The importance of reading: articles

I’m often asked for advice on how to study English and how best to prepare for the English Language exams. My top tip is simple: read, read, read. It’s a good idea to read a wide range of genres and as much as possible. As I always stress to students, reading and writing are two sides of the same coin.

With that in mind, I came across an article this morning and thought I’d share it with you all. Analysing and discussing articles is a brilliant way to get a feel for what features make this text type and the typical style and tone of this kind of writing. In turn, this will help you develop your own writing style and improve your understanding of how to produce effective writing. Not only will reading help you improve your writing skills, as a bonus, it will develop your general knowledge and may help with other studies.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/26/winter-nature-fungi-moulds-darkne ss?CMP=fb_cif

Magazines such as National Geographic or Time, the features section of newspapers and the glossy magazines that accompany the Sunday papers are all good places to look for interesting and well-written articles. There are also plenty of websites where you can read articles online for free, including the BBC and The Guardian.

Here’s the link to the BBC Science site, but do check out BBC arts, travel and technology. (Simply Google ‘BBC arts’ etc to access a wealth of articles on all manner of subjects).

https://www.bbcearth.com/science

When reading articles, to improve your understanding and awareness of what makes good writing of this kind, I recommend you read actively and interrogate the text. Adopt a questioning mindset and consider the writer’s purpose and if/how well they achieve this. Ask yourself:

What is the writer’s purpose?

Is the writer expressing a strong viewpoint? If the aim is to persuade, (as it is in an article I’m sharing with you today), what DAFOREST techniques are used? How and to what effect?

Articles should have a personal tone and informal style. Can you identify specific techniques and aspects of the piece that help the writer achieve the desired tone and style? (Look at choice of vocabulary, use of the first person, contractions, tags and fillers).

How is the text structured and sequenced? How does the writer introduce the subject in the opening paragraph? (Articles often open with the writer presenting a personal point of view or anecdote). How is the piece divided up into paragraphs? What is the topic sentence and focus of each paragraph? How is the topic sentence developed in the rest of the paragraph? What linking words and phrases help to create a sense of cohesion? How does the writer draw the piece to a close and create a sense of completeness? Perhaps the writer draws together and summarises points made throughout the text to reach a decisive conclusion.

Consider also whether the writer takes a more measured tone, (typical of unbiased, discursive writing), or presents his/her ideas more emphatically or forcefully, (more common for persuasive texts). Perhaps the writer returns to the point or anecdote she or he opened with at the beginning; this kind of cyclical structure can work well for lots of different kinds of writing including narrative and descriptive writing as well as articles.

I hope you find this helpful. Perhaps you could make it a New Year’s resolution to spend ten minutes a day reading an article? Happy reading! 🙂