How to generate good ideas

• Be creative!
• Find new topics or give old topics a different angle

Before writing your text

• Focus on your audience: What do they expect?
• Ask yourself: Why am I writing the story now?
• Have a clear idea: What do I want to tell the audience?

How to write a good article

• Write a headline that makes your audience curious
• Write a sub-title that provides a good summary of your topic
• First paragraph: Start with an interesting introduction or a scene that draws your audience into your article
• Second paragraph: Explain why you are writing the story now
• Main body: Give background information - the news behind the news
• Last paragraph: Write a conclusion. Leave your audience with a thought-provoking ending.

In general

• Know and entertain your audience!
• Use your own language - avoid complicated phrases or expressions
• Never write anything you don't understand yourself
• Avoid overly long, complicated sentences
• Give stories and people a different or lesser-known angle
• If you can, include real people with real quotes
• Don't prattle! Ask yourself: Do I really need this sentence or this word, or am I just filling space?
• Re-write: (Almost) no one writes the perfect article first time round
• Try to keep your story interesting from the beginning to the end: Never take the attention of your audience for granted!

What are the different types of journalistic writing?

• Column: Write about your own life, use friends/social environment for research (e.g. Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City)
• Report: Closest to literature, lots of research/travelling/meeting people involved, very descriptive style, long text
• News story: Factual account of an event
• Interview option one: Question and answer style, with direct quotes
• Interview option two: Profile style: quote indirectly, more descriptive and general
• Feature: A longer piece: start with a scene to illustrate the topic and build on it by adding more information