Lesson 13 — Activity 2: Writing a Newspaper Article


Examples of Canadian newspapers.
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You may have read movie reviews in your local newspaper. Newspapers contain reviews as well as many others types of writing. The focus of this activity will be on the news report.

News reports use the same skills you have been developing in writing paragraphs, letters, and movie reviews. They do follow a specific format to give all of the details of a news event to the reader.

Newspaper articles use short paragraphs and are often based on what is called the “inverted pyramid” style. This style has the most important information first with the following paragraphs providing secondary details and background information.



An example of the inverted pyramid style.
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Here's your formula for a well-written newspaper article:

Headline: to attract the reader’s attention

Byline: the writer’s name

Place line: the location of the news event

Opening paragraph:


  • The first sentence will try to capture the reader’s interest with a question, a shocking statement, a humorous point, etc.
  • This paragraph will also contain the main details of the story (who, what, where, when, why, and how).


Second paragraph (and following paragraphs — many newspaper articles are not much longer than three paragraphs):

  • These paragraphs will expand on the details in the first paragraph and may include quotes from people involved in the story.


Last Paragraph/Conclusion:

  • This paragraph will be short. Often newspaper articles close with a quote from one of the people involved in the story.




Remember, newspaper articles are written so that people who don’t have time to read the entire article can get the main idea from the headline and the first paragraph.