Orwell's writing tips
George Orwell's classic 1946 essay The Politics
of the English Language provides timeless advice for writing
clearly and powerfully. This is a short summary of his five
from a newspaper writing coach
A long-time reporter, editor and writing coach, Steve Buttry,
has some great advice for reporters on everything from writing
short to writing with emotional authenticity. Buttry is now
director of tailored programs at the American Press Institute
and his columns can be found at the API website.
If you are looking for exercises to help students learn
to write effective headlines, you may find this site helpful.
It's an online interactive workshop for which copy editors
have submitted stories. You read the story, write a headline
in the space provided and then click to find out what the
pros wrote, and then read their comments on why they wrote
on narrative journalism
The Neiman Narrative Digest is a website established to
improve and advance the practice of narrative in journalism
by offering useful resources to writers, editors, teachers
and students. This page provides links to a series of essays
from established writers on building characters, writing scenes
and telling stories.
The Neiman Narrative Digest is building an archive of notable
pieces of narrative journalism which can be searched by source,
topic and format. The full text of some pieces are available
free. Others require a fee.
it short but powerful
This is an example of a compelling 400-word profile, followed
by notes from the reporter about the process he went through
to keep it so short. The post is from the blog Newsthinking,
by Bob Baker, a professional writing coach and journalist
with the Los Angeles Times, whose site is an archive of successful
stories, followed by some insights into what makes them great.
and Sweet: Storytelling in 300 words
An article from Michael Weinstein, the features editor at
the Charlotte Observer, about how to write short.
If you struggle to explain to students when it is appropriate
to use "says" vs. "said" in their stories,
you may find some guidance from these editors and writers.
In this piece, the Poynter Institute's Chip Scanlan, explains
why feature writers generally prefer the present tense, while
some editors detest it. He makes his case, then follows up
with the different views of the four newspaper editors.
radio reporters can teach print reporters about writing
An article from Poynter Online about how one print reporter
learned to write better, tighter and shorter from following
the advice of radio reporters.
your headlines for an intelligent friend
A useful set of tips for writing better headlines from Sharon
Burnside, the Assistant Managing Editor for the Toronto Star.
for teaching editing
The Knight Ohio Program for Editing and Editing Education
gathers and creates resources for editing professors, students
and working professionals. The site includes links, downloads
and multimedia content, including an interactive headline
This is a series of online exercises based on grammar, usage
and AP style produced and updated regularly by two Americans,
Ron Hartung of the Tallahasseee Democrat and Gerald Grow,
journalism professor at Florida A&M. Canadian journalism
educators would have to adapt the material for Canadian journalists
using CP style, but these online exercises could be a good
An advice column full of great information about language
rules and grammar tips from the Columbia Journalism Review.
The page is updated regularly and well-organized for finding
specific rules and tips.