I need help with my English exam...?

Question

I am supposed to be writing a "newspaper article" for my English exam. I really don't know what to write about. The only rules are that it can't have already been written to and it has to matter to other people besides myself, my friends, and my family. Any ideas?

Answer 1

It could be one of 2 types :-

Type 1 - A hot news story - A recent event, like you find in the daily papers. Something local would be good.

To be 'news', it has to be something the readers don't already know. Your not allowed to copy already-written stuff, so you can't copy stories on the net, but you can be alerted to a local issue by the net. Is there any way to find blogs written by local people?

One issue might be 'The dangers of binge-drinking among young people'. The ER/Casualty department at weekends is full of people who have had accidents, stepped into traffic or got into fights while drunk. You can interview lots of different types of people about it. Interviewing is a key skill for a reporter and might get you good marks. Do any of your family or friends know someone in the medical profession - a nurse perhaps? You can interview them by phone or email for convenience. Email gives you a text record of the interview. A simliar story about people forgetting the dangers of drink on vacation might be more interesting. Most young adults have tons of personal anecdotes.

Type 2 - An in-depth article on an issue that has arisen over a long period of time - Like you find in Sunday papers.

One idea is to write a piece about how older workers can't get jobs because they are falling behind in their knowledge of technology, buzz-words, what modern services are available on the net, myspace, photo sharing, searching on the net as part of their job, using office programs, etc. Is the education system way too old-fashioned, placing all the emphasis on school and university to age 21 then cutting people adrift and spending nothing on constant re-training.

People need modern skills to compete with computer programmers and call-center workers in India, etc. Again, interviewing people is a key part of this. Both adults and school age kids will have opinions on how things are going, problems they and their friends have had, fears about the future, fears about competing with other countries. Try to include numbers, statistics and facts into the article from the net, not just opinion. Say something original that hasn't been said in the papers already.

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To get the right structure for your article, read similar type 1 or 2 articles and see how they are structured; length, something that grabs a readers attention at the beginning and makes them read on, the order of the information, facts or opinions, pursuasive arguments, closing remarks, contact details of any related organizations etc (e.g. alcoholics anonymous, road safety organisations, worker re-training). Try to copy the structure.

Finally, will the article matter/have a strong emotional effect on the readeship? Is it relevent to them? Will they think reading it was time well spent?

Answer 2

All newspaper articles must answer the questions Who, What When, Where, Why and How. Pick a topic you are interested in and answer those questions about it. For example: If you like to skateboard, you can write an article about the skateboard park in your town - or the lack of a skateboard park. Write who is affected by this. What they can do to improve the situation. When it needs to be done by or when a specific incident often occurs. Where the new park should be or where the current park is or where the skaters currently skate. Why there needs to be a skate park or why the current one is great or not great. How they can fix the situation or how other skaters can find a good one.
Hope this helped you.

Answer 3

There is su much going on in the world today that effects everyone that you shouldnt have a problme picking something that matters.

You could write about the war or politics

You could write about the educational system---are teachers underpaid does SOL testing really work, are kids prepared for college, that sort of thing (you teacher might really like that and you could interview a teacher at your school as a "source")

You could write about the success of a local buisnessman (you could interview them for your article)

The key is to find the Who What When Where and Why of any story be simple and try to stick to the facts.

Answer 4

write about a scientific breakthrough. Use articles like on MSN or in your newspaper to get information to write it.
Good Luck!

Answer 5

write and tell the truth about that family member that is all that is required to do