Articles, News Reports & Reviews

magazines, newspapers and newsletters, presenting an opinion or balanced argument concerning social/environmental issues, describ­ing a place/event/experience, etc, providing information, offering practical advice, etc (e.g. an article for a college magazine giving practical advice to new students who will be living away from home for the first time).

leaflets and brochures, providing information, describing and/or adver­tising a company/product/service, offering advice/suggestions, etc (e.g. an article in a brochure for a company which wants to attract new customers from around the world).

Points to consider.

An article usually has a brief title; this should attract the reader's attention and indicate what the article is about. Articles may also have subheadings before each paragraph.

Depending on the topic of the article and the type of publication and its readership, you may need to use formal, impersonal language, or informal language.

Articles may be written for a wide variety of purposes and can be descriptive, narrative, discursive, etc, and the techniques, style and expressions used should be appropriate to each kind of writing, as discussed in previous units.

Articles for leaflets and brochures are usually informative and/or descriptive, and are written for advertising purposes, or to provide readers with information, advice or suggestions. They should be clear, avoiding extremely vivid description and over-emotional, over-personal or simplistic language.

Select and organise the ideas and information you will present in each paragraph carefully. Begin each paragraph with a clear topic sentence.

 2. Read the following instructions, then decide what the purpose of each arti­cle is, and what kind of information should be included.

1. 
   You have been asked to write an article for your college magazine giving practi­cal advice to students on how to keep up with the workload. Write your arti­cle for the magazine.
   
2. 
   The tourist information centre in your town has asked you to write an article for a brochure describing two places of interest in your area. Write your article for the brochure.
   
3. 
   A young people's magazine has asked its readers to submit articles on the question: "Are young people being forced to grow up too fast?" Write your article for the magazine.
   
4. 
   The company you work for is looking for representatives in other countries and has asked you to write a profile of the company for a leaflet which will be distributed abroad. Write your profile for the leaflet.
   

 3. Read the instructions and the model below and insert the following words and phrases in the appropriate spaces. Some words/phrases can be used more than once. Next, complete the paragraph plan on the right. Is this a formal or informal article?

but also, Furthermore, However, In addition, In conclusion, In fact, not only, On the other hand, therefore, thus.