“Of Mice and Men” News Article
Please write a 250 – 400 word newspaper article about an event in chapters 5 or 6 in “Of Mice and Men”. Your article should have all of the following elements:
Headline: The attention-grabbing title of article printed in bold letters.
Picture: A picture that captures the idea of the article and helps to grab the reader’s attention.
Dateline: A heading that tells where and when a story takes place.
Byline: The name of the author of the article
Lead: The first few sentences of the story. These lines tell the W5H (who, what where, when, why and how) of the story.
Interviewee: The person being interviewed in the article.
Quote: A direct quote from a relevant party interviewed for the article.
Supporting paragraphs: Paragraphs following the lead; these paragraphs go into more detail about the topic, often including quotes and interesting facts. However, these paragraphs are very short, just 2-4 sentences long. The less important information should appear later in the article, since the article may be cropped (shortened) by the editor.
You may imagine that you have interviewed one or more of the characters involved in the event, and use quotes from your imagined interviews. However, do not depart from the real events of the story. It is also a good idea to use actual quotations spoken by the characters about the event.
As this is not an opinion piece, please do not use the first person voice in this article i.e. “I” or “my”.
What a great News article will look like: A news report related to the headline and photo with a clear and consistent focus on an event. There should be sufficient specific supporting details, which are thoughtfully chosen to develop the news report. The organization should be coherent, demonstrating a thoughtful progression of ideas.
Example of Grade A Work
Car wash a success
A group of _______Ontario teens who heard about the events in Haiti decided to hold a car wash to raise money on April 7th, 2010.
The teens put up signs in their neighbourhood to attract the cars passing by.
“It feels great to do something for a good cause,” says Angela_______ one of the teens
involved in washing the cars. The teens say that they plan to give the money to
Canadian Red Cross, who will be sending more people to Haiti later this month.
As cars passed by, many drivers couldn’t resist a good care cleaning and
pitching in some money. “It’s so nice to see kids that care about a cause and are
willing to make a difference abroad,” say Berta_______ who was one of the people to
donate and have her car washed.
The teens saw what happened in Haiti on Television and called one another
to get together and do something about it. Mara________ parent of one of the teens
says, “I’m so proud of them. They were shocked by what happened, and they did
something spectacular.”
The teens are very satisfied in the amount that they made and how they not
only helped people in their community, but helped people hundreds of kilometres
away.
Explanation:
This is a news report related to the headline and photo with a clear
and consistent focus on an event (the carwash to raise money). Sufficient
specific supporting details are thoughtfully chosen to develop the news report. Specific details included: the names of the city, students, parent; Haiti, Canadian Red Cross, “drivers couldn’t resist a good car cleaning”; “not only helped people in their community, but people hundreds of kilometers away”. Quotations from two perspectives are thoughtfully placed in the response. The organization is logical. The closing sentence connects effectively to the opening lead sentence.