How to write a popular science article!

A popular science article is one where you can get really creative! The idea is to take a boring science topic, such as the solar system and then write an article in a way that people will be entertained, will enjoy reading but will still learn something! Up for the challenge? Excellent!

Remember PALS from our "how to write an interview" post? Well, they are the most important thing here and all you really need to know for writing a popular science article! If you don't remember, go back and take a quick look at the interview help post by clicking on the DIY or help tags!

Purpose: The purpose of a popular science article is to inform the reader, but also entertain them! That means you have to use all your english skills to be funny, interesting and witty. To do this it helps to use metaphors, rhetorical questions, personification, alliteration and all that jazz

Audience: The point of popular science articles is that they can appeal to a wider audience, but it's still important to think of the age, gender and media that the article would go with. For example, is it an article about cars in a mens magazine?

Language: In popular science articles, you need to use simple language to make the science bits easy to understand, and then entertaining language everywhere else! You also need to take your audience into account, because you wouldn't use words like "antidisestablishmentarianism" (real word!) in a child's magazine, would you?

Structure: Structure is, in my opinion, the most important part of a popular science article. Long paragraph after long paragraph will make your article look boring, so try having a colourful eye-catching header, and a few pictures to make it come alive. Unfortunately, this is just about impossible to do when you are writing it on a blog, so then it will really have to be your words that make it interesting!

As well as popular science articles, you could do popular history, popular maths, popular english. Basically, every boring topic in the world can be turned into a popular article! In a way this is a popular english article because we are informing you on how to write and article, but trying to make it fun to read at the same time! (hopefully i'm doing a good job!)

Robyn xxx
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS POST, JUST LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE'LL ANSWER!

How to write an interview

Here is our first help guide on writing an interview of your own. Hope you find it helpful!

The most important thing to think about when writing anythingis PALS:

Purpose: With interviews, you have to think is the purpose of your interview to find out about a topic, or to find out about a person, or for that person to plug their new movie or whatever.

Audience: Are you writing this interview for women or men? or both? For children? For film lovers or book lovers? For fans of the person you're interviewing? The audience will affect how you say things, for example, if you're interview was for a child, one of your questions wouldn't be "what are your current views on the economic crisis?" because a child a) wouldn't understand and b) probably wouldn't care

Language : This is linked to the audience. If you're interview is going to be in a medical journal you can use words such as "coronary heart bypass" or trichtomallisis and the doctors will know what you're on about, whereas for a teens article you might say "he was so ugly it made me want to puke". Make the language fit who you're writing for BUT that doesn't mean give up on grammar. For example, if you were writing it for chavs, you WOULDN'T say "and dats like what u shuld do ennit"

Structure: There are two ways to present interviews. The first is called question and answer and is quite self-explanatory: You write the question, then the answer below it. This is most popular with articles for young people, music and film magazines. The second is called integrated approach: this is where you re-write the interview almost as if you are telling the story of when you gave the interview. This means you would set the scene and convey atmosphere "I wait in the swish Ritz hotel in London, where she arrives ten minutes late, with her pet poodle under one arm and a huge box of cigarettes under the other." In this form you use parts of the answers here and there to send some kind of message, for example, in the original interview you're question may have been "have you ever thought of going on a celebrity gameshow, if so, which one?" and the answer was "Definitely who wants to be a millionaire. I really want to help charities but i don't think i would get very far because i'm not that smart." In your typed up interview, you might change this to: She tells me thats he really wants to do her bit for the world, "i really want to help charities but i don't think i would get very far because i'm not that smart". I thanked God she commented on her brains, or lack thereof, so i wouldn't have to!"

The next most important thing with interviews is WHO you are interviewing. It's usually a bad ida to interview friends and family, because it makes the interview more interesting if the interviewer doesn't know the interviewee very well either. This way you will come up with much more interesting questions because it is much easier to come up with questions for things you don't know than things you do know!

Now we've got the core bits out of the way, here is the step by step of creating you're interview:

Step 1: The interview

Make sure you interview your person face to face. You should tape or record the interview (i use the recorder on my phone) to make sure you catch everything thats said and then have a notepad to note down any body language, facial expressions or movements that the person makes that you want to include in your interview. This is extra effective if your purpose is to say something about their personality because, as they say, 90% of what you say doesn't come out of your mouth.

Make sure you have planned some questions, and make sure they are open based questions because you're interview will be pretty rubbish if all the answers are "yes" and "no". During the interview you could come up with more questions you want to ask which is good, as long as you have a few prepared. Make sure the questions have some sort of purpose to help your interview. For example, if you are talking to a tennis player and trying to find out more about how to become a professional tennis player, you wouldn't ask: "which is better: ready salted crisps or salt and vinegar?" With the questions you ask, start with some nice small warm up questions: "when did you get into tennis", "what do you love about tennis" and then move on to the more detailed ones: "what has been the proudest moment of your career so far."

Step 2: Writing up the interview

First listen back to interview and make notes on what is said. Then try to put the questions into a logical order to make sure that the interview flows, it helps to put them under loose headings, or by purpose, or by how the answers compliment each other. There are many ways to do it, and it varies depending on your interview. The next part has already been explained: choose your structure. Are you going to do a question and answer or an integrated approach? Once you've picked one, start writing and remember to keep in mind PALS!

Tommorow I will be posting her interview, so see if you can spot my audience, purpose and which stucture I used!

Robyn xxx

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE, LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE'LL ANSWER!

How to write a haiku!

What is it?
A haiku is an unrhyming poem with 3 lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7 and the third has 5.

What is it about?

A haiku is used to create an image or convey an emotion and is mainly about nature or natural things.

How to write it?

Just try to sum up what you are trying to say in those 17 syllables. Most haikus do this through imagery, for example describing nature to represent loneliness

Robyn xxx

How to write a sonnet!

What is it?

A sonnet is a 14 line love poem. Each line has 10 syllables, like the beating of a heart, which is known as an iambic pentameter. It has an A - B - A - B rhyming structure.

How to write it:

Normally they tell some kind of story about someone you love, and normally as a beginning, middle and end style. For example, you may begin by describing your love, move on to how other guys love her too and end with your fear of her leaving you.

Modern sonnets don't HAVE to be about love, but Shakespearean style sonnets always are.

As with most poems, once you know the format, we can't help and it's all up to you, so get writing!

Robyn xxx

How to write a review

Here is our help guide to writing a review! A review can be on just about anything: a film, a book, what you're mum made for dinner last night etc etc. But, just for this guide we're going to be specific to film reviews, although a majority of what we say can be used to do a review on anything!

Once again, or friend PALS plays an important part in this article, and in fact every article you ever write! But with reviews, some parts of PALS some people can be a little confused about but allow me to explain.

Purpose: The purpose is NOT to tell them about the film!!!!! The reader wants to WATCH the film, not read about it! All you are doing is letting them know bits of the good, the bad and the ugly and if you think it's worth watching. I hate reading a review and then realizing i no longer need to watch the film, because i already know what will happen!

Audience: With film reviews, your audience is obviously someone who is considering watching the film. Therefore, your audience will vary depending on the film itself. For example, if you are doing a review of Thomas the Tank Engine The Movie, its obviously for children or parents of children. If its called Die Zombie Die on the other hand, its more likely to be for horror lovers (or boys who want girls to jump on them during the scary bits during a date!)

Language: As usual, the language can depend on the audience. But also like the audience, the language can ary depending on the film. For example, If you're reviewing The Simpsons Movie, its obviously goin to be for people who like the Simpsons, so they will already know who Snowball II is, or Mr Burns and Smithers so maybe you could make a joke about them somewhere.

Structure: With film reviews, it's usually a few paragraphs will a picture and maybe a little box at the bottom summing up our opinion: Rating: *** Language: Strong Violence: Strong Nudity: BY GOD, IS EVERYONE NAKED???

There are four parts to film reviews which you must include. These are often the same for any review you do. They are:
Introduction
Summary
Commentary
Conclusion

Introduction: This is your chance to draw the reader in and make them want to keep reading. You could start by mentioning a certain point that you think will interest readers, such as an actress or actor in it, maybe the film had high expectations, or maybe the film is a sequel and you want to see if its as good as the first.

Summary: Here is where you say BREIFLY what the film is about NOT what happens

Commentary: This is the most important part of the review and should be the longest part. This is where you give your opinion of the film. Go into detail of what you liked, what you didn't like and why. It's also good to give examples here and there without giving away the main plot. Talk about the plot, special effects, characters, cast, costumes, scenery and what you think of them.

Conclusion: Here is where you give your overall impression of the film, for example "a good plot but it is severely let down by a disappointing cast." Talk about whether the film is worth seeing, what issues it deals with, what effect the film had on you (did it give you an appreciation for a culture or empathize with a situation?) In the conclusion will also want to mention when the film comes out, o if it is on dvd etc, so that if people are convinced by your review, they will want to go buy it (or won't want to if you said the film was terrible!)

Robyn xxx

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE THEN LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE'LL ANSWER!

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How to write a Haiku

What is it?

A haiku is an unrhyming poem with 3 lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7 and the third has 5.

What is it about?

A haiku is used to create an image or convey an emotion and is mainly about nature or natural things.

How to write it?

Just try to sum up what you are trying to say in those 17 syllables. Most haikus do this through imagery, for example describing nature to represent loneliness

Robyn xxx

How to write a sonnet

What is it?

A sonnet is a 14 line love poem. Each line has 10 syllables, like the beating of a heart, which is known as an iambic pentameter. It has an A - B - A - B rhyming structure.

How to write it:

Normally they tell some kind of story about someone you love, and normally as a beginning, middle and end style. For example, you may begin by describing your love, move on to how other guys love her too and end with your fear of her leaving you.

Modern sonnets don't HAVE to be about love, but Shakespearean style sonnets always are.

As with most poems, once you know the format, we can't help and it's all up to you, so get writing!

Robyn xxx

How to write a review!

Here is our help guide to writing a review! A review can be on just about anything: a film, a book, what you're mum made for dinner last night etc etc. But, just for this guide we're going to be specific to film reviews, although a majority of what we say can be used to do a review on anything!

Once again, or friend PALS plays an important part in this article, and in fact every article you ever write! But with reviews, some parts of PALS some people can be a little confused about but allow me to explain.

Purpose: The purpose is NOT to tell them about the film!!!!! The reader wants to WATCH the film, not read about it! All you are doing is letting them know bits of the good, the bad and the ugly and if you think it's worth watching. I hate reading a review and then realizing i no longer need to watch the film, because i already know what will happen!

Audience: With film reviews, your audience is obviously someone who is considering watching the film. Therefore, your audience will vary depending on the film itself. For example, if you are doing a review of Thomas the Tank Engine The Movie, its obviously for children or parents of children. If its called Die Zombie Die on the other hand, its more likely to be for horror lovers (or boys who want girls to jump on them during the scary bits during a date!)

Language: As usual, the language can depend on the audience. But also like the audience, the language can ary depending on the film. For example, If you're reviewing The Simpsons Movie, its obviously goin to be for people who like the Simpsons, so they will already know who Snowball II is, or Mr Burns and Smithers so maybe you could make a joke about them somewhere.

Structure: With film reviews, it's usually a few paragraphs will a picture and maybe a little box at the bottom summing up our opinion: Rating: *** Language: Strong Violence: Strong Nudity: BY GOD, IS EVERYONE NAKED???

There are four parts to film reviews which you must include. These are often the same for any review you do. They are:
Introduction
Summary
Commentary
Conclusion

Introduction: This is your chance to draw the reader in and make them want to keep reading. You could start by mentioning a certain point that you think will interest readers, such as an actress or actor in it, maybe the film had high expectations, or maybe the film is a sequel and you want to see if its as good as the first.

Summary: Here is where you say BREIFLY what the film is about NOT what happens

Commentary: This is the most important part of the review and should be the longest part. This is where you give your opinion of the film. Go into detail of what you liked, what you didn't like and why. It's also good to give examples here and there without giving away the main plot. Talk about the plot, special effects, characters, cast, costumes, scenery and what you think of them.

Conclusion: Here is where you give your overall impression of the film, for example "a good plot but it is severely let down by a disappointing cast." Talk about whether the film is worth seeing, what issues it deals with, what effect the film had on you (did it give you an appreciation for a culture or empathize with a situation?) In the conclusion will also want to mention when the film comes out, o if it is on dvd etc, so that if people are convinced by your review, they will want to go buy it (or won't want to if you said the film was terrible!)

Tomorrow I will be posting a film review, so make sure you take a look!

Robyn xxx

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE THEN LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE'LL ANSWER!

How to write a Popular science article!

A popular science article is one where you can get really creative! The idea is to take a boring science topic, such as the solar system and then write an article in a way that people will be entertained, will enjoy reading but will still learn something! Up for the challenge? Excellent!

Remember PALS from our "how to write an interview" post? Well, they are the most important thing here and all you really need to know for writing a popular science article! If you don't remember, go back and take a quick look at the interview help post by clicking on the DIY or help tags!

Purpose: The purpose of a popular science article is to inform the reader, but also entertain them! That means you have to use all your english skills to be funny, interesting and witty. To do this it helps to use metaphors, rhetorical questions, personification, alliteration and all that jazz

Audience: The point of popular science articles is that they can appeal to a wider audience, but it's still important to think of the age, gender and media that the article would go with. For example, is it an article about cars in a mens magazine?

Language: In popular science articles, you need to use simple language to make the science bits easy to understand, and then entertaining language everywhere else! You also need to take your audience into account, because you wouldn't use words like "antidisestablishmentarianism" (real word!) in a child's magazine, would you?

Structure: Structure is, in my opinion, the most important part of a popular science article. Long paragraph after long paragraph will make your article look boring, so try having a colourful eye-catching header, and a few pictures to make it come alive. Unfortunately, as you will see with my popular science article tommorow, this is just about impossible to do when you are writing it on a blog, so then it will really have to be your words that make it interesting!

As well as popular science articles, you could do popular history, popular maths, popular english. Basically, every boring topic in the world can be turned into a popular article! In a way this is a popular english article because we are informing you on how to write and article, but trying to make it fun to read at the same time! (hopefully i'm doing a good job!)

As i said before, I will be posting my popular science article tomorrow so make sure you take a look!

Robyn xxx

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS POST, JUST LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE'LL ANSWER!

How to Write A Book

Best-selling author Dale Beaumont share five of the best tips
http://www.GetPublishedTV.com

How to write an interview!

Here is our first help guide on writing an interview of your own. Hope you find it helpful!

The most important thing to think about when writing anythingis PALS:

Purpose: With interviews, you have to think is the purpose of your interview to find out about a topic, or to find out about a person, or for that person to plug their new movie or whatever.

Audience: Are you writing this interview for women or men? or both? For children? For film lovers or book lovers? For fans of the person you're interviewing? The audience will affect how you say things, for example, if you're interview was for a child, one of your questions wouldn't be "what are your current views on the economic crisis?" because a child a) wouldn't understand and b) probably wouldn't care

Language : This is linked to the audience. If you're interview is going to be in a medical journal you can use words such as "coronary heart bypass" or trichtomallisis and the doctors will know what you're on about, whereas for a teens article you might say "he was so ugly it made me want to puke". Make the language fit who you're writing for BUT that doesn't mean give up on grammar. For example, if you were writing it for chavs, you WOULDN'T say "and dats like what u shuld do ennit"

Structure: There are two ways to present interviews. The first is called question and answer and is quite self-explanatory: You write the question, then the answer below it. This is most popular with articles for young people, music and film magazines. The second is called integrated approach: this is where you re-write the interview almost as if you are telling the story of when you gave the interview. This means you would set the scene and convey atmosphere "I wait in the swish Ritz hotel in London, where she arrives ten minutes late, with her pet poodle under one arm and a huge box of cigarettes under the other." In this form you use parts of the answers here and there to send some kind of message, for example, in the original interview you're question may have been "have you ever thought of going on a celebrity gameshow, if so, which one?" and the answer was "Definitely who wants to be a millionaire. I really want to help charities but i don't think i would get very far because i'm not that smart." In your typed up interview, you might change this to: She tells me thats he really wants to do her bit for the world, "i really want to help charities but i don't think i would get very far because i'm not that smart". I thanked God she commented on her brains, or lack thereof, so i wouldn't have to!"

The next most important thing with interviews is WHO you are interviewing. It's usually a bad ida to interview friends and family, because it makes the interview more interesting if the interviewer doesn't know the interviewee very well either. This way you will come up with much more interesting questions because it is much easier to come up with questions for things you don't know than things you do know!

Now we've got the core bits out of the way, here is the step by step of creating you're interview:

Step 1: The interview

Make sure you interview your person face to face. You should tape or record the interview (i use the recorder on my phone) to make sure you catch everything thats said and then have a notepad to note down any body language, facial expressions or movements that the person makes that you want to include in your interview. This is extra effective if your purpose is to say something about their personality because, as they say, 90% of what you say doesn't come out of your mouth.

Make sure you have planned some questions, and make sure they are open based questions because you're interview will be pretty rubbish if all the answers are "yes" and "no". During the interview you could come up with more questions you want to ask which is good, as long as you have a few prepared. Make sure the questions have some sort of purpose to help your interview. For example, if you are talking to a tennis player and trying to find out more about how to become a professional tennis player, you wouldn't ask: "which is better: ready salted crisps or salt and vinegar?" With the questions you ask, start with some nice small warm up questions: "when did you get into tennis", "what do you love about tennis" and then move on to the more detailed ones: "what has been the proudest moment of your career so far."

Step 2: Writing up the interview

First listen back to interview and make notes on what is said. Then try to put the questions into a logical order to make sure that the interview flows, it helps to put them under loose headings, or by purpose, or by how the answers compliment each other. There are many ways to do it, and it varies depending on your interview. The next part has already been explained: choose your structure. Are you going to do a question and answer or an integrated approach? Once you've picked one, start writing and remember to keep in mind PALS!

Robyn xxx

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE, LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE'LL ANSWER!

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