest, an event, or anything that happened
or is currently happening.
Next comes the “where” or the “who” depending on
which is more important. For example, if a basketball
game was won, it is important to know that the UIC Girl’s
basketball team won it. Then would be “home” or “away”
for the “where.”
9. News Story Style
News stories are written using the Inverted Pyramid style.
The lead, along with the all of the
most important information following,
goes in the first paragraph.
The body paragraphs are composed of
additional information, quotes, disclosures,
etc.
So, essentially, the inverted pyramid style is
arranged in descending order of importance.
10. News Story Style Cont’d
The format and style of the inverted pyramid is used in every single
news article across the world. It is the international standard format
for news articles because it allows readers to get all of the
necessary information in the first paragraph, and if they choose to
read on, they can get additional information about the story.
Keep the concept of descending order of importance in mind
when you decide which paragraphs should have which information.
More important quotes go higher in the story, such as ones that are
directly related or from primary sources. The same applies to
additional information.
11. Feature Leads & Style
Feature stories, such as ResLife and the Extinguisher, do not use the
summary lead. Instead feature stories use much more eye-catching
and creative leads because they are not “straight news.”
Some different kinds of commonly used feature leads include… - The
anecdote lead. This would mean starting off your article with a short
narrative or story, usually based on a person you are interviewing, to
grab readers’ attention.
-The Quote lead. This lead can encompass many different types of
quotes. While they are usually a very compelling quote from a related
interview, IF USED CORRECTLY, then a famous quote is appropriate.
-The Question lead. This lead is literally a question being asked. It
can be rhetorical, or part of a Q&A that was conducted during an
interview.
Leads in these stories MUST be interesting. Get creative!
12. Feature Style
Feature story style is much more fluid than news story style. Basically,
what this means is that you will follow (or break the rules of) a very
basic and easy to change format.
The only real standards of this format to my knowledge means
following journalism standards for writing, including.
-Concise writing. This means you use “short and sweet” sentences
without getting too wordy. You can still be very creative as long as it is
concise.
-Journalism-style paragraphs. Journalism paragraphs are short, no
more than a few sentences. The idea is that visually, this makes the
story easier to access for the reader. Every paragraph has a topic
which is directly related to overall story topic.
-Vocabulary. Typically in journalism, vocabulary must be at a 5th
grade reading level. If you would like to use “bigger words” or
technical or occupation jargon, define the terms and explain their
meaning.
13. Feature & General Style
-Contractions. Typically in journalism, contractions are not used
unless they are from direct quotes. It just makes your writing sound
more professional when read - you can still have an informal tone
and personal voice without using contractions.
-Third Person Voice. It is important to be noted that no “I, me, we,
us, our, my, etc.” is used in your articles unless they are columns.
That is the only place the first person is used. This is because the
focus needs to be on the quality of your content and what message
you are trying to get across, not necessarily your connection to it.
14. Editorial Style
Editorial style provides a great outline that is easy to follow and can be
changed at the discretion of the writer.
State the problem/issue. This means you need to explain what
exactly what you are taking an opinion on.
Provide evidence. In the body paragraphs, you are showing readers
why you took the opinion you have, how you reached, and why they
should believe the same. Essentially, this is where you inform
readers.
Who does this affect? This is important to add to your body
paragraphs, as it helps the readers connect better to the story.
Provide a solution. There is no point in complaining about
something without suggesting what can or should be done. This
needs to be researched and thoroughly explained to be effective.
