Writing Newspaper Articles
 

When you write a news article, there are 6 questions you should answer.

WHO? - Who were the important people, and why were they important?
WHAT? -What were the important events, and what happened there?
WHERE?- Where did the action take place?
WHEN? -What year? how long? what season? what else was happening at the time?
WHY? -Why was this worth writing about? Why is it so important?
HOW? -How did the events happen, or how did things end up?

 

For your Civil War newspaper article, these are the types of answers you might look for.

WHO? - generals, other officers, etc.
WHAT?-name of the battle, important parts of the battle
WHERE?- city or town, north or south, hills or flatlands
WHEN? -dates, time of day, time of year, beginning or end of the entire
war
WHY? -reason this battle was fought, why it turned out the way it did,
reasons for what happened during the battle
HOW? -how the north or south won, how it affected later events

You are NOT writing a story. You are describing and creating a picture of an event. You should:

Remember your audience. (FAT P)
Describe what you see. (You are the reader's eyes.)
Get to the point. (Stick to what is important.)
Organize your facts before you write (Who, What,Why...)
Make the reader feel as if he/she is at the battlefield.

 

Refer back to the TASK to check to see if you included all the necessary information in your newspaper article.

 

 
| Home | Task | Question | Plan | Gather| Sort | Synthesize & Evaluate | Product |
| Teacher Information | Assessment |