Headline – an interesting, eye-catching headline or one that clearly sums up your thesis
Image of you
By-line - a sentence or two which names you as the writer of the article and includes a brief summary
of the focus of your feature article. (* Smaller print than the headline, but larger than the article)
Images of war / things relevant to your poems + captions
PART OF FEATURE
ARTICLE
INTRODUCTION (ensure you have
grabbed the audience’s attention,
developed the background
information, zoomed into your
specific topic and stated your
thesis)
The first paragraph outlines the
subject / purpose / theme of the
article, it may also:
❑
Provoke the reader's
interest by making an
unusual statement.
❑
Provide any necessary
background information.
❑
Draw on the statement /
question you were given
❑
❑
Establish the writer's tone
Create a relationship
between the writer and the
reader.
BODY (where you discuss your
three poems and analyse them in
a way that directly answers the
question - whilst maintaining the
journalistic tone and using
persuasive devices).
●
Socio-cultural context
PRACTICE
LANGUAGE / VISUAL
FEATURES YOU COULD
USE
LANGUAGE FEATURES
Using a question – if the reader
wants to know more they will need
to read on
Quote – lets the subject of the article
do the talking right away
Action/adventure introduction –
begins with the high point of
excitement. It starts as the bomb
drops, the car runs off the road, the
dam wall bursts…
Description introduction – describes
places or people
Summary – gives details about the
subject in a brief lead. These details
have to be interesting enough to
make the reader want to continue
Shock/horror introduction – uses
sensational information to get the
reader to read on. This will heighten
the drama to intensify its appeal.
VISUAL FEATURES
Large font for Headline
Image of yourself beside your byline
Columns (divide your page into two)
Smaller paragraph size
Quoting: necessary for you to
analyse all 3 poems and prove your
thesis
In text referencing: the line numbers
of the poem.
●
●
●
●
●
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Influences on the poet
(nationality, that
country’s beliefs about
war (e.g. was it glorified),
Worldview and mindset
(if they served and how it
affected them e.g.
Siegfried got shell shock)
Introduce poem and give
brief summary (if you
know style specify, also
specify year it was written
and Point of view
(whether it is in
first/second/third person
-- e.g. a soldier accusing
other soldiers of
forgetting)
Theme and the types of
human suffering
described.
tone and how this is
influenced by the
language features
Language features
How all of this positions
readers to accept the
intended reading
Summarise the ideas,
attitudes and values
expressed in the poem
(e.g. attitudes to war) and
use this to link forward to
next poem
Examples:
● ‘Noble’, ‘whine’ and
‘sorrowful’ (Homecoming,
Lines 8 & 13) carry the
emotion of their flight home
with their long vowel sounds
to denote the moaning of
grief.
●
‘Howl of their
homecoming’(‘Homecoming’
, Line 17) can be compared
to the final dying moments
of the young men….
●
These compelling lines,
‘someone still yelling out
and stumbling/and
flound’ring like a man in fire
or lime…./he plunges at me
guttering, choking,
drowning,’ (‘Dulce Et
Decorum Est,’ Lines 11 – 12,
15) indicate that men
drowned helplessly in the
toxic gasses, creating a real
and very horrific image of
death. Owen’s imagery
indubitably states that there
is no glory in dying for your
country.
Pace: should develop to give the
reader enough information in each
paragraph as needed. ‘Too much
too soon’, especially if you start
analysing and giving examples in the
introduction, kills the article and has
the effect of boring the reader.
Flow of Paragraphs: Paragraphs
should flow so that the reader does
not feel a jolt from any sudden
changes of subject. The trick is to
use a ‘transition’. A transition is a
word or sentence that connects
paragraphs and take the thoughts of
the reader away from the old
paragraph into the new.
Persuasive devices: use a range of
forms of persuasion e.g. (repetition,
group of three, rhetorical question,
metaphor, simile, alliteration,
emotive language, expert
opinion/quote, hyperbole, anecdote,
inclusive language, tricolon,
grammatical inversion, puns, irony,
humour / sarcasm, motif, symbolism
etc.)
Types of appeal: use ethos, pathos
and logos (appeal to character,
emotional appeal and appeal to
reason).
High modality language - makes you
sound sure of yourself e.g.
definately, thus it is clear, without a
doubt, undoubtedly, certainly
Sophisticated punctuation - try to
use sophisticated forms of
punctuation including semi colon (;),
colon (:), dash ( ) and ellipses (…)
VISUAL FEATURES
Pull quotes
Images and captions
CONCLUSION: Summarises
argument and restates the thesis.
Should get the reader to ponder
about the issues being discussed
(what are the wider implications?
What do you want them to take
away from this?)
For further tips, see Miss Rigby’s feature articles PowerPoint