WHAT IS AN OPINION ARTICLE?
An article is a short form of writing that is intended to be published in a newspaper
or magazine. There are two types of articles: informative articles and opinion pieces.
Though both of these forms look similar, they actually have a different purpose:
informative articles inform, whereas an opinion piece is written to persuade. You
should think of yourself as a journalist, an intelligent and well informed writer with a
strong opinion that you want to share with the world. The best opinion pieces are
clear, intelligent and highly convincing. They may often present unusual or
controversial positions on the topic, so consider this when you’re planning your own
piece.
How to Study and Revise The Topic:
● Identify the opinion in practise questions; form your own viewpoint on it. You
can start with ‘I agree’ or ‘I disagree’, but for a high grade you need to move
beyond that into something more complex and personal.
● Think about your target audience, tone and style.
- Does your audience have a specific age, gender or common interest?
- What is your attitude to the topic - does it make you angry, sad,
confused, excited, passionate? This will affect your tone.
- Your style should have scope for using complex vocabulary, because
fancy words will pick up more marks! Try to strike a balance between
conversational and articulate - be informal and friendly, but also come
across as intelligent and well informed on your subject.
The more you refine these, the more precise and successful your piece will be.
● Read lots of opinion pieces online. You can find these in the ‘opinion’ section
of newspapers. Read a huge range of different topics, from different papers - if
you just read one topic you’ll end up with limited ideas. If you read one paper,
you will end up with biased opinions because all newspapers only present
information in a way that suits their own political or personal agenda. Choose
topics that interest you, that you feel passionate about. Collect thoughts on
, the topic, interesting words, style tips and structural ideas from the articles
that you read. Here are a good range of newspapers from different political
stances that you can visit online to read opinion articles:
- The Guardian (left wing leaning)
- The Independent (politically neutral)
- The Times (right wing leaning)
- Vulture
- The New Yorker
● Practise debate! You can do this with friends, family or on your own. Research
common debate topics online and spend time planning out all of your ideas
on each topic. Understand both the arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’; don’t just
try and think about your side without considering the counter position.
● Read lots of example answers, use these to collect ideas for structuring,
techniques and style in your own work.
● Learn to use a whole range of punctuation, sentence forms and language
devices. In particular, understand rhetorical devices - these techniques are
used to persuade, so they are especially useful for writing opinion pieces! Use
as many different ones as you can in your written piece.
An article is a short form of writing that is intended to be published in a newspaper
or magazine. There are two types of articles: informative articles and opinion pieces.
Though both of these forms look similar, they actually have a different purpose:
informative articles inform, whereas an opinion piece is written to persuade. You
should think of yourself as a journalist, an intelligent and well informed writer with a
strong opinion that you want to share with the world. The best opinion pieces are
clear, intelligent and highly convincing. They may often present unusual or
controversial positions on the topic, so consider this when you’re planning your own
piece.
How to Study and Revise The Topic:
● Identify the opinion in practise questions; form your own viewpoint on it. You
can start with ‘I agree’ or ‘I disagree’, but for a high grade you need to move
beyond that into something more complex and personal.
● Think about your target audience, tone and style.
- Does your audience have a specific age, gender or common interest?
- What is your attitude to the topic - does it make you angry, sad,
confused, excited, passionate? This will affect your tone.
- Your style should have scope for using complex vocabulary, because
fancy words will pick up more marks! Try to strike a balance between
conversational and articulate - be informal and friendly, but also come
across as intelligent and well informed on your subject.
The more you refine these, the more precise and successful your piece will be.
● Read lots of opinion pieces online. You can find these in the ‘opinion’ section
of newspapers. Read a huge range of different topics, from different papers - if
you just read one topic you’ll end up with limited ideas. If you read one paper,
you will end up with biased opinions because all newspapers only present
information in a way that suits their own political or personal agenda. Choose
topics that interest you, that you feel passionate about. Collect thoughts on
, the topic, interesting words, style tips and structural ideas from the articles
that you read. Here are a good range of newspapers from different political
stances that you can visit online to read opinion articles:
- The Guardian (left wing leaning)
- The Independent (politically neutral)
- The Times (right wing leaning)
- Vulture
- The New Yorker
● Practise debate! You can do this with friends, family or on your own. Research
common debate topics online and spend time planning out all of your ideas
on each topic. Understand both the arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’; don’t just
try and think about your side without considering the counter position.
● Read lots of example answers, use these to collect ideas for structuring,
techniques and style in your own work.
● Learn to use a whole range of punctuation, sentence forms and language
devices. In particular, understand rhetorical devices - these techniques are
used to persuade, so they are especially useful for writing opinion pieces! Use
as many different ones as you can in your written piece.
