In this article, I am going to break down the newspaper article and share tips on how to write each part.
Have you ever had dreams of being a journalist?
Or, here’s the more likely scenario, do you have to know how to write a newspaper article for school? If so, you are at the right spot!
First off, a newspaper article is an article that reports the news. This could be an article that informs the reader of a social or political issue or the events of a sports game.
News articles can also tell gossip or celebrity news stories.
Now that we got what a newspaper article is out of the way, let’s talk about how to write one.
A newspaper article has 5 components and is written in an inverted pyramid style.
The first component is the title or headline. This is where you tell people what the topic of the story is going to be.
Ex. Lou Williams now NBA bench leader in points
The second component is the lead (or leed). This is where you summarize the important facts of the story. Also, this is usually 1-2 sentences.
Ex. The Los Angeles Clippers’ Lou Williams has become the NBA’s career leader in points off the bench as the team beat the Boston Celtics on Monday.
The third component is the story itself. For this part, you want to write the most important information first and then follow it with the least important information.
Ex. Williams scored 34 points on Monday night to pass Dell Curry, who had 11,147 points when not starting, as the leading scorer. With tonight’s win, Williams has a total of 11,154 points as a reserve.
Obviously, this part of the story would be much longer. This part should also include quotes if there are any that would make it more informational.
Fourth is additional information. This is usually extra information that’s not important and can be taken out of the article. You normally would only add this part if you need your news article to be longer.
Ex. Williams is currently averaging 20 points on 42 percent field goal average this season.
Fifth is the conclusion. This part is used to close the article and people tend to re-write the leading statement for this part. You can also use the additional information to close out the article.
Ex. With about 20 more games to go this season, Williams will remain as the leading reserve scorer for a while as he continues to tally points for the Clippers, who are on a playoff run.
Additionally, the news article should be about 250-400 words. And while writing your article, try to be as unbiased as possible and only give the facts. Use quotes as resources to back up your findings.
Source everything, too. Oh, and also keep it simple.
Make sure it’s easy to read and assume readers know nothing about the story, so give all the information (this is also something you should do when writing essays).
And that’s how you write a news article. If you want to practice news writing, read lots of newspapers and write it as much as possible.
I suggest you start a news blog and post something once a week (or day), then ask your community and peers for feedback.
So here’s a quick recap of the order of a newspaper article:
- Headline or title
- The lead (leed)
- The story
- Additional information
- Conclusion