Feature Articles

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Steps in the Process

• Brainstorm Ideas
• Narrow Topic
• Research
• Organize Information
• Revise
• Publish

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Connection to Core Content for Assessment
WR-HS-2.3.3 transitional elements will guide the
reader
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Additional connections to Core Content

• WR-1.1.0
• Purpose/Audience
• Students will establish and maintain a focused
  purpose to communicate with an authentic
  audience by
• Establishing a controlling idea, theme, or
  conclusion about the topic
• Adhering to the characteristics of the form
• WR-1.2.0
• Idea Development/Support
• Students will support main ideas and deepen the
  audiences understanding of purpose by
• Developing logical, justified and suitable
  explanations
• Applying idea development strategies appropriate
  for the form

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Our Objectives

• We will compare hard and feature news articles.
• We will analyze an authentic news article format.
• We will discuss implications of using the format
  in our real classrooms.

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VOCABULARY

• Headline
• The title of the story
• Date Line
• Where the story takes place
• Lead
• The beginning of a news story
• HARD Direct and to-the-point. Includes 5Ws.
• SOFT The hook that makes the reader keep
  reading.
• Nut Graph
• A sentence or short paragraph that states the
  main idea of the story. It tells in a nutshell
  what the story is about and why it is newsworthy.
• Lead Quote
• The first quote which supports your nut graph.
  Usually the strongest quote you have and supports
  the concept in the lead / nut graph without
  repeating the same wording.
• Circle Kicker
• The way you wrap up your article. Usually
  includes an anecdote, description or future
  action. It is RELATED TO THE LEAD.

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Distinguishing the Form

• HARD NEWS

• FEATURE NEWS

To inform Purpose To inform First paragraph
Main Idea Nut Graph No more than 35 words
Lead Longer than 35 words Direct to the
point. Hooks the reader. Yes. Always.
Timeliness Doesnt have to be. Yes. Newsworthy?
Yes. Headline, byline, dateline, Features
Headline, byline, text features text features
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HARD NEWS

• EVIDENCE
• First paragraph tells you what the storys about.
• Lead answers 5 Ws.
• Dateline
• Timely. If this were printed in May, no one
  would care!

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FEATURE NEWS

• EVIDENCE
• First several paragraphs are descriptive.
• Main idea (nut graph) comes in the 6th paragraph.
• No dateline.

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Wall Street Journal Format
Soft Lead
Nut Graph
Backup for the Lead
Supporting Details
Developments
Circle Kicker
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Nut Graph

• In a Nutshell Paragraph
• All information in the article ties back to the
  nut graph.
• Identifies the main idea.
• Easy to identify when youre looking for it.

from Bluegrass Balance
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Wall Street Journal Format
Soft Lead
Nut Graph
Backup for the Lead
Supporting Details
Developments
Circle Kicker
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Soft Lead

• The soft lead draws a reader into the article
  using a story, quote or examples.
• It is shaped like a triangle because it starts
  with specific details about one person or example
  and becomes more general as it moves toward the
  nut graph.

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Types of Soft Leads
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PRACTICE
LIST

• Boston College has an assistant dean for
  alcohol and drug education. Rutgers University
  sets aside dorm rooms for recovering student
  alcoholics. The University of Nevada bars
  students from leaving school sports events to
  make alcohol runs.
• Increasingly, colleges are confronting problem
  drinking by providing education and
  rehabilitation programs, alternatives to the
  campus bar scene and stricter regulation of
  on-campus parties.

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PRACTICE
Then Now

• It was March 1964 when Lewis Hackie Wilson,
  the 7-year-old son of a St. Petersburg
  firefighter, disappeared after stopping to pick
  up flowers on his way home from school.
• His case received national attention a month
  later when a sheriffs posse on horseback,
  flushing out rattlesnakes ahead of a line of 80
  searchers, found the childs bones in a field
  south of Venice.
• Now, nearly 27 years later, the case maybe
  revived. Prosecutors in Sarasota County have
  realized that Joseph Francis Bryan, a convicted
  child kidnapper indicted for Hackies murder in
  1965 has never been brought to trial.

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PRACTICE
DESCRIPTIVE

• Skippack farmer John W. Hasson stood
  ankle-deep in mud, pumping milk into a wooden
  trough as his pigs, squealing and grunting,
  snouts quivering, climbed over each other to get
  to their feed.
• Hasson inhaled deeply.
• Does that smell sour to you? Thats what
  they call noxious fumes, he said with a sniff
  toward his new neighbors, Ironbridge Estates, a
  subdivision of two-story colonial houses costing
  200,000 plus.
• Ironbridges developers say Hassons farm
  smells.
• And his 250 pigs squeal too much.

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Writing Leads
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Writing Leads
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Writing Leads
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Wall Street Journal Format
Soft Lead
Nut Graph
Backup for the Lead
Supporting Details
Developments
Circle Kicker
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CIRCLE KICKER

• The circle kicker ties the story together by
  coming back around to the specific details or
  people in the lead.
• Unlike a hard news story, a feature article does
  not end abruptly. It should be memorable.

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Circle Kicker
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Identify the characteristics of a feature article
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Wall Street Journal Format
Soft Lead
Nut Graph
Backup for the Lead
Supporting Details
Developments
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The REST OF THE STORY
Backup for the Lead The first sentence after the
nut graph should be a quote. Choose the
strongest quote you have that supports the
concept in the nut graph without repeating the
same information. Then, spend a couple sentences
elaborating.
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Kaysie Dudley
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The REST OF THE STORY
Supporting Details These paragraphs should
provide quotes, facts, statistics and anecdotes
that further support the nut graph.
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The REST OF THE STORY
Developments Its important to acknowledge
contrasting points-of-view and cause/effect
relationships associated with your topic. This
space can also include new developments in the
story.
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What would the WSJ Format look like in your
classroom?