Make Your Way 6, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

a) How to write an article Think about your audience First of all think about who your audience is and where the article will appear. This will affect the style and tone of your article. Some articles are very chatty and informal and others are quite serious. How formal or informal would you expect an article to be in the following places? • a school magazine • a fashion magazine • a website for teenagers • a science magazine Think about your purpose Why are you writing this article? Is the aim to persuade , explain , inform or entertain the reader? Look at the following titles and decide what the purpose of the article is likely to be. • The crisis in classical music • Medical breakthrough! • The magic of Majorca The purpose of the article will affect its form – for example, in an informative article, you may need to include sub-headings or bulleted lists, and the style may be fairly formal. An article which aims to entertain its readers will need a more interesting structure and a lively, chatty style. Hold the reader’s attention Articles of all kinds need to be engaging from the beginning, otherwise the reader will “switch off” and stop reading. Here are some ways to grab and hold the reader’s attention: • have a catchy first sentence • outline the most important and interesting facts at the beginning of the article • fill in details and less important facts later on • open each sentence in a different way • vary the length of your sentences • use lively and colourful language (but don’t overdo it!) Before you write Make a plan . Think about what you are going to include in your article and then decide how you are going to structure it. Which bits of information should go in which paragraph? What examples can you include? While you are writing Frequently re-read what you have written. This will help keep you on track, and you will spot any mistakes you have made early on. Don’t be afraid to make changes if you feel you need to, but make sure your article is still easy to read, especially if it is for a test! After you have written Check your article carefully for • spelling and grammar mistakes • a good title • a clear organisation of ideas • a consistent style and tone • an interesting and engaging first paragraph • a variety of sentence structure and vocabulary Writing: An article 30 30 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv