F2 English Writing Exercise: Writing an Article

One of the most common pieces of writing in English Language would be writing an article.
An article can be used to describe a variety of situations, such as social issues, political events
as well as featured products (trendy stuff)

a piece of writing usually intended for publication in a newspaper, magazine or journal

written for a wide audience, so it is essential to attract and retain the readers’ attention
may include amusing stories, reported speech and descriptions

(Materials and Exemplars extracted from One-Stop English and Personal Notes)

Structure of a Basic Article:

Title---a concise summary of the information which is going to follow in the article
1st Paragraph--- Background/Details
*First, develop your topic sentence, or argument statement.

2nd to 4th Paragraphs--- Thorough Explanations & Imaginary Situations

Example of Detailed Paragraph

5th Paragraph- Conclusion, summarizing the topic or a final opinion, recommendation or

comment

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Before beginning to write your article…Think of the following questions.

1. Where is this article going to appear? (A magazine, a newsletter, a newspaper?)

2. What is the tone and register of the article? (Is it formal or informal?)
3. What points do you have, and do you agree or disagree with the situation?
4. How would you analyze the topic at hand?

HKDSE Exemplar (Sample Question)

Theme: Learning English through Social Issues
The trend known as “Tiger Moms” is slowly becoming one of several major problems in Hong
Kong. Some parents in Asian countries and Hong Kong are installing apps on their children’s
mobile phones that monitor their activities, as a method to ensure that they use these devices
responsibly.

You are Chris Wong, an editor at HKA Daily. Write an article describing the trend of parents
monitoring their child and problems/consequences that come with the act of monitoring their child.

Preliminary Analysis:

1. What are “Tiger Moms”

a. Why are they a phenomenon in Hong Kong?
b. Why the word “Tiger”
2. What are your thoughts on this?

Detailed Analysis:

1. If your parents do this, what would you do? Why do you think they did it?
2. Any solutions or words of wisdom for those Tiger Parents?

When thinking about any topic, you have to put yourselves into others’ shoes, so that you could try and
understand people from different perspectives. In this question, you could put yourself into

1. The Tiger Moms 2. The Students 3. Teachers and Schools

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Let’s do a bit of practice.

Try reading this question. What are the first few things that you could think about?

Where is the article going to appear?

Who are the intended readers?
What is the aim of the article?

Now, let’s try writing your own article.

1. DSE English Language Paper 2 Question (Sample)

Many people have suggested imposing a total smoking ban in our city. Write an article to express your
views regarding this situation. Write around 250 words.

2. (From One-Stop English)

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