Writing for Magazine
Types of Editorial
1) Encourage: Editor Encourages readers to read the Magazine and provide feedback
2) Share: Editor Shares Ideas, Visions, Information about key issues and Policy of Magazine
3) Sensitize: Editor Sensitizes readers of issues of local, National of International Concern
4) Counsel: Editor Offers advice and provide counseling the readers
5) Acknowledge: Acknowledging the readers and efforts of editorial team
Introduction to Article Writing
Writing Problem Exercise
1) Language: Formal Language, Vocabulary, article language
2) Grammar & Spellings: Sentence Structures, Spellings
3) Making Outlines & Research
4) Selection Issues: related to topics, ideas, titles, Specific Target Readers, good ideas, stuck
between ideas & concepts, selection of appropriate words & phrases, too much to choose from
5) Issues of creativity & Innovation
6) Issues regarding Ideas: Formation of ideas, how Ideas should be treated, providing a
different angle to the story, Jotting down ideas, Coherence in Ideas
7) Lack of knowledge & subject grip, lack of motivational sentences & quotations
8) Issues regarding writing Introduction: How to Start
9) Issues regarding the body text & Details: Struggling with details, Lack of Logic &
persuasion, Handling transitions & Continuity, Handling Flow of arguments
10) Issues of writing conclusions: Struggle to write interesting/ effective conclusions
11) Issues related to editing: Irrelevant words, Editing, Proofreading, Struggle to write precise
12) Writing Abilities & Confidence: Lack of confidence on writing abilities, lack of writing
skills
13) Management Issues: Time Management, Data Management, Word Limitations, Extension
of Ideas into full length articles, Space Management, Too much to write
Solutions to the Issues
Constructing Articles











Two points to begin with the topic you want to talk about & the target readers you want
to write about
Developing a course outline about “ Home Decoration”
Introduction craft, history, popularity
Details How to do that? step by step explanation…..Planning the details
Looking at your home dynamics/ Requirement
Cost/Budget
Steps
Successful Home decorators/Trends
Material/Decorations in Trend
Tips from experts
Conclusion what difference it will make/ Availability/ references
Writing Introductions
(Retrieved fromwww.newsroom101.com/longleaf/ggrow/StrategicReader/index.html)
Parts of Introduction:
Hook: A hook is usually a comment/quotation/question that inspires an emotional response from
the reader
Comment/Background/Topic Statement: Add some information regarding the topic
Establish Final statement: Open declaration of the topics




Example topic: "Living in big city"
Hook: Can you imagine how much a single day can cost if you live in Shibuya, Tokyo?
Comments and background: Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities in the world. The
prices of things in Tokyo are much higher than in other parts of Japan. Many people living
in Tokyo have a difficult time paying for their lifestyles.
Thesis Statement: Tokyo definitely is one of the most expensive cities for many reasons.
Professional writers who write for magazines and receive pay for their work use
five basic patterns to grab a reader's interest:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
historical review
anecdotal
surprising statement
famous person
declarative
1Historical review: From "Integration Turns 40" by Juan Williams in Modern
Maturity, April/May, 1994.
The victory brought pure elation and joy. It was May 1954, just days after the Supreme Court's landmark
ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. At NAACP headquarters in New York the
mood was euphoric. Telegrams of congratulations poured in from around the world; reporters and wellwishers crowded the halls.
[After reaching back forty years ago to bring up the landmark Supreme Court decision that started school desegregation, this
article discusses school segregation in the present time.
.
2Anecdotal: from "Going, Going, GONE to the Auction!" by Laurie Goering
in Chicago Tribune Magazine, July 4, 1994.
Mike Cantlon remembers coming across his first auction ten years ago while cruising the back roads of
Wisconsin. He parked his car and wandered into the crowd, toward the auctioneer's singsong chant and
wafting smell of barbecued sandwiches. Hours later, Cantlon emerged lugging a $22 beam drill-for
constructing post-and-beam barns—and a passion for auctions that has clung like a cocklebur on an old
saddle blanket. "It's an addiction," says Cantlon, a financial planner and one of the growing number of
auction fanatics for whom Saturdays will never be the same.
[This is an anecdote, a little story about one man and his first auction, that is the lead to an article about auctions. In this article
the author explains what auctions are, how to spot bargains in auctions, what to protect yourself from at auctions, and other facts
about auctions and the people who go to them.]
3Surprising statement: from "60 Seconds That Could Save Your Child" by
Cathy Perlmutter with Maureen Sangiorgio in Prevention, September, 1993.
Have a minute? Good. Because that may be all it takes to save the life of a child—your child. Accidents
kill nearly 8000 children under age 15 each year. And for every fatality, 42 more children are admitted to
hospitals for treatment. Yet such deaths and injuries can be avoided through these easy steps parents can
take right now. You don't have a minute to lose.
[This article begins with a surprising, even shocking, statistic, 8000 children die each year from accidents. The article then lists
seven easy actions a person can take to help guard a child against accidents. These range from turning down the water heater to
120 degrees Fahrenheit to putting firearms under lock and key.]
4Famous person: from "Dear Taxpayer" by Will Manley in Booklist, May 1,
1993.
The most widely read writer in America today is not Stephen King, Michael Chrichton or John Grisham.
It's Margaret Milner Richardson, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, whose name appears
on the "1040 Forms and Instructions" booklet. I doubt that Margaret wrote the entire 1040 pamphlet, but
the annual introductory letter, "A Note from the Commissioner," bears her signature.
[This is the first paragraph of an article about the lady named above. The author used the names of three famous, modern
American writers to get a reader's interest. Notice that the first name on his list is a name that is probably more widely known
than the other two. Stephen King has been around for some time now, and everyone, from teenagers to grandparents, know his
name whether they have read his books or not.]
5Declarative: from "The Tuition Tap" by Tim Lindemuth in K-Stater, February,
1994.
In the College of Veterinary Medicine and Engineering, for example, nearly one-third of the teaching
faculty may retire by the year 2004. In the College of Education, more than a third of the professors are
55 years old and older. The largest turnover for a single department is projected to be in geology. More
than half of its faculty this year are in the age group that will retire at the millennium, says Ron Downey
of K-State's Office of Institutional Research and Analysis. The graying of K-State's faculty is not unique.
A Regents' report shows approximately 27 percent of the faculty at the six state universities will retire by
the end of this decade, creating a shortage of senior faculty.
[This is a straight forward introduction that gets right down to the topic of the aging of the faculty of Kansas State University.
There are no historical reviews, no surprising statements, no anecdotes, no quotations from or about famous people. This is a
discussion that leads to further discussion about the topic. The biggest difficulty about this type of introduction is that it can get
boring. It is not likely to get the interest of anyone except those who are already interested in this subject. Use this pattern with
caution.]
Strategies for Writing a Conclusion
Retrived from Strategies for Writing a Conclusion - Literacy Education Online St ...www.leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html
Conclusions are often the most difficult part of an essay to write, and many writers
feel that they have nothing left to say after having written the paper. A writer needs to
keep in mind that the conclusion is often what a reader remembers best. Your
conclusion should be the best part of your paper.
A conclusion should



stress the importance of the thesis statement,
give the essay a sense of completeness, and
leave a final impression on the reader.
Suggestions

Answer the question "So What?"
Show your readers why this paper was important. Show them that your paper
was meaningful and useful.

Synthesize, don't summarize
o Don't simply repeat things that were in your paper. They have read it.
Show them how the points you made and the support and examples you
used were not random, but fit together.

Redirect your readers
o Give your reader something to think about, perhaps a way to use your
paper in the "real" world. If your introduction went from general to
specific, make your conclusion go from specific to general. Think
globally.

Create a new meaning
o You don't have to give new information to create a new meaning. By
demonstrating how your ideas work together, you can create a new
picture. Often the sum of the paper is worth more than its parts.
Strategies

Echoing the introduction: Echoing your introduction can be a good strategy if
it is meant to bring the reader full-circle. If you begin by describing a scenario,
you can end with the same scenario as proof that your essay was helpful in
creating a new understanding.
Example
Introduction
From the parking lot, I could see the towers of the castle of the Magic Kingdom
standing stately against the blue sky. To the right, the tall peak of The Matterhorn rose
even higher. From the left, I could hear the jungle sounds of Adventureland. As I
entered the gate, Main Street stretched before me with its quaint shops evoking an
old-fashioned small town so charming it could never have existed. I was entranced.
Disneyland may have been built for children, but it brings out the child in adults.
Conclusion
I thought I would spend a few hours at Disneyland, but here I was at 1:00 A.M.,
closing time, leaving the front gates with the now dark towers of the Magic Kingdom
behind me. I could see tired children, toddling along and struggling to keep their eyes
open as best they could. Others slept in their parents' arms as we waited for the
parking lot tram that would take us to our cars. My forty-year-old feet ached, and I felt
a bit sad to think that in a couple of days I would be leaving California, my vacation
over, to go back to my desk. But then I smiled to think that for at least a day I felt ten
years old again.

Challenging the reader: By issuing a challenge to your readers, you are
helping them to redirect the information in the paper, and they may apply it to
their own lives.
Example
Though serving on a jury is not only a civic responsibility but also an
interesting experience, many people still view jury duty as a chore that
interrupts their jobs and the routine of their daily lives. However, juries are part
of America's attempt to be a free and just society. Thus, jury duty challenges us
to be interested and responsible citizens.

Looking to the future: Looking to the future can emphasize the importance of
your paper or redirect the readers' thought process. It may help them apply the
new information to their lives or see things more globally.
Example
Without well-qualified teachers, schools are little more than buildings and
equipment. If higher-paying careers continue to attract the best and the
brightest students, there will not only be a shortage of teachers, but the teachers
available may not have the best qualifications. Our youth will suffer. And when
youth suffers, the future suffers.

Posing questions: Posing questions, either to your readers or in general, may
help your readers gain a new perspective on the topic, which they may not have
held before reading your conclusion. It may also bring your main ideas together
to create a new meaning.
Example
Campaign advertisements should help us understand the candidate's
qualifications and positions on the issues. Instead, most tell us how they present
general images of the candidate as a family person or God-fearing American.
Do such advertisements contribute to creating an informed electorate or a
people who choose political leaders the same way they choose soft drinks and
soap?
Writing Columns
Source: Art of Column Writing: Insider Secrets from Art Buchwald & Dave Barry: Suzette
Martinez Strandriny, 2008
Elements of the Columns









Voice: Writing Style of The columnist
POV: Writing perspective of the columnist
Personal Bias: Bias is acceptable but with accuracy and fairness
Goal of the Column Writer: To encourage, To aware, To entertain
Fighting with Homogeneous Style: Bringing Innovation & Creativity
Central Theme of The Column: Focal Point of the Column
Story telling technique
Ordering the Writing: Order the Writing so questions in a reader’s mind are answered in a
logical sequence
Make Every word Count: Use Short sentences, Careful selection of the words, Avoid
Repetition,
Column Writing
Theatrical Treatment: Getting character on stage, Presentation of the Character, Entering the
Dilemma of the Story
Types of Introduction: Outrage, Curiosity, Belonging, Provocation, Humor, Shock, Discomfort
Body Text: Arrange the Paragraphs Logical: Try to cover all angles of story
Conclusion: Give the Reminder of the purpose, Leave the final impression on the reader’s mind.