 Hello and welcome. Now, what I wanted to go over was articles and more specifically, the question related to articles in English language paper two, question number five. Now, a number of you guys who, you know, tune into these lessons are currently near 11, okay, and you're going to be sitting your exams in summer 2022. So of course, you know that you should be anticipating writing out an article for the upcoming exams. Okay. So when it comes to articles, firstly, remember that even if it's a newspaper article, even if it's a magazine, even if it's an online article, the layout is exactly the same. In fact, I want to contend that there's literally seven steps when it comes to writing a really strong article, be it for a newspaper, a magazine, an online article, whatever it is. Okay. And as you can see behind me, I've basically set out the seven steps in crafting the perfect article for the question number five in English language paper two. So let's go over it. Okay. These are the seven components that should go into any article that you write, be it for a newspaper, for a magazine and so on. Okay. So firstly, when it comes to writing your article response of question number five, always begin with a headline. Now, how you tackle a headline, do not spend more than, you know, a minute, two minutes maximum on coming up your headline. When you do get a question or a statement, okay, because remember that you're always going to be given a statement question. Okay. You're told, for example, you know, people who travel are, you know, a waste in their time. It's a foolish waste of time. Okay. That's one of the part of paper questions. The idea that travel is expensive is damaging the foolish waste of time. Now, the key words would be travel damaging expensive. So in order to write your headline, literally take the keywords, turn them into a rhetorical question. Is traveling expensive? That's the easiest way to craft a headline and make sure that your headline is no more than five words long and right at the center of your page. After you've written your headline, always follow up with an opening paragraph for your article. Your opening paragraph is setting out whether you agree or you're disagreeing with the statement that you were given. Okay. Going back to the example that I'm using, the idea that traveling is foolish is expensive and it's a waste of time. Now, when you're opening paragraph, because this is an article, this is a newspaper article. This is not an essay. Do not begin your opening paragraph with in this article, I will write about travel. No, that's boring. That does not fulfill the secondary purpose of any type of article, be it newspaper or magazine, which is to entertain. Remember that the primary purpose of an article is to inform the secondary purpose is to entertain. So when you're opening your paragraph, my suggestion is when you open your discussion and show which perspective you're going to take, whether you agree or you disagree. So I'm going to disagree with the idea that travels foolish. You then maybe craft the opposite perspective. Okay. So you begin by showing the opposite viewpoint. Then you say that you would disagree. For example, you can begin your opening paragraph by stating that many people who believe that traveling is damaging, expensive, a foolish waste of time. And what's the point of traveling when we can watch it all on YouTube clips and on TikTok channels, right? However, I disagree. I think traveling is enriching. Traveling is powerful and traveling is a necessity for all of us. That is my opening paragraph where I've set out my argument. However, I've done so in a way that's entertaining and it's engaging for my reader. Now, the third step, once you have crafted your headline, you have opened your paragraph, you now need to include your first subheading. A subheading is basically a mini headline and it goes on the left hand side. Well, so your headline is right at the center. Subheading is left. However, a subheading is still between four to five words long. Okay. Your first subheading should be hinting at your arguments to come. Okay. Your perspective. So for instance, when you're leading an article with your perspective, going back to my example of travel and being really essential, my subheading would be travel is important. Something very brief. Okay. The reason why you need to include a subheading in an article is because again, going back to the secondary purpose of making your article entertaining. When you are including a subheading, firstly, it makes it easier for your readers to read through the article. Remember that in a magazine, in a newspaper article, both online and in print, when you're reading a newspaper, there's always lots of different subheadings so that your eyes can glide over it really easily. So you need to illustrate that understanding for any article that you write. After you are done with your subheading where you show that, okay, I'm now going to present my arguments. The fourth step is present your arguments. I would suggest writing between two to three paragraphs for your perspective. Give reason number one, reason number two, reason number three. I would also state for an article, you must, okay, this is another really important element of writing articles. You must include an anecdote. You must include a statistic. You must include examples to color your argument and to make it more convincing for your readers. An anecdote is when you give a really specific example of a person, for example, Sally Smith, who went last year to Thailand and had an amazing time and travel enriched her life. Okay, that's one of my arguments. Okay, so this is one of the arguments that would present. Okay, that's an anecdote. A statistic is a number that you make up on the spot because of course examiners don't expect that you know lots on this subject. So for instance, you can state at Cambridge University found that 75% of people who've traveled have less prejudices. Okay, they have less stereotypes. That's why traveling is important. The other thing could be examples. For instance, you could talk about, you know, traveling doesn't necessarily have to be expensive because you have Ryanair, you have EasyJet, you have Jet2.com, which are all budget airlines that make traveling accessible. That would go into my arguments supporting my perspective. So make sure in your arguments you need to include anecdotes, statistics and examples. However, your argument and your article is not complete because you need to include another subheading. That's step number five where you present counterpoints, why people would disagree with you. Okay, you currently just present your perspective in your article. You have to also show that you have considered why there are people who disagree with you. And in your subheading, you hint at that. Again, keep your subheading brief four to five words. You could maybe lead with travel is expensive or travel is foolish. That would be your subheading. And then you then add one to two paragraphs and one to two reasons why people would disagree with you. This is what we call counter arguments. Again, in your counter arguments, make up an anecdote, make up a statistic, make up some examples. For instance, going back to the example of travel. Now, even if I've argued that travel is important, I need to present why people would disagree with me. For instance, I would say there's lots of people who believe that travel can be quite dangerous, especially if you're a young, vulnerable person going abroad by yourself. Okay. And then I could make up an anecdote. For instance, again, John Doe, again of the made up name. When he went on his gap year to Italy was almost kidnapped. Okay. That's my first counter argument why some people say no, no, travel is dangerous. Then another thing could be say, you know, another counter argument would be people, you know, travel isn't always cheap for everybody even budget airlines. For example, if you're a mother of five and you're a single mom who doesn't necessarily make very much money, even budget airline travel can still be quite expensive. And then maybe I can make up a statistic, you know, 68% of working families in the UK can only afford one holiday a year. For example, right, again, that's totally made up. I'll say, you know, gov. UK found this once more examiners don't expect you to be an expert on this subject. They just want to see that you understand that with articles, you need to balance your argument and to support your arguments, you should always include anecdotes, examples and statistics. And of course, even in your writing style, include stuff like rhetorical questions, you know, a metaphor, make vary your sentence lengths have shorter and longer sentences to change the pace and so on. Okay, making the article entertaining. Once you have considered your counter arguments, however, so you've got your two paragraphs, you've got your three paragraphs for your perspective or for your arguments. Okay, so you've got your three paragraphs for your arguments. Then once you have added and balanced two arguments for your counter points, okay, so that people will disagree with you, still end with a closing paragraph where you say, okay, even if I have considered this perspective, I still think traveling is really important. So you just close by reasserting and don't close by saying in conclusion, okay, that's not entertaining. You still say that being said, travel is still important. And then you reassert travels important because it opens your mind travels important because it breaks up monotony, routine, all of that stuff, okay, have a closing paragraph to tie off your article. Okay, so that's really it. In terms of the seven steps in crafting the perfect article, be it newspaper, be it magazine for question number five in English language, paper two. Thank you so much for listening.