How to Write an Article for Junior Cycle English

Junior Cycle English · Functional Writing

An article is not an essay in a different hat. It has a job to do: catch a reader, hold them, and tell them something worth knowing. Here is how to write one that does all three under exam pressure.

When this comes up

In Section B you may be asked to write a piece of functional writing. One of the options is an article. The paper will name a publication and give you a topic. It might be an article for a teen magazine about social media, a piece for a newspaper about a local issue, or something for your school’s own magazine or website.

The task usually tells you three things: the type of publication, the readership, and the subject. Read all three carefully. They decide everything about how you write.

An article versus an essay

This is where most marks are lost. Many students see a topic and write a personal essay. They reflect, they wander, they finish with a neat little moral. That is the wrong shape entirely.

An essay explores your own thoughts. An article speaks to a reader and informs or entertains them. An article has a headline. An essay does not. An article knows exactly who is reading it. An essay rarely cares. If your piece could be read aloud at a school assembly as a personal reflection, you have written an essay. Stop and reshape it.

The parts of an article

An article has clear working parts. Use them all.

• A headline. Catchy and clear. It names the subject and pulls people in. Never leave it out.
• A byline. Sometimes useful: “by” and your name underneath the headline. A small touch that shows you understand the form.
• A strong opening. Your first line decides whether anyone reads the second. More on this below.
• Body paragraphs. Where the real content sits. Facts, points, examples, opinion, all kept lively.
• A rounded ending. Not a fizzle. Land it with a final thought, a call to act, or a line that echoes your opening.

Writing the hook

The opening is the part examiners remember. Get someone past the first line and you have them. There are a few reliable ways to open.

• Ask a direct question that makes your reader think.
• Drop a surprising fact or figure.
• Tell a very short anecdote, two or three sentences at most.
• Make a bold statement they will want to argue with.

Whichever you choose, keep it short and punchy. A long, slow first paragraph is a closed door. Open it quickly.

Matching the publication

A teen magazine and a serious newspaper do not sound the same. Decide who is reading and pitch your tone to them.

For a teen magazine, you can be chatty, direct and warm. Contractions are fine. You can speak straight to whoever is reading. For a newspaper, lift the tone. Be measured, clear and a little more formal, though never stiff. For a school publication, sit somewhere in between and remember your readers are pupils and teachers who know the place. Whoever they are, picture one real reader and write to that person.

Structure with some shape

An article should not look like a wall. Give it shape. For a longer piece, a subheading or two can break it up and guide the eye. Vary your paragraph length, because a short, sharp paragraph after a longer one carries real weight. Keep the whole thing lively, but make sure it is still informative. An article that entertains but says nothing has only done half its job.

A worked headline and opening

Here is one I might write for a teen magazine article on screen time. Notice how the headline and first line work together.

Switch Off to Switch On: Why Your Phone Is Stealing Your Best Hours

You picked up your phone to check one message. That was forty minutes ago. Sound familiar? Invented example for illustration

Look at what the headline does. It uses a small play on words, names the subject plainly, and promises something useful. The opening then asks a question that almost every reader will answer “yes” to. It uses a tiny scene, the lost forty minutes, that we all recognise at once. By the second line, they are nodding. They will read on.

The mistakes that cost marks

• No headline. The single quickest way to look like you missed the task.
• An essay-style flat opening. “In this piece I am going to talk about” says nothing and hooks no one.
• No sense of the publication. Writing the same grey tone whether it is a teen magazine or a national paper.
• Forgetting to engage. An article must hold a reader as well as inform them. Dry facts with no life will not do it.

Using This in the Exam

How to use it: Before you write a word, underline the three clues in the question: the publication, the audience, the topic. Then jot a headline and a one-line hook in your rough work. If those two lines are sharp, the article almost writes itself. Spend a minute on them. They set the tone for everything that follows and they are the first thing the examiner sees.

In short

An article is written for a reader, not for yourself. Give it a headline, hook it open, match its tone to the publication, and round it off with purpose. Keep it lively and keep it useful. Do that, and you have written an article, not an essay wearing a borrowed hat.