News articles tell us about what is happening in the world. They inform readers, and should always tell the truth. In this exercise you learn how to prepare for writing a news article.
When preparing, you follow the following steps:
Step 1: Research
To begin writing a news article you need to research the topic you will be writing about. If you want to write a good and credible (= geloofwaardig) article, you have to know the topic well. You can do this by asking the WH-questions:
What? The event that took place.
Who? The people involved.
Where? Places.
When? Date(s) and time(s).
Why? Reasons for the event taking place.
How? Connecting the facts.
When you have answered these questions, you have the facts of the story.
Step 2: Gather your facts
When you have answered the WH-questions, you have a list of facts. Make a list of these facts, and of other information you need for your article. You use short phrases or keywords (=steekwoorden) for this. After this, you divide your information in three groups:
information that needs to be in your article
information that is interesting, but not necessary
information that is related to your subject, but not important for your article
Step 3: Making an outline
When you have all the facts, you can make an outline for your story. You can do this by writing down ideas for the following parts:
The lead sentence: This is the first sentence of your article. You want this sentence to be exciting, and to grab the attention of the reader.
Introduction: Here you briefly explain what the article is about. Think about which facts you want to use in your introduction.
Main body: This is the part where you write the most important information. You can also use quotations here from experts.
Conclusion: This where you end your story. It is good to end your article with an interesting fact, or with an interesting question for the reader. You can also end with a quotation.