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Building Your Article

Structure, headlines, layout, names, numbers

Good reporting is raw material. Building the article is where craft meets structure. The intro that hooks, the headline that earns its real estate, the names spelled correctly, the numbers used with intent. These pieces are where Simon got practical about putting the pieces together.

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Layout

Layout Your article MUST look like this 2.5cm (1 inch) margins on all 4 sides ALWAYS nominate a publication Exact wordcount FOR: [name of...

Letterhead tips

Letterhead Tips Use your LETTERhead only on letters. Do not use a letterhead on any pages of your articles or your normal assignments. Each...

Names and Credentials

A journalist can get most of a story wrong and recover with a correction. Spell a person's name wrong in print and you have told that...

The Components of an Article

This Is Just One Example Of A Well-Structured Article This MAP of an article shows three components: narrative, direct quotes and indirect...

Facts on the page

Names and Credentials

A journalist can get most of a story wrong and recover with a correction. Spell a person's name wrong in print and you have told...

More in Building Your Article

Article-how long

Like you, students often ask me impossible questions. What is the length of an article? How long should I research it? How long...

Byline

You failed to insert your byline. Don't rely on your editor to remember to insert it. Your editor may even think you don't want...

Chronological

You've made a mistake, in my opinion, of starting your article at the beginning, proceeding to the middle, and ending at the...

Conversion $

You must convert money figures so Australians understand values. It's no use telling your readers that something costs eight...

Dates

You must write dates correctly. I had students who thought it amusing to write dates like this: Monday, the 11th day of the month...

Headline Writing

You're NOT writing headlines in the best way. Here's how to write a headline: Don't for a moment imagine the publication will use...

Layout

Layout Your article MUST look like this 2.5cm (1 inch) margins on all 4 sides ALWAYS nominate a publication Exact wordcount FOR...

Letterhead tips

Letterhead Tips Use your LETTERhead only on letters. Do not use a letterhead on any pages of your articles or your normal...

Maps and charts

You ask if it's acceptable for you to provide graphics such as maps and charts. Sure. But first you must carry out two checks...

Maths

You've goofed on maths.* Journalists are notoriously bad on mathematics. I know journalists who not only don't use a calculator...

Metric

Metric You must use metric measure in your writing. It's decades since Australia switched to metric. You should use only metric...

Names - first names only

You're using first (or given) names only. Yes, you see a lot of this in Australian magazines. But many stories which have first...

Names - not real

I notice you have noted that the names you use are not real names. To an editor this means you, the writer, have failed to...

Names - of people

NAMES . . . the first time you mention a person's name, use their first (given) name AND then their surname (or family name)...

Names - of things places--wrong

There are many well-known names of people, things, places and organisations, that my students frequently get wrong. Make sure YOU...

PSR

I like this informational article of yours. But consider this advice. When writing this kind of fact-and-advice article, you...

The Components of an Article

This Is Just One Example Of A Well-Structured Article This MAP of an article shows three components: narrative, direct quotes and...