Functional Writing

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We have begun looking at how newspaper articles are written and organized. Newspaper articles are organized in the format explained below. They contain a headline, byline, dateline, lead paragraph, less important details and then the least important details. Many articles will also have statistics, quotes, images, contact information as well as any other relevant information that was found while investigating and researching the topic.

Headline - The summary of the main idea in the article. This grabs the readers attention and makes the reader interested in the rest of the article.

Byline - Where the name of the reporter or news service is found.

Dateline - Tells us when the story was written.

Lead Paragraph - Tells us the most important facts of the story using the 5 W’s [who, what, where, when, why] and How. This information pulls the reader deeper into the story.

Less Important Facts - Gives us more facts using greater detail about the 5 W’s and How.

Least Important Facts - Where even more information is found about the 5 W’s and How. These added details and facts are what fill up the article but are not critical to understanding the main idea.

*Think of the inverted triangle/pyramid*

headline

byline

dateline

lead paragraph

less important details

least important details