Home
>
Article Writing
>
Writing the Five Essentials

Writing the Five Essentials

The five essential questions to be answered in your article are WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY and WHEN.

The five Ws must be considered carefully when you are gathering your research, plus using the five Ws is an excellent way to organise your material.

Here is an example of two very effective lines:

Barb Clews, author, has sold the film rights to her latest novel to XYZ Studios for $2.5 million, it was announced yesterday.

Who? Barb Clews
What? Sold film rights to her latest novel
Where? XYZ Studios
Why? For $2.5 million
When? Yesterday

Although this is considered a newspaper style of writing, you should aim to present the facts cleanly and concisely.

Articles in magazines are traditionally longer than newspaper stories so you will have some extra space to get your message across. But you must not lose sight of this tight way of communicating.

Don't bury any of the five Ws under lots of unnecessary words. You don't want your readers to work hard to find the gems of information. They should be presented in an attractive style that makes the reading process inviting, quick and rewarding.

Editors will not buy your work if you leave vital pieces of information until the end of your article. If your article has a weak lead (beginning) and a "fluffy" middle where the interesting bits have been completely camouflaged, the editor and the readers will never get to the end of the article.

A good exercise is to cut articles from newspapers and magazines and completely dissect them to see how the five Ws have been included. List the five Ws and in which paragraphs they are revealed. I think you will find they are quite close to the beginning of the article.

barb clews is an award winning journalist with nearly 1,000 published articles to her credit. She has been a writer and editor for 15 years and is the author of "Article Writing for Freelancers" and "20 Tips to Increase Writing Skills" Visit barb clews to subscribe to "Words that Work", Barb's monthly ezine packed with tips for writers.

cleaning team near Mundelein ..

In The News:

Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat exposed intimate conversations and photos, revealing users spent up to $18,000 on AI companions before the breach.

New Instagram parental controls allow families to manage teen screen time and content limits through the Family Center with stricter safety settings.

Third-party security breach at Discord exposes sensitive user information including government IDs, highlighting cybersecurity risks from external service providers.

Survey of 1,000 students shows teens using AI for personal relationships while two-thirds of parents remain unaware of their children's AI usage.

Cybersecurity experts warn about a ShadowLeak vulnerability that weaponized ChatGPT's Deep Research agent to steal personal data from Gmail accounts through hidden commands.

Tesla's Full Self-Driving system faces federal investigation following 58 reports of crashes, with six vehicles running red lights before colliding with other cars.

The Fox News AI Newsletter brings you the latest developments on artificial intelligence, with news on OpenAI moving to soon allow erotica for adult users.

Eric Schmidt alerts that hackers can reverse-engineer AI models to bypass safety measures, citing examples like the jailbroken ChatGPT variant called DAN.

Cybercriminals exploit Microsoft Teams through impersonation, malicious links and fake profiles to gather intel and deliver ransomware to personal and work devices.

Google, Dior, Allianz and dozens of other companies lost sensitive customer data in Salesforce-related breaches affecting millions of records across multiple sectors.

Apple launches iOS 26 with new Preview app that combines document editing, PDF annotation and scanning features into one streamlined iPhone experience.

New AI road monitoring system uses sensor-embedded fabric to predict infrastructure problems, potentially reducing maintenance costs and traffic disruptions for cities.

Holiday charity scams target retirees through lookalike organization names, untraceable payment requests, and data broker information to steal donations.

The Federal Trade Commission says criminals are posing as IRS agents, law enforcement officers or other officials, often over the phone or online, to steal thousands of dollars at a time.

AI phishing scams now use voice cloning and deepfake technology to trick victims, but Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson reveals warning signs to watch for.

Inversion Space unveils Arc, a reusable reentry vehicle that can deliver up to 500 pounds of cargo from orbit to anywhere on Earth in under an hour.

Red flags like processing fees, urgent countdowns and requests for full Social Security numbers expose fraudulent settlement sites targeting consumers.

Comprehensive analysis of Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps examines usability, routing accuracy, data handling and features across the top navigation platforms.

Expert analysis reveals whether wired Ethernet or wireless Wi-Fi connections are safer for home internet use, plus practical steps to secure your network from attackers.

Australian construction robot Charlotte uses sand, crushed brick and recycled glass to 3D print fireproof, floodproof homes with reduced carbon footprint.

Cybercriminals are using fake invitation emails to trick recipients into downloading malware and stealing personal information and data.

Flying drones could help retailers fight a 93% increase in theft rates as Flock Safety promotes airborne security systems to track suspects and deter crime.

The Fox News Artificial Intelligence Newsletter brings you the latest news on the emerging technology every Saturday, highlighting top stories.

Hacker group Radiant stole data from 8,000 children at Kido nursery chain, demanding ransom and directly contacting parents with intimidation tactics.

As 18 states implement bell-to-bell cell phone bans, creative students use Google Docs, iMessage on MacBooks and Post-It notes to stay connected in class.