What is an article?

An article is like a direct conversation with the reader.

The exam question might tell you who your readers are. For example, the students at a school, or the people living in a town or people who are interested in sports.

Everything you write must speak to that reader and engage their interest right from the first sentence.

Parts of an article1. Title • Articles usually have a title. The title should be

informative (give the reader an idea of the subject) and attractive (make the reader want to read the article).

• The start of the article should be linked to the title, introduce the topic and engage the reader. Often, an article starts with a question which introduces the topic which will be discussed in the article.

2. OpeningShould be clearly defined, not too long and clearly linked.

3. EndingShould conclude the article.

Points to remember1. Register or style• Could be light or serious (but should be

consistent), depending on who the target reader is.

• May use some rhetorical questions: e.g. Can you imagine a school where every student enjoys themselves?

• May use some rhetorical questions: e.g. Can you imagine a school where every student enjoys themselves

2. Range of language• Probably some use of descriptive language

and language of opinion • Some examples

3. It has to be interestingMake it easier for readers to get a good

impression about your writing by entertaining them. Add humour, real life or made up examples, or make up quotes.

4. It has to be easy to readUse subheadings to break up the text and make

clear paragraphs. Write in a semi-informal, conversational style. And make sure there is organisation to your ideas.

Keep in mind that you want the reader to keep reading, so don't tell them exactly what they will read. This is not an essay! In an essay you usually restate the question, explain how you will answer it and maybe say why it's important. In an article, that will kill the reader's interest.

5. Write a good endingIn an essay you sum up the points that have

gone before and draw a conclusion from that. But in an article, it's better to give the reader something to think about, perhaps by asking them another question or giving them a call to action. Often, the best endings link back to the starting point in some way.

Common mistakes students make in articles• The language is too formal and more suited to

essays. Avoid words like: to sum up, nevertheless, on one hand etc.

• They don't use quotes or examples• They either use not enough, or too many, questions.

The questions, called rhetorical questions because they don't require an answer, shouldn't be more than one per paragraph. Good examples are:

• Have you ever ……..? • What do you think about ……..? • Are you one of those people who thinks that ……? • What would life be like if ……? • Will the future bring us ….. ?

Science can be fun

Is science the most boring subject at school for you? I have to confess that I was of the same opinion two weeks ago. My view changed when I attended a science conference for young people in Cardiff. In fact, there were shown many different aspects of science and was given information, which was on completely different topics from the ones we study at school. The three days spent there really opened my eyes to what’s going on in science nowadays and what job opportunities I can find.

At the conference, I met many students. They were from different countries, so the working language was English, which was an advantage for me. Another thing which impressed me was the various experiments shown to us. I appreciated the efforts of the conductors but I have to say that it was difficult for everyone to observe because there were too many people in such a small laboratory.

To my great disappointment, the food was too expensive. But if you took your own lunch you’d be OK! I also hope that next year the conference would be hold in a different venue because this year we were far from the town.

I strongly advise you all to go and see exactly what the possibilities are. This conference presents science in a different light. All the new things you will learn may also change your plans for the future.