FEATURE ARTICLE

What is a feature article?

A feature article offers insights about people, places, things, or events that we
encounter daily but to which we pay little attention. It exposes human emotions or feelings. It
focuses on the most interesting, not necessarily the most important, and part of a story. It is a
creative article that deals with real events, issues, and trends. However, unlike straight news
articles, it emphasizes the people involved rather than on the facts of the news.
A feature article is a non – fiction. It is an essay based on facts. A feature article is
written to inform but entertaining.
Feature Writing tells the reader a story. It has a beginning (lead), middle and end. It
uses quotes liberally and allows the reader to see the story through detailed description and
vivid writing.
Parts of a Feature Article
1. Title: It must cover the whole idea of your feature article and must catch the attention of
your target readers. This is also known as the headline or the head of the article.
2. Byline: This shows the author’s name and sometimes his/her affiliation (if he/she is an in-
house writer or a contributor). The byline can be below the headline or at the end of the
article.
3. Introduction: Draws the reader in, entice your reader, hook them in. Use drama, emotion,
quotations, questions, descriptions.
4. Body or Nub Head: The “guts” of the story. This is the presentation of details. This is the
part where your target readers get what they want to read in your article.
5. Conclusion: It summaries your article and helps the reader remember the story. Make sure
that you end your article the way you started and not just as if you just quickly stopped
writing.
 Kinds of Feature Article
1. News feature- presents an interesting angle of a news event.
2. Trend story- reports on gradual changes that happen over time.
3. Human interest story- tells about an issue and its impacts on people.
4. Personality profile- tells about the success or other aspects of the life of a person.
5. How-to article- helps learn how to do something.
6. Behind the scenes- gives the reader an inside view of occupations and events.

Principles in Writing Feature Article

 Unity – This is a combination or ordering of parts in a literary or artistic production
that constitutes a whole or promotes an undivided total effect.
 Coherence –It is a systematic or logical connection or consistency.
 Emphasis – This is the force or intensity of expression that gives impressiveness or
importance to something.

Techniques in Writing Feature Article

1. Start with a good hook in the introduction or lead to capture your reader’s attention and
encourage him or her to read on.
2. Develop ideas in different and creative ways to bring out the special factor or hidden aspect
of your topic
3. Separate main ideas into different paragraphs (only one per paragraph).
4. Have an effective concluding paragraph that leaves your readers with something to think
about
5. Add an attention-grabbing title or headline to your article.

Example of a Feature Article

When Television Became Colorful (title of the article)

By Linda Ruggieri (byline)
Today, nearly all television programs are broadcast in color. If you turn on a baseball
game, you can see that the grass on the field is green, or that the pitcher has a blue cap on.
But when your grandparents were children, most people watching TV at home could not have
seen any of those colors. Television programs were broadcast in black-and-white only.
(introduction)
Television sets that could broadcast in color have been around for a long time. An
engineer named John Logie Baird invented a color TV set in the 1930s. But the picture on
Baird’s TV flickered and was not clear. Companies would not sell a TV that was not good
quality. (body)
For many years, people worked to improve how color televisions worked. Over time,
companies found ways to make the picture clearer. The improvements also meant that a user
could turn a dial to add just the right amount of color to the picture.
By the late 1960s, many people were buying color televisions. Soon, most TV shows
were being broadcast in color, and most people in the U.S. had color TV sets.
Today, it’s unusual to find any television show that is still broadcast in black-and-
white. Now the world of television is full of color! (conclusion)
 ACTIVITY 1
Writing Feature Article
Directions: Write a feature article on how you should cope-up with stress brought about by
the heat index which leads to suspension of classes. Follow the following instructions in
making the paragraph. Use separate sheet of paper in writing your article.
1. Your title must catch the attention of your target readers.
2. Write your name below the title as the byline of the article.
3. Your introduction must be in two to three sentences. Make sure that you draw your readers
in and hook them.
4. The body of your article must be in five to ten sentences. This is where your target readers
get what they want to read in your article.
5. For your conclusion, it must be in two to three sentences. It should summaries your article.

Use the rubric as your guide in doing the activity.

ASSESSMENT
Directions: Identify the following elements of a feature article. Choose your answers from
the box. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
1. This part catches the reader’s attention to ensure that the reader will read the entire
article.
2. This part encapsulate your article. It drives home the theme, and that the reader will
remember.
3. This part gives more information about the topic. This is also known as the headline
or the head of the article.
4. This is the part where readers acquire the necessary information about the article
they want to read.
5. It is the part where we can see the author’s name and his or her affiliation. This is
written below the title of the article.