Lesson 12: Articles, Blogs and Journalistic Piece Writing

Objective:

• To know about blog and journalistic articles
• To know how writers create blogs and journalistic articles in a creative way
• To understand the difference of writing online article from offline articles

Quick Navigation through the Lesson 12:

• Article Writing
• Blog Writing
• Journalistic Writing
• How to write an Article, blog article and journalistic news article
• The Difference between Online and Offline Article Writing

 Article Writing

Article writing is writing about information in a formal way. Articles can become a research material for readers who are finding certain information about a specific subject or topic. Most of the time articles are written for an academic audience. Since articles tend to give out information to its readers the writer must embark on a lot of research to make a well structured piece.

• Article writing is connected with creative writing because they both need a topic or subject to begin with. They also need to expound on the subject and think of the readers. Writers will also have to revise their work most of the time.

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 Blog Writing

Blog writing or blogging is a form writing wherein the writer can add more information about the topic in a timely manner. Blog articles are usually posted online, the writer can either write a very informative topic or a personal journal instead. In a blog post the writer can place other links which are related to the main topic that can be useful for the reader, and the readers can also leave their comments and suggestions in a blog post.

• Blog writing is connected with creative writing because here the writer also uses a part of his/her imagination to create a unique voice for the blog post. Creative writing can help the article stand out from all the other articles that have the same topic or subject.

 [WpProQuiz 80]

Journalistic Writing

Journalistic writing can also be called news writing. When a person writes a piece of news he/she must always be concise and factual. The writer cannot change a few words or phrases because the truthfulness of the story will disappear. When one writes a news article he/she must always ask the 5 w’s (who, what, when, where and why).

• News article writing is connected with creative writing because when a person writes for the news he/she must have discipline to follow the story which is a skill one can develop through creative writing. The writer also needs to keep on practicing to develop the skill of writing a more consumer friendly piece.

How to write an Article, blog article and journalistic news article

• Understand your niche or audience

By knowing which target market a writer wants to write an article for he/she will have an easier task on picking a subject.

• Know your readers

When a writer chooses a topic he/she should consider the needs of the readers. The chosen topic must answer a lot of the readers’ questions and queries.

• Add your touch of uniqueness

The tone of the article the writer has created should be different and diverse from other articles. The writers work should stand out from the rest so that readers will be attracted to it.

• Be passionate about it

A reader knows when a writer is passionate about his/her work, it shows in the material. The writer must write about something he/she loves to make the work process a bit less serious and heavy.

• Find out more about the topic

The writer must do extensive research on the chosen topic or subject.

• Gather reliable sources

The writer must not only research but he/she must also find reliable sources to get information from.

• Add a variety of material

The writer can use video clips, charts etc. to make the article more interesting to read.

• Outline

When the writer has gathered information regarding the topic he/she will now be able to create a solid outline of what needs to be discussed in the article.

• Follow proper format

When the writer writes an academic paper, news article or blog post he/she must follow the proper format.

• Edit

Revisions should always be done by the writer to correct errors.

• Be courteous to other writers

The writer must cite the sources of the research materials he/she has utilized. The writer must give due credit to the other writers and respect their work.

• Submit the finished article

After finishing the article, the writer must submit his/her work to be published and let other people read about it.

  [WpProQuiz 81]

The Difference between Online and Offline Article Writing

• The use of White Space

For articles published online the writer will not be able to use white space since the writer will need to break down his/her article into smaller readable pieces for the readers. Advertisements take up some of the page too there really is no room for white space.

As for articles published offline, the writer needs to use white space especially if the readers of the piece are busy people. If they find that the article is too text heavy they might not try to finish the piece entirely since they are always on the go.

• Links

For online articles the links that writers place in their posts helps the article move up in the internet rankings. Online articles can aid the readers more when the writer links his/her sources. It will be of great help to them because they would be able to read from many more different articles regarding the said topic.

As for offline articles, links here are called sources that are cited by the writer. By including where the information that supports the article are taken from the readers will be able to get a deeper meaning about the topic.

• Keyword Density

For online articles, keyword density means how many times a word is repeated in the article. This is also the internet’s basis for ranking articles. An online article should have a keyword density percentage below five to increase its ranking on the internet.

As for offline articles, keyword density can also mean the number of words in the piece. In offline reading materials there should be a greater number of words because the piece aims to be as informative as possible.

In conclusion, the lesson aims to help you understand what article writing, blogging and journalistic writing is all about. You will get to understand their differences and similarities. Here, you can get guidelines on how you can start writing whichever article you choose to write.

[WpProQuiz 82]

The next lesson will introduce you to drama. Drama is mostly represented through plays and performances. It will tackle what a screen play is and what a script is as well. All these elements are made for the stage. If you head on to the next lesson you will find out more about the said topics.