Let’s talk about …

News Writing
 News Writing …
gives the reader factual information that will
affect them or interests them in some way.

• Informative
• Interesting
• Factual
 News Writing
• News provides readers with all of the five W’s
and H, usually in the lead or near the top of
the story.
• Leads should begin most often with the what,
why or who (if interesting or well-known),
NOT with when or where, which are usually
the least interesting elements.
• But where do you go from there?
Let’s talk about
news writing
structure.
 Disadvantages:
Advantage:
It can get
It condenses
repetitive.
information
It might
efficiently,
discourage you
letting readers
from a more
understand the
creative lead.
basics of what
It can get
happened
bogged down
quickly and
with facts and
easily.
details.
Checklist for News Stories
✓ Are the most important and recent facts first?
✓ Is the story accurate? Are the sources identified fully?
✓ Are the paragraphs short?
✓ Is the sentence structure varied in the story?
✓ Is the story neat and double-spaced so that it is easy to
read?
✓Did you use active voice?
I do my homework.
The teacher counted the modules.
 Pitfalls to Avoid **
➢ Editorializing. Keep your opinion out of the story
➢ Using first and second person. Keep yourself out of the
story. Common error: “our school.” No personal
pronouns!
➢Messy handwriting, poor grammar and spelling.
➢ Paragraphs too long. Use only one thought or idea per
paragraph. New paragraph for each transition and each
speaker.
➢ Misspelling names.
➢Trying to use all of the information and quotes you have.
Be judicious.
Informative Talk
What is an Informative Speech?
•An INFORMATIVE SPEECH presents
information in ways that will help
listeners understand and remember
what they are hearing.
 Informative Speech
•No matter what you are informing your
audience of, CONTENT is important.

•However, HOW the content is delivered is

just as important!
 Remember…
•Speeches are delivered LIVE
•Thus, you only have one chance to tell and
show the audience what you want them to
know/understand
•They cannot rewind you/your speech back
or turn the page back to review your
presented information
 Topic Selection:
•Since this is an informative speech, you should
choose a topic that interests you and you are

familiar with.

• Construct set of questions that will serve as your

guidelines.
 Topic Selection:
•Also, remember your speech only needs to be

THREE MINUTES long…

•Thus, you should not choose a topic that is too
large/broad that it cannot be covered/ explained
effectively in such a short speech
•(The maximum time a speech can be before a student
loses points is THREE MINUTES)
 Your Speech Type:
•Your speech is going to be an
EXPOSITORY speech
•An expository speech gives information about
a specific subject

•Example: How a gasoline engine works

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 More about topic selection:
•You should analyze your
audience and tailor your speech
to their interests and previous
knowledge.
•Remember: Your audience members are your
classmates; plan accordingly.
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 More about topic selection:

•If you think your audience already

knows a lot about your topic, try to
present an interesting perspective
or little known facts.
•For example, instead of informing your
audience about how a person plays
baseball, inform them of how vision-
impaired people play baseball
 Speech Organization

•The main parts of good

speech are the same as the
main parts of a good
_____________.

•ESSAY
 Speech and Essay
• Three Main Parts:
1. Introduction
2. Body
3. Conclusion
 Introduction of Speech:
1. Capture your audience’s
attention with an interesting
statement or question.
2. Gain the listener’s interest by
relating the topic to their
experiences/life
3. State the goal or purpose of
your speech (Thesis)
 Body of Speech:
• There are three main ways you can organize
the main points of your speech:
1. Chronological Order
2. Logical Order
3. Spatial Order
PANEL DISCUSSION
•Panel Discussions
–A panel discussion is basically a conversation in
front of an audience.
•When you participate in a panel discussion, you should
prepare for the presentation much as you would for
any public communication event.
•Each panel member should plan to participate as
evenly as possible.