1 Evaluate news articles & stories

News journalism is a distinct genre of writing, with forms and conventions that are used to curate and present information in specific ways. News articles and stories are published or broadcast using several types of media including newspapers, magazine articles, and radio.

When reading news articles, consider the following characteristics to evaluate the information and decide which sources to use to make “high stakes” decisions.

Authority and currency

1. Byline: Who is the author (or authors)?
2. Date of publication: Is the information up-to-date and “current enough”?
3. Placement in the publication: Is this information printed on the front page? If not, where is it printed?

Content

1. News
2. Feature
3. Review (e.g., film, book, music)
4. Op-ed (opinion and/or editorial article)

Facts

1. Who?
2. What?
3. Where?
4. When?
5. How?

Type of article

1. News: reports news and uses the Inverted pyramid structure, so the article starts with the most important information and finishes with less important details.
2. Expository: offers an explanation or description of an event or topic and is structured with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion
3. Argumentative: offers an opinion based on research and can have a hybrid structure, that uses the inverted pyramid and expands on details through body paragraphs
4. Narrative: describes an experience and can also use a hybrid structure.

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