What is the difference between a

newspaper report and op-ed or

Editorial?
Report Writing
Sample study
 The Essentials First

When the reader reads a

newspaper report, they
It is important that
should be given the
newspaper reports have
essential information
the most important
first, so that they can
information coming
decide if they wish to
first.
read more.
Structure of a newspaper report

Headline and byline

Lead

Body

Tail
 Headline

Headline and byline

For a good headline, you need
to:
•Catch the reader’s attention so
Lead they want to read the rest of the
report;
•Sum up the story in a few
words;
Body
•Use powerful and interesting
language;
•Write in the present tense –
even if the report is about an
Tail
event that has already
happened;
•Include alliteration or wit at
times.
 Byline

Headline and byline

Lead
For a good byline, you need:
•The writer’s name;
Body •The writer’s speciality (for
example, Sports reporter, Food
correspondent, Crime editor, Deputy
politic editor, Senior fashion
reporter);
Tail
•You could also have a link to the
writer’s Twitter account (for
example, @dgoodman).
 Lead

Headline and byline

For a good lead paragraph, you need
to;
•Make the paragraph short and
Lead snappy so that it briefly explains
what has happened;
•Ensure that, even if the reader
stopped reading at this point, they
Body would still know roughly what
happened;
•Use past tense in most cases;
•Make sure the first paragraph
Tail answers as many of these six
questions as you can –
Who? What? Where? Why?
When? How?
 Body
For a good body section, you
need to:
Headline and byline •Add more information and
detail to your lead paragraph;
•Include background
information, evidence, facts and
Lead
quotes from people involved in
or connected to the event/story;
•Continue to write in order of
Body importance, putting the most
important information in the first
Having quotes few paragraphs of the body
from witnesses or Tail section.
experts
will make your Be sure to use
report more correct
credible and punctuation for
interesting. quotes!
 Tail
For a good tail section:
Headline and byline •Give the reader the
opportunity to gain additional
information if they are
Lead particularly interested in the
topic of the news report;
•Include links to previous
Body news reports or useful
This ‘Tail’ websites;
information can •Include a final quote from a
be useful but is
witness or expert that helps to
not always Tail
needed. It tends
sum up the story or that could
to be the least hint at what might happen
important next.
information in
the report.
 Get It Right!
For a GREAT newspaper report you need to:

Cut out the less important

Keep your most important
sections from the bottom
information near the top of
of the report if it ends up
the report;
being too long;

Keep your sentences short

Check your spelling and
and punchy, so that the
your facts…and check
report is interesting to your
them again!
reader;
 Write your own Report

The Titanic has just sunk, you are the Staff

reporter of The Boston Daily. Write a
newspaper report on this terrible tragedy.
(Differentiated tasks)
 One minute test
1. What is the byline?
a) The title of the article
b) Contains the name of the place where the story took place
c) The secondary heading for the article
d) Contains the name of the person who wrote the article
2. What does the 1st paragraph contain in the newspaper article?
a)Answers the questions who, what, where, when, why, and how
b)Is a long introduction to the article
c)Has quotations from authority figures
d)Contains who wrote the article
3. What tense is the news report written in?
a)Present tense; the story is happening right now
b)Past tense; the story already happened
c)Future tense; the story is going to happen
4. Why are news reports written?
a)To inform the world of terrible stories that lead to unfortunate events
b)To inform citizens of events which are happening in the world
c)To make sure people have jobs
d)To give people something to do in the morning when they drink their coffee
5. The order of an article is...
a)Lead, headline, byline, and summary paragraphs
b)Headline, summary paragraphs, lead, and byline
c)Headline, byline, lead, and summary paragraphs
d)Headline, summary paragraphs, byline, and lead