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First year journalism students learn about the five Ws (Who, What, Where, When and Why).
Although you may have no intention of becoming a professional journalist, if you’re going to write articles for your blog, then using the Five Ws is a smart habit to get into. The last thing you want a reader to do is to walk away from your blog post scratching his head and wondering why you didn’t completely cover the topic. While the Five Ws may be a bit of a cliche from old-time journalism standards, it is a good place to start. Will every single article you write lend itself to the Five? Not likely. However, running through them may spark another idea for another angle on the story that you hadn’t thought of at first.
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Breaking Down the W’s
Old Dominion University href="http://www.lib.odu.edu/genedinfolit/2defining/2_5_ws_of_journalism.html" target="_blank">provides a chart the is very helpful when going through the Five Ws that you might find helpful. Here are some questions you can ask as you move through each point.
- Who: Who is this story about? Who is the target reader?
- What: What is the main idea of the story? What is going on? What actions did the person defined above take?
- Where: Where is the story located? Where is the person from? Where did the event occur? Where can the information be used?
- When: When did this all take place? When can this information be used? When will the event occur or did it occur?
- Why: Why are you writing about this topic? Why should the reader care?
Who
If you were simply to answer each question posed above, it wouldn’t make for a very long article, would it? In fact, you might even be able to answer all the questions in a single sentence. Instead, you must expand on each point, covering it from all the angles. You want the reader to walk away feeling as though she thoroughly knows the topic and not as if she still has questions that need to be answered.
When you are answering the question of who this post is about, you’ll want to dig deeper and cover questions such as:
- How old is the person?
- Where does this person live?
- Are there any personal facts that pertain to the story?
- Who else was involved in the incident?
- What is the person’s career?
- What is his name?
- What is his job title?
What
What is the main idea of this story? If you were going to tell me in a single sentence what your article is about, what would you say? Are you:
- Arguing a point?
- Explaining how to do something?
- Reviewing or critiquing something?
- Describing something?
Where
Where did the story take place or where could it take place? Dig deep here. since you are covering a location, you’ll want to go into as much detail as you possibly can. Show the reader instead of just telling her. For example, instead of writing that it was a hot day, write that the person’s hair stuck to the back of her neck from the sweat trickling down from her scalp. Let the reader know that the air was hot and sticky. If you can show the reader, you will pull her into your article and keep her there.
- What does the place look like?
- What is it called?
- Are there any smells?
- What are the sounds?
- Are there any little known facts that the reader will find interesting about this place?
When
When did the story take place or when will the event happen? So often any more, I see a great article about an upcoming conference or event and not once in the article does the writer mention the date or time. Pay attention to these details and your blog posts will stand out as solidly researched pieces of writing.
- What is the date?
- What is the time?
- What goes on around the same time? Is it a specific season? Is the whether ideal for this event at that time?
Why
Why are you covering this topic? While you might not come right out and tell the reader the reason you wrote an article, it is important to know your specific reasons for writing about a topic. You also may want to ask why a certain individual did something. While you can’t live inside someone else’s head, you can surmise the reasons behind a person’s actions. Just make sure that you tell the reader this is your analysis. This can be a good opportunity to get readers talking about your posts.
What About How?
Some journalists also pose the question “how?” This is somethings called the Five Ws and an H, or Who What Where When Why and How?
How is inserted throughout your other questions. For example, let’s say that you run a website about concerts coming to your local town. You’re interviewing someone who books shows about an upcoming concert. You might ask when the show starts as part of your “when” questions and then follow up with:
“How long is the show?”
This is an important question that helps to fill in the blanks. It should stem from the natural ebb and flow fo the interview. “How?” can also be used to help explain complicated processes to the reader.
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