How to write a newspaper clip or article in effective ways?

Writing a newspaper article is quite different from writing an essay or a speech or a short story. The information of a newspaper article has to be presented in a specific way.

Within the span of a limited space you have to express all relevant information to your audience in a concise manner. There has to be no extraneous information in the article.

Preferably, the first line would give the most important information. The article has to be clear, accurate and objective. Given below are some of the effective ways to write a newspaper article.

EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WRITING A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

1. Select the Topic

    Before writing the article, you should do a lot of research on the selection of the topic which you are going to write on. After deciding on the topic you begin to start by asking yourself six questions : WHO, WHEN, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, HOW. 

Write the answers after having collected all relevant information on the selected topic. Then read the information and try to weed out unimportant information from that of important ones.

When you are writing an article for newspaper, you should have the responsibility to your readers to not to present fabricated and imaginary stories but real facts and genuine information. 

Cross check numbers and other noted data from different sources in order to present accurate information. Organize the essential points.

2. Authenticate your Data

     You can make your data appear genuine by supporting your story with some firsthand data in the form of interviews, phone calls, emails and social media. People usually are attracted to listen to famous personalities and experts. If you have quoted them in your article, you may get a huge readership.

When you take interview in person or over the phone keep a few things in mind. First of all, keep an open mind and introduce yourself as reporter. Take an appointment. Ask questions and while you are listening to the answer do not interept in between.

Sometimes you may not get the intended answers. Be patient. Do not try to judge. Record and write down essential information from the interview. Use the interview to verify the facts you have already collected. Make sure that you are using the original words spoken by the interviewee.

3. Know your Audience

    While you are writing a newspaper article, you should know the people who you are writing for. You ought to know the educational, social and religious background of your audience.

Ask yourself the "6Ws" (Who, What, When, Why, How, Where) again in relation to the background of the audience. Answer to these questions will make your vision clear to write the article.

You get to know who are you writing for, what do the audience expect from your article, when is the proper time to publish the article, how to write and so on. Finally you are in a position to know how you can write the article from your angle - a unique view.

4. Create a Headline and Start with a Lead

    While beginning to write the article, you should try to give the most important information as soon as possible. The most important sentence is the lead sentence which is placed at the top of the article. It is the outline of the entire article. It answers almost all the questions of the "6Ws".

This lead sentence should be a strong one so that it grabs the attention of the reader. Remember, readers have a tendency to skim through the article. If they do not find the first sentence interesting, they would not go through the entire article. So, start with the good sentence while writing the newspaper article.

With half of your job done with the selection lead sentence, fill out the article with relevant details, opinions of people interviewed and necessary facts, and give your own opinion. Write the subsequent paragraphs in order of importance.

Write the conclusion of article by congratulating the readers for their patience to read through the end of the article. Make sure that the article is complete in all respects. The last line is a restatement of the first statement with some future development to the topic.

5. Take Care of the Language and Tone

     The language and tone of your article is very important. Keep your language readable. Write with a sentence structure and word selection that can be understood by the people from diverse walks of life - from the people with low as well as high educational background.

Try to use active instead of passive language. Do not confuse the reader with the unnecessary and uncommon vocabulary. The tone of your article should be objective.

You should not have any bias or prejudice while writing the article. For example, if you are writing about two politicians, treat them in equal terms even if you do not like one of them. Do not exaggerate events as your job is to report them as they actually happened.