Make Your Way 8, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

• Sometimes it can be easier to write the introduction to your essay AFTER you have written the main section. • Use rather formal language. Syntactic constructions like passives , causatives , nominalizations , complex sentences , etc. are highly welcome! Avoid contracted forms and 2 nd person pronouns. II Article An article is a piece of writing, discussing or describing a topic or issue , often written for a specific publication or a specific audience . Audience First of all think about who your audience is and where (newspaper, journal, book or website) the article will appear. This will affect the style and tone of your article. While some articles are very chatty and informal, 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 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 • The magic of Majorca • Medical breakthrough! • Richard III found in pub loo! 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 playful structure and a lively, chatty style. Proceed as follows: • 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 an exam! • 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: – think of a smart title – have a catchy first sentence – outline the most important and interesting facts at the beginning of the article – give facts and detailed information following answers to general questions like who , what , when , where , why and how . – involve the reader by asking him questions – fill in details and less important facts later on – open each sentence in a different way – vary the length of your sentences – use headlines to focus the reader’s attention on a particular part of the article. – use lively and colourful language (but don’t overdo it!) 127 Make Your Way to the Written Matura M Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv