How to write an article in english
How to write an article in english
How to Write an Article for FCE Writing
As we have seen in previous posts, the Writing B2 First (FCE) paper consists of two different parts. In the first one, you must write an essay. In the seccond, you must choose among different options. One of these options can be to write an article. For this reason, in today’s post I’m going to show you exactly how to write an article for FCE Writing (Part 2). Besides, we will go over an example of an article for FCE and a complete FCE Writing guide, where you can find more examples of articles and other types of FCE Writing tasks.
Este articulo también está disponible en castellano.
How to Write an Article for FCE Writing Part 2
An article is a very common type of text nowadays. We can find all kinds of articles in newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc. For this reason, in order to know how to write an article for FCE, we must bear in mind who will be reading our article. This, as we will see later on, we will find out from the instructions the FCE Writing paper provides us with. But before we move on to that, let’s take a look at the characteristics of an article for FCE Writing Part 2:
FCE Writing Article Example
Now that we are familiar with the characteristics of an article, the best weay to know how to write an article for FCE Writing is to take a look at an example of an article at First-B2 level. So let’s see an example of a task and a sample answer to that very same task.
Instructions of an Article for the FCE Writing Paper
It is extremely important to read the instructions carefully, as you are supposed to obtain all the information you need to write the article. In this case we can see the following:
And that’s exactly how we will organise our article, knowing exactly what to talk about in each paragraph.
Как писать article (статью)?
Общие факты
Article (статья) часто встречается на международных экзаменах, а также является популярным олимпиадным форматом. При этом на экзаменах статьи бывают, как правило, стандартными, а в олимпиадах обрастают всякими нетрадиционными деталями. Например, встречаются иллюстрированные статьи (Высшая проба), статьи, в которых нужно использовать определенную лексику или цитаты (КФУ), статьи с элементами описания и анализа графиков (Ведомственная), и т.п.
Суть любой статьи — предоставление читателю информации в приятном и увлекательном виде. Дальнейшие детали отличаются в зависимости от типа статьи и конкретных требований, указанных в задании.
В данной статье мы рассмотрим свойства, которыми обладает любая article. Обратите внимание, что в каждой отдельно взятой олимпиаде помимо этих свойств могут потребоваться и другие, прописанные в самом задании.
Заголовок
Давайте вспомним, как мы обычно читаем журналы или сайты в интернете. Мы не читаем их от корки до корки (особенно сайты — у них и корок-то нет). Мы не читаем все подряд, а выбираем для чтения отдельные статьи. На основании чего мы это делаем?
В первую очередь мы обращаем внимание на заголовки. Именно заголовок является визитной карточкой статьи. Предпочтение читатель будет, как правило, отдавать не очень длинным заголовкам, которые можно охватить одним взглядом (но это не означает, что длинные заголовки не имеют права на существование— их тоже можно использовать, если есть веские основания).
Зачастую более притягательными получаются загадочные или провокационные заголовки, потому что они вызывают желание прочитать статью и узнать подробности. То же самое справедливо для заголовков, оформленных в виде вопроса.
Extreme sport — wingsuiting — and its dangers for those who do it
The Sport that Soars — and Kills
В приведенном примере заголовок слева уступает заголовку справа, поскольку он более длинный, содержит несколько местоимений (они не несут в себе эмоциональной нагрузки и ничем не цепляют) и звучит сухо. Заголовок справа оставляет читателю загадку: о каком спорте идет речь? Также он содержит элемент опасности — ‘kills’, который обычно привлекает внимание. И, наконец, этот заголовок состоит всего из шести слов, то есть быстро и легко читается.
Вступление
Следующий по значимости элемент статьи — вступление, то есть первый абзац, который идет сразу после заголовка. Задача вступления — удержать читателя и заинтересовать его, чтобы он дочитал статью до конца (по-английски это называется ‘to hook the reader’).
Для достижения этой цели вступление должно явным образом показать, чему посвящена статья — иначе читатель не сможет понять, нужен ли ему этот материал. Кроме того, вступление может содержать обращение к читателю в виде вопросов — персонализация делает статью «ближе» и, как следствие, интереснее.
Допустим, нам нужно написать статью по такому заданию:
New York is a big city in the United States of America. It is composed of five boroughs, each of which is a county of the State of New York. They are Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. In my opinion, it is possible to enjoy some of them during a short visit.
Is it possible to get the best of New York in just one day? It is — if the priorities are set right. This article offers you a ready-made plan for a short visit to the Big Apple so that you enjoy yourself thoroughly and get back home with a bag full of happy memories.
Первый пример — наглядная инструкция, как делать не надо. Представим, что мы — тот самый турист, который ищет статью про короткий визит в Нью-Йорк. Будет ли нас интересовать информация о том, что New York is a big city? А то, что он состоит из пяти boroughs, each of which are bla-bla-bla? Тоже вряд ли. Вводная фраза ‘In my opinion’ портит вступление окончательно: личное мнение уместно, когда пишется эссе, а в статье должен преобладать акцент на интересах читателя.
Второй пример — гораздо успешнее. Во-первых, он сразу же берет быка за рога, обращая к читателю вопрос: Is it possible to get the best of New York in just one day? Прочитав его, читатель думает: «Да, вот как раз этим вопросом я и интересуюсь!» Далее вступление обещает предоставить ответы на этот вопрос, удерживая тем самым читателя. Ведь если он заинтересован в вопросе и ему обещан ответ — зачем бросать читать?
Основная часть
Основная часть — это центр статьи. В ней мы отвечаем на поставленные в задании вопросы. Содержание основной части очень сильно зависит от задания, поэтому здесь сложно давать общие рекомендации. Однако есть одна важная вещь, о которой всегда стоит помнить: все обещания, которые вы даете во вступлении, должны быть выполнены в основной части статьи. Если вы пообещали дать a ready-made plan, значит его нужно дать. Если пообещали рассказать о современных тенденциях приготовления сосисок, то концентрироваться надо именно на современных тенденциях, а не на составе сосисок или древних способах жарки сосисок на костре.
Также следует помнить, что внутри основной части вопросы, обращенные к читателю, уже не так уместны, как в заголовке или вступлении. Если их будет слишком много, то читатель будет чувствовать, что не получает от статьи того, ради чего он решил ее прочесть.
Заключение
Содержание заключения напрямую зависит от содержания самой статьи. В общем и целом, содержание подводит итоги или делает вывод из всего написанного в основной части статьи. Если во вступлении был задан вопрос, то в заключении можно подчеркнуть, что ответ на этот вопрос был найден. Также можно сообщить читателю что-нибудь вдохновляющее или приятное 🙂 Например:
Now that you know how to write an article, use the list below to pick up a task and try using your newly acquired knowledge!
Итоги
В статье автор предоставляет читателю интересно и увлекательно организованную информацию. Стиль — часто нейтральный, но может быть и неформальным, и формальным, в зависимости от того, кому адресована статья. Лексика и грамматика — разнообразная, можно использовать идиомы.
How to write an article
Test your understanding of this English lesson
19 COMMENTS
Writing a good article requires many steps to consider. Today’s lesson taught me the steps needed to write well not limited just to English but can also be applied to other languages.
Thank you so much Benjamin!!
Hi, I don’t really understand the meaning of the expression “gained two gray hairs”
Hi, Maury! It means that the morning/day was so stressful that he aged some years.
Gray hairs are more common on stressed people.
I thought you would optimize the previous artcle but you give a new one.
hope to see your next videos! Thank you so much
it really benefits
Thank you so much for this lesson. It was very useful for me to improve my writing 🙂
Excellent lesson, I’d like to improve my writing skills.
Very informative lesson. Thanks!. A question Benjamin. Is aka a good word to be used in formal writing?.
Request – CAn you provide more resource to practice that has answer key also.
Thanks Benjamin. I got 2 mistakes on the quiz. I will practice more.
I was keenly enthralled by the way you displayed this material in total.
Having cautiously watched and collected those tips of writing an article, I will be surely attentive to not include any superfluous pieces in my writing.
Thank you Benjamin
Mukhtar
Thank you Mr. Benjamin for a very interesting lesson.
Hi, I cannot open the video, after trying a lot of methods.
Our videos are on YouTube, so if you are viewing the site from China, the videos will be blocked. However, you can also watch some of our videos on Bilibili.
Cambridge B2 First (FCE): How to Write an Article
Cambridge B2 First (FCE): How to Write an Article
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Summary
The most useful thing I’ve ever learned
Have you ever learned something that completely changed your life? I can remember exactly how it was for me when I got interested in learning English and who helped me become the person I am today.
I had always been in love with English music and I put in some work by myself, but only when I ended up in the English class of Mr. Weiss I got completely hooked. His amazing style of teaching struck a chord and my skills skyrocketed in no time.
Feeling confident, I took the leap and moved to beautiful Australia where I was able to travel and even call it home for over seven years. And you know what?! I became an English teacher and now help people who are just like I used to be with the same passion as Mr. Weiss.
I really think that I wouldn’t be teaching English had it not been for Mr. Weiss and his inspirational lessons. So, looking back, I hope my experience inspires others to find ways to help the people around them as well.
Introduction
An article is usually written for an English-language magazine or newsletter, and the reader is assumed to have similar interests to the writer. The main purpose is to interest and engage the reader, so there should be some opinion or comment.
from: Cambridge English First Handbook for Teachers
Articles are part of the second section of the FCE writing exam. This means, that, actually, you can decide if you want to choose this type of text or, instead, pick one of the other ones available in this part (a review, report, letter/email or, if you take FCE for Schools, a story).
Articles are interesting and engaging
You might think that I’m joking because how could writing an article be interesting and engaging? The thing is that I’m not talking about you as the writer, but about the reader. Articles are less formal than, for example, an essay or a letter of application so they are usually more interesting and engaging to read.
However, keeping this in mind, writing an article can also become more fun. If you keep thinking about what would be interesting for the reader, it is easier and more engaging for you too.
So, in this article we are going to look at similarities which we can find in almost every FCE article writing task, such as structure, requirements, useful language and other things to pay attention to. This way, I hope you will feel more confident and knowledgeable.
What a typical article task looks like
Even though there are many different topics to write articles about and they might change a lot from exam to exam, there are certain similarities that I don’t want you to miss and with a little practice you will be able to find these characteristics really fast in every single task.
When you see a task like this (and please remember this for the future) you have to check two things:
Below you can see that I have underlined the key pieces of information for you and don’t forget to do the same with every writing task you see.
OK, let’s start with what we have to include. In the box I underlined three questions we have to answer:
There are three topic points to write about and you will see that there are always three things that you have to include in your articles. If you can’t find three topic points, then look again because they must be there.
The second question I asked above was about who is going to read your article. In this case we are going to write for an English-language website, which means that normal people like you and me are the target readers.
In the FCE writing exam you always have to consider the reader of your texts as you have to adjust the register (formal, neutral, informal language) in your writing. With different levels of formality come different things you should or shouldn’t write, but in articles we normally expect the readers to be people like us so we can write in a more informal style.
Informal English means that you should use contractions like ‘I’m’ or ‘don’t’, colloquial words and expressions, for example, ‘awesome’ or ‘tons of’. Also, try to add some phrasal verbs because they are definitely a feature of informal language as well and last but not least, involve the reader personally by addressing them directly and even ask a question or two.
Again, always look out for three topic points to include in your article and be prepared to use informal language. If you cover all of this, you are already on a very good way to pass. However, there are still a few more things to consider.
How to organise your article
OK, we went through the first step analysing the task. Now we need to think about how we can organise the article so it is logical and with all the different parts included and well connected.
This step might be a little bit different from task to task, but, generally speaking, you can follow this process every time and you should be alright.
It probably makes sense to give each of these points a paragraph in our article so we already have three sections. To me it seems as if we could use the first topic point in our introduction, which means that we don’t need a separate one, but it is always nice to have a short closing paragraph (similar to a conclusion in an essay). Adding that and a title, we end up with four paragraphs and our article would look like this:
Of course, there is always the option of separating the intro and the first topic point or combining two topic points in one paragraph and again, this depends on each task, but, in general, this is what every article looks like in the FCE exam.
Always make a plan
I can’t say it often enough, but, unfortunately, this is something that drives me crazy and a lot of students simply forget to do.
Always plan your articles before you start writing. It takes just a few minutes to create a list of paragraphs like the one above with a couple of words to remind you of what you want to write added to each heading.
There is nothing worse than writing for 25 minutes and then realising that you have to change something or move around different parts. Don’t make the same mistake and write a plan.
The different parts of an article
In this part of my post we are going to look at the different sections of an article in the FCE exam using our task from above so I can give you example paragraphs which include everything you should put in there as well if you want to become the boss of article writing.
Introduction
In your introduction you always want to get the reader interested in your article. Your goal is to make the reader want to continue. As always, there are a couple of things for you to remember when you start writing:
An example could look like this:
The most useful thing I’ve ever learned
Have you ever learned something that completely changed your life? I can remember exactly how it was for me when I got interested in learning English and who helped me become the person I am today.
There you have it. My article has a title, which doesn’t have to be super creative, the intro includes a question as well as the topic and my comment (“…helped me become the person I am today.”) and I’ve already answered the first topic question in the task (What is the thing you learned?).
I also kept some information to myself (Who did I learn from? Why is it useful?) so the reader wants to continue. Try to keep them guessing as this can be very engaging.
Topic points
Once we have our introduction ready and our readers can’t wait to find out more, we need to think about how we can present the rest of the information.
In our plan we decided to break the topic points up into two paragraphs, but we also have to focus on the other requirements of an FCE article:
And with all of this in mind, I wrote these two paragraphs:
I had always been in love with English music and I put in some work by myself, but only when I ended up in the English class of Mr. Weiss I got completely hooked. His amazing style of teaching struck a chord and my skills skyrocketed in no time.
Feeling confident, I took the leap and moved to beautiful Australia where I was able to travel and even call it home for over seven years. And you know what?! I became an English teacher and now help people who are just like I used to be with the same passion as Mr. Weiss.
As you can see, I broke everything up in two paragraphs and only wrote about the questions supporting my answers. On top of that, I included a lot of useful informal language (highlighted).
Closing paragraph / Conclusion
Last but not least, we want to round off our article with a good closing paragraph. In the conclusion we want to achieve a few different things:
The last paragraph shouldn’t be too hard to write if you’ve done a good job with your introduction and topic paragraphs. Because we have done exactly that further above in this post the conclusion becomes something like this:
I really think that I wouldn’t be teaching English had it not been for Mr. Weiss and his inspirational lessons. So, looking back, I hope my experience inspires others to find ways to help the people around them as well.
I put everything together nice and short. I summarise the points I made in the introduction and the topic paragraphs, gave my opinion (“I really think…”) and also addressed the reader directly again to end my article in an interesting way.
How your article is marked
Marking FCE writing tasks is like a science and for a lot of students it feels as if there is this big mystery and nobody really knows how it works. Actually, there are very clear rules that the examiners have to follow and the criteria are publicly available.
While it is possible to find all the information on your own I thought it would be a good idea to put everything together in an article for you. Check out how your writing tasks are marked by clicking here.
Practice makes perfect
With all this detailed information it is now time for you to get active. Look for different example tasks online and follow my step-by-step process to improve and become an expert when it comes to writing FCE articles. All you need is experience until you can find the different characteristics discussed here so you can write your texts almost on autopilot.
Please let me know if you like my post and if there are other things I can include or improve. Until then, happy practice.
How to write an article for New FCE exam
How to write an article for the New FCE exam? Here’s a sample topic that has been divided into paragraphs and each of the sections explained.
Part 2
You must answer this question.
You see this competition in an international magazine.
COMPETITION
Imagine you were on a desert island. What would you miss most? Write an article briefly describing an important object, person or place in your life and give reasons for your choice.
The best article will be published and the writer will receive £500.
Write your article in 140- 190 words in an appropriate style on the separate answer sheet.
Sample answer:
Life away from home
How would you feel about living on a desert island? I can’t imagine anything worse. I would miss a lot of things, but most of all I would miss my home.
You start with Paragraph 1- Introduction
In the introduction you :
– think of a title that will catch the reader’s attention
– include the topic- you might not know the reader personally, but still, you can address him/her directly (e.g. ask them a question)
Phrases you can use in the introduction:
My home is a small house on the outskirts of a city. It was built about fifty years ago and has a small garden. In the summer our country gets very hot but our house is always cool.
Note that the question/topic says the description should be ‘brief’.
Phrases you can use to in the 2nd and 3rd paragraph:
You would probably think our house is nothing special, but I have lived there all my life and all my friends live nearby. It is a happy place, where I feel completely safe. Whenever I go away, I look forward to coming back, lying on my bed, reading a book and listening to my brother and sister arguing downstairs!
In the 3rd Paragraph you :
I love travelling and meeting new people, but if I were on a desert island I would be away from the place I love most — my home — and I would hate that.
In the last paragraph you :
Phrases you can use to end the letter
You have seen this advertisement in an international magazine.
INSPIRING PEOPLE
Tell us about a person you admire and why they inspire you.
We will publish the most interesting articles next month.
Once again, over to you:
You have seen this advertisement on an international travel website.
CITY BREAKS
What’s your favourite city, and why? Write us an article:
• describing the city.
• saying why it is special for you.
We’ll publish the most interesting articles online next month
Write your answer in 140- 190 words in an appropriate style on the separate answer sheet.
Exam tip
* write a catchy title that gives the main idea
* try to involve the reader by using lively, chatty, semi-formal style, don’t sound too formal
* you can address the reader directly (I’m sure you’ll agree that …) or ask one or two questions (Have you heard …?)
* make your article more interesting by including a range of language, e.g. adjectives and adverbs, phrasal verbs, collocations, relative clauses, linkers, one or two idioms.
* give personal opinions, include description, examples, stories to support your views. Think of a suitable start and finish for your article
* use colourful language, such as phrasal verbs, collocations and idioms
*make sure you answer all the points in the question