science ARTICLES

NEWS I FEATURE I EDITORIAL I TRIVIA

 W H AT E X A C T LY
IS SCIENCE WRITING?
- Is writing about scientific subject matter for the popular media
...SCIENTIFIC WRITING?
- Are technical writing by a scientist with an audience of peers
ᴥ CLASSIFICATIONS
SCIENCE NEWS SCIENCE TRIVIA
SCIENCE FEATURE SCIENCE NEWS FEATURE
SCIENCE EDITORIAL
ᴥ INFORMATION SOURCES
JOURNALISM BASED ON INTERVIEW
JOURNALISM BASED ON FACTS PRESENTED
fo u r I ’s o f w r i t i n g

ᴥ infor m

ᴥ influence

ᴥ interest

ᴥ inspire
SCIENCE WRITING
N E W S A R T I C L E PA R T S

HEADLINE summarize the entire story

BYLINE name of the writer and specialty
PLACELINE writer’s location
LEAD/HOOK journalism slang word
BODY further information about the lead
headline
must catch the scanner’s attention and should
summarize the entire story in a few words
should be bold, short, simple and direct
keywords are eye-catching(timely, topical or
controversial issue)
Should encapsulate the main theme of the article
EXAMPLES:
“FUKUSHIMA’S FATE INSPIRES NUCLEAR SAFETY RETHINK”
“EXECISE INSTANTLY BOOSTS FAT-BUSTING GENES”
 GUIDELINES FOR WRITING
A GOOD HEADLINE
1 THINK OF IT LAST.
SHORTEN OR LENGTHEN IT ACCORDING TO 2
THE WIDTH AND/OR NUMBER OF
COLUMNS PROVIDED
3 CAPITALIZE ONLY THE FIRST WORD, THE
PROPER NOUNS, AND THE NEXT WORD
AFTER A COLON.
USE A SEMI-COLON TO SEPARATE TWO 4
DIFFERENT THOUGHTS
5 NEVER START THE HEADLINE WITH A
VERB
 GUIDELINES FOR WRITING
A GOOD HEADLINE
1 DECIDE WHICH ASPECT OR DETAIL WILL
BE EMPHASIZED.
SUMMARIZE THE GIST OF YOUR NEWS 2

3 GET TO THE POINT

LIMIT IT TO ONE OR TWO SENTENCES WITH 4
JUST 25-35 WORDS BUT MAKE IT CATCHY
5 FOCUS ON THE ACTION BY USING THE
ACTIVE VOICE.
HOOK THE READER 6
SCIENCE WRITING
FEATURE
are longer, more in-depth, and more
elaborate than hard news stories
are not opinion essays or
editorials and should not be
confused with creative writing or
works of fiction.
Your opinion and mood are not important to the story.
ARTICLES
are interesting articles that focus on
certain people, places, events, or subject
matters like new discoveries, health, etc
make use of the upright pyramid style
rather than the inverted pyramid
approach most of the time.
You should keep yourself out of
the story by using the third
person.
qualities of a well-written
news-feature ar ticle

ᴥ factual

ᴥ catchy

ᴥ timely

ᴥ engaging

ᴥ infor mative
 01 FIND YOUR STORY.
WR I T E THINK ABOUT THE BEST STYLE AND
02 CHOOSE THE SINGLE FOCUS.
A N E W S - F E AT U R E
03 ORGANIZE YOUR INFORMATION
outlining an article
1. BEGIN WITH A LEAD - Indicate the W and H questions
2. USE THE INVERTED PYRAMID STYLE - Most important
information first followed by the rest of the details.
3. SOURCE THE DATA - Include facts and mention the source
4. INCLUDE QUOTATIONS - Get quotes from involved and
relevant people.
04 CRAFT THE LEAD
types of article leads: WR I T E
1. QUESTION LEAD – Draws your reader in with a question.
2. TALKING/QUOTATION LEAD – Starts with a line or two of A N E W S - F E A T U R E
your or somebody else’s dialogue or phrase.
3. SNAPSHOT LEAD – Creates a picture of the setting or the
person in the reader’s mind
4. FACTUAL LEAD – Uses statistics and hard facts at the outset
to gain immediate interest.
5. DELAYED LEAD – Lead are not found on the first line of the
article
6. SURPRISE LEAD – Contains an element of surprise, being
unusual, or something that the reader might least expect
 USE SHORT PARAGRAPHS BUT
WR I T E 05 VARY THE LENGTH OF SENTENCES
A N E W S - F E AT U R E FOR EFFECT
components of the body are:
06 • Facts and statistics supporting the writer's theme
TRANSITION WELL
- words, phrases, sentences, and even paragraphs that
• Opinions from authorities and experts.
connect ideas and show their relationships in an article.
• Quotes and Interviews
07 CONCLUDE
• Anecdotes YOUR ARTICLE
and stories.
restate the lead
• Specific names, places and dates.
state potential future developments

08 WRITE THE TITLE

 sticks and persuades the reader
 encapsulates the main idea into very few words
 includes key words that revolve on the article
PERSONAL TIPS
& R E A L I Z AT I O N S
USE ALL W AND H QUESTIONS IN 1ST & 2ND SENTENCES
PARAPHRASE CONFUSING INFORMATION
AVOID JARGONS, UNNECESSARY AND HIGH FALUTIN WORDS
HAVE A DISTINCT STYLE IN WRITING
PRACTICE AND ASK
DON’T LET THAT EAGERNESS FADE
ALWAYS EXPECT MUCH
DON’T GOD YOURSELF