How to Write High School Features Articles
Being involved with the student-run newspaper at your high school is not just an interesting elective or extra-curricular activity. It is a great way to get a hands-on introduction to the field of journalism. This hands-on experience will be especially helpful should you be considering a career in the media industry. In order to write great features articles for your high school newspaper, you need to understand the basic rules.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Determine your subject matter. Unlike news articles, features articles do not always have to fit within a certain time period. Usually these stories can focus on subject matter that does not become quickly dated. However, to really write an effective human interest piece, it is generally a good idea to consider how it can be related to more topical events. This will increase the impact of your story because it will be deemed newsworthy.
-
2
Treat it like a news story. Don’t forget the basic tenets of journalism: Who, what, when, where, why, and how. Get all of the important information that is essential for guiding the story. After you have included the essential info, you can determine the perspective you want to take on the story that will help you decide how to write it. For example, you may want to write about a star athlete at your school. Once you get the basic information (in this case the sport she plays, age, grade, interests and more) you can decide what you want to include in the story. Perhaps this athlete is devoutly superstitious—these are the sort of facts that will add human interest to your story.
-
-
3
Ask the right questions of the right people and take plenty of notes. It is a good idea to keep a tape recorder on you at all times, especially during interviews so you use correct quotes. In the example of the star athlete, instead of just interviewing the athlete, conduct interviews with teachers, friends, family, her coach and anyone else who could offer insight into the type of person the athlete really is.
-
4
Write a great lead. Just like a news story, grab your audience and pull them in all the way to the end. Avoid writing a typical news article lead, however. Instead, throw out an interesting fact that will make you want to keep reading. Again, using the example of the superstitious athlete, you can write a lead that says, “Tammy Jones hasn’t changed her gym socks in two weeks.” This would get people more interested in reading than “Tammy Jones is a volleyball player for our school team and is very good.”
-
5
Set the scene. It is a good idea to keep a camera on hand, if possible when conducting your interviews. Even if the pictures on not actually printed with the article, they will help you keep your memory fresh when you are writing the article. You are telling your readers a story, so you have to help them push their imagination. Describe when the interview is taking place. Make notes on all of your senses: sight, smell, hear, see, and touch. These notes will help you include the details that will really help your readers visualize the scene.
-
6
Understand why you are writing this article. In order to do this, you must think about how you want the audience to feel. Features stories are generally still objective, but that does not mean that they should not call the reader to feel in any way. In fact, both sides of the story can be told in a features article that will prompt your readers to make their own decisions about the matter. There’s a reason features articles are also called “human interest” articles; you want to piqué the reader’s attention to motivate them to keep reading.
-
7
Tell your story. Use your own insights and emotions to guide your story. All the while, avoid sounding too narcissistic. Features stories offer the unique ability to put yourself into the story, but you should never be the focus of the story. Tell the story as you see it, but remember to get different and contrasting insights whenever possible to add legitimacy to your story.
-
8
Write, edit and rewrite as often as it takes. The editing and reviewing process is as important as the initial writing process itself. Read your article out loud to yourself and to others. Once you have made all of your changes, submit it to your copyeditors and beat editors. Do not be offended by the changes they make. The focus of this process is to achieve the highest quality piece possible.
-
1
- Photo Credit www.phschool.com
